#Infamous second son ign full#
#Infamous second son ign series#

agency, taking out bases and soldiers at a regular pace. Meanwhile you have to fight through the anti-superpower D.U.P. He hears about a Conduit and tries to find them to absorb their powers for use against the primary antagonist. The main story missions essentially revolve around Delsin preparing himself for the battle ahead. Of course, you're still really best off picking a path and sticking with it to max out your abilities, since some of them unlock at different karma levels. By making Delsin more charming and morally ambiguous, most of the decisions are understandable either way. Infamous has gotten some well-deserved flack for its binary choices in the past, but the karma choices in this one feel a little more earned. Those graffiti tags can be good or evil, to give the citizenry hope or fear. This is actually a pretty neat application and the art he produces is good for some laughs, but the novelty wears off quickly if you chase down all of the tagging points. Delsin's hobby as a graffiti artist is exercised by turning the controller sideways, shaking it to make the 'can' rattle, and then spraying into a stencil. Some contextual commands are uselessly relegated to swiping the touch pad when a button press would have done the job. If the power of the PlayStation 4 has helped the studio realize its vision in a visual sense, though, it did trip over some of its odder applications of the new system's qualities.

The visuals on the powers are just as impressive, to the point that I'm half-convinced Sucker Punch chose smoke and neon for their ability to play with particle and lighting effects.

#Infamous second son ign full#

The architecture looks vibrant, full of life, and it's really a sight to behold when swept over by rain, fog, or the orange glow of a sunrise.

#Infamous second son ign series#

Perhaps because the series has moved into the realm of real locales, or maybe because this location happens to be in Sucker Punch's backyard, Seattle just feels more lovingly crafted than cities in the other games. That presentation carries into the city as well. The faces are especially well-realized during these scenes, as the two communicate a lot through subtle non-verbal cues. His banter with his brother Reggie is always well-done, and the two share some genuine comic moments.

He's a bit of an impudent putz at the start of the game, fancying himself a revolutionary in the way you might expect from a spoiled teenager, but his arc lets him go through a believable journey to responsibility while hanging onto his rebellious side. Delsin, by contrast, is naturalistic and playful. Cole often came off like a scowling jerk even if you made the good karma decisions. One area Sucker Punch has seen definite improvement in, though, is characterization. So instead of differentiated abilities with freedom to swap at will, we get light variations on a similar pattern. Since you could have any of the powers equipped at a given time, it would feel unfair to run up against enemies while using a less combat-focused power, or to need to travel at speed with a less mobile power. Delsin can only use one power at a time, and swaps between them by absorbing them from the environment. These similarities seem to largely be a practical consideration of the gameplay. But why can I walk up to an ailing man and heal him with neon? Cole could heal citizens with his electric powers for good karma, which made a certain kind of comic book logic thanks to the existence of defibrillators. Sometimes the mechanics are so lifted from the previous games that they fail to even make sense in this context. Each has some minor variations-the speed or type of shot, or how it handles vertical climbs, for example-but the basic suite of abilities is barely distinguishable. The central conceit implies a vast degree of differentiation, but I was left disappointed by how each of the four powers play more-or-less the same as each other. A new hero with new abilities really shouldn't feel exactly like him, especially given that Delsin can absorb powers from other Conduits. Prior Infamous games starred Cole, who sported electric powers. The familiar feeling is a double-edged sword. In fact, it's all so immediately recognizable that it feels as if the series has hit a creative rut, even as the fundamentals remain solid. Firing off shots, lobbing bombs, and roaming an open city in Infamous: Second Son is as fun as it ever was in the prior two games. After two (and a half) games, Sucker Punch has the core of Infamous down to a science.