Review: Infamous

Release Date: NA: May 26, 2009, EU: May 29, 2009, AUS: June 4, 2009, JP: November 5, 2009
Developed By: Sucker Punch Productions
Genre: Third-person Action-adventure
Platforms: Playstation 3

It's hard to believe that I had shaky first impressions of Infamous. The shallow characters, dodgy animation and mediocre beginnings of the story were almost enough to put me off the game. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, as it turns out it has a lot more to offer than it first appears to.

Infamous literally starts with a bang, as the main protagonist, Cole MacGrath, unwittingly activates a mysterious object known as the ray sphere, creating a blast that devastates the surrounding city. Cole wakes from the explosion with electricity surging through his body, giving him superpowers. The city becomes a war-zone, with gangs of 'reapers' roaming the city causing as much chaos and destruction as possible. With his new powers, Cole is put to the task of retrieving the ray sphere by Moya, a government agent, while restoring order to the city along the way.

Characters are a strong component of a good story, so it's a shame that the characters in Infamous are so bland. Cole has little personality other than being a hardened badass with a gruff voice, and his comrades are no better. His best friend, Zeke, is your typical cocky (read: annoying) sidekick and the sort-of-ex-girlfriend Trish has almost nothing to contribute to the story other than being the mandatory love interest for Cole. The plot was making some effort at trying to draw me in with a few intriguing questions, but the one-dimensional characters and otherwise predictable storytelling held it back from becoming involving.

In fact, it's not until the latter parts of the game that the story picks up pace, and it wasn't until the very end that I was actually surprised by a plot twist. It was definitely becoming a good story, but sadly, it was too late. Similarly, the villains of the game were far more interesting than the good guys, and it would have been nice to see them have more screen time, especially in the early parts of the game.

Visually, it's a good looking game with a rich setting of apocalyptic urban blight. You get a good sense of the magnitude of the devastation as the citizens display feelings of despair and hopelessness, and the cityscape is littered with ruined buildings, broken roads and general rubble. The cut scenes are played out in a striking, moving comic-book style that fits in well with the game's superhero theme. Unfortunately, the presentation is marred somewhat by often inconsistent framerate and awkward animation. The characters move stiffly, especially when speaking. In a game that looks so great, the sub-par character animation sticks out like a sore thumb.

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cliched Gravelly Voice

Despite my qualms in the early stages of Infamous, by the time I finished the game, I was surprised at how much my opinion had heightened. What it may lack in story and presentation, it more than makes up for in gameplay.

The game resembles a third person shooter, only with electrical powers in place of guns. Many of the elements of a shooter are present, such as cover, grenades and sniping. Mixed in are a few extra powers that allow you to blast away in style, such as a shockwave that sends enemies flying and a ground slam that knocks down all enemies within a certain radius. Some of the later abilities are a real treat and it would be wrong of me to spoil the surprise. Powers can be upgraded with experience, gained from defeating enemies and completing both story and side missions.

The combat is the meat of the game and never really lets up from being challenging. As you progress and gain more of your powers, several variations of enemies enter the fray. When you move on to a new segment of the city, you face more powerful, tougher to kill versions of the enemies you've been fighting so far. Enemies will also use turrets and armoured vehicles to try and shred you into tiny pieces. The steady stream of new powers and enemies ensure that the combat never gets repetitive and remains enjoyable right to the very end.

If there's one niggle, it's that you sometimes find yourself in seemingly impossible situations that cause temporary spikes in difficulty. To then later acquire a power that's designed to combat the obstacle in question makes one wonder if the difficulty curve could have been somewhat smoothed by introducing these powers earlier. Sure, it's a lot more satisfying to develop a hatred for certain enemies before being handed the tools to fight back, but at the same time, if you've already learned to deal with them without the new power, it becomes relegated to a mere convenience.

The combat is aided by tight, responsive controls, which also shine while you're moving around the city and scaling buildings. One of the perks Cole gains from the ray sphere blast is the ability to climb buildings as effortlessly as some sort of arachnid-based superhero. Control-wise, it's as simple as tapping X and directing Cole to the next grab-able object on the side of the building. Along with the absence of fall damage, this makes traveling around the city a breeze.

Welcome to the Desolate Sandbox

The game follows a similar structure to that of the Grand Theft Auto series. You can roam around the city at will and progress the story by picking up missions in specific locations. At any time there can be one, two or three story missions on offer, along with a plethora of side missions. The main missions put you in various combat situations that get crazier, and as a result, more challenging, as you progress through the game.

It's during the main missions that the bulk of the "karma" decisions come into play. Infamous has a good/evil system, allowing access to specific powers based on your actions. Story-wise, these moral dilemmas aren't particularly deep or thought provoking. When a decision comes up, the action stops while Cole's inner monologue explicitly, and almost patronisingly, considers which option is good and which is bad, resulting in a moral system that's very black and white. With little effect on the overall story, it seems that the karma system is mostly a function of the gameplay. Since the most advanced upgrades to certain powers can only be obtained by becoming fully good or evil, the intended way to play is to choose your path at the beginning and stick to it. It does give the game some replay value, however, as there were a few choices I would have been interested in seeing the opposite outcome to.

The side missions are connected to small sections of the overall map and completion of each one removes enemy influence, in a similar vein to the gang warfare missions in San Andreas (though capturing territory in Infamous is permanent). While the types of side missions do repeat, there's enough variation to keep them from becoming stale, and the fact that they're short and simple means you can knock out a fair amount of them without straying from the main story path for too long. And with an obvious reward for completing them, seeing a side quest icon pop up on your mini-map is far too tempting to ignore.

Overall

Despite it's flaws and a mostly uninteresting story, Infamous is a game with a lot of potential for enjoyment. Though it starts out slow, stick with it and the precise controls and collection of awesome powers turn this game into 15-20 hours of entertaining, electrically charged mayhem. It's proof that sometimes, solid gameplay is all you need for a game to radiate greatness.

I'm happy to say that I'll gladly be going back for a second play-through in the near future, to explore the evil side of Cole.

Rating: 8/10

If you like the sound of it, Infamous will be on offer for free when the PSN Store returns!

Review: Assassin's Creed 2

Release Date: Playstation 3/Xbox 360: November 2009, PC: March 2010, Mac: EU: September 2010, NA: January 2011
Developed By: Ubisoft Montreal
Genre: Third-person Action-adventure
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Platform Reviewed: Playstation 3

Assassin's Creed 2 is the follow up to the original game of 2007. While the first game was generally well received for its unique assassin-em-up gameplay, many players cited repetition and blandness as its biggest shortcomings. The sequel aims to address this by cramming in as much flavour as possible to create a rich and exhilarating experience

It's advisable that you begin Assassin's Creed 2 with knowledge of the first game's plot. Either by playing through the original or reading a plot summary online, understanding certain elements that were introduced in Assassin's Creed is vital, as the sequel jumps straight into the story with very little explanation of what has transpired so far. Especially important is to know what the 'Animus' is, as newcomers to the series may be confused when they find themselves beginning the game as a character from present day rather than the assassin on the front of the game's case.

"How many of these things are there? ...Animuses? Animi?"

Assassins's Creed 2 continues to follow Desmond, a descendent of at least two assassins of the past. By entering the Matrix-esque Animus, Desmond is able to relive the memories of his ancestors to learn the locations of dangerous artifacts that his modern day enemies are seeking, as well as training him to become a skilled assassin himself. Upon entering the Animus, the story switches focus to 15th century Italy and a young man named Ezio Auditore, who finds himself wrapped up in a story of conspiracies and trains as an assassin in order to 'remove' those who seek power through murder and malice.

Engaging in Ezio's story is very enjoyable. It's the classic tale of a power struggle between corrupt political and religious figures and underdog freedom fighters. The game is structured into chapters in which you work with other characters to set up the assassination of one or more of the evil protagonists, concluding with the actual assassination itself. It introduces you to some characters you truly come to despise and lets you take their power away from them, along with their life. One might expect an assassin to be cold and soulless but Ezio is positively charming, cheeky and heroic. At no point does he show joy in his executions and he only kills those who have killed others. There's a fine line between a heroic assassin and a murderer and Ubisoft Montreal have pulled it off well. You're well aware that you're killing another human being but it always feels like every kill is justified and for the greater good.

Desmond, on the other hand, has next to no personality to speak of. It's clear that Ubisoft Montreal were trying to create a spin on a traditional assassin story by having someone from the present day relive memories of the past, but it feels entirely unnecessary. The story of Ezio is enjoyable enough that whenever the plot shifts back to present day, it's nothing more than an interruption. Occasionally, characters will also interject with hints while you're playing as Ezio, completely breaking the immersion. A game with a strong plot is supposed to make you forget that you're playing a game but here it almost feels like Desmond is playing a game himself. Thankfully, trips back to the present are infrequent so you do get to enjoy Ezio's story for the majority of the game. Still, it makes you wonder if the overall plot would have lost anything, or even been improved by, the absence of this odd story concept.

"I have plenty of outlets."

While there is the main story to follow, the game takes on a free roam style and offers you plenty of side quests to take part in. These are optional but they serve to break up the series of large scale assassinations with some variety. On offer are races over rooftops, courier missions, smaller assassination contracts and a plethora of treasure hunting with many collectables to find. Money can be earned by upgrading the Auditore family villa to bring in revenue which can then be spent on armour and weapon upgrades. Also of note are the assassin tombs that contain some of the more challenging climbing sections which eventually add the obstacle of timed doors and switches. The most interesting side quest involves locating glyphs left by another mysterious Animus user which unravels a completely separate side story and has you solving some fairly tricky Da Vinci Code style puzzles.

Controlling Ezio is mostly intuitive but can run into occasional issues. 15th century Italy has a conveniently traversable system of rooftops and simple free running controls allow you to glide along them with ease. This allows for some exciting chase scenes, intense stalking of targets in the streets below and is even just generally a more fun way to move around the city. All of the free running is bound to one context-sensitive button which keeps it from becoming too complex, but this is also where the problems come in. Holding the button to sprint also starts Ezio off on any climbable surface, so it can be frustrating when you're trying to give chase and you accidentally get too close to a wall, which Ezio then wastes time trying to climb up. It's also sometimes unclear which way you're aiming before performing a jump, which can result in Ezio leaping to his death for no apparent reason. These issues don't come up often enough to be a major problem but there's definite room for improvement.

The combat is also kept simple, using the standard lock-on, block and counter system that many third-person action games have employed in the past. Countering is a case of watching your enemies' movements and correctly timing your button presses. Attacks can also be dodged leaving your enemies open to your own attacks and there a few other neat tricks such as disarming foes and using their own weapons against them. The combat works well and allows you to slaughter hordes of guards like a pro but the simplicity is, unfortunately, its downfall. The problem is that the fights never increase in difficulty as the game progresses. You'll always be fighting the same types of guards and the same methods can always be applied to defeat them. It gets to a point where, instead of sneaking around groups of guards, you just rush straight into them because you can expect it to be an easy encounter.

Not limited to just the combat, there are also a number of mechanics that are introduced in the early stages of the game that are never really put to full use. In one of the earlier chapters you learn how to blend in with crowds to avoid the attention of guards when they're on high alert. Any less-than-legal actions you perform raise your notoriety in the city. Become notorious enough and the guards will start to look out for you which is when the blending comes in handy. It's odd, then, that you can play through the majority of the game without ever getting to this point. When your notoriety even slightly increases you get the option of tearing down wanted posters and bribing heralds to lower it. It's easy to keep your notoriety low enough that the blending mechanic is never really used outside of a few of the more sneaky plot assassinations. It's a shame as it had the potential to be a refreshing take on stealthy gameplay.

"To test it you would have to leap off a tower. Who would be mad enough to do a thing like that?"

What the game lacks in challenge, it makes up in style. This is an extremely well presented game that creates a great atmosphere of a bustling 15th century Italian city. Crowds of people go about their daily business and react suitably to your actions. Start climbing walls and they'll comment on how crazy they think you are. They'll gather round and watch any scraps you get into, but take an apprehensive step back if you try to approach them afterwards. Bards will run up to you and sing of your fame. All of these nice little touches work together to give the feeling of a living, breathing city. This is complimented by rich background noise, with the sound of people chattering which has a great effect of echoing off the walls when you're up on the rooftops.

The cities themselves are beautiful, boasting some intricate architecture. Climb to the top of one of the taller buildings and you get a really good sense of the sheer scale of the city. The highest points of the city can be used to survey the surrounding area and fill in a section of your map. Activate one of these viewpoints and the camera pans out and almost seems like it's showing off just how far you can see.

The script is well written, often witty and is accompanied by some exceptional voice acting. It makes a nice change that the accents reflect the setting of the game, unlike in past games where it's believed that everyone in the world (Persia, for instance...) had a 'British' accent in the middle ages. The game can be played with either an English or full Italian voice track. Even in the English voice track the accents are Italian and the characters switch between both languages frequently. Generally, the main exposition is in English and can sometimes be followed by personal speech expressing emotion in Italian. It never feels forced and only adds to the authenticity of the character.

"Nothing is true; everything is permitted."

Assassin's Creed 2 favours style over challenge. While players aren't going to have a hard time getting through the game, it's still a joy to play throughout. This a game well suited to completionists due to the large amount of things to do, even after the main game is completed. It's clear a lot of work has gone into making you feel like a skilled assassin of Renaissance Italy and it's definitely paid off.

Rating: 8/10