inFamous
(PS3; $59.99; Rated T for Blood/Drug Reference/Language/Mild Suggestive Themes/Violence; www.infamousthegame.com)
Despite the lack of a “Sly Cooper” game for the PS3- a title that I absolutely can’t wait to see make its way into High-Definition- Developer Sucker Punch, has given us the mechanics of their “Sly Cooper” titles wrapped in its stylish, edgy, and more Teen-oriented action-platformer, “Infamous,” exclusively on the PS3.
“Grand Theft Auto” defined the go-anywhere/do-anything style of sandbox gameplay on which many have iterated. The Xbox 360’s “Crackdown” took the “GTA” sandbox and gave it verticality by allowing players to bound up buildings and across rooftops in its super-cop shoot-em-up. “Infamous” continues to iterate by taking the width and breadth of city exploration, but adds moral choices and super-powers to give players the story of regular-Joe-turned-super-Joe and his evolution to become either the savior of the city, or its ultimate undoing.
Though moral choice is all the rage in gaming these days, “Infamous” experiences the same problem that other games have encountered when allowing the character to choose whether he will be good or evil: the narrative doesn’t support a character that acts truly evil and inevitably rewards doing good. The game’s primary mission structure is the same regardless of what shade of character players choose; regardless of how dastardly you would like your character to be, he’ll ultimately have to do “good” things that help the city from destroying itself because the narrative calls for it.
There isn’t a separate story line for each branch of morality, but I can’t totally fault Sucker Punch from not developing the game that way- doing so would have required creating at least two games, not one- an undertaking that isn’t likely to be financially feasible.
Nevertheless, the differentiation between “good” and “evil” powers in “Infamous” is satisfying and adds to the characterization of Cole, the protagonist, even if the different powers don’t have a direct effect on the narrative. Doing good allows players to play with more precision and subtlety which cause less collateral damage, enabling players to take down enemies without causing harm to civilians- thereby earning their respect and assistance from the police. “Evil” powers throw caution to the wind and create more wanton destruction than necessary- if some poor schlep gets in the way of arching red lightning from your hands… well.. he should have watched where he was going, shouldn’t he?
The sandbox nature of the game is a blast to explore, while the mission that advance the story are fun and varied. Sucker Punch never fails to deliver a striking and stylized game, and “Infamous” is no different- whether climbing up sky scrapers, gliding along power lines, or causing chain reactions that end up destroying a city block- the game and its cutscenes bring alive the comic-book nature of the story, making this a striking and edgy game appropriate for the high school crowd.