inFAMOUS 2 is a great successor to the previous title, with revamped melee, and of course new powers. But does it surpass the first inFAMOUS title???
inFAMOUS 2, is the 2011 open world super hero sequel to inFAMOUS for the Playstation 3 video game console developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
Where can I start? Well first off, a lot of things that were great about the last game were improved upon in this game. Such as the controls, the controls were great in the first game, and have only been made tighter. Graphics have been improved VASLTY, the graphics really do shine in this game compared to the first. The soundtrack is just as great as well. Melee in the last game was not so great, but in the sequel it is pretty freakin' fantastic. The powers also have become more varied, and there are more of them, as well as certain powers from the last game being improved upon such as the hover power getting an upgraded "oomph!" that shoots you up a tad before gliding downward. (That 'tad' is surprisingly helpful.) The story while not as original as the first still make good for a sequel. Things I did not like about this game was for one, the change in voice actors. Cole MacGrath's voice in the first game may have been a bit gruff, but I got used to it! I was expecting that deep gruff voice from the first game, but instead got a nasally attempt the the first voice trapped inside of a 13 year old pubescent boy voice. In simple terms, they changed voice actors, I do not know why, but they did, and I never got used to the new voice *sigh*. Secondly, the character model of Cole MacGrath changed drastically. In the first game you play a bike messenger. You got your little coat, and small messenger bag, jeans, sneakers... But in this game you become RIPPED, now wearing a T-Shirt to show off your muscly tattooed arms. The coat in the first game hid your arms so you couldn't see the tattoos, but making him a Vin Diesel clone was a mistake, not only because there seem to be a lot of those popping up, but because it is a bad Vin Diesel clone, and more closely resembles Jason Statham. The face was also changed, the nose is the most noticeable thing. His nose is not short and stubby, compared to the long nose int eh first game, so it looks like he got a nose job. The change in voice actors in combination with the change in character model made Cole MacGrath seem WAY different, completely different! Cole MacGrath is an American Jason Statham, with super powers!
Speaking of super powers, gone are the days of being able to do your alpha bolt with zero energy in your energy meter, if you are out of juice, it sucks to be you, until you recharge. This makes sense logically, but who's thinking logically here? I mean, a human battery??? Come on, at least make it to where you have SOMETHING to shoot with no energy, at least to fend guys off till you find something to recharge with, melee isn't enough in this case. Another complaint about the Alpha bolt, was that it USES energy. Your weakest attack actually uses energy! The alpha bolt in this game does an extremely low amount of damage, on top of sucking your energy out? No thanks, I'll stick with Electricity Grenades, rockets, and sniping. And while the controls were better, there were TOO many super powers. So many in fact that you have to use a quick menu to switch out powers, and normally I would have no beef about a quick menu, but it detracts from the heat of the moment, pausing the game, and taking away all noise, and the soundtrack as well. If they could have made it so that you could access the quick menu while still moving around and blasting things, it would have been a more immersive experience.
There are a LOT of powers in this game, you of course have several spots in the game where you can shift your karma one way or the other, just like in the last game. Something new though, is you have two friends with super powers too. And often time you have to choose between doing a mission a more evil way, or a more good way, and your friends represent that good or evil way. I played good the entire game, because I'm like that, I like to be the super duper goody two shoes hero, in games that give me the choice. There is one part with you essentially choose to have some powers like your good super friend, or your evil super friend, and depending on who you choose, you get different powers. There are fire powers (evilish friend), and ice powers (good friend), I chose ice powers of course, not only because the chick was smokin' hot, and good, but because I like ice powers. And MAN, do those ice powers ROCK! I found that I used my ice powers more than anything else. I used ice grenades, the ice jump, the ice shard blast, and the ionic ice power. So, awesome. I must say incorporating ice/fire with electrical powers was a great new feature to the game.
Melee. Melee was really lame in the first game. In the second game however, the melee is AWESOME. You have this kick ass tuning fork that you pummel your enemies with, and with each hit, you have a combo meter that goes up, when it goes up enough, you press another button, and you go into this cinematic mini scene that finishes off the enemy your fighting, and it is siiiiiick. The melee while improved, did have it's faults though with finicky times with the controls, but overall, way better then the last game. As you progress through the game you can unlock abilities that your melee can do, for instance the last ability is, if your combo meter is fully charged, and you do that cinematic finsher move, then your energy meter gets fully charged, which was SO sweet! Okay that's enough of my inFAMOUS 2 melee-gasm, let's do it to it!
Story: 8/10
I found the story to not be NEARLY as intriguing as the previous game, because I felt as though all the secrets had been revealed, and I was now just dealing with the aftermath of the first game, this random character called "The Beast." I also did not like that a lot of my powers I had in the end of the previous game, I had to unlock in this game... Didn't make too much sense to me. I realize they like to make you work for your powers, but there were enough powers to last the game, that you should have started with what you had in previous game. The upside to the story is that the plot IS there, and there are more secrets and twists to be revealed as well. The addition of characters to the story that are super heroes was a really good addition to make the plot more interesting. Also, the emotions going on between you and your best friend Zeke with the tension of Zeke's actions in the last game carrying over, makes for some decent drama, sort of.
Sound: 10/10
The sound effects were on par with the previous game, and the soundtrack was just as good if not better. The voice acting was acted well, despite me not liking what the voice SOUNDED like. I really liked that a lot of the music was stylized to make it feel more New Orleansy, as the game does take place in a New Orleans inspired city, "New Marais." There was a lot more use with stringed instruments too, which added well to the darker tone of this game. And of course, the music was themed perfectly to what you were doing, chase scenes had the fast paced music, etc.
Gameplay: 9/10
The controls were even better in this game, and the additional powers were awesome, and upgrading various powers was a neat feature. The quick menu was not, and neither was the drastically changed character model of Cole. The melee was much more satisfying though, and gratifying with charging up your energy meter. The game will last about 20 hours also, with all the side missions and blast shard collecting. If you want to collect all the dead drops though that will take more gameplay hours. Plus, if you plan on playing the game again in the more evil way, then that's double the play time, so there is bang for your buck here. The only think keeping this from a 10 is the character model change, and the quick menu freezing game play, detracting from the immersion.
Final Verdict: 9.0/10
Should you get this game?
Absolutely. If you played the first game, then definitely get the second game, as it is a more than worthy sequel. And if you haven't played the first game, then you should not be reading this review, go back and read the first game's review and if you should play that game, THEN come read this review and play this game.
This game is rated teen for blood, drug reference, language, sexual themes, use of alcohol, and violence. (This game is okay for people younger then teenagers in my opinion. I don't recall any blood, or drugs. And the language is definitely PG worthy, there isn't any sex, just a smokin' hot friend of yours, there IS some beer drinking, but it is ONE scene, and it does look like it COULD be soda? The game is violent, hahaha, you are blasting everything with super powers!)
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