inFamous: Better Than Crackdown
We find out if Sucker Punch's hero/villian sandbox is a brilliant success or a shocking disappointment.Published 08/05/2009 at 9:00 by djhsecondnature
Free inFamous DLC Revealed [34]
PS Exclusives Get 17 Nominations In VGAs [20]
250gig PS3 Slim Bundles For The UK [32]
Sometimes the PS3 simply shines: whether it’s a nice new Firmware feature or an out-of-nowhere thing like VidZone it doesn’t matter – every now and again the big black box does something wonderful, and yesterday, when we all got to sample inFamous, was one of those moments. The game’s been around, bubbling amongst the hype but never really given it’s own limelight since the big E3 reveal, but now the game’s out in the open we can finally talk about it and share our feeling on the PS3’s next big exclusive.
So, a game based around an electric-man, oh the puns. But let’s put aside the jokes for a second and get what you all want to know out of the way shall we? It’s good. In fact, it’s shockingly good. Sorry. Whilst this was already on most of Team TSA’s radars and was a likely purchase, after a couple of us spent a few hours with the demo yesterday evening inFamous has changed into a confirmed day one buy for all of us; so unless the full game rapidly declines in quality after the sections we got to play, you should be expecting a glowing review.
Opening with some thunderous, ink-splashed graphical cut-scenes, we’re instantly excited. The demo itself is pretty good in length and does exactly what a demo should: provide a good taste of the full game. You’re given control of main character Cole with several powers already unlocked, battling through four different missions. Whilst your actions in the demo don’t have a huge effect on the outcome of your Karma, you are given the opportunity to test out both being a Hero and being Infamous. The differences between the two seemed primarily superficial, but without experiencing the changes throughout an entire campaign, it’s hard to tell.
Empire City – the San Francisco-esque fictional location – is fantastic; littered with plenty of convenient climbing points and a wonderful degree of variety whilst holding a good level of consistency. It’s filled with innocents and enemies alike and seems big enough to hold your interest for a while; with its sandbox nature allowing for enjoyment just from roaming around and causing immense destruction. InFamous isn’t the best looking game on the PS3 – realtime cut-scenes are ropey and poorly animated, but the scope is immense when you consider the wider picture.
Everyone wishes they had superpowers, the feeling of being special, being powerful, longing for meaning; well inFamous hits the target with critical effectiveness here. The destruction caused, the sheer power from your hands, the feeling of being superhuman, are all superbly channeled. Regardless of being good or evil, you feel truly powerful, a real bad-ass. Wait until you try the deadliest weapon, a sixaxis-controlled whirlwind of destruction and graphical prowess.
The controls are slick yet simple and at no point did I forget how to pull off a Thunder Drop or throw a Shock Grenade. A fundamental component of the gameplay is the free-running and climbing which for the most part works brilliantly. Now and again it may focus a jump to an area of the environment that you don’t want to go for, but the majority of the time it was smooth and best of all, it was fun. Being able to climb up the side of a building, turn, aim and unleash a voltaic assault before continuing the ascent to greater heights, is satisfyingly easy, especially when you don’t need to worry about falling off.
Whether the gameplay ultimately becomes repetitive or not will only be evident from the full release, but there was enough variety in the demo to suggest that this won’t be such an issue. Ultimately, inFamous is fun, the concept is great, it looks polished and controls brilliantly, and yes, from comparing demos alone it’s a better game than Crackdown, and we loved that game too. Electrifying.
Our thanks to SCEE for hooking us up with the means to get this one tested. From the sheer amount of PSN messages we got between us last night we’re fairly sure you’re just as keen to get your hands on this as we were, so we’re happy to remind you that the demo will be available to everyone on the 21st as previously stated.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
Boomshanks | 08/05/2009 09:11
Member
1297 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Shocking (sorry)
I was already hoping this would be a good game and it looks like it will be a day one purchase
wedgehog | 08/05/2009 19:50
Friendly
586 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Looks great.
Remember when Assassin’s Creed was so special and advanced with it’s climbing mechanic? Now with games like Infamous and Uncharted 2 it’s becoming the norm, just like like taking cover has evolved.
Argon123 | 08/05/2009 23:30
Member
242 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
true but uncharted 2 will be a million times better than infamous. looking at the videos of infamous he looks stupid climbing. getsonto a ledge does a silly from jump finds a ledge above silly from jump ………. its just so crap the way they have done it however uncharted 2 has been polished so he actually stays on the wall by climbing. not from jumping to get to a ledge a ft above his head.
oMega-W | 08/05/2009 09:11
Member
2447 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
They better not balls up the demo release for we peons.
hannes_truce | 08/05/2009 09:12
Member
2918 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
I cannot freakin wait for this.
hannes_truce | 08/05/2009 09:16
Member
2918 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
I love that in the ‘recent comments’ section this story shows as ‘Infamous better than Crac’
Gastos84 | 08/05/2009 09:27
Team TSA: Writer
3873 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
I was just about to say that. Maybe they could utilise Infamous to weane people off drugs!
zander14rfc | 08/05/2009 16:57
Member
215 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
lol
Pixl1983 | 08/05/2009 09:18
Member
490 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Looking forward to getting my hands on the ‘high voltage’ game. Oh yes, I went there.
deepmenace | 08/05/2009 10:20
Member
263 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
you’ve nailed the point about the graphics. i’ve watched loads of ingame stuff and while not much is happening it looks very normal….maybe almost unfinished. there’s a roughness around the edges.
BUT! something will happen and 4 cars bounce into the air, first their suspension strains then they fly skywards, electricity pylons topple. particle effects and sparks and debris and reflections spin in all directions and suddenly it looks like a CGI setpiece from a hollywood blockbuster.
Paragonknight | 08/05/2009 10:33
Member
3 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Sounds really awesome. Only three weeks to go before I get to play the game.
slickhenry | 08/05/2009 10:54
Member
359 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
sounds good. already decided to pre-order.
just need to figure out if the special/limited edition comes with uncharted 2 beta-codes
clockwire_2009 | 08/05/2009 11:07
Member
55 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
i cant wait for the demo to come out 21. May!
RocketSOL | 08/05/2009 11:09
Member
544 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I ws thinking of getting this on day one. I may just do that.
Zuler | 08/05/2009 11:28
Team TSA: Writer
10496 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
Guys,how hard was the demo ? Did the demo have diiferent difficulty settings ? If the hard mode is doable,I will definitely be going for platinum. I love to get platinums on games I love. Heck, I wouldn’t have done KZ2 on elite if it was a shit game like eat lead or something
Alex_Assassin_08 | 08/05/2009 11:46
Member
749 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
god I cant wait for this shocker
Triggerhappytel | 08/05/2009 14:15
Member
387 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
This game is looking great and I really can’t wait for it. Two weeks until the demo then another week before the final release… good stuff. Putting my pre-order in now. I would buy it through ShopTo but I have credit to use anyway with Play.com, so I’ll just go with them.
LFC-FANATIC | 08/05/2009 16:53
Member
204 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
Darn, I can’t think of any good puns
Well it looks great, gonna pre-order now.
TheDeathAvenger | 08/05/2009 16:54
Member
1653 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
I have been really looking forward to this one. Glad to see that it has wowed you guys. Now i’m even more excited than before. I love games that I can spend hour after hour playing and not even get any further with the story because of the amount of things that can be done when you are roaming about. I loved playing Assassins Creed for hours on end and only killing guards, just thinking of ways to attack them and trying to predict the responses was something I found to be great fun.
Gamoc | 09/05/2009 18:40
Team TSA: Content Manager
1216 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Ha, I did that on Assassin’s Creed too
Rob92 | 08/05/2009 17:39
Member
1446 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Damn!
This is just making me want the game even more. I love these kind of games but my damn exams are gonna get in the way! Hmmm GCSE maths of infamous….
wedgehog | 08/05/2009 21:31
Friendly
586 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Get it after exams … not that long now!
Rob92 | 09/05/2009 22:07
Member
1446 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Another month or so for me.
I always go on about it but wish they were over lol