It’s a rule: When you become a superhero, you get a city. Spider-Man swings all over Marvel Comics’ version of the Big Apple, Superman’s got Metropolis and everyone knows Gotham City is Batman’s town. In the best interpretations, the stomping grounds that heroes patrol reflect the core truths about them, and vice versa. So Batman can perch all gargoyle-like on a rooftop and just blend in, and people look heavenward to spy Superman fighting evil. When hero and city combine to form one big metaphor, the resulting entertainment feels richer as a result.
2009’s Infamous managed to work that algorithm really well. The open-world superhero game gave players Cole McGrath, an electrically powered everyman who represents the problem of power. The same explosion that granted McGrath his mojo nearly destroyed his hometown of Empire City, sending him free running and zapping across the burg trying to unravel the conspiracy behind it all. Infamous won you over not with its scripted narrative but with the stuff that happened outside of it.
As Cole reignited the electrical grid of Empire, he got more powerful and players could use that power to make him a savior or a subjugator. You could run around the city healing people with quasi-religious laying of hands or suck the bioelectric juice out of others to keep Cole strong. But, when Infamous 2 opens, it demonstrates that McGrath isn’t powerful enough, as a giant uber-menace called the Beast decimates Empire City. The sequel puts Cole on the hunt for even more power in the newer, even more vibrant city of New Marais.
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Infamous 2 makes a nod at the serial storytelling of its comic-book inspirations by letting you import your save from the first game. If you played the previous Infamous, the “Continue Your Infamous 1 Story” option gets you extra XP, extra energy storage and extra Karma. Karma is the continuum of good and evil your actions fall upon, and how you play affects the experience you get.
Anyone who played Infamous will notice the graphical upgrade in the Sucker Punch development studio’s second effort. Characters look sharper and more distinct, with animations that are smooth and full of verve. As Empire City was modeled on New York City, New Marais takes its cues from New Orleans. It’s got a jazzy, polyglot vibe that quickly unveils all manner of weirdness in its layers. Mutated monsters, other superhumans and a xenophobic militia are the enemies Cole must contend with as he gathers power to face the impending threat of the Beast.
You immediately get a bigger sense of scale while playing Infamous 2. New Marais is bigger, more varied and slightly seedier than most other game environs, complete with its own red light district. The overall feel is more pulpy than the first game and Cole is honestly a little jerkier. He’s less of a Peter Parker type now. You get a more reactive world this time around, both in the physics of it and in how people respond to you. Infamous 2 has its own little biorhythm going on and you can tweak it by playing dastardly or do-gooder.
Adventuring through the game feels extremely satisfying by virtue of the loads of reactive dialogue you hear and the way citizens run up to you in appreciation or by how they cower in fear. It’s something other open-world games lack but Infamous 2 uses this mechanic in excellent fashion.
This sequel comes across as very organic in design: Everything feeds into making Cole more powerful. Combat actions gain XP and influence Karma, while stunts–like shocking enemies off rooftops unlock powers. You buy those, in turn, with XP and players can manage their power-set on the fly, giving them more strategy as to how they hero their way through New Marais.
And what you do with that power affects your playthrough. Lots more content gets locked out in Infamous 2–meaning that certain missions won’t be available to you if you play Cole as good or evil–so you’ll have a legitimate reason to romp through the game at least twice.
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The partner characters will also be another reason to play Infamous 2 multiple times. NSA agent Kuo gets cryogenic ice powers while helping Cole on his missions, and he runs into wild child pyrokinetic vigilante Nix while in New Marais. While both characters have the same goals–like helping Cole shut down the racist demagogue Bertrand who rules the city–they’ll have different methods to help achieve them. They’re very helpful in battle, often racing ahead to engage enemies and set them up for combo moves that use both Cole and their powers. If you tire of Cole’s electroshock therapy, you can swap out his blasts for Nix’s fire powers or Kuo’s icy energy attacks.
Yet another way Infamous 2 varies things is with user-generated content. Players will be able to build their own missions and share them online. The tools will take a little getting used to but whether you want to create or play, the extra quests will make Infamous 2 a better value proposition than many other games currently on shelves. Sucker Punch makes amazing sandbox cities, up there with the locales in Assassin’s Creed and Grand Theft Auto games. It’s a shame (for Cole, at least) that they keep blowing them up, but they give players wonderfully chaotic playgrounds to move through. A simple fetch mission can turn into a crazy, emergent free-for-all where militia, mutants, rebels and the frost-wielding Ice Gang all fight against each other and our hero.
Moments like that are what mark Infamous 2 as an improvement in nearly every way. They give players an inviting architecture to dance around in and loads of intriguing ways to interact with it. The abilities at your command feel powerful and dangerous, and you’ll feel consequences at every turn depending on how you use them. Whether you play as a callous antihero or virtuous crusader, Infamous 2 delivers a must-play experience for PS3 owners.
Techland Score: 8.9 out of 10.