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// On :Monday, August 4, 2014
Infamous Second Son is an open world third person action game a lot
like prototype (Some people might hate me for this comparison…) which means
that it involves a lot of fancy power and destruction. Being one of the first
line up and one of the few exclusives for the PS4 in its early year, this game
has a lot to prove. So how does it fare in my standard ranking and evaluation?
As to
my normal way of reviewing (which is determined by how I previously write a
review, which is only one time), I will start by judging the story. After the
event of the first Infamous (which I will not bother explaining), the conduits
(people with power) are considered as outcast and are being captured and
contained by a group of government affiliated faction. The protagonist of the
game, Delsin Rowe are your typical rebellious young adult who due to some
incident, learned that he got the power to absorb the power of a conduit by
making skin contact with them. This however, leads to the predicament in which
the people in Delsin’s hometown to get ‘Stoned’ (hahaha) by one of the
government-employed conduit as they would not sell out Delsin’s secret to them.
This also leads to our protagonist’s adventure to take the power to control
concrete in order to restore the condition of his people. Throughout the game,
the player would choose how Delsin carry out his mean to accomplish his goal,
be it good or bad. Long story short, you could expect the typical hero story in
which the main character would find help, meet enemy, get powered up and win.
As always, this is where I would say that this is how the game do it well, and
boy, did it do well.
Infamous Second Son delivered its story by masterfully using the
Playstation 4 power to process by delivering a very believable acting by the
motion of its character, especially Delsin’s. His demeanor when he talked and
his body language clearly implied what he wanted to say. It also manage to
tread on the fine line without being too over-dramatic like some game in which
the character shakes around like they have ants in their pants or be too still
like a marionette. The deliverance of its character to the player are very well
done that they manage to pull us into the infamous world.
Smile for the camera~ wait...I did this already...
Next
up on the line is the gameplay and being an action game, it really needs this
to be good. Fortunately, it does. If there’s one thing that this game stands
out from others is that how it manage to make all aspect of the animation to be
real good. This, when translated into gameplay, equals a very fluid gameplay
that rarely felt clunky (or even if so). The combat in the game consisted of
using powers for both long and close range attack. Delsin, who will be owning
quite a number of powers throughout the game, can use this in a very stylish
manner. This means shooting smoke bombs or sniping with neons, to name a few.
He will also have the ability to glide through the air, neon-walk on walls and
even smoke through fences (it is very neat). Delsin’s melee is influenced by
the power he has and that, plus the color of his power, are determined by his
morality or karma, be it good or bad.
Expect a reddish neon and smoke when you are
bad compared to purple neon and orange smoke when you are good. Delsin’s shirt
are also matched to his choice of side, being red and symbolized as a blackish
goat skull when being bad or a blue and freedom-inspiring bird image as a good
guy. The people in the Infamous world would also react to Delsin’s karmic view.
They will hate and run away from you while speaking of how fearsome you are or
worship and praise you as you show them how good conduit is. This morality
system acts as a good way to control how you play, either being as destructive
as you can or being careful to who you shot and how you neutralize the enemy.
As an evil Delsin, you would like to cause as much chaos as you can before the
multiplier to do a very powerful attack ends, while as a good guy, you will need
to stop the enemy without killing them, taking time to aim for their legs and
never hit an innocent bystander. This system will act as a limiter in how you
play the game and that is a good thing.
When you're stressed, have a smoke. The good kind.
Onto
the graphics, it is top notch. Being a Ps4 exclusive, Infamous Second Son are
not limited by many, only the limit of the Ps4 itself. It manage to prove to
the world how powerful the Ps4 is. The game looked very crisp and the lighting
and shadow is very well done. The color is saturated and manage to capture the
feeling of the setting of Infamous Second Son. The power looked really fancy
and the effects on them are not half-assed. Either it be neon or smoke, it
really captured the essence. The sound is good though not really to the point
of very marvelous. Expect the stuffs sounds like it would do. The voice acting
is great but most of it are centered around Delsin. Thus, it is not really easy
to judge how the others’ quality of voices. Execution of the game is good.
Loading is not long, fights are fun, cutscenes are marvelous and missions are
not repetitive unless you count the beat these enemies (considering it IS an
action game). The frames even with the marvelous graphic is stable and never
really see a real slow down, just some minor issues.
Into
one of the most important part in this game as it is a single-player only game,
replayibility. To make it simple, think open world game, includes a big map,
got a lot of side mission, a good main story, many panoramas to take
screenshots, collectables and mini games. Well, and the main story is if you
stretch enough, maybe could be like… 8 to 10 hours? If you are rushing, 6 hours
is not that hard. Add the fact that you can play the story two times for both
good and bad ending, plus the many side missions you can play, it must be long
enough right? As much I wanted to say that it is long, in my first playthrough,
I finish the good ending and completed the game to 100% in under 12 hours
(probably less, 10 maybe?). Thing is, the side missions are a bit too easy
though it is worth playing through as it is enjoyable. The end game (at 100%)
are also very disappointing as by the time, enemies are scarce and the few
invasion is also quite easy compared to some of the mission’s difficulties.
Big and beautiful, but not much to do
In conclusion, I would say that though the game
is incredibly fun with great graphic and fun gameplay. The game itself lack the
replayibility value as the game is, to put it simply, not hard enough (believe
me, even on hardest it is easy to win with the right strategies, unless you put
a limit to yourself like not retreating or taking cover). My advice, rent it
(though the disc cover is beautiful, it might worth to buy it just to display
in the shelf). So, the verdict.
Pros:
+Great graphic and effects
+Fun and fluid gameplay
+Morality system determine how you play
+Powers are very beautifully done
Cons:
-A tad too easy
-A bit short with little replayibility
