InFamous: Second Son Game Review

InFamous: Second Son is the latest game from the InFamous franchise. Developed by Sucker Punch Productions, the game features more exploring, more abilities, and a new story. PlayStation exclusive titles, like this one, are usually really good and so InFamous: Second Son better hit it out of the park if they want the community to keep buying these exclusives. This is a review on the game that will tell if you should spend your hard earned money on it. The review will cover the main parts that make any single player action-adventure game great: story, gameplay, graphics, and add-ons.

I never had a chance to play the first InFamous game, but I looked at some reviews and it was apparently really great. Let me tell you right now that this new game is pretty awesome but it does have its flaws. The game is an open world style which takes place in Seattle, Washington and it’s quite a small map. However, I have a friend who’s been to Seattle and has told me about all the little landmarks that are in the game that he’s seen in real life. Now I’m not only talking about the Space Needle but also minor things such as post alley gum wall and Sonic Boom Records store. So once I’m in Seattle for the first time, the landscape will hardly be foreign, which is super cool.

Now let’s get down to the main focus of the game, story mode. Throughout the story you play as just one character, Delsin Rowe. Delsin is a punk teenager who may be kind of a jerk to most people but genuinely loves those close to him. I won’t spoil too much but it turns out that he gets mutated and acquires super powers. He then uses those powers to take down the Department of Unified Protection, or DUP. The DUP took control of seattle so as to catch the mutated peoples. The main issue I had with the storyline is it wasn’t super engaging. I enjoyed almost every mission I played but it just wasn’t as hooked on the storyline as other PlayStation exclusives like Uncharted. The voice acting is very solid though. Even though the face animations aren’t very great, the voice acting pulls it all together with realistic passion and emotion. One thing I really liked about the story mode is you got to choose how you want to take down the DUP with choices. Now this isn’t anything new in video games but InFamous takes a different approach using karma. At any major point in the story, the game would let you make a decision that will either promote you with “good karma” or “evil karma”. And even though my first thought would be to go with good karma, after I looked at the evil karma option they both seemed beneficial in their own way which was really cool. You can promote your karma level by making good karma story decisions, busting drug dealers, and other helpful city actions. You promote your bad karma level by killing innocents and other immoral actions. There are also a few side missions that go along with the story. After you play select missions you have the option to take back a section of the city which involves taking out a large base filled with bad guys. These missions are really fun if you just want to knock out some bad guys. Overall, I’d give this game an 7.5 out of 10 for the story mode.

So it’s great if a game has a good story to follow but the experience of the game all comes down to the gameplay. If the gameplay is bad then the game is bad. InFamous: Second Son has some of the most enjoyable gameplay I have ever experienced in a third person action/adventure game. Delsin Rowe, the main character, acquires his super powers right at the start of the game. By the end of the game he can manipulate and control smoke, neon, video, and concrete. He can only use one of these abilities at a time though. It’s quite hard to explain how these abilities work but man, Sucker Punch really did something right here. The gameplay is fast, fluid, and a ton of fun. Each ability has a form of travel, melee attacks, ranged attacks and a super ability that charges up overtime. There is a rewarding upgrade system that allows you to upgrade each section of each ability. The system is awesome because you instantly see the results of spending hard earned upgrade points. The abilities also vary depending on if you have good karma or evil karma. When your karma is good your attacks subdue enemies. When your karma is evil your attacks kill enemies. There is also a visual difference between the abilities depending on your karma status. Like I said, the gameplay in this game is an utter blast and I never get bored of it. Because of this I give gameplay a 9.5 out of 10.

Now if a game has a great story and great gameplay it doesn’t matter too much if the graphics are awful, but it definitely is nice to have great visuals. The PS4 game console is capable of pushing out very respectable visuals for optimized games. InFamous: Second Son looks very nice on my 1080p 60” Plasma television so you should expect decent textures, great colors, good human and animal animations, but also bad facial animations. As good as the story is, whenever it showed a close up of someone’s face while they were talking it kinda drew me away from the whole game and critical thoughts flooded my head. But other than that the game looks beautiful. Day, night, dawn, and dusk all look phenomenal. Sometimes I’ll go back to the game to simply enjoy the world. I’ll get the neon ability and speed through the city with vibrant neon tube like streams coming off of Delsin’s body. I’d give the graphics an 8.5 out of 10

InFamous: First Light is the one add on to contribute to the game. The add on follows the story of a girl who was a mysterious character that you meet during the story mode. It is not a downloadable add on though because it’s a complete stand alone game that gives you a completely new story to follow. It’s really just it’s own game that adds a little extra to Second Son. The add on features all the same game mechanics, graphics, and excellent voice acting. In InFamous: First Light you only can control one of the four abilities used in the main story mode, neon. It can get a little boring just using the neon ability for the four hour campaign but Sucker Punch does add a few minor additions to the ability. The character you play as, Fetch, is also a more likeable character than Delsin Rowe. I’d give this DLC game an 8 out of 10.

To wrap things up, InFamous: Second Son us a wonderful action/adventure video game that carries you through an epic journey. The game excels in all areas that make a great video game. The Story is good the gameplay is great and so are the graphics. If you own a PS4 and haven’t played this game yet go and pick it up right now, you’ll love it. For the rating of the game as a whole, I’d give it a 8.5 out of 10.