inFamous

Fun in places, but an uneven fusion of mostly familiar ideas. [July 2009, p.68]

There is more charm to inFamous than Cole's face and voice suggest, but basking in the glow of the end credits, there are also a lot of painful memories to recall; of too many missions that funnel you into shooting galleries, of difficulty spikes and enemy-spamming, and of staring at the upgrades page rather glumly, aware that for the most part you're only being invited to make things strike harder or across a broader range.

InFamous shows huge potential, but it’s ultimately held back from greatness by too-sticky controls and its surprisingly bland ruin of a city. It’s still fun, but there’s a lot of room for improvement in the strongly hinted-at sequel.

Recall your fondest sandbox memories: discovering The Truth, learning to fly, or climbing the central tower in Crackdown. There’s nothing like this in inFamous. Sure, there’s some nice boss battles, some great shoot-outs and, when it’s all said and done, a decent overarching story, but the moments, the single sections that must piece together to form a whole, are rarely that enjoyable and you certainly won’t be discussing most of them with friends around the watercooler.

It's difficult not to like inFamous. The open air feel more than makes up for the uninspired story, with repetitive quests and average boss battles, and the uneven quality of the graphics. However, the karma system is flawed and Empire City is hardly bustling with life, but at least the game is fun while it lasts. And the scale of the city is very impressive, especially when you perform a Thunder Drop from high altitudes.

At its best, Infamous is an amped-up Crackdown - a game about bounding across a cityscape, discharging your enemies however you please. Even if ropey execution impedes its appeal, Infamous still has this essential spark. [June 2009, p.88]

The tragedy is that inFamous contains flashes of something approaching brilliance, yet when we finished all that remained were memories of the cracks in its surface. [July 2009, p.112]

Undoubtedly a good game, Infamous can be a very frustrating experience at times, mostly thanks to the overly-precise aim of the enemies and Cole feeling far too weak and vulnerable at times.

It doesn't stand out on any aspect, as we were hoping it would, but it also doesn't do anything wrong. inFamous, on a really ironic way, lacks some kind of spark.

It never feels as though it's doing much more than going through the motions, and as a result, neither did I. Lacking the joy and spirit intrinsic to truly inspired projects, inFamous may have painted by the numbers correctly, but technical success is not the same thing as creating a brilliant masterpiece.

It is not an amazing experience which will change your life but a very competent open-world shooter with some good ideas and a few shortcomings in the execution. It's very easy to recommend as a rental since the game can be completed on a spare weekend and absolutely worth playing once.

Disappointing superhero sim, whose meagre set of powers prove to be far less exotic than you'd hope.