inFamous: Hands On
We've been playing the final version of this PS3 exclusive, so how does it hold up?Published 21/05/2009 at 8:30 by nofi
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I’ll be honest, inFamous had pretty much slipped under my personal radar until we got our hands on the press demo (which will appear, in some form, on the PSN Store today) and whilst we got the full press kit a week or so back we were holding off until the final version popped through the door, which it did on Tuesday. Last night, then, was dedicated to playing as much of it as possible and although the desire was there to keep going, today’s surprise excursion from the relative safety of TSA Towers meant it couldn’t be a late night.
So, with a couple of hours gameplay in the bag, we thought we’d let you know what we think. No, this isn’t a review – whilst much of the commentary will remain the same throughout the game, we’re expecting plot twists and character development only hinted at from our current gamesave, so things could change. As it stands, we’ve completed the first block of missions, grabbed quite a few XP points and spent them on a smattering of super powers, because although the demo embellished Cole, your character, with quite a few enhancements from the go, in the full game you can’t even jump for the first couple of minutes.
The game starts with a bang, quite literally, and although all around you in chaos, this is actually a sedate little introduction and eases you into the game’s controls (via a nifty way of calibrating the right stick’s look orientation) and although is entirely linear the introduction section is nicely paced and well produced. What it does highlight, however, is the risible animation of NPCs, both in cut-scenes and amidst the gameplay proper – we’ll get back onto the subject of the visuals later but it’s fair to say that if you’re expecting Uncharted levels of finesse you’ll be really disappointed.
The animation loops are basic, badly interpolated and actually hugely off-putting, and whether that’s the fault of the rudimentary pathfinding or just dodgy AI, you’ll find that the only thing that moves convincingly is Cole himself – even major plot characters seem to shuffle their way towards you before rotating on the spot, Resident Evil style. Whether or not this bothers you will be entirely up to the individual, but against the massive scope of the environments it’s jarring to see cops, injured civilians and even your avatar’s so-called friends performing the same 2 second loops as they attempt to amuse themselves.
And then there’s the aliasing and the frame rate, which are both pretty bad. Yes, a certain amount of aliasing creates a clean, sharp image but when almost every straight line is jagged and the screen refresh is struggling to keep up it makes you wish the game had managed to grab another couple of months in the oven before being thrown onto the shelves. This, coupled with the aforementioned animation and some PS2-level modelling doesn’t make for a particularly attractive game, especially one from a exclusive title, albeit one from a (hugely talented) third party studio.
But then, thankfully, games aren’t measured by their graphics here at TSA, because as a game inFamous is rather brilliant. It starts slowly, yes, as all sandbox games do, but soon manages to wrap several plot threads together simultaneously whilst all the time giving you the player the chance to shape the outcome of the game which every way you wish. This is done via key Karma Points, in which you’re given a good or evil choice to make – your decisions shape your overall character and unlock specific power-ups and plot lines depending on what you do in these situations and although seem a little forced at first soon start to make perfect sense.
The controls, if you’ve not already played the demo, are also pretty much perfect, and the game eases you through them whilst all the time teasing the more powerful arsenal of moves via the in-game menus.
In terms of production inFamous shares many qualities you’d expect from a Sony published title – impressively fast loading (with no install), gorgeous comic book cutscenes, a steady torrent of well-placed Trophies and the overwhelming feeling that this is a PlayStation 3 game, and whilst the 360 would have no problems throwing around these kind of environments PS3 owners can rest assured that, as we’ve said before, this is a better game than Crackdown and deserves to be the smash hit that Sony want it to be. If you can get over the somewhat clunky visuals, there’s a deep, enjoyable game in there just screaming to take over a week of your life.
Once we’ve finished it, we’ll have the full review.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
Hodgi92 | 21/05/2009 08:37
The Thumb
1057 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
One thing, last word, last paragraph. Shouldn’t it be ‘life’?
But great all the same
gnipper | 21/05/2009 08:46
Member
709 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Been looking forward to this for a while – demo today (I hope) so quite stoked about that.
Good to see some balance in there re: animations/frame rates etc. Just hoping that as you progress through the game this becomes less of an issue as the game opens up and you are lost in the world.
Still, top stuff TSA
gazo69 | 21/05/2009 08:50
Member
1152 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Nice teaser before the full review, still looking forward to inFamous.
mcphatty | 21/05/2009 09:00
Member
260 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
Good to hear your first impression, gotta say this ones passed me by too and I’m currently stuck on Red Faction as my next purchase. A demo might change my mind, looking forward to your review.
cc_star | 21/05/2009 09:03
Team TSA: Writer
7847 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Glad the frame rate was mentioned, because in the demo I thought I’d found a secret ‘bullet time’ mode it was that bad.
Longevity is my biggest concern with this game, and for that only time will tell, but my suspicion is that 90% of my friends list will be playing it for a week, 40% for the following week, but almost zero the week after.
In most “go anwhere & do anything” games you can do exactly that, but with inFamous you are always the target of the Reapers with no means of disguise, this means you can “go anywhere & be shot at” unless you’ve previously cleared the area in which case there is nothing to do there anyway. It is a flawed open world mechanic.
Despite all it the negativity I feel towards it, it is thoroughly fun to play & great to control but I wouldn’t envisage anyone playing it after a week or two, which is odd for an ‘open world’ game.
Lorcan | 21/05/2009 21:46
Team TSA: Writer
1248 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
A lot of people are saying there’s at least a good 30 hours in there.
Once you’ve completed it once, you’re encouraged to do so again but this time to try out the opposite end of the moral compass you followed during your first playthrough.
Pixl1983 | 21/05/2009 09:09
Member
491 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
I’ve had real fun with this and I’d recommend the demo for sure. It’s a shame the city isn’t as thorough as GTA IVs but there’s no doubt it’s a goodun’. Day one for me.
Severn2j | 21/05/2009 10:01
Member
1553 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
I still cant decided how I feel about this game.. Ill try the demo tonight, but will definitely be checking reviews before I think about buying.
slickhenry | 21/05/2009 10:07
Member
360 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
Forgot about the demo coming out today, so I put in the pre-order a couple of days ago.
Guess I got bit by the hype, as it’s not in character for me to pre-order something unseen :/
Let’s hope it’s good
rht992 | 21/05/2009 10:13
Member
2833 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
ouch those first paragraphs sounded critical.
still I’m going to hold out hope that great gameplay over comes faulty graphics
i’ll just have to find out at around 5 today
Paragonknight | 21/05/2009 10:23
Member
3 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
The game sounds awesome. Although I don’t understand why the left some minor errors or so?
Paragonknight | 21/05/2009 10:26
Member
3 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
they*
coolgr33k | 21/05/2009 12:51
Member
418 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
they have a 50gb disk they can use, they should be able to make it really good. I have high expectations and if the graphics arnt good enough for me, thats enough to make me not buy it. Ps3’s power not being used properly.
Lorcan | 21/05/2009 22:29
Team TSA: Writer
1248 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
The size of the disk has no reflection on the quality of the graphics. The only thing that the increased disk size allows for is higher resolution textures.
The graphics depend on the games engine and tech. There will definitely be a lot in there and it will be taking full use of the system, it just won’t be in the ways you would immediately notice.
2ofclubs | 21/05/2009 10:51
Member
606 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
I pre-ordered this yesterday although I’m still undecided whether to make an actual purchase. The demo today will help my decision but I was wondering if anyone knows what the current verdict is between this and Prototype? It’s been a while since I’ve seen any decent comparisons between the two and it’s not long before Prototype emerges on shelves too.
coolgr33k | 21/05/2009 12:03
Member
418 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
has anyone from england got the demo yet, from ps store? I cant see it on playstation store? i want to try this game out!
RocketSOL | 21/05/2009 12:13
Member
544 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Happy to see both good and bad points about the game. I havn’t pre-ordered this yet, i wanna try out the demo first but it probably won’t be a day 1 purchase for me. Theres quite a few good games out this month, can’t afford them all!
coolgr33k | 21/05/2009 13:05
Member
418 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Prototype is similar except ps3 and xbox have it. Infamous looks more like my type of game, but infamous was made in less than a year. rushed?
Alex_Assassin_08 | 21/05/2009 16:24
Member
749 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
god that was negative…
kevatron400 | 24/05/2009 14:16
Don't call him Kevatron400.
1756 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Not really, it was well balanced, unless you missed the bit that said “as a game inFamous is rather brilliant”