Infamous: A Review

Infamous is an exclusive title for the PS3 released earlier this summer. The game is an open-world superhero venture, and easily the best game based around a superhero I have had the pleasure of playing.

You assume the role of hero, or antihero, Cole. The game opens with Cole, a city messenger, unknowingly delivering a bomb that is about to decimate portions of his city while simultaneously granting the man at the epicenter of the blast, Cole, with a powerful gift. After the blast Cole is able to able to emit electricity in an array of deadly forms and scale buildings with an ease that would even impress Spiderman. While your powers are meager at the onset of the story, you receive a plethora of additional abilities that increase your ability to do good or evil. Or evil?
As mentioned, Infamous is an open world game; the genre made popular and notable by the Grand Theft Auto series. Thus, as in Grand Theft Auto, a variety of options are open to you as you proceed as Cole through the story. The superhero aspect makes this array of potential option and choices to be made particularly interesting as your decisions impact whether you proceed through the game as hero or antihero. Each path has its own abilities to acquire granting the game a nice degree a replayability. Also, Infamous contains collectibles known as blast shards, which are scattered throughout the city and provide you with added experience points, think hidden packages. Yet, these collectibles are easier to find than their GTA counterpoints since one of your unique abilities allows you to locate any blast shards in your area by pushing in the left stick.

I have also been fortunate to be able to play Prototype, albeit on the 360. The two games are strikingly similar, especially considering their relatively close release dates. Without going into too much depth regarding Prototype, I will provide a brief comparison for any indecisive gamers. Both are open world and contain collectibles similar to hidden packages, yet Prototype does not offer a tracking system for these. For the casual gamer I imagine this aspect of Prototype. The graphics in Infamous put all but the cut scenes of my 360 version of Prototype to shame. While I am of the opinion that the madness and constant rampage that is Prototype is a more rewarding experience, Infamous does not lag far behind. Also, in favor of Infamous, the controls are much simpler, rewarding, and less frustrating than the controls of Prototype. This aspect should be considered by the casual gamer. I am inclined to say I prefer Prototype over Infamous, but this should not take away from the allure of the game to a potential buyer. It is simply my opinion.
All in all, Infamous is easily a game to rent and I would recommend any PS3 owner to head to the store to purchase this exclusive title, as you are lucky to have this game on the PS3. Games like Infamous and Killzone 2 are beginning to sway me away from my Xbox. The immediate future of console gaming, in my opinion, is drifting towards the PS3. Sorry Xbox owners, it looks like you are limited to Prototype.