inFAMOUS 2 Review (PS3)
Story
This game takes place after inFAMOUS's events. Cole is asked by an NSA agent named Lucky Kuo to to come to New Marais for new power enhancements. Cole needs the new powers to take down the mysterious enemy called the Beast, agrees and come to New Marais with his friend, Zeke. Before he leaves Empire City, however, the Beast attacks the city and Cole has to fight him off. Cole fails to defeat the Beast and lost almost all of his powers, and has to go to New Marais and find new powers to defeat the Beast.
Like the first game's story, this game's story is very interesting, and fairly entertaining to read. This game also comic-book style cutscenes for a number of cutscenes, which are quite well-drawn in many of the artworks. The in-game engine cutscenes also improve a lot, where many characters in the game have much more believable appearances, animations, and dialogue for players to watch and listen. Again, background story can be explored by collecting Dead Drops in this game, which can be obtained by stunning pigeons flying all over New Marais.
The characters are also fairly interesting, with many new characters included. Cole and Zeke are still my favourite characters, as well as Lucky Kuo, Nix and Bertrand. Other supporting characters do fairly good job in playing their roles in the game as well. Again, your choices and Karma alignment in this game will reflect Cole's personality throughout the game's story, as well as may affects the game's Ending.
Gameplay
This game is a superhero open-world game like the previous inFAMOUS game. You can use your electirc superpowers to take down enemies, climb buildings to your objectives, run along beams, grind on rails for faster movement, dodge rolling to avoid enemy attacks, and others. Not only Cole can grind on rails at rooftops or on wires, he can also do electric grind on certain vertical rails on buildings for fast ascension to rooftops.
Before you start the game however, you can choose to import your inFAMOUS 1 save data, which may carry over your past decisions in the first game, as well as giving you some bonuses such as bonus Battery Cores, which allow Cole to use his powers more often.
The game's map is separated by two main islands, with several areas separating each other as you progress in the game. Again, you have to power up the substations via story Missions to ensure that you can restore Cole's energy at these areas. Fighting in areas without their electricity restored will put you on heavy disadvantage, such as reduced electrical sources to drain from to restore Cole's health and energy. Thus, it is recommended to explore these areas after you complete the main story Missions associated with these areas.
This game has lots of main Missions, and most of all, they are mostly varied and will prevent you from being bored playing the game. Some missions require you to restore substations, rescue certain someone, find a hidden item, and so on. Although all of the Missions involve you fighting enemies, the process of completing each Missions feels more new and refreshed compared to inFAMOUS 1's mission progression. You may also take part in many of the game's Side Missions, where you can liberate certain parts of New Marais from enemies permanently. Not only that you will liberate enemies from certain areas by completing Side Missions, you may also obtain experience points for your Powers upgrades, and some may even reward you Blast Shards to increase your energy reserves. Blast Shards can also be collected by picking up from multiple locations in the game, which can be seen from your mini-map temporarily when using Radar Pulse, a sensory ability.
In this game, Cole has now access to more new powers in combat, and this time learning many of the new upgrades require you to do certain Stunts to unlock it. After unlocking it, you may spend your Experience Points to learn new abilities. You will learn new powers as you increase your Karma Rank appropriately, such as learning higher levels of Good related Powers or Evil related Powers in the game. Like the first game, you use your powers by aiming in third-person view and shoot it at enemies. Doing Stunts will reward you more Experience Points in this game as well. You will also learn new Powers as you progress in the game's main Missions.
Using your powers will drain Cole's energy reserves, which can be replenished by draining electricity from electrical sources such as generators and other electrical appliances. Draining electricity from these electrical sources will restore both Cole's health and energy, so it is useful to drain electricity during combat constantly to keep an upper hand in combat. Melee combat is also much improved in this game, as Cole's new weapon called the Amp allows him to take down a number of enemies in this game easily, even when fighting a group of them. As you strike enemies hard with the Amp, you can use special finishing moves that can take down human sized enemies easily. The Amp's finishing moves can be purchased via Cole's Powers menu.
Karma system returns in the game, and the system is mostly similar to the first game's Karma system. This time however, there are more ways to increase your Karma rank to either alignment easily. New to this game are the mini-events, which are noted in the game's mini-map. The mini-events may involve you healing a group of injured people, saving a police from a Blast Shard explosion, taking down a group of protesters, or other mini-events. Doing these mini-events will reward you Experience Points as well as increasing your Karma Alignment meter either Good or Evil, depending on what you have done. You can simply ignore the other alignment's min-events to pursue a total Good or Evil Karma playthrough easily, and these mini-events can serve a great way to increase your Karma Rank if you wish to do so outside of main Missions. Again, the main Missions also have choices for you to choose, which may affect the game's story and your Karma Alignment as well.
Although this game has only three main enemy factions, there are more variety of enemies to fought in this game, both during Missions and outside of Missions. Other than regular enemy soldiers and powerful Conduits that you will fight, you will also fight a number of monsters called the Corrupted. Not only that they are tougher than regular human enemies, they are also much more dangerous, where some of them can follow Cole to the rooftops and attack him. Also, some of Cole's powers may be ineffective against them, and some may have weakspots to be exploited. Defeating enemies will reward you Experience Points, and defeating stronger enemies like the Corrupted will reward you more.
Overall, the gameplay is pretty much improved in most gameplay areas compared to the first game, with one main exception: boss fights. This game's boss fights however, are very few, and they are not exactly creatively designed or fun to be fought in the game. Even the major final boss fight is a disappointment, where there is no special process to take down the final boss itself. The first game, hands down, has better boss fights. Some of the Side Missions are still repetitive, but less in number compared to the first game. However, this game succeeds in other gameplay areas, such as improved overall combat, more enemies variety, better progression, improved melee combat and learning new Powers, and more options to influence your Karma Rank.
Graphics
The graphics are improved, with character models look much nicer to look at. This time, the environment designs have much more variety, with more distinct looking areas that contrast each other. Cole's character model is also more nicely designed, with more nice and contrast appearance when he is in Good Karma alignment or Evil Karma alignment.
The character animations are also improved, with many of the characters look more natural during exploring in the game and during cutscenes, thanks to motion capture.
Sound
The soundtrack is good and appropiate enough, only laying during important scenes and gameplay sections in the game. Like the first game's soundtrack, the themes are not exactly memorable enough for you to hear all over again.
Voice acting is also great. Cole's voice actor is replaced by a new voice actor, and personally, I prefer this new voice actor's voice and performance compared to the first game's Cole's voice actor. Other voice actors did great job as well, such as Zeke's voice actor and Lucy Kuo's voice actor.
Replay Value
This game has good replay value. as you can collect all Blast Shards, collect all Dead Drops, complete all Side Missions, and even complete UGC (User Generated Content) missions done by other players. You may also attempt another playthrough with a different Karma alignment. If you finish two playthroughs with two different Endings and Karma Alignments, you will unlock all sets of powers regardless of your current Karma Rank, as well as rewarding you large amount of Experience points. You may also attempt to collect all Trophies in this game, and some of it can be challenging.
Conclusion
This game overall is much better than the first game, except for some areas. Boss fights is one major issue, as this game's boss fights are too easy, not challenging to complete and not creatively designed. Some of the regular enemies such as the Corrupted enemies do show up like boss fights and complete with health bar indicators, but I do not consider them as boss fights as they can be fought outside of main Missions. Minor camera issues during melee combat is an issue as well, as the camera kept zoomed in on Cole when he uses melee attacks, and it is a problem since players can't get better view on their surrounding during intense battles. Regardless, this game succeeds in many ways such as huge gaming content, better progression of learning more new powers, more ways to increase your Karma Rank, improved graphics, good replay value, good story, and likable characters.
Score
Story: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Final Score: 9.0/10.0 or 36/40.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Great story, with some good plot twists.
- Likable and well developed characters.
- Great combat.
- More variety of powers to be used.
- New Marais is a great place to explore.
- Good progression of learning new powers.
- More variety of enemies to be fought.
- More ways to influence your Karma Rank's alignment.
- Improved graphics, especially characters and environments designs.
- Better cutscenes than the first game.
- Improved character animations.
- Impressive visual effects, specifically Cole's superpowers.
- Good soundtrack.
- Great voice acting,
- Good replay value.
Cons
- Disappointing, very few, and not creatively designed boss fights.
- Minor camera issues during melee combat.
- Some of the Side Missions are still repetitive.
Take control of Cole again and take on the Beast.
This game takes place after inFAMOUS's events. Cole is asked by an NSA agent named Lucky Kuo to to come to New Marais for new power enhancements. Cole needs the new powers to take down the mysterious enemy called the Beast, agrees and come to New Marais with his friend, Zeke. Before he leaves Empire City, however, the Beast attacks the city and Cole has to fight him off. Cole fails to defeat the Beast and lost almost all of his powers, and has to go to New Marais and find new powers to defeat the Beast.
Like the first game's story, this game's story is very interesting, and fairly entertaining to read. This game also comic-book style cutscenes for a number of cutscenes, which are quite well-drawn in many of the artworks. The in-game engine cutscenes also improve a lot, where many characters in the game have much more believable appearances, animations, and dialogue for players to watch and listen. Again, background story can be explored by collecting Dead Drops in this game, which can be obtained by stunning pigeons flying all over New Marais.
The characters are also fairly interesting, with many new characters included. Cole and Zeke are still my favourite characters, as well as Lucky Kuo, Nix and Bertrand. Other supporting characters do fairly good job in playing their roles in the game as well. Again, your choices and Karma alignment in this game will reflect Cole's personality throughout the game's story, as well as may affects the game's Ending.
Gameplay
Use both old and new powers.
This game is a superhero open-world game like the previous inFAMOUS game. You can use your electirc superpowers to take down enemies, climb buildings to your objectives, run along beams, grind on rails for faster movement, dodge rolling to avoid enemy attacks, and others. Not only Cole can grind on rails at rooftops or on wires, he can also do electric grind on certain vertical rails on buildings for fast ascension to rooftops.
Before you start the game however, you can choose to import your inFAMOUS 1 save data, which may carry over your past decisions in the first game, as well as giving you some bonuses such as bonus Battery Cores, which allow Cole to use his powers more often.
The game's map is separated by two main islands, with several areas separating each other as you progress in the game. Again, you have to power up the substations via story Missions to ensure that you can restore Cole's energy at these areas. Fighting in areas without their electricity restored will put you on heavy disadvantage, such as reduced electrical sources to drain from to restore Cole's health and energy. Thus, it is recommended to explore these areas after you complete the main story Missions associated with these areas.
This game has lots of main Missions, and most of all, they are mostly varied and will prevent you from being bored playing the game. Some missions require you to restore substations, rescue certain someone, find a hidden item, and so on. Although all of the Missions involve you fighting enemies, the process of completing each Missions feels more new and refreshed compared to inFAMOUS 1's mission progression. You may also take part in many of the game's Side Missions, where you can liberate certain parts of New Marais from enemies permanently. Not only that you will liberate enemies from certain areas by completing Side Missions, you may also obtain experience points for your Powers upgrades, and some may even reward you Blast Shards to increase your energy reserves. Blast Shards can also be collected by picking up from multiple locations in the game, which can be seen from your mini-map temporarily when using Radar Pulse, a sensory ability.
Fight off a number of new enemies.
In this game, Cole has now access to more new powers in combat, and this time learning many of the new upgrades require you to do certain Stunts to unlock it. After unlocking it, you may spend your Experience Points to learn new abilities. You will learn new powers as you increase your Karma Rank appropriately, such as learning higher levels of Good related Powers or Evil related Powers in the game. Like the first game, you use your powers by aiming in third-person view and shoot it at enemies. Doing Stunts will reward you more Experience Points in this game as well. You will also learn new Powers as you progress in the game's main Missions.
Using your powers will drain Cole's energy reserves, which can be replenished by draining electricity from electrical sources such as generators and other electrical appliances. Draining electricity from these electrical sources will restore both Cole's health and energy, so it is useful to drain electricity during combat constantly to keep an upper hand in combat. Melee combat is also much improved in this game, as Cole's new weapon called the Amp allows him to take down a number of enemies in this game easily, even when fighting a group of them. As you strike enemies hard with the Amp, you can use special finishing moves that can take down human sized enemies easily. The Amp's finishing moves can be purchased via Cole's Powers menu.
Karma system returns in the game, and the system is mostly similar to the first game's Karma system. This time however, there are more ways to increase your Karma rank to either alignment easily. New to this game are the mini-events, which are noted in the game's mini-map. The mini-events may involve you healing a group of injured people, saving a police from a Blast Shard explosion, taking down a group of protesters, or other mini-events. Doing these mini-events will reward you Experience Points as well as increasing your Karma Alignment meter either Good or Evil, depending on what you have done. You can simply ignore the other alignment's min-events to pursue a total Good or Evil Karma playthrough easily, and these mini-events can serve a great way to increase your Karma Rank if you wish to do so outside of main Missions. Again, the main Missions also have choices for you to choose, which may affect the game's story and your Karma Alignment as well.
Although this game has only three main enemy factions, there are more variety of enemies to fought in this game, both during Missions and outside of Missions. Other than regular enemy soldiers and powerful Conduits that you will fight, you will also fight a number of monsters called the Corrupted. Not only that they are tougher than regular human enemies, they are also much more dangerous, where some of them can follow Cole to the rooftops and attack him. Also, some of Cole's powers may be ineffective against them, and some may have weakspots to be exploited. Defeating enemies will reward you Experience Points, and defeating stronger enemies like the Corrupted will reward you more.
Overall, the gameplay is pretty much improved in most gameplay areas compared to the first game, with one main exception: boss fights. This game's boss fights however, are very few, and they are not exactly creatively designed or fun to be fought in the game. Even the major final boss fight is a disappointment, where there is no special process to take down the final boss itself. The first game, hands down, has better boss fights. Some of the Side Missions are still repetitive, but less in number compared to the first game. However, this game succeeds in other gameplay areas, such as improved overall combat, more enemies variety, better progression, improved melee combat and learning new Powers, and more options to influence your Karma Rank.
Graphics
Improved and great graphics. Great character animations as well.
The graphics are improved, with character models look much nicer to look at. This time, the environment designs have much more variety, with more distinct looking areas that contrast each other. Cole's character model is also more nicely designed, with more nice and contrast appearance when he is in Good Karma alignment or Evil Karma alignment.
The character animations are also improved, with many of the characters look more natural during exploring in the game and during cutscenes, thanks to motion capture.
Sound
Good soundtrack and voice acting.
The soundtrack is good and appropiate enough, only laying during important scenes and gameplay sections in the game. Like the first game's soundtrack, the themes are not exactly memorable enough for you to hear all over again.
Voice acting is also great. Cole's voice actor is replaced by a new voice actor, and personally, I prefer this new voice actor's voice and performance compared to the first game's Cole's voice actor. Other voice actors did great job as well, such as Zeke's voice actor and Lucy Kuo's voice actor.
Replay Value
Good replay value.
This game has good replay value. as you can collect all Blast Shards, collect all Dead Drops, complete all Side Missions, and even complete UGC (User Generated Content) missions done by other players. You may also attempt another playthrough with a different Karma alignment. If you finish two playthroughs with two different Endings and Karma Alignments, you will unlock all sets of powers regardless of your current Karma Rank, as well as rewarding you large amount of Experience points. You may also attempt to collect all Trophies in this game, and some of it can be challenging.
Conclusion
A better game than the first one, with some major issues.
This game overall is much better than the first game, except for some areas. Boss fights is one major issue, as this game's boss fights are too easy, not challenging to complete and not creatively designed. Some of the regular enemies such as the Corrupted enemies do show up like boss fights and complete with health bar indicators, but I do not consider them as boss fights as they can be fought outside of main Missions. Minor camera issues during melee combat is an issue as well, as the camera kept zoomed in on Cole when he uses melee attacks, and it is a problem since players can't get better view on their surrounding during intense battles. Regardless, this game succeeds in many ways such as huge gaming content, better progression of learning more new powers, more ways to increase your Karma Rank, improved graphics, good replay value, good story, and likable characters.
Score
Story: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Final Score: 9.0/10.0 or 36/40.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Great story, with some good plot twists.
- Likable and well developed characters.
- Great combat.
- More variety of powers to be used.
- New Marais is a great place to explore.
- Good progression of learning new powers.
- More variety of enemies to be fought.
- More ways to influence your Karma Rank's alignment.
- Improved graphics, especially characters and environments designs.
- Better cutscenes than the first game.
- Improved character animations.
- Impressive visual effects, specifically Cole's superpowers.
- Good soundtrack.
- Great voice acting,
- Good replay value.
Cons
- Disappointing, very few, and not creatively designed boss fights.
- Minor camera issues during melee combat.
- Some of the Side Missions are still repetitive.
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