The platforming itself is very intuitive and is quite accessible regardless of your skill. It isn’t too taxing on the player, but at the same time it doesn’t feel ridiculously easy. Think of it as a mix of Crackdown’s urban environments and Assassin’s Creed’s platforming mechanics. Cole will automatically grab on to ledges whenever he is in range and hold to objects if you slip or miss a jump. To mix things up a bit, he can also “grind” over electric cables or railway tracks (an ability which is unlocked as you play through). All you need to do is just jump on these wires or railway tracks and Cole will automatically surf over them, showering sparks everywhere. These moves look ultra-cool in motion and can be chained together to form longer free runs. The sheer rush of seamlessly traversing through the environments is an incredible feeling and is one of the high points of the game.
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Later on in the game, Cole gains an ability which allows him to propel himself through the air using Iron-Man-like thrusters in his hands. This can be used to cross larger gaps or slow down Cole’s descent in order to land strategically onto certain areas. There is a fair amount of variety in the platforming and as a result, simply travelling through the city looking for the next mission marker can be loads of fun. In addition to that, there are “blast shards” to collect and Dead Drops (satellite dishes with hidden messages) to find. Blast Shards are collectible items which can be used to upgrade Cole’s battery cores in order to store more charge within his body (more on that later) and collecting them quickly becomes very addictive. If you’ve ever played Crackdown and were obsessed with finding every last one of those agility orbs, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.
So Cole can pull off some fancy parkour stunts and free run through the city but how does he fare in a fight? Once again that’s up to you as you’re given a dozen different ways in which you can engage enemies. inFamous is quite combat heavy. If you’re not jumping off rooftops you’ll most likely be fighting the hordes of enemies the game loves throwing at you. Sometimes you’ll be doing both at the same time. The combat is a whole new aspect of the gameplay. At the beginning of the game, you have a few basic attacks at your disposal. There’s the Star Wars like Lightning Bolt attack using which you can use to shoot electricity out of Cole’s fingertips and electrocute enemies and a shockwave attack to push enemies and objects away. You also have the rather cool “thunder drop”, which lets you unleash a devastating area of effect attack by jumping down from a height and holding a button during your descent.
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As you progress through the story, Cole will unlock new attacks and abilities. Most of these attacks are Sucker Punch’s take on your standard video game shooter arsenal. You have “shock grenades”, hand grenades made of electricity which can stick to enemies much like Halo’s plasma grenades, the Megawatt Hammer, which is essentially a rocket launcher-like attack with slow moving explosive projectiles, and a precision aiming ability which lets you zoom in on distant enemies and pull off “head shocks”, thus acting as your sniper rifle. You’ll also get some other truly devastating attacks which I wouldn’t like to spoil here.
Most of the attacks, apart from the lightning bolt, require electrical charge to execute. Cole can store electrical charge in his body by drawing electricity from power sources such as transformers, street lights, back-up generators, vehicles etc. You can increase the storage capacity of electrical charge by collecting the aforementioned blast shards. If all else fails, Cole can also give enemies the good old-fashioned one-two. The melee combat isn’t as polished as the other attacks but is generally useful while taking out single enemies who get too close. Pretty much all of Cole’s powers can be upgraded by spending experience points (XP) earned by defeating enemies and completing missions. The upgrades not only make the attacks stronger, but also add secondary effects such as automatically pinning wounded enemies down or launching them into the air.
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One of the coolest things about inFamous is the way you can link the platforming and combat elements. You can perform many of the attacks while you are free running through the environment. So you could be grinding on a power line taking out enemies standing on the roof of the connecting building with shock grenades before you jump off the roof and unleash a thunder drop on the group of enemies on the ground taking them all out at once. It’s extremely satisfying to combine various attacks and take out enemies with style. The controls feel just perfect and all your powers and attacks can be performed at any given time without any pop-up menus or selection wheels, which are commonly found in other games.
With all the various attacks and powers in your arsenal, there is a huge amount of variety in the way you can engage enemies and you will need to use every single power to get through some of the tougher scenarios. The enemies are generally pretty relentless, attack in large numbers and are usually pretty accurate when it comes to shooting. In addition to that, the game will also mix in some tougher enemies known as Conduits with the regular ones. These enemies are stronger and have various special attacks, often acting as “mini-bosses”. The combat is definitely not easy and often requires strategy. You simply cannot charge at enemies, er… palms blazing. Cole might have super powers, but he is extremely vulnerable to bullets and a single hit from a rocket launcher-wielding enemy can kill him. There were times when I had to play certain sections like a cover-based third person shooter. The game features a basic cover mechanic which works rather well and there are certain sections of the game that cannot be beaten without taking cover.
Next page: The verdict
