First Posted: 4/22/2014
My reason for buying a Playstation 4, “Infamous: Second Son,” is finally here. The “Infamous” series is one of my favorite series of the last console generation, and ever since I saw the first trailer at last year’s E3, I have been eager to get my hands on it.
If you are unfamiliar with the “Infamous” series, it is an open world action game featuring a super-powered hero named Cole MacGrath. Cole was a delivery guy who delivered a seemingly innocent-looking package that turned out to be a bomb. There was a huge explosion, destroying a big chunk of the city; however, Cole not only survived, he was granted the power to control electricity. He could throw lightning bolts, grind on power lines, and even make tornados. What made this game unique was you could decide to use your newfound powers for good or evil. If you subdue your enemies instead of killing them and save civilians, you earned good karma points, which granted you good powers. Or you could perform evil deeds, which granted you a different set of evil powers. There were also different trophies, missions, and a different ending based on which moral alignment you chose.
The first game took place in “Empire City,” a fictional New York City, and part two takes place in a fictional New Orleans called “New Marais.” Both cities are teeming with really interesting things to explore and collect, and both games have a series of collectibles that give you experience points that you can use to upgrade your guy. Some of them have audio logs associated with them that reveal more parts of the story. Cole’s story paved the way for humans and super-powered Conduits to live together, but years after he is gone, more super-powered people are popping up, so the average populace is running scared, calling these evolved people terrorists. Now the Conduits are being hunted in the streets and imprisoned by the Department of Unified Protection (DUP).
“Infamous: Second Son” is set about seven years after the last “Infamous” and is now set in the real-life city of Seattle. One of the greatest things about it being a real city is there are real landmarks to explore, and the developer licensed a bunch of real businesses that you can spot, making it fun for people who have been there. Aside from the change of location, there is a new hero, a 24-year-old graffiti artist named Delsin Rowe. At the onset of the game, Delsin appears to be an average guy, but a run-in with a Conduit leaves Delsin with powers of his own – he can absorb the abilities of other Conduits that he touches, which can make him incredibly powerful as the game goes on.
When you start the game, the first thing you will notice is the graphics. This could be the best facial animations I have ever seen in a game, and everything in this huge open world is amazing to look at. Everything has great textures, and the smoke and explosion effects are breathtaking. I love the way things in the world react when you hit them; they crumble and break apart in amazingly believable ways. Another amazing thing is the way Delsin moves around the world. His first power is the ability to turn into and control smoke, allowing him to turn into a puff of smoke and fly around. You can also go into exhaust pipes on the street and fly through buildings and come out on the roofs. He even gets laser neon abilities later on that let you move around super fast at the speed of light.
Just like the other games in the series, the action is fantastic and the story is really good and quite humorous. Delsin gains a bunch of friends and fellow rebels as the game progresses, and each of them have a interesting story and carry the narrative along in interesting ways. There are several twists and turns in the story, and you are always collecting things and unlocking new abilities, which makes you want to continue to see what is going to happen next.
Overall, I loved this game. I have always been a huge fan of the series, and this game is the best in the series so far. If you are new to the series and like action games, you will love this game, and if you are a series vet, this is a no-brainer. The graphics are phenomenal, the story is great, and this is definitely the first must-buy game on the Playstation 4.
-Robbie Vanderveken is the digital operations specialist at The Times Leader. E-mail him at rvanderveken@timesleader.com.
