Sucker Punch’s Ken Schramm said that it wasn’t just going to be powers that changed depending on who you favored in the game. About 25% of Infamous 2 changes if you go for order or chaos, locking players out of the storylines and narrative branches associated with either side. Whether you played as hero or anti-hero, Infamous 1‘s content only differed by 5%, said Schramm. Not only does this give you another reason to play through the entirety of the game again, it also creates real dramatic weight and urgency to the choices you make as you play.
Throughout the demo and play session, improvements in Infamous 2 jumped out at me. It continues to look much better than the last game and better still than the last time I saw it. The sequel’s included 3D cutscenes rendered in the game engine in addition to the 2D comic-book panel style interstitials of the first game. Also, I noticed that Cole sounded gruffer than the last game and Schramm said that they’ve brought in a new actor named Eric Ladin to do both the voice and performance capture for Cole.
Schramm also detailed a bit about the user-generated missions that will be coming to Infamous 2. Players will be able to craft Chase, Escort, Defense, Search-and-Destroy and Survival mission types. While the tools to make these levels will be robust, Schramm said not to expect anything on the level of Playstation cousin LittleBigPlanet 2, since that game was built from the ground up with user-generated content in mind. Still, the UGC initiative from Sucker Punch and Sony is a big one and should entice players to hold onto the game long after they’ve finished the main Story Mode. (Make It Your Own: LittleBigPlanet 2 Review)
The other good thing that comes from being a sequel is the chance to improve a franchise, and it looks like Sucker Punch is well on its way to doing exactly that with the new chapter of Cole McGrath’s adventures. Infamous 2 comes out exclusively for PS3 on June 7th.