Infamous: Second Son Review

by Illusivebroker on Apr 19th, 2014

Infamous: Second Son is an interesting instalment in the PS4 line-up and to the Infamous series. While I personally never played the previous games, I know enough about the series to understand what should be expected from its newest instalment. Infamous: Second Son offers a fun and addictive experience that fully incorporates the PS4’s hardware and software; it’s just a shame that while the gameplay stands strong and firm the story and its moral themes don’t really follow through as strongly.

Taking place over seven years after the events of the previous games. Second Son follows the story of Delsin Rowe; a 24-year old Akomish Native America. After encountering a crashed conduit transport Delsin accidentally absorbs the powers of one of the conduits which in turn leads to a set of events which force him and his brother Reggie, to go to Seattle and absorb the concrete powers of Brooke Augisitine; the leader of the DUP.

The story seems to hold a simple premise to it during the beginning, while escalating in some areas later on throughout the game. While I do enjoy the story in some aspects it does as time feel underwhelming in some areas. The chemistry between Delsin and Reggie is cemented even better through the use of strong motion capture and acting with the likes of Troy Baker putting forward an excellent performance. But even with great acting and performances the story still seems to give off a rather lacking impact. It’s not bad by any means, it holds some decent and interesting concepts, and even so its concepts have been presented in other games before.  Considering this was one of the next instalments in the next-gen line up for PS4 it needed to have a great and detailed story to follow along with the high-end graphics and gameplay; it has the latter just not the former. The moral decisions of the game feel out of place in the sense of the storyline; most of the times it feels like they come from nowhere and only boil down to a black and white perspective with a similar if not slightly altered outcome. Only two of the moral choices felt necessary enough and those were ones which had you deciding the fate of a father trying to get back to his daughter and the other being to kill or capture a tyrant. I’ve seen moral choices been worked and presented in much better formats; Fallout and Mass Effect seem to hold a much more developed look on the choices which the player takes compared to Second Son.

However where the game really shines is in its gameplay. With the ability to absorb the powers of other conduits; Delsin can harness the power of Smoke, Neon, Video and Concrete. All these powers all have a distinct feel to them and feel powerful in their own unique ways. Neon offers you the ability to travel at immense speeds, casting out a trail of bright blue or red neon behind you depending on your karma. While Smoke offers you the ability to shift through air vents and glide into the air in a quick puff of smoke. It’s nice to see that each power has its way of getting you around in its own distinct way. While navigation is always fun with powers it’s the combat which feels extremely pleasant and enjoyable. Each attack with your powers feels strong and physical, each strike with smoke powers has Delsin swinging a long smoky chain in fast fiery flourishes. While Video has you wielding either demonic claws or an angelic sword that slash through the enemies. You can fire energy projectiles in each of your powers, while holding down R1 forces a much more powerful blast projectile. One of the best elements of the gameplay is the special Karma Bombs. These are the largest displays of Delsins powers as each one of these bombs forces a massive amount of damage to the enemies and environments around you. It’s really impressive to see Delsin fly up into the sky in a flash of red smoke and then crash back down and cause a enormous red explosion. Others like Neon lift all enemies up in bubbles as you fire constant projectiles at a fast rate which causes a rather large explosion.

Graphics wise; Infamous Second Son is a really nice looking game. Facial expressions are really detailed and help to express the characters feelings and emotions with some areas of the story. Powers are beautiful to look at as the offer some nice details and colours, with Neon being a bright flurry of red or blue lights all in beautiful high definition. It’s no doubt a very appealing game in both graphics and gameplay.

In the end Infamous Second Son suffers from a very common issue many games that share the same genre have; it’s just too short and underwhelming in terms of story and too bloated and repetitive in terms of gameplay. I get that Sucker Punch wanted to make playing this game interesting and in a sense they did succeed there. With interesting powers, enemies, a whole city to navigate and liberate and a whole lot of additional side-missions to do the game would be mistaken to having a lot to offer. But as most of these components are under-utilised and feel too shallow. You find yourself doing the exact same side objective in each single DUP district of the city over and over, which is very repetitive. I’ll admit that the touch pad implementation alongside the whole “spray can” motion you are required to hold your controller in are rather innovative. They show what these components are capable of in future titles in the PS4 line-up, but these are just early signs and feel like an implemented gimmick in order to make the game feel fresh in terms of interaction.

Please don’t mistake these criticisms as me hating the game, I found it very enjoyable throughout the course of my playthrough, but when you step back and look on what you experienced you have to be honest and realise what works and what doesn’t. It’s a good game and holds a lot to enjoy, but in a way it just feels underwhelming in some areas as well as repetitive and bloated in others. It’s definitely worth a purchase if you’re into the type of genre that Infamous belongs to, but if you didn’t like the previous games don’t expect this to change your mind on the it.

Rating: 3/5

Categories: Reviews