nfamous: Second Son is a game that I'd avoid for the longest time. I'm a diehard fan of Cole and without him to me there was no Infamous. Even so the game still intrigued me and after starting to use my static bike again, I decided this would be a good one to play through on the bike.
To begin with my impressions of the game was somewhat mix. The controls were fantastic and the powers felt just as good as any other Infamous game. But Delsin felt a little bit like Troy Baker playing Troy Baker. This dissipated as time went on and that faded and his character became more believable. Even so I do wonder if Delsin is what they wanted Cole to be in Infamous 2 before the backlash (of which I was involved by sending a strongly worded email to Sucker Punch lol). As the game went on I did appreciate him and the other characters he has a strong relationship with, such as Reggie, Betty and Fetch. Making the Rowe family Inuit is a cool, especially for the brother dynamic and it sets up a good motivation for Delsin and what's at stake after the villain terminally disables several of them. In other words do I stop and nothing to gain power, defeat Augustine and abuse Conduits and Normies alike as Reggie would want "You protect the tribe". Or do I take the highroad, build a group of allies and set everyone on a path to freedom. The ability to absorb powers on touch via pure conduits is a great idea for a power and way to evolve the gameplay. It also sets up the potential to reset his powers in any future games considering they're not his natural power. When he absorbs the power he also absorbs their memories, otherwise known as "Sympathy Gate". But you do get a dope water colour splash comic cutscene similar to the first two games, which is always welcome. I love all the new powers. Smoke is dope and it's not just fire with a new skin. It stuns enemies by making them cough allowing you to subdue, you can blast rockets. All the other powers follow the same pattern of normal blast, rocket/beam/spears, grenade, shotgun blast; with the except of video powers which also includes an invisibility power. The major differentiator between the three are the movement abilities. Smoke includes a dash that moves through grates or bars and the ability to move through vents in buildings that will bringing you through to the roof giving you some airtime. Its fluid and fun and has fantastic synergy with the parkour early on in the game; reminding me of the ice launch. Video includes wings giving you the ability to fly for a short period; Concrete has a armoured dash and my favourite Neon has a flashing dash allowing you to run up walls and dash from building to build that you can upgrade to go forever. The movement is always a highlight of these games and reminds me of the better part of DCUO. I also love that he uses a Ghost Rider style chain as his melee attack, continuing the tradition of using random ass objects to fuel power. It matches his whole punk anarchist vibe as well having a chain wrapped around his arm. The melee attack augments differently depending on the power whether it be a smoking whip or straighten into a neon sword or video claymore. You can tell this game is a product of its time, a launch title that grossly overuses the touch pad in various unnecessary ways like the spray paint mini games across the map.
The story really centres around its villain as it always has, true to any good comic hero story. The government has given full power to a shady tasks force, removing rights and freedom, to arrest "bio-terrorists" seems like a natural and historical way to evolve the story after events of prior games. Augustine is the head of this imitative and after our first encounter she sentences many tribe members to their death by interrogating them to find Conduits. This sets the Rowe brothers on their path to absorb her powers and save the tribe, a pretty simple premise. Along the way you can influence others and decide if you want to corrupt or uplift them. At first she seems a little one dimensional, an evil tyrant using powers to torture, but as the game goes on all is not as it seems. She manipulates Hank, even though he has escaped many times, she doesn't put him down or lock him in a deep dark dungeon. She spares Delsin on many occasions and even asks him to join her. She also has no problem killing Reggie, RIP. Eventually its revealed that she did it all to create a Haven for Conduits, foreseeing that they would be killed by the military. She's basically Magneto, an ex-soldier gaining the trust of the government. Pretty much the plot of any X-men movie. She's no Kessler, but still a good enjoyable villain overall and somewhat relatable, an essential aspect of any good villain. I saw what they were going for with Delsin's libertarian ideals, freedom at the cost of danger as opposed to Augustine's security at the cost of control. Unfortunately the choice system at this point, like Mass Effect feels very outdated. Especially when compared to games like The Witcher 3 and BG3. The choices are between selfish or self-sacrificing with very little grey. Do you want be a hero or an arsehole? Not much of a choice. I understand what they're going for, as mentioned stop at nothing to save the tribe. But they do a poor job of reminding you of this in the moment and also hinting at any risk of not taking the darker option at the cost of the tribe. Even at the end you choose to expose Augustine for who she is, a fraud, or kill her. But you decided before she reveals her motivations, now somewhat relatable, without any opportunity to change your mind after learning this. The other character standouts are Reggie. The older brother struggling to remain the voice of reasons, when he realises he doesn't have the power in this situation to protect the tribe like he normally does. But he does try to guide Delsin in his own way and protect his brother. His sacrifice was one-for-one with Zeke and I think his character deserved a little better if I'm being honest. But that's only a testament to how good this character is. He's less of a goofball than Delsin and much more enjoyable to begin with. Lastly there's Fetch, on a revenge quest to avenge her brother, who died after they went on the run due to her being a Conduit and succumbed to drug dealers. You can accelerate her path or course correct but her character is just as enjoyable as Lucy Kuo as a partner in crime, and as a love interest. Sucker Punch know how to do those really with without them coming across as cheesy. She also gives you Neon, which is a closer runner up to lightning for my favourite power.
Last but not least the final boss deserves special mention. It's pretty lackluster, especially when compared to prior fights with the Beast or Kessler where Cole absorbs energy directly from thunder strikes in a storm. An absolutely epic spin on every way you'd recharged and gained power previously. The show down with Augustine is basically a rehash of the prior fight but with video power instead of smoke. Then you absorb her powers and learn them as you fight her in stone golem form, full cutscenes and awkward Delsin absorb scene interrupting flow of the fight and making it very awkward overall. It's kind of cool to dismantle her and her empire with her own power (including post game) but still a let down overall. Especially considering how emotionally charged the fight is after Reggie's death. It should have been a giant arena that requires you to use all four powers, each one being the key to a specific puzzle as you disable her defences and destroy her empire. Give us stone but ignore the rules, let us absorb a "mega power source" and get everything in one hit. Then we can just figure it all out at once and fuck it, make it over powered. While a little shorter than prior games it was still very enjoyable and I'm glad I got around to playing it. I would love to see a sequel where we play as both Delsin and Cole, and they can team up and bond over their lost brothers.
No comments:
Post a Comment