Infamous 2 for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

Allow me to begin by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed Infamous, and really only played it because it was offered for free as part of Sony's "Welcome Back" program. That being said, I am extremely happy that I played the first game, because if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have played this one.

In Infamous II Cole McGrath, now settled into his role as superhero/badass, heads towards the Louisiana City of New Marais, intent on strengthening himself to his furthest limits before his destined conflict with the Beast, a being whose sole intent is the absolute destruction of all life. Here we go:

+Storyline+

Paired with his two new, sexy female super powered companions Nix and Kuo, Cole finds that New Marais has a few problems of it's own, with Swamp Creatures, an overzealous militia, and a Mayor who isn't very happy about Cole's presence, or that of any Conduits, for that matter. What results is an excellent plot that gives you more than enough incentive to play through it on both the good and the evil side.

+Graphics+

Graphics wise, the game is a huge improvement over the first games, with a vastly improved engine that allows for some impressively rendered, high-def cell shaded visuals. The draw distance has been vastly lengthened, and the character models have plenty of detail to them. The games newly added in-engine cut scenes are well done, and lip-synced perfectly.

+Gameplay+

Cole has a new weapon and plenty of new powers this time around, with a new melee weapon called the "Amp," which is pretty much just a giant tuning fork, and a streamlined melee system, complete with brutal finishing moves. Cole can now do things with electricity such as flinging cars around magnetically, and halfway through the game expands his grasp of the elements with either Fire or Ice powers, depending on which path you take through the games plot.

Movement still feels about clunky and jittery, especially while climbing, however.

+Overall+

I'm giving this one a solid 9.6.

Personally I give Infamous 2 about a 7.5 which is by no means bad. The developers do a couple of things different with the game from the original and some of them work while others do not.

Story 6/10: In the first infamous there was a clear goal from the start of the game. It had the style equivalent to comic books and it worked quite well. However, in infamous 2 the story is extremely slow to develop into anything relevant. I'd also like to mention that taking a well developed dark gritty hero and 180 him into a sarcastic wannabe uncharted character is just a bad move. The game does pick up in the second act but that is roughly about 10 hours of bad story which is why it got knocked down from an 8 to a 6.

Graphics 6/10: I literally finished infamous for the 2nd time before playing infamous 2 and the graphics are a great deal LESS polished than infamous 1. The lightning is made to look flashier but it still does not hide that the game looks very unpolished in many sections (especially when you first start the game). Also this is a minor gripe but i've noticed quite a few buildings with the birds are straight up rips off of assassin creeds eagle buildings and that is lazy design. It was pretty obvious the graphics suffered a bit from deadlines when you see something like the shaking camera when you are running on the ground. That is just lazy design to stir adrenaline.

Gameplay 10/10: Despite problems above the gameplay is very much improved from infamous 1. A whole host of new powers, melee attacks are more useful ways to get around. As many people know infamous 1 kinda got bogged down by climbing buildings, well now there are certain pillars that electric propel you upwards saving some time. I also prefer how the regular electric shots drain your power supply. It varies the gameplay.

Overall infamous 2 is a good game that you should rent for sure. However, it is not a better game than the original due to bad story, graphics, and development issues.