Review | InFAMOUS 2

The Beast is coming. Ripping apart the United States on a path of destruction that ends with you. Your only hope is to become more powerful and strike it down. It’s basically your destiny.

This is how inFAMOUS 2 begins, and it indicates Sucker Punch’s determination to make a sequel that is bigger and better than the original. How successful they’ve been may rely on your opinion of the original game. inFAMOUS was a solid – but not flawless – dip into the superhero genre, and the sequel is mechanically and thematically similar. However, a few key improvements and additional features really make the difference.

inFAMOUS 2 opens with a very brief recap of the first game, and then barely speaks of it again. Knowledge of the previous game isn’t vital, but the developers do assume you played it through and those wanting the most from the story should probably do that first. Without giving too much away, some time has passed since Cole MacGrath gained electric superpowers and saved Empire City from a madman. A creature known only as “The Beast” appears and destroys the entire area, forcing Cole and his friend Zeke to flee across the country to New Marais – an analogue of New Orleans. With The Beast still coming, Cole has to find a way to get enough power to destroy the monster.

There is a tinge of sadness when you watch Empire City get wiped off the map, considering all the effort Cole put in to protecting (or controlling) the place in the original game, and it provides fantastic impetus for wanting to end the terror. That said, it’s hard not to be impressed by the city of New Marais. The environment looks fantastic and is overflowing with character. Each district has its own feeling, from the neon lights and stylish balconies, to the drowned streets of flood town. The latter strongly parallels the destructive effects of Hurricane Katrina, and moving through while saving citizens from muggers is surprisingly emotive. Attention to detail is high, as expected from Sucker Punch, with indivisual storefronts, general clutter and citizens going about their daily business as cole rockets past in a cloud of sparks.

Cole is once again the absolute master of parkour, and clambers around the city like a hyperactive cat. Climbing works essentially the same as the first game with the player merely needing to jump or fall and steer Cole towards a ledge or handhold to have him latch on. The system is just involved enough to make navigating the city a constantly enjoyable exercise in and of itself. At times the auto-targeting system can be a little twitchy, forcing you onto the wrong pipe or latching onto something when you wanted to just drop to the ground, but overall it is effortless.

Movement is only half the story, of course. As the resident superhero and freak about town there will be conflict. The immediate thorn in your side is Joseph Bertrand the Third, a southern gentlemen who recently took over the town with his militia. He and his thugs want to rid New Marais of anyone displaying super powers. They will come at you with guns, rocket launchers, miniguns, grenades and anything else on hand.

Complaints about a lack of enemy variety seem to have been taken to heart, as a range of bad guys will be on your case. On top of the Militia, there are hideous swamp monsters terrorising the populace, and even some ice-powered super soldiers.

Luckily you are more than able to defend yourself. Combat is roughly split into melee attacks and super abilities. Melee was a weak point in the original, but it is much improved here, thanks in part to a two-pronged electric stick called the Arc. You can lay into enemies and unleash increasingly powerful special finishers. The camera zooms in for a cinematic take during your beatings, which looks very cool but sometimes leaves you open to hidden attacks from the back and sides.

In addition to his standard lightning bolt attack, the new and improved Cole retains a few key abilities unlocked in the course of the first game. The return of his gliding, grinding and shock grenade abilities in particular are nice to see, and add to the feeling you aren’t just starting from scratch. As you progress, you can unlock increasingly grandiose attacks and abilities, such as picking up cars and hurling them through the air, or suspending enemies in mid air. All the new powers feel fun and powerful, really selling the idea of becoming a superhero. A favourite attack involves Cole creating a gigantic tornado which picks up any nearby enemies and decimates everything in its path. Later in the game, you can even choose to widen your range with ice or fire powers, which loosely represent good and evil paths.

Yes, the morality system is back. Yes, it’s still incredibly black and white, to the point of farce. At various point in the game you’ll be asked to make decisions which boil down to “save the lives of innocent, disabled, orphan puppies” versus “blow up a children’s hospital because it makes you laugh”. The choices are better integrated into the overall story, but they’re still a bit silly. Of course, that’s the nature of the superhero genre, and the alternate endings make it worth playing through at least twice.

Your mission stays largely the same, regardless of alignment, but within that framework there is still a hell of a lot to do in inFAMOUS 2. Main story missions are many and varied, with objectives ranging from killing everyone in sight, to escorting vehicles, to fighting hideous, truck-sized beasts that spit goo and smaller beasts at you while trying to eat your face. Beyond that, there are the side missions, which let you work to clear the city of scum and villainy. Aside from being a fun diversion, these missions also mean less enemies, which in turn makes your life easier. It also cleans up the city itself, making the already-beautiful New Marais look even more gorgeous. Beyond that, there are Karma Opportunities scattered around the city, which are little actions you can choose to take which will make you slightly more good or evil. Good Cole will want to heal injured civilians and defuse bombs, while Evil Cole will take out police patrols and scare the buggery out of street performers. All things considered, it can easily take around 20 hours to complete the game.

But that’s without even considering the the new User-Generated Content system. A powerful in-game mission editor, the UGC system lets players make their own missions and play those created by others. UGC can be ranked after playing, so the best missions will theoretically rise to the top over time. The system lets you tweak almost any aspect of a mission – objectives, enemy behaviour, environmental objects – and anyone with the time to learn can make missions on par with the included content. Only time will tell if the game’s community runs with the idea, but on the surface it makes for almost endless replay value.

inFAMOUS 2 is almost everything you could want in a sequel. The character driven story is entertaining and well-delivered, and the main game is an empowering trip in the shoes of an electric super-man. But even if there was no story at all, this would still be a damn fun game. Hours can easily vanish as you leap around the city of New Marais, throwing cars at monsters, freezing rednecks, creating tornadoes and electrifying innocent civilians. It’s also extremely solid technically, with gorgeous graphics and solid gameplay. Anyone not a fan of the first game might not be converted, but with so much fun stuff to do it’s worth checking out for everyone else.