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| inFamous In-Depth Review; Written by yours truly | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 19 2009, 09:37 PM (461 Views) | |
| Juggernaut | Jul 19 2009, 09:37 PM Post #1 |
Omnibus Locis Fit Caedes
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Here's an in-depth review of inFamous, with an overall score of 9/10. inFamous, a game with something for everybody, whether you’re a cool guy who doesn’t afraid of anything, or you’re a total badass who makes everyone else afraid of you. Either way, you’ll love inFamous. This review will be split into two main sections- story and gameplay- and each will have sub-headings for other topics. Gameplay Mechanics: The main mechanics in inFamous are pretty straightforward. Grinding, flying, and street running are all things we’ve seen before in other titles such as Ratchet and Clank and Assassin’s Creed, and, overall, they’re pretty well executed in this game. They are not perfect, however, and are probably in need of a quick patch in the future. There are times when Cole will randomly phase through solid objects and completely miss grindable power lines. Nothing major, but it becomes an annoyance on more than one occasion, especially during the Satellite Uplink side missions. Other than that, the basis for the main mechanics is very easy to comprehend and very similar to those in Assassin’s Creed. One small gripe I have is how much momentum Cole picks up through his movements, such as grinding on power lines and rails. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if it didn’t make you overshoot targets as much. It’s not gamebreaking by any means, but if the amount of momentum Cole could pick up was reduced a bit, I wouldn’t complain. Controls The controls are pretty well mapped. It would be nice, however, if the developed had mapped the buttons for the combat roll/take cover commands to separate buttons, for battling the Reaper Conduits becomes quite a hassle when Cole is trying to take cover behind objects when he should be barrel-rolling out of the way Star Fox style. Another thing that would have been a nice convenience would be a button that allowed you to switch between train rails more smoothly. I know you can do it manually, but on turns, no matter how small they are, you’re more likely to be flung off the rails entirely than switch to the one adjacent to you. Karma Meter The bread and butter of the game, no doubt. The Karma Meter shows your appearance to the citizens of Empire City and has six available levels- Guardian, Hero, and Champion on the positive side; and Thug, Outlaw, and Infamous on the negative side. What’s truly impressive is how the citizens on Empire City react to you. They’re reactions range from cursing your very existence to placing themselves in harms way by throwing rocks at armed enemies to help you. It’s truly heart wrenching at times. The only problem you run into is that sometimes the citizens have a bad habit of wondering into the blast zone of a Shockwave or Grenade, and your Karma Meter takes a toll, but it usually isn’t enough to seriously damage your reputation within the game, which is a good thing. The game also prompts players to make drastic decisions regarding their Karma in “Karma Moments”, in which the player is given an ultimatum which is usually along the lines of “Do something good that’s a little bit tougher on you, or take the easy way out and let other people get hurt”. Your Karma will also influence the color of your lightning- Good Karma will give your lightning a sky-light blue color, and Evil Karma will give your lightning a malevolent red coloring. Graphics The graphics in inFamous are pretty spot-on for a game as big as it is. The frame rate is truly phenomenal throughout most of the game, hovering near 60 for the most part, and only dropping in instances where there are a large amount of objects on the screen, and even then, the quality is superb. The objects themselves probably aren't as well done as they could have been: things appear pixelly for the most part, and shadows look like badly drawn stick figures. Patchable, but for now, it's a little bit of a let down. My only complaint with the overall environment is that everything seems a bit... small. You'd think that a city name Empire City would have multiple high-level sky scrapers to scale... But, most of the buildings are large enough to perform a seriously impressive thunder drop off of, and that's all that matters. Powers The powers in inFamous are pretty simple to use and well varied. Your powers range from a simple lighting bolt that does moderate damage, to a full-fledged lightning storm that can kill several enemies in a single use. Another unique thing about the powers is that they’re influenced by your Karmic standing; for instance, what kind of upgrades and the effects of each power vary from Good to Evil. The powers all have their instances of usefulness at multiple points in the game, and all serve the purpose of dishing out an electrified can of whoop-ass. Combat The combat is truly enjoyable for the most part. There’s not much that comes close to shooting someone in the head with a bolt of lightning, or sticking a grenade on them and watching them frantically try to get it off, only having it detonate and take them and a few friends down. The main annoyance is where the enemies appear, and how many of them appear at a time. It becomes extremely aggravating to have several enemies appear in rooftops above you in several different directions. And they always know you’re there, too. Not only that, but enemies on the ground will follow you forever until you dispatch them or go to a different part of the city. These really only manifest during missions, and really a huge problem elsewhere, but when they pop up, they’re a real pain in the arse. Story: Characters The characters aren’t that varied nor impressive. You have Cole, the standard badass with super powers who has to make difficult choices regarding said powers. You have Zeke, who’s pretty much the standard fat, conspiracy loving, jealous sidekick to the main character. Then there’s Trish, Cole’s main love interest in the game. Now, I know everyone’s different, but I have no idea how Cole still loves this girl after all the grief she puts him through. She verbally abuses him at multiple points throughout the game, blames Cole for her sister’s death even after Cole explains exactly what happened and how it couldn’t have possibly been his plan to detonate a bomb, and above all that, she has the nerve to ask him to put his life on the line by taking on dangerous missions, all the while showing him no compassion or sympathy… Anyways, you’re also introduced to a character named Moya, an FBI agent whose mission it is to find an operative named John, who went missing prior to the explosion. She claims to be his husband, but, other than that, there’s not much on her. John actually appears later in the story, but his role isn’t very impressive, either. Dialogue The dialogue is truly my main gripe about the game. Even though Cole doesn’t suffer from the normal “trying to be a bad-ass” overtones most of the time, the conversations between the characters seem to be pretty laconic and uninteresting. They mainly just point out where to go, what to do, and who to kill; side missions often include a cry for help, though. Missions/ Side Missions The missions of inFamous tend to be pretty well though out and enjoyable, except for the side missions, which tend to be the same “kill these guys” or “protect these guys” scenarios. The main missions range from restarting power generators, to flying in an electrified basket swinging from a helicopter. The side missions are all pretty much for gaining enemy territory, with a side bonus of a power shard or two (or five). What’s truly impressive is how Karmic moments are even implemented into these missions, as well. Overall, inFamous is truly a game for everyone, from the evil bad-asses, to the goody-two-shoes. The game is extremely enjoyable, and the replay value alone warrants one or two more playthroughs. If you own a PS3, you must have this game in your library. Overall Score: 9/10 |
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| CopShadowGuy | Jul 20 2009, 09:18 AM Post #2 |
The Night
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I heard that you can't climb chain-link fences in that game... |
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| Juggernaut | Jul 20 2009, 06:28 PM Post #3 |
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Omnibus Locis Fit Caedes
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Indeed, you can't. |
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| CopShadowGuy | Jul 21 2009, 09:20 AM Post #4 |
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The Night
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...but you can climb solid walls? |
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| Stixx | Jul 21 2009, 03:48 PM Post #5 |
Dies first.
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Yeah. It's pretty funny. |
 
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| Juggernaut | Jul 21 2009, 06:39 PM Post #6 |
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Omnibus Locis Fit Caedes
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He's more or less just running at them and jumping up a few feet, not really "climbing". |
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| CopShadowGuy | Jul 22 2009, 09:09 AM Post #7 |
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The Night
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...but he can't do that with chainlink fences... |
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| Juggernaut | Jul 22 2009, 06:32 PM Post #8 |
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Omnibus Locis Fit Caedes
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Nope. I guess that just ruins the entire game, doesn't it? |
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| CopShadowGuy | Jul 23 2009, 09:09 AM Post #9 |
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The Night
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Yep...I refuse to play games where you can't climb fences! |
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| Juggernaut | Jul 23 2009, 06:44 PM Post #10 |
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Omnibus Locis Fit Caedes
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That'd be... almost every game in existence. |
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| CopShadowGuy | Jul 24 2009, 09:09 AM Post #11 |
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The Night
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You'd be surprised how many there are... |
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| Juggernaut | Jul 24 2009, 07:22 PM Post #12 |
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Omnibus Locis Fit Caedes
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I can't really think of any off the top of my head. But I know in Zelda you can't, so you'd have to give up that series :\ |
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| Deleted User | Jul 24 2009, 07:33 PM Post #13 |
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Deleted User
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You can climb the fences in the Fire Temple of OoT. |
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| Juggernaut | Jul 24 2009, 08:22 PM Post #14 |
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Omnibus Locis Fit Caedes
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Those aren't really fences, or chain-link in any case. |
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| Cosmic | Jul 25 2009, 05:49 PM Post #15 |
Resident Grammar Nazi
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They're close enough. |
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