iHaveNet.com
Video Games: 'Infamous 2'
Online Breaking News Headlines Single Source to Headlines Breaking News Current Events Top Stories. Find out what is happening in News & the World. Check out iHaveNet.com for the latest news & current events articles plus Movie Reviews, Wolfgang Puck Recipes, NFL Previews Analysis and Politics. Your Single Source to News Articles, Current Events & Reviews.
  • HOME
  • WORLD
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Balkans
    • Caucasas
    • Central Asia
    • Eastern Europe
    • Europe
    • Indian Subcontinent
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • North Africa
    • Scandinavia
    • Southeast Asia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States
    • Argentina
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Benelux
    • Brazil
    • Canada
    • China
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Hungary
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Ireland
    • Israel
    • Italy
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Mexico
    • New Zealand
    • Pakistan
    • Philippines
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • South Africa
    • Spain
    • Taiwan
    • Turkey
    • United States
  • USA
    • ECONOMICS
    • EDUCATION
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • FOREIGN POLICY
    • POLITICS
    • OPINION
    • TRADE
    • Atlanta
    • Baltimore
    • Bay Area
    • Boston
    • Chicago
    • Cleveland
    • DC Area
    • Dallas
    • Denver
    • Detroit
    • Houston
    • Los Angeles
    • Miami
    • New York
    • Philadelphia
    • Phoenix
    • Pittsburgh
    • Portland
    • San Diego
    • Seattle
    • Silicon Valley
    • Saint Louis
    • Tampa
    • Twin Cities
  • BUSINESS
    • FEATURES
    • eBUSINESS
    • HUMAN RESOURCES
    • MANAGEMENT
    • MARKETING
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • STOCK MARKETS
    • Agriculture
    • Airline
    • Auto
    • Beverage
    • Biotech
    • Book
    • Broadcast
    • Cable
    • Chemical
    • Clothing
    • Construction
    • Defense
    • Durable
    • Engineering
    • Electronics
    • Firearms
    • Food
    • Gaming
    • Healthcare
    • Hospitality
    • Leisure
    • Logistics
    • Metals
    • Mining
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Newspaper
    • Nondurable
    • Oil & Gas
    • Packaging
    • Pharmaceutic
    • Plastics
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Shipping
    • Sports
    • Steelmaking
    • Textiles
    • Tobacco
    • Transportation
    • Travel
    • Utilities
  • WEALTH
    • CAREERS
    • INVESTING
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • REAL ESTATE
    • MARKETS
    • BUSINESS
  • STOCKS
    • ECONOMY
    • EMERGING MARKETS
    • STOCKS
    • FED WATCH
    • TECH STOCKS
    • BIOTECHS
    • COMMODITIES
    • MUTUAL FUNDS / ETFs
    • MERGERS / ACQUISITIONS
    • IPOs
    • 3M (MMM)
    • AT&T (T)
    • AIG (AIG)
    • Alcoa (AA)
    • Altria (MO)
    • American Express (AXP)
    • Apple (AAPL)
    • Bank of America (BAC)
    • Boeing (BA)
    • Caterpillar (CAT)
    • Chevron (CVX)
    • Cisco (CSCO)
    • Citigroup (C)
    • Coca Cola (KO)
    • Dell (DELL)
    • DuPont (DD)
    • Eastman Kodak (EK)
    • ExxonMobil (XOM)
    • FedEx (FDX)
    • General Electric (GE)
    • General Motors (GM)
    • Google (GOOG)
    • Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
    • Home Depot (HD)
    • Honeywell (HON)
    • IBM (IBM)
    • Intel (INTC)
    • Int'l Paper (IP)
    • JP Morgan Chase (JPM)
    • J & J (JNJ)
    • McDonalds (MCD)
    • Merck (MRK)
    • Microsoft (MSFT)
    • P & G (PG)
    • United Tech (UTX)
    • Wal-Mart (WMT)
    • Walt Disney (DIS)
  • TECH
    • ADVANCED
    • FEATURES
    • INTERNET
    • INTERNET FEATURES
    • CYBERCULTURE
    • eCOMMERCE
    • mp3
    • SECURITY
    • GAMES
    • HANDHELD
    • SOFTWARE
    • PERSONAL
    • WIRELESS
  • HEALTH
    • AGING
    • ALTERNATIVE
    • AILMENTS
    • DRUGS
    • FITNESS
    • GENETICS
    • CHILDREN'S
    • MEN'S
    • WOMEN'S
  • LIFESTYLE
    • AUTOS
    • HOBBIES
    • EDUCATION
    • FAMILY
    • FASHION
    • FOOD
    • HOME DECOR
    • RELATIONSHIPS
    • PARENTING
    • PETS
    • TRAVEL
    • WOMEN
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • BOOKS
    • TELEVISION
    • MUSIC
    • THE ARTS
    • MOVIES
    • CULTURE
  • SPORTS
    • BASEBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • COLLEGES
    • FOOTBALL
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • OLYMPICS
    • SOCCER
    • TENNIS
  • Subscribe to RSS Feeds EMAIL ALERT Subscriptions from iHaveNet.com RSS
    • RSS | Politics
    • RSS | Recipes
    • RSS | NFL Football
    • RSS | Movie Reviews

'Infamous 2'
Robert Errera

HOME > VIDEO GAME REVIEWS

 

Video Games: 'Infamous 2' video game review
'Infamous 2'

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Warning: This review contains spoilers for the first "Infamous."

One month after the events of the first game, "Infamous 2"puts you back in Cole's shoes as he seeks to become stronger, leaving you to decide whether he saves the world or destroys it.

Cole MacGrath: the courier-turned-superhero/villain after a package he was sent to deliver (containing the Ray Sphere) exploded with him in the center of the blast. The result was an enormous crater in the middle of faux-New York City, dubbed Empire City. Cole is what is known as a "conduit", a person who can channel the Ray Sphere's radiation into supernormal abilities. His power is to create, conduct and manipulate electricity. He can shoot balls of lightning, hover on the static in the air, push enemies back with a wall of electricity and even toss timed electric grenades. And that was just the beginning. Throughout the original "Infamous," Cole developed heightened powers based on his karma standing.

But while you can certainly change your moral standing for the sequel, the game doesn't want you to. You're urged to import your previous karma standing, making "Infamous 2"not only a franchise sequel but a character sequel, as well.

The developers got me. After all, why start fresh when a character history already exists?

Continuing the "Infamous 1" story gave me starting bonuses toward the sequel, like extra energy for my shard collecting in the previous game and a Level 1 good karma bonus (out of 3) for my Jesuslike handling of the situations presented in the past. Though I'd initially planned on taking the "infamous" route this time around, I was going "hero" in this sequel and there was no turning back now.

Clearly continuing from the hero ending of the previous game, Cole starts with an upbeat disposition and acts and speaks like he downright cares about others, even in cutscenes that call for the player to make a good/evil decision. Because of his relationship with Trish, Zeke's actions, and the reveal of Kessler's identity in the first game, I was expecting a very grim Cole. But "Infamous 2" feels centered much less around actually being "infamous" rated, with less emphasis on choosing good or evil missions to play (until the last mission) and more focus on the progression of the main plot, as well as on the continued development of Cole as a character. His development works well with the new voice actor, who helps bring more emotion to the character this time around. Strangely, many of the evil mission options just feel wrong for the story, and I got the impression the developers want the player to lean toward a hero standing.

The game opens with a younger looking, remodeled baby-face Cole with a healed scar on his cheek jumping into an epic battle with The Beast, a man-shaped molten lava giant, as it wreaks terrible destruction upon Empire City as prophesied at the end of the first game. The prophecy stated that The Beast was coming and Cole needed to be much more powerful to face it. This is the moment Kessler was trying to train Cole for.

While a great, epic, chaotic opening tutorial, the scene culminates in "God of War" sequel syndrome leaving Cole drained of his advanced powers after a fight that leaves him exhausted, weakened, and temporarily defeated. You do maintain your static thrusters (which allow you to glide in air) from the beginning this time, which is nice.

But a Dr. Wolfe in a fictional New Orleans might be able to help. Wolfe has found a way to enhance existing powers which will help him charge a device Wolfe created called the Ray Field Inhibitor (RFI) and take down The Beast. Cole's obsession with the prophecy combined with his defeat sends him on a power lusting mission to New Marais to meet Wolfe, where a fascist militia led by a man named Bertrand is on a rampage against "delinquents." By now, people have heard what happened in Empire City during the events of the first game and have also heard of the utter destruction The Beast brought to the city. Panic ensues as the city becomes aware the monster is on its way down the coast of the U.S., destroying all it can as it travels, and the militia uses force to maintain control.

The tracking of The Beast acts as a cool visual aid to your progress in the game. Throughout the 40 story missions the player will be told how many miles away The Beast is from New Marais, and the pause menu displays a map that charts its distance, giving you a stylish progress bar for the main plot.

But while fear is building, live-action news special reports play (and give misinformation) and the militia crushes protests, arresting anyone who steps out of line -- especially when Cole, misunderstood as "The Demon From Empire City" arrives. But these aren't even the biggest problems the town faces. A mysterious plague has hit the area killing people indiscriminately, and other conduits have appeared in New Marais. A new character named Nix, for example, has Night Crawler-like teleportation and the ability to manipulate and create what looks like oil -- flammable when used in conjunction with Cole's electricity. While you get to team up with her throughout the game, it is made clear that she is your evil choice for story missions: she craves destruction and vengeance. Kuo, on the other hand, a female NSA agent who is interested in Cole's powers and investigating Bertrand's connection to the Ray Sphere, is always the "good" choice for missions, as she shows calculated compassion when creating an offensive. Cole's best bud from the first game, Zeke, is also around to give advice and help plan, having made amends with Cole after his betrayal in the original "Infamous," however rocky. It's worth mentioning that there is one scene in the middle of the game in which Zeke and Cole chill out for an evening to have some "bro time" that is done fantastically, especially given all that's going on around them. Sucker Punch's directing really shines here.

But Cole and Nix are not the only conduits in town; there are also powers-induced people who were given their abilities through a machine that can transfer powers. These new enemies give way to many fights, and later on chaotic, warlike street battles that pop up randomly along the map: the militia is fighting conduits who are also fighting "corrupted" mutants that have been popping up around the city. Rockets, shotguns, machine guns, claws, ice, plus moves created by Cole's ability to team up with Nix and another conduit character creates an immense amount of destruction on a grand scale that will keep you moving, strategizing and throwing everything you have at your enemies (including cars), making this iteration really feel like a superhero game.

And that's where the game excels best: utter chaos and destruction. Cole has truly become a powerhouse. He's extremely powerful and not to be taken lightly. The explosions, coupled with the environmental effects like scaffolding crumbling from the weight of a blast, look and feel fantastic, further tempting the player to throw everyone under the bus by, well, throwing the bus on top of everything (actually, you cannot throw a bus but throwing cars is equally effective). You'll often feel like you're part of an action movie, especially with "Die Hard 4"-style attacks like blasting a car into a helicopter.

The new powers are not bad, though only a couple of them impressed me. Noteworthy is the addition of ionic powers, which let Cole gather ionic energy drops from fallen enemies to replenish an upgradeable ion gauge, allowing him to summon crazy-powerful environmental attacks that one shot most of the enemies on the screen.

And of course there's the story which, while not as big of a twist as the first game (no time-travel references here), tells a solid story with mostly natural character development and an epic end to the series whether Cole ends as a hero or infamous (the infamous ending could give way to a sequel but would be a totally different game).

While the story missions won't take you very long, there are plenty of side missions to complete as well as the new user-generated content (UGC). These are custom-created missions that can feasibly be in infinite supply like "LittleBigPlanet's," also giving way to a steady supply of XP toward powers upgrades. Of course, these have the potential to be masterful or downright terrible because of the complex level creator included. The missions are fully integrated in the map and appear as any other mission marker, only green.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Infamous 2." My only wish is that I'd played through as evil, but that's what a second playthrough is for, right? I'm looking forward to it.

 

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

 

Videogaming & Video Game Reviews

  • 'Infamous 2'
  • 'Fable III'
  • E3 2011 Showcases a Big Year for PC Gaming
  • Happiness Is a Warm Gun: Chatting With Emotional Robots
  • 'Fate of the World'
  • 'The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings'
  • 'L.A. Noire'
  • PlayStation Network: After the Fall
  • Value Proposition - PC or Console Games?
  • Complexity in 'Civilization'
  • 'Dragon Age II'
  • Creating the Baseball Simulation in MLB 2K11
  • Hear That Knocking Sound? It's PC Gaming!
  • 'Portal 2'
  • Saving the Universe One LEGO Brick at a Time
  • Synchronization Between Threads in the Infernal Engine
  • Thought Leaders: Eleanor Wynn
  • The Art of War: Shogun 2
  • Solid-state Drives Revolutionize Gaming
  • War Production: Chatting With Frank Pearce of Blizzard
  • 'Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime'
  • Darkspore Creatures Come to Life
  • Finding the Next Challenge in Visual Computing
  • 'The Sims: Medieval'
  • The Future of PC Gaming? A Personal Viewpoint
  • Explosion of Creativity: Power of Online Communities
  • 'Homefront'
  • Game Optimization for Modern Hardware
  • 'PixelJunk Shooter 2: The Belly of the Beast'
  • Pixels and Sand
  • Sneak Peek at DC Universe Online With Chris Cao
  • Thought Leaders: Orion Granatir
  • Combat Duality in 'Infamous 2'
  • 'Jikandia: The Timeless Land'
  • Exclusive Look at Homefront
  • GDC 2011: Sneak Peek of Battlefield 3
  • Talking Dragon Age II With Valve Software's Erik Wolpaw
  • Nathan Camarillo of Crytek Talks Crysis 2 and CryEngine 3
  • 'Two Worlds II'
  • 'Dungeons'
  • Peter Molyneux Talks Fable III and Commitment to PC Gaming
  • There's an App for That Game
  • Talking Tech Tactics With Football Manager 2011
  • 'Kingdom Hearts Re:coded'
  • 'Dead Space 2'
  • 2K Sports Announces 'NHL 2K11' for Apple iPad
  • 'Dead Space' for iOS
  • Why are Video Games for Girls so Lame?
  • The Muddy Beauty of DiRT 2
  • The Reality of Indie Game Development
  • Using Artificial Intelligence in Game Development
  • Top 10 Most Anticipated Video Games of 2011
  • Need for Speed Drives Back to Roots
  • Developing and Optimizing Games for Netbooks
  • 'Bejeweled 3'
  • Rolling Thunder, Analytics and Performance Drive Need for Speed World
  • Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters Challenges
  • Dude! Who Killed My First-person Shooter?
  • Racing to the Finish Line: Chris Southall Talks Total War and Sonic
  • The Force Remains Strong with LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
  • Unreal Engine 3 Brings Chadam to Life on Web Video
  • 'Pac-Man Championship Edition DX'
  • 'Infinity Blade'
  • TRON: Evolution -- Game Developers Go Hollywood
  • EA Sports Moves Graphics-rich Gaming Online
  • Humble Opinions: From The Sims to Indie Games
  • Meet Mr. Industrial: Justin Lassen's Music Machine
  • 'Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood'
  • 'Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem'
  • 'Time Crisis Razing Storm'
  • 'Arcania: Gothic 4'
  • 'Disney Epic Mickey'
  • 'Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light'
  • 'Ace Combat: Air Assault'
  • 'Game Dev. Story'
  • Epic Games Unveils 'Gears of War 3' Multiplayer Details
  • 'Castlevania: Lords of Shadow'
  • 'Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1'
  • 'Amnesia: The Dark Descent'
  • 'Enslaved: Odyssey to the West'
  • 'Valkyria Chronicles II'
  • 'Dead Rising 2'
  • 'Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep'
  • 'Halo: Reach'
  • 'Mafia II'
  • 'Scott Pilgrim' vs. Its Video Game References

 

Video Games: 'Infamous 2'

Copyright © 2011 CRISPY GAMER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

Recommend

Brought to you by Visual Adrenaline

This editorial content is brought to you by webroot

Search Powered By Google

Google Search   

Your Favorite Comic Strips Online

Daily Comics & Your Favorite Comic Strips Online

Your favorite comics strips Animal Crackers, Annie, Bound & Gagged, Brenda Starr, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy, Broom-Hilda, Dick Tracy, Gasoline Alley, Gil Thorp, Housebroken, Loose Parts, The Middletons, Pink Panther, Raising Hector, Sylvia, 9 to 5, Bliss, Bottom Liners, Love Is..., Pluggers all online at ComicStripNation.com

ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement

Your Ad Here
Your Ad Here
  • HOME
  • WORLD
  • USA
  • BUSINESS
  • WEALTH
  • STOCKS
  • TECH
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • SPORTS

Video Games: 'The Saboteur' - Xbox 360

 

  • Services:
  • RSS Feeds
  • Shopping
  • Email Alerts
  • Site Map
  • Privacy