Here it is, the PS4 home-run, the grand-slam to owning the console. The crème de la crème of open world games...or is it just a game with a decent story and much filler?
Going head first into inFamous was amazing. I could NOT believe how great the game controlled. It was the smoothest 3rd person game I've played to date and you could tell that Sucker Punch put a lot of time into the controls alone. Jumping off games like Grand Theft Auto V and Assassins Creed IV, I knew that inFamous had some pretty stiff competition and it delivered!
Story
inFamous Second Son stars a wreckless and rebellious 24 year old boy (I say that because that's what he is) named Delsin. He believes he is above all else and should be treated as such. You start the game off by practically getting arrested by your brother. I want to make this review spoiler free so I will be talking little about the story and more about the game as a whole. The story here is of typical super hero fashion. Young man gets powers and must choose to use them for good or for selfishness plain and simple. That may be generic but the way the story is told is pretty gripping and keeps you itching for more.
Graphics
inFamous Second Son is the best looking open world game I've seen to date. Sucker Punch has put a lot of time and effort into Delsin and it shows with no cutbacks. That being said you can look at most of the citizens and see the lack of dedication to them (which is to be expected). Most of the story characters you meet along the way are met with similar fidelity as Delsin and I believe that's more important than worrying about the street walkers. The city is amazing, the water ripples with every rain drop, Seattle comes alive at night, the neon lights, the smoke, the particles in general are jaw dropping at times, the attention to detail sets a new standard for games in general, but more importantly Open World games. I have to commend Sucker Punch for such an amazing feat. IT blows me away how good everything in this game looks, this is the most polished title I've seen to date. Particle effects, weather, day/night cycles, its all amazing. I could go on and on about how good this game looks but I encourage you to play it for yourself. No screenshots, Gameplay footage or even direct feeds will give you the satisfaction.
Sound
Everything is there, from the sound of cars blaring music, to the buzzing from the Neon Lights to the explosions of Delsin's Orbital Drop its all great. The soundtrack works very well fitting the game to perfection. Voice acting is done very well for the most part. I think Troy Baker did a fantastic Job at portraying the rebellious 24 year old, every emotion he portrayed is felt by his voice and you react properly. There are some technical glitches with the sound I've encountered especially if you're using surround sound, like gun sounds fading when they are shooting right in front of you, explosions not sounding as dynamic or crippling as it should. Its a slight annoyance but easily looked past over everything else.
Gameplay
As I mentioned before, I have never played a game like this, that felt this good until now. Even playing the snot out of the first 2 games I still think that Sucker Punch has a hit here with gameplay. Everything not only works, it all makes sense and it works well. The content however is where I start to see cracks in what could have been perfection. I am currently on my second playthrough of the game and as I write this I cant help but realize how much this is more along the lines of a game like Spiderman than a game like Grand Theft Auto and that might damage peoples thoughts. There is about 12-15 hours worth of stuff to do in the game but only about 6 hours is the main story, while all the rest of the stuff is repetitive micro missions to fill in the gaps. Along the lines of Spiderman saving a civilian from a group of thugs just to add padding. inFamous Second Son relies heavily on that exact thing (padding). When I was playing this game it felt more claustrophobic than I wanted it to, very limiting in all that you can do. I expected this going in but a lot of others might have expected something more, and its simply not there. I love the game, but it all ended too quickly for me and that could be considered a flaw but with the Paper Trail missions and DLC I can't wait to see what is left for me to do in inFamous Second Son. I loved all of Delsins Powers and I wont go and spoil any of them for you. I will say this. My favorite Karma move was in fact the Orbital Drop just wait til you do it!
Online
There is some what of an online portion of the game called Paper Trail. I will post this from the official site. "inFAMOUS Paper Trail is a FREE bonus extension for the PlayStation®4 exclusive game: inFAMOUS Second Son™ that expands the universe and gameplay by weaving seamlessly on and beyond your PS4™ system. Players will pursue missions online and in game to unravel the mysteries behind the Department of Unified Protection, its director, Brooke Augustine, and the cover-up of a violent suicide through a time-released story."
As you can see they have found a way to make a single player game rely on the internet and I think this is an amazing way to keep the game going for a bit. Its nothing to write home about but it gives you more content for a game that you hands just want to keep on playing.
Conclusion TL;DR
Is inFamous Second Son worth the price of admissions? I'd say yes over and over again. This is a big step in gaming, the fidelity of the characters, the way that Sucker Punch poured their entire beings into this game only goes to show me what more we can expect in the future. Studios have to take note from this game as it has raised the bar as far as I am concerned for gaming in general. The way this game handles is a dream I just wish I didn't have to wake up so quickly from it.The story may be somewhat generic but it has its own twist. I just wish the game had more, its lacking serious content for an open world game.
Thank You Sucker Punch for a memorizing experience.
EDIT - After Beating the game two times and getting the Platinum Trophy I have adjusted the Score before the review gets approved.
inFAMOUS Second Son was one of PS4's best exclusives, but does it hold up a decade later?
100%, locked 60fps and still look great all these years later, same with the expansion, definitely worth a look if people haven't played it yet, not the best games ever made but a good experience, hopefully a new infamous gets released
Never was my favorite infamous, but it was definitely a graphics showcase early on PS4. Still plays well with the unlocked frame rate.
Still remember getting hyped about this game nearing release. Funny because I never even got a PS4. Jumped from PS3 to PC so I never played it ahahaha
Its a good game. But thats it. Congratulations you made the best choice. I dream to have a great PC one day.
Graphically It's a absolutely stunning game that still holds up today.
Didn't have all that much depth to it forcing you to play though twice for a platinum trophy a good and bad run it was a little disappointing how similar those were Delsin would be like I'm not doing that for you in a cutscene but the cutscene would play out and force you to do it anyway just as you would of in a good run
I did like the story however it got a lot of complaints back in the day people hated playing as Delsin instead of cole despite Coles story being wrapped up.
Overall though the map wasn't overly saturated with useless points of interest there was some collectibles and things to find but nothing compared to a Ubisoft game.
I think it was a good game if a little hollow I've played it through around 4 times now since it's so short.
Also it's DLC was great a full story expansion
GB: "With this feature, we run down 15 of the most underrated games on the PS4 that never received the love and appreciation they truly deserve."
I've played 15, and I wouldn't consider any of those underrated TBH. Some of them are pretty high rated.
I. Not seeing anything on that list underrated. I never played concrete genie, the ASTRO vr,and one other but I forgot the name already. Nothing on there was underrated at all imo.
There’s only 4 of those games I never played, and no most of those aren’t underrated.
GB: "There's just something special about the games that could be, and this feature gushes about 15 games that we would love to see on the PS5."
This is a really good review. It seems to me that it would score closer to 9 than to 8 though, based on your praise of the game.
I actually forgot about Paper Trail online mission even though I said that there is no online feature available... Great job FogKnight! *Hits myself*
I agree with your score but I gave it 9.7 since I loved the boss battles and the endings, even though the story and moral choices were weak. I would have gave it a similar score to yours if these two factors were also weak but other than that, I have similar opinion as you do, but with higher score from me (Which can be considered as a biased score to some people but I actually like it that much)
Great review and can't wait to read more from you :D
Great review. Saves me writing one as you summed up my thoughts exactly. Just wish you could play paper trail without all the computer based stuff if you wanted to. I'm not interested in that but would like to see the missions.
Extra enemy variety like in infamous one would also have helped. Still, an excellent game.