inFAMOUS: Second Son Review - Bright, but not great
Originally revealed alongside PlayStation 4 during the PlayStation Meeting held on February 20 2013, inFAMOUS: Second Son is the third entry in the franchise. Sucker Punch, who created Sly Cooper as well, is betting big on this title, and so does Sony to quench the growing thirst for new AAA games on PS4. After completing the game, I can safely say that inFAMOUS: Second Son should be able to do that, but certainly not for long.
The first thing anyone will notice about the game is its marvelous graphics. Simply put, Sucker punch did an outstanding job in this regard, squeezing the new hardware’s power with great results. Every aspect of the graphics screams next generation, from the clean image with no aliasing in sight to the incredible lighting and particle effects. Being a superhero game, obviously particles such as smoke were particularly polished, but perhaps even more impressive is the city itself, Seattle (a change from the fictional Empire City depicted in the previous games).
No matter the conditions (which are, unfortunately, fixed - there is no day/night cycle), Seattle is always beautiful. When it rains, it’s possible to see single droplets pouring in a realistic looking pool; with the sun shining, you can appreciate the high resolution textures all over the place and the nice draw distance. The frame rate usually feels quite smooth, with the exception of just a few occasions; however, the playable environment isn’t really that big.
In itself, this isn’t a significant issue as increased size does not directly produce a better game. However, the problem with inFAMOUS: Second Son is that it doesn’t compensate with increased depth; quite the contrary. As gorgeous as it looks, Seattle can’t compare in terms of AI “liveliness” to the best open world games out there, even though they have been developed for a lesser hardware. Yes, the crowd will cheer or cower from you (depending on your choice to be either a hero or a villain), but that’s pretty much the extent of the interaction with them. Just as an example, quite often the DUP (Department of Unified Protection - the bad guys) armored truck will be left in the middle of the road after dropping the guards; well, the other cars seem perfectly happy to be stuck forever instead of maneuvering around it, as they do in GTA V.
There aren’t even proper “dynamic missions”, such as those featured in GTA V or even Skyrim; the only concession is the possibility to cure (or kill) a wounded citizen, but it seems like even these appear always in the same spots.
inFAMOUS: Second Son redeems itself mainly with the pure joy of navigating Seattle with Delsin’s powers. This is very cool, especially when you gain neon and video powers, as smoke is the weakest when it comes to quick travel. With neon active, Delsin becomes a purple version of Flash, running and climbing buildings at light speed, but with practically no flying; video gives you the ability to fly instead, but only towards buildings with an antenna…
Overall, it’s a great opportunity to enjoy the amazing graphics of the game. Of course, Delsin’s powers also lend him a great deal of aid when fighting DUP, which is the primary goal, and a successful exploration of the environment leads to combat benefits as well. In order to augment his powers, Delsin needs to grab “source” fragments around the city; these can be found within the drones used by DUP to spy on citizens, so tracking them is a top priority to unlock various enhancements.
Combat is quite fun, mainly thanks to the powers and the destruction they bring forth. With smoke, you can create a grenade that effectively stuns enemies due to excessive coughing; it is very useful (and perhaps a bit overpowered) to subdue multiple enemies. Neon’s highlight is the ability to either kill with a head shot or subdue with a leg shot, while video provides temporary invisibility and even some distraction thanks to an angel ally (yes, you read that right). The problem is that AI isn’t terribly clever, and even enemy types aren’t varied nearly enough. Moreover, there are no defensive powers or parry/dodge moves; Delsin sucks it all up, until he can take no more, which means that the only combat nuance is….to run and hide until regeneration is complete, then go back and unleash everything in no particular order.
Once again, inFAMOUS: Second Son stops short of greatness because it lacks depth, even in combat. This seems to be, unfortunately, the overarching theme of the game. The story is interesting enough, mainly thanks to Delsin (voiced by Troy Baker, who manages another great performance here after The Last of Us and Bioshock: Infinite), a very quirky but funny type of super hero. You can choose to go either down a light path or a dark one, just like in the predecessors, boosting replayability somehow (even though most of the missions will play exactly in the same way).
There are a few side missions, such as a graffiti mini-game (Delsin is supposed to be a “street artist”) and a couple ones where you need to spot either a hidden camera or a hidden DUP agent, but it’s nothing substantial.