Preview: Infamous

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, if you want to test a man’s character give him power”
Behold Infamous, the rival to Prototype in the open world genre. A game that plans to truly test your character and moral path. Using explosive electrical powers, the choice is yours to be the hero or the villain and to save what is left…or destroy it all. inFamous, as it’s a rival to Prototype, is yet another title that eGamer will be following closely during the course of its development.

[Credit to eurogamer.net for the screenshots]

Name: Infamous
Genre: Action Adventure
Players: 1
Multiplayer: TBA (to be announced)
Platforms: PS3 Exclusive
Release Date: Expected Q2 2009

Story
Many of you may know about two sand box superhero games that are being released this year. In my last preview I covered that of Prototype, and now it’s time to cover his rival in the business, Infamous, the game that has grabbed much interest while still lurking in the shadows not revealing much of itself.
As far as what’s been said, though, the main story revolves around an ordinary man named Cole. Not much is known about what he does or who he is, but as to what has been revealed the city he’s in becomes involved in a devastating accident – an explosion. The cause or nature of the explosion is unknown as of yet, but we can speculate that it could be nuclear or a dangerous, new chemical that wasn’t meant to be released. Anyway, the city is cast into ruins and every person within the blast radius was instantly vapourised…everyone except Cole. The after effects of the explosion result in Cole receiving extraordinary shocking abilities.
Unlike Prototype, Cole is on a quest to discover the cause and effects of the explosion and why he was the only one left unhurt.
In Infamous, the moral path is decided by the player, whether to save what is left of the three islands the game takes place on, or destroy it all.

Gameplay
Just like Prototype, Infamous is an open world game except this time with a moral path. There are not a lot of details out on the game, but there is enough to let you in on its gameplay. To start with, Cole isn’t a powerhouse monster as in Prototype. Since Cole was revealed to be an electrical-based superhero, the focal power here in Infamous is electricity. Every power in the game will be electrical based and there will be several powers to gain as you play through the game. The different and interesting point here though is that your powers will change and become stronger as the game progresses which means you won’t just gain new abilities and forget about the old ones. The powers you start with work very differently in the middle and towards the end of the game. In Infamous the focus here isn’t someone who is all powerful and Cole will have weaknesses and things he is unable to do. For starters, the player will be unable to come into contact with water as electricity reacts violently with it. Secondly the player won’t be able to use guns because they’ll explode in his hand. Basically every realistic aspect of electricity will feature in the game. From the few powers we’ve seen, Cole will be able to fire off lightning bolts, create static fields and fire an electrical pulse wave that sends enemies and vehicles sailing away from him. The catch here is that his powers will be able to be used for good and for bad. An example of good would be Cole electrocuting his hands and using them as shock paddles to revive a fallen civilian. And the bad would be pretty much obvious – just think you’re the business and blast everything you see.
One of the more interesting powers and similar to Prototype’s absorption is the Close Cognition ability. As said by Ken Schramm, manager of Sucker Punch the developers of the game, if you take the electrical impulses of the brain you’re supposedly able to read that in theory. This means that Cole will be able to read the minds of important characters by absorbing electrical impulses from the person’s head, thereafter gaining their memories of the last few minutes which could help to progress through the game and find out where you’re supposed to go next.

As I’ve mentioned already, the developers are promising to make electricity really feel part of the game which means every realistic aspect of it will be featured. The environment will play a big part in the use of your powers, so for example if you need a super charge, water can be used or other electric conductors, but this also means that you will be endangering yourself by getting into close contact with dangerous super chargers. It’s things like these that will definitely stand out in the overall experience.
The game plays from the standard zoomed out open world camera, but shifts into third person view when engaged in free aim combat, and it’s definitely trying to make the most of this as well as the open world environment, providing as much player interaction as possible. For example players are free to explore the game world at their leisure, but also able to use Cole’s skills to further their enjoyment. The environment is claimed to be extremely interactive, and so far this looks to be true. The player will be able to climb most buildings in a modern Assassin’s Creed type of way, scale on rooftops, ride on top of moving trains, explore and much more. The goal is to really make the player feel like an explorer and like they’re living in a real world. As far as the combat goes there will be ground combat, vertical and duck and cover combat which will integrate smoothly into one another.
On another note, Cole won’t have any partners or sidekicks but there will be support characters. Two have been mentioned so far, namely Zeke who is Cole’s good friend and Trish, his ex-girlfriend.
What has been mentioned of the mission structure is that there will be side quests such as saving civilians (or attacking them) and taking on the feared gang, The Reapers, who roam the streets causing trouble. The main missions to progress through the story will be held on the three islands the game takes place on.



Graphics/Technical
Taking one glance at this game will tell you two things. Firstly, the graphics are looking really great at this stage in the game’s production. The city is large and impressive, character models detailed and incredible special effects regarding the electrical powers. Secondly the city has a very dark feel to it, similar to that is if you’re playing in Gotham city. The city really looks alive and disastrous. Players will see beggars on the road, live in a crime infested environment, avoid or battle the ferocious Reapers and much more to fully draw you into the world. The city looks very convincing after the effects of the explosion and really looks like a hell hole – dark, unpleasant and uninviting and this is exactly the message the game wants to send. It seems a lot of effort was put into the look and feel of the game and from where I come from, the graphics are looking really pleasing at this point in time.

Highlights
- Play as Cole, an ordinary man who obtains electrical super powers from the result of an explosion
- A variety of electrical based powers to obtain in the game each with amazing visuals and special effects
- Large, interactive environment and free roaming ability
- Environment plays a big part in the game
- Use the Close Cognition ability to gain the recent memories of your enemy
- Save what is left of the ruined city, or destroy it all.

Last Words
Infamous is a dangerous rival to the upcoming Prototype. So far Infamous is looking set to blow our minds away. Between this and Prototype is a hard decision to make but as it stands, both are worthy of a lot of interest. Infamous plans to show us new ideas for the open world genre as well as provide a truly unique experience. As it looks so far, Infamous might just exceed our expectations. Look out for it in Spring 2009.