Infamous: Second Son review

Infamous: Second Son is a third-person, open-world shooter, a solid genre but rarely one that inspires a fanatical following. Furthermore it’s the third iteration of a series that has sold well but never hit true blockbuster status. Despite all that, the game is garnering huge amounts of attention as it’s the first big release for the fledgling PS4 console, and one made by Sony itself through its Sucker Punch development team based in Seattle – where the game is set.

POWERING UP

In Infamous: Second Son (I:SS) you play as Delsin Rowe, a young Native American, with some very special abilities. For those not familiar with the series, there are strong parallels with X-Men. Normal people are developing superpowers and the government has set up the Department of Unified Protection (DUP) to round up these ‘dangerous’ individuals and incarcerate them indefinitely. Initially you leave your tribal homeland in order to help your people but it’s soon apparent that there’s a lot more going on.

Delsin is special because he can absorb powers from other super-powered individuals, known as Conduits. His first power set is Smoke and allows him to fire blasts of smoke from his hands, hurl sulphurous grenades and launch powerful missiles. He can also turn into smoke to dash towards enemies, zip through vents up onto roofs and even hover on flaming jets. In combination these abilities let him take on large groups of enemies and traverse Seattle’s skyline with ease.

Later in the game, Delsin absorbs additional powers, the first one being Neon. These allow for significantly different powers, as well as providing a range of weapons and movement abilities. Later power sets allow you to turn invisible and mind-control enemies. More impressive still is that each move set can be upgraded in numerous different ways by spending Shards that are left from destroying certain objectives. You can unlock whole new abilities, or variants on them, and upgrade current ones to be more effective.

Some abilities are locked into the games simplistic karma system, and are only available to you if you take the good or bad path through the game. The plot has numerous points where you have to make such decisions, two clear options are provided (good or bad), and your choice affects what missions you undertake to reach the next part of the game.

The choices aren’t very compelling, and we’d have thought most people will choose exclusively good or bad for their first playthrough and the opposite for a second run through. It’s hardly ground-breaking stuff, but it does add longevity.

THE RAINY CITY

The opening couple of hours are pretty linear, and work well for it. There are big set-piece fights, a huge road bridge that collapses as you try to cross it, plus you get to climb a local landmark and savour the views. From the top you can see all thirteen neighbourhoods that the game’s version of Seattle has been divided into.

The development team’s passion for their home turf is most apparent. We’ve never been to Seattle but after playing this we’d really like to. The city is expansive, nicely-detailed and has enough people and traffic to make it feel alive. It’s not really bustling, but this is explained by the fact that the DUP has the place under marshal law, so people are keeping off the streets.

There’s not much in the way of internal locations, and though they are sumptuously detailed and lit, they are essentially static. You don’t search them for items or fight in them and see objects being blasted this way and that.

Back outdoors, the DUP presence is everywhere too, from armoured cars patrolling the streets, to radar jamming towers, CCTV cameras and huge checkpoints with watchtowers and barriers. Keep a low profile by not using your powers and you can get by unnoticed. However, most missions usually ask you to clear the neighbourhood of a big DUP base or checkpoint before starting them.

SEMI SUPERS

Fighting the DUP is pretty good fun, though it can feel a little repetitive at times too. As well as the basic troops, the DUP use their own Conduit-powered troops, though these lesser-powered individuals aren’t natural-born Conduits like you. That said, they can use their abilities to bound between roofs, immobilise you with concrete, or use that material to armour themselves.

Combat flows nicely with ranged powers and melee combos fitting together smoothly, with the fighting quickly switching from rooftop level down to the street and back again. You have lots of health and you recover quickly, which can make you feel a little too invincible at times, especially given you can simply dash away and wait to heal up. We’d recommend the Expert difficulty level for confident gamers and series veterans.

Your powers also have limited use with a bar that runs down, and so need to be topped up from the environment around you. Smokestacks and burning cars do the job for your initial smoke powers, while Neon relies on you finding appropriate signs. This is a great idea as it makes the city a little more than simply a series of blocks to be navigated and fought over.

It’s tempting to compare Second Sun to Assassin’s Creed or even GTA, but here there’s a greater focus on fighting and shooting than either of those games. There’s little stealth involved and no vehicles to drive or weapons to wield except for your own abilities. That said, your broad selection of fighting moves certainly makes up for that. Surprisingly there’s no cover mechanic here – it’s more a case of getting stuck in than hanging back, so speed is very much your friend here.

The karma system does affect the way you fight. Stunned opponents can be subdued for good karma or executed for bad karma – simply press the button you want when close. If you build up a big enough ‘karma streak’ of one type or another you unlock a super move called a karma bomb that can really save you when you’re in trouble. The problem here is that it’s not forcing you to make an interesting decision, subduing or executing are essentially the same in terms of gameplay.

CONCLUSION

There are good set-piece missions, but much of the game consists of the same simple objective: go to this point on the map and wipe out its enemies. The open world element provides a fairly limited set of objectives too, which mainly involves destroying DUP command centres, fortifications, drones and cameras. Do enough of these and you kickstart a showdown battle for control of that district of Seattle, making the area safe and allowing fast travel back there at any time.

The game certainly looks next-generation, with some fantastic particle effects, detailed environments and a smooth frame rate. It even tries to make use of the DualShock 4 to some extent, using the built-in speaker for some sound effects and touchpad swipes for interacting with some objects. However, it doesn’t really feel like a next-gen game as there’s nothing here that you feel couldn’t have been done on the PlayStation 3, admittedly with less pretty presentation.

The plot is actually better than we’d expected from our preview. The banter between the brothers is certainly chuckle-worthy at times, and Delsin isn’t the whiny emo teenager we first thought he might be. In fact, he’s having a blast and it’s pretty infectious.

We enjoyed Infamous: Second Son, but it doesn’t really feel like a next-gen game. That accusation could also be laid at the feet of Titanfall, but at least that feels like something fresh, even if it’s not pushing any big technical boundaries. Four stars feels a little mean for such a polished and enjoyable title, but the new consoles need to start setting new standards. PS4 owners should welcome Second Son, but it’s not reason enough to head out and buy a new console.