Day 20: inFamous 2
You know what's fun? Sandbox games! Those games that give you a big open world to either do missions in or just fuck around, yeah, those are sandbox games. How do you make Sandbox games even more fun? By adding superpowers of course! Enter inFamous 2.
Set after the first inFamous game, inFamous 2 follows Cole MacGrath, his friend Zeke Dunbar, and an NSA agent Lucy Kuo as they travel to New Marais to defeat an entity known as The Beast with a Ray Sphere that Kuo has been working on. Upon arriving to New Marais, Cole and company end up getting tangled into the business of a corrupt politician known as Joseph Bertrand and his Militia, and he eventually runs into a woman known as Nix who wants revenge on Bertrand for killing her family. Now Cole and company have to put an end to Bertrand's treachery while also preparing for The Beast's arrival to New Marias…oh and there's also something of a coronavirus like plague that's threatening the lives of millions, that's something to be aware of too. A lot going on in this game.
New Marais is an interesting overworld, being based on New Orleans. They even have an area known as Flood Town which is based on the areas of the city affected by Hurricane Katrina. It's a big city overworld with missions to do, a lot of side things, blast shards to collect to gain more power, and some rather funny Easter Eggs to other video games in the city's Red Light District.
I'll be honest, I haven't played the first inFamous game but from what I've heard the enemies suffer the same problem as the first Uncharted game did with their enemies. By which I mean the enemies are annoying as fuck to deal with due to the pinpoint accuracy of their attacks. I'm here to report that from what I've experienced with inFamous 2 the enemies aren't all that bad to deal with. Sure you get the occasional Ice Titan but nothing too bad. So if the cheap enemies from the first game are true then, boom, already something is improved from the first game.
One thing I definitely do know about the first game is how it operates on a karma system. Doing things in the overworld like helping injured civilians, stopping muggings, rescuing people from the Militia, or defusing bombs can net you good karma, while beating up police officers, stealing blast shards from civilians, and taking out protestors and street performers can net you bad karma.
Certain story events also add to your level of karma. At certain points in the game, you must choose to either side with Kuo, who will give you more good karma, or Nix, who will give you bad karma. Furthermore, depending on who you originally side with will determine what type of powers Cole gets beyond his electric attacks. Siding with Kuo will give Cole ice powers, while siding with Nix will give him fire powers, and you can unlock more abilities as you progress through the game, and more attacks to unleash havoc on Bertrand's Militia, the Corrupted, and the Vermaak 88…or you could just wack them with your melee weapon The Amp, whatever works.
The last thing I want to talk about with this game is its characters, more specifically, the chemistry between Cole and Zeke. Again, I haven't played the first game so I can't say much about their friendship there, but due to their chemistry in this game I can believe that they are true friends, especially since Zeke is always ready to help Cole out in his quest. I could bring up their tranquil moment of watching T.V on the rooftop which just shows two friends hanging out amidst some chaotic events, but I'd rather bring up two separate moments:
There's one mission where Cole gets captured by Bertrand's goons, and here comes Zeke who takes the Militia on by himself and wins! This leads to one of my favorite interactions in the game
Cole: Hey, uh, Zeke…I've been treating you like shit. I'm…I'm sorry man.
Zeke: I screwed you over pretty hard back in Empire. Forget it, man.
Cole: No. You've always got my back. Thank you.
Zeke: Look. I don't call you 'brother' because I like the way it sounds.
Both Cole and Zeke are aware of the mistakes they made and own up to them, and Zeke views Cole as if he were a brother. That's pretty awesome. And then there's what happens when you get the Good Ending. After Cole sacrifices himself to destroy The Beast, Zeke takes his body back to Empire City and gives us these final words as the game draws to a close.
Zeke: I wanted to say goodbye to him alone. He was my best friend, and now he was gone. Sometimes, I hear folks talking about Conduits and humans like they're totally different. That's bullshit. Because there ain't nobody with more humanity than Cole MacGrath. I love you brother…and I'm sure going to miss you.
Zeke and Cole have one of the best friendships I've seen in any video game…which makes it all the more sad when the two end up fighting in the Evil Route. Yeah, I have yet to play inFamous 2's Evil Route and I'm not sure I'm ready to given this is a thing. The other characters are all very memorable and likeable in their own way…except for Bertrand just…fuck that guy.
With fun and engaging gameplay, a big overworld to explore, interesting and at some points heartwarming story (If we're taking the Good Route that is), and likeable characters, inFamous 2 is a game that will be famous in the PS3 library.
