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Name: inFAMOUS

inFAMOUS is a game developed by Sucker Punch Productions, previously known for their Sly Cooper series of games on the PlayStation 2. Wanting a change from their previous stealth games they approached inFAMOUS from a completely different angle gameplay wise, but, they wanted to keep themselves in a genre they knew fairly well and so inFAMOUS was born. It's a sandbox game, think of it as a cross between the recent Spiderman games and the Grand Theft Auto games and you won't go far wrong. The game is set in the fictional Empire City which is split between three islands known as districts; you've got the Neon District, the Warren District and the Historical District each separated by water and connected via a bridge. The game is a mission based affair, where you can choose to do things at your own discretion. There are side missions that can be ignored from the main story, or you can distract yourself from the main game and take on some random mission which will help improve you statistics in one form or another.

The game starts with the lead character, Cole MacGrath, who as part of his bike messenger job, delivers a parcel into the Historical District; however, as the parcel is delivered it blows up and takes out six whole blocks from the surrounding area as it explodes. It's soon revealed that this parcel was actually a device known as the Ray Sphere which while harmful to most and causing a plague throughout the city imbues Cole with special electricity based powers. In the ensuing confusion, blame for the explosion falls onto Cole, the wrath of the city descends upon his shoulders with everyone assuming him being the one to blame, including his partner Trish. Trish's sister is caught in the blast and dies of a direct result, not knowing who to blame but, understandably angry, Trish takes out her anger on Cole. A quarantine is enforced on Empire City locking it off from the rest of the world, food is at a premium because no fresh supplies can get through, likewise for medicine and other basics. The explosion has also knocked out most of the electrical supply for the city also leaving the inhabitants of Empire City without power apart from some emergency backup generators. Criminal gangs waste no time in taking over the streets causing misery for the citizens of Empire City.

A frustrated Cole seeks refuge from the blame with a fellow courier called Zeke and this is where the game begins. You're introduced into your powers with some short tutorials revolving around powering up some generators with your Electric Blasts, then, destroying some mannequins which make for some good target practice, after that you move onto a short mission to help Zeke collect a gun he has ordered where you learn how to recharge your electrical and life energy. Once these short tutorials are out of the way the game begins properly, and this is where it all starts to get interesting. You receive an alert that essential food supplies have been dropped, but the landing hasn't gone to plan and now the criminal element known in the Neon District as Reapers, are making their way to claim the food for themselves. You must get to where the food is and rescue it so that the citizens of Empire City can get their rations without losing them to the Reapers. Or do you? Once the Reapers have been defeated you're faced with your first karma decision; Do you give the food to the people who hate you, or, do you keep the food for yourself?

The karma decisions in the game will influence the citizens reaction to you, the more good you do in the world, the more of a hero you become, this isn't to say that one good action and the masses will be willing to forgive you, but you can rebuild you sullied reputation. However if you can't find forgiveness in your heart then you can let the power go to your head and become a force to be reckoned with and show your detractors that you are everything they believe you to be. You'll be faced with several such decisions as the game plays out, you can play the game as a hero, or a villain, or, alternate between the two as you see fit. You can also walk the path between the two, but, there is no reward for this so you might as well choose one path and stick to it. Your karma will effect Empire City's residents, should you choose to become a hero then the inhabitants of the city will help you when you're stuck in a fight and cheer you on, should you become evil then they will run for their lives on your approach and randomly attack you either physically or will throw stones at you.

Occasionally you will be asked to restore power to parts of the city; this is achieved by repairing a sub station, as part of the repair work Cole will be infused with a massive electric shock which helps his powers evolve and with each restoration a new power is bestowed on Cole, these range from the ability to throw Lightning Grenades, Create a Shield, Throw a Shockwave or call down a Lightning Storm. In addition to these powers you can also earn experience points for taking down a bunch of enemies or by completing one of the many side missions, you can use these experience points to purchase upgrades to existing powers, or give yourself a new ability. Some of these powers can only be gained dependant on your karma level at that time, and dependant on your affiliation to good or bad.

As the games main story plays out you will run into citizens and scenarios where you will be asked to help with certain problems or be alerted to a certain situation which you can help resolve, these come in many forms from following a smuggler from one of the gangs, or sometimes the gangs bug a house with electronic surveillance equipment and you'll be asked to remove them. Other missions are more interactive with the story and again will depend on your karma, some citizens will rally to your cause if you're good and it will be on you to protect these people as they do so, or, if you're evil you'll be tasked with stopping a protest calling for your head on a plate. As each of these situations is resolved then you'll clean up the city of the gangs influence, the areas will be deemed safe again for the normal inhabitants and gang activity in that area will decrease, although it will never fully abate and you may still run into the odd gang fight which will require your attention.

Another distraction from the main game is to collect various bits and pieces, for example the bomb has left Blast Shards all over the city, these shards when collected will accumulate and will help increase your life energy and the amount of power you have at your disposal in a combat situation, you can also spend your time looking for clues to the identity of the real bomber by finding secret recordings left all over the city by an undercover cop who spent time infiltrating the gang who created and ultimately detonated the bomb. Occasionally you will come across a medical facility that needs help from the gangs, save one of these and it will become a restart point should you die in your mission, or one of the starting points of the game the next time you load.

The way you control Cole throughout the game is excellent and something Sucker Punch should be proud of, there are no vehicles in the game and making your way from one side of the City to the next must be done on foot. Cole has the ability to climb any building in the game, this is really well executed and never becomes frustrating, the controls are intuitive and work well in all situations, the only negative that can be said about the control method is that sometimes Cole can seem attracted to objects and he'll latch onto something when really you were trying to get into a good jumping position. It's not a bad thing really and does become useful in certain parts of the game so you can easily forgive it. In addition to being able to scale the buildings Cole's powers will also evolve allowing him to ride electrical power lines and other objects, this allows for faster movement between buildings; another ability unlocked later down the line will allow Cole to glide between buildings, this isn't the same as flight as your altitude will decrease the further you travel but can be used to hop from a high building to one below. Stringing these different abilities together can get you from one side of the city to the other in quick fashion and is a genuine joy to use.

The graphics and sound for the game are well mastered, Empire City is fully stylised and there is enough variation in the buildings and the surroundings so you don't get bored of seeing the same old things, there is some repetition with the textures and building styles, but you can almost always navigate the city without referring to the map. The citizens go about their daily lives around you and again there is enough variation in them so you never really get the idea that you're running through crowds of the same people. Unfortunately the same can't be said for members of the gangs, these all look the same, this can be down to them all having a uniform which identifies them as gang members however, so again its not something that you really notice. This isn't to say that the gangs all look the same, they don't, each gang has its own style and within that gang there is variation in the type of gang member, some gangs have taller members that have also been affected by the Ray Sphere and who have there own abilities. Although the game doesn't have cut scenes as such, sometimes the game will take over and show you elements of the story in a pseudo-comic book style; these parts are also well drawn and stylised and help give the game it's comic book feel. The game adjusts the graphics depending on your karma, a world with a hero will be light and shiny, the evil route brings out the seamier side to the city and it becomes dark and overcast, a nice touch which again brings a good mood setting to the game. The sound is more than adequate; the voice acting is really well produced and works well as a whole. The incidental music and the noises of the city help bring the game to life giving the city an organic feeling.

The game is exclusive to the PlayStation 3, and if you're an owner then you could do worse than check out this title. Overall this is a great game and one that should be experienced by any comic book fan, the open world angle of the game really helps immerse you in the experience and the story is terrific, easily a competitor for one of the best games of the year. As with a lot of games there is a demo on the PSN, but this is just the tip of the iceberg really and you can expect a lot more from the full game.