inFAMOUS Second Son: A Fantastic but Disappointing Letdown

WARNING SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW

AGAIN SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW

...

Right first of all lets make one thing clear, I like this game, so this isn't some massive rant on how the game is crap and how I hate it, I've actually enjoyed my time on it a lot.

Anyway lets begin

inFAMOUS Second Son for me was a game that I had been hyped up about since it was first announced for the PS4 in February last year, when I found out it was delayed my heart dropped and I was devastated about how I would have to wait another few months just to get my hands on it. The months went by and finally it got to it's launch day, when I picked it up I couldn't wait to get started, everything I had found out about this game blew me away and being a huge inFAMOUS fan this was the game which I felt made my PS4 purchase an absolute good choice. However things took a sour turn after a full day playing it, I came away let down and disappointed.

The game for me was such a step back from inFAMOUS 2, now obviously in the graphic department it's a total step forward, you can't argue with that, it's one of the main, key things about this game but lets me honest guys graphics don't make a game we all know that. Take a step back from the mesmerizing graphics for a minute and it's beautiful visuals and lets look at what Second Son has not done so great on.

Lets talk first about powers first, now you would think for a guy who's main power is to swap them at will for another conduit that this feature would make the game ten times better then the last one, I mean hell gaining a new power in inFAMOUS 2 was exciting enough and added a bunch of new powers to unlock but this new feature for Second Son hasn't been cutting it at all, it's not what people would of expected. The problem with this new feature is that all the powers are the same, whether it's Smoke, Neon, Video or Concrete. Lets take a look at the powers you can unlock

Heavy Power
Main Attack
Second Power
Special Attack
Ground Drop Attack

Each core relay you set out to find after you gain the neon powers you have to go through the SAME process to gain powers you've already learnt, the same thing happens when you gain Video powers and even Concrete powers in the final boss fight....yeah in the last BOSS fight. Now it wouldn't be that bad but the problem is finding core relays are part of the overall story. It wastes story missions and it feels like it was done to drag the game out more, this shouldn't be done when it's just to find powers you should already know. I mean the story isn't very long to beging with so imagine taking them "Find a core relay" missions out of the game, we wouldn't be left with much would we. When Cole got given a new power inFAMOUS 2 he never had to learn the same powers again, granted it's not under the same circumstances but since Delsins powers were a new feature created by Sucker Punch they could of had it so Delsin would remember the same moves but apply it to his newly acquired power. It's their game they could of shaped the rules anyway they liked. Take a gander at powers from past games on this link

http://infamous.wikia.com/w...

Now compare them with Second Sons powers. If you've looked you will see that the game offers us hardly anything even if you combined inFAMOUS and inFAMOUS 2 together. I don't know about anyone else but I'd rather have one or two powers with a huge variety of different moves rather then 4 powers which hardly gives me any new moves to try out on enemies. Even power 4 you get at the end of the game feels so under developed, this is supposed to be your reward sort to speak for finishing the game yet what you get it a bland, useless power.

Now that we've talked about powers lets move onto characters.

The characters in inFAMOUS Second Son are not as likeable as the ones found in inFAMOUS. Fetch and Eugene have so little character development that they are basically plot devices to just give Delsin "more powers" and even with these characters who are kind of supposed to replace Nix and Kuo from inFAMOUS 2, they offer hardly any Karma missions, for each character in the game all you get is one, yes that's ONE Karma mission for each character. Adding the Karma mission at the end of the game that's a total of THREE Karma missions in the entire game with a few Karma choices on screen thrown in, hardly what we've experienced in past inFAMOUS games. Out of these two "useless" characters I feel like Fetch during the evil story path was the most interesting. Cole, Zeke, Kessler, Nix, Kuo, John all had better roles in past games then what the characters had in Second Son.

Reggie in my opinion is the best character of the entire game but obviously our time with him is cut short when Sucker Punch decides to kill him off, now hold onto your monkey balls because this seems familiar, someone very close to the main character dying in the game hasn't happened before in inFAMOUS have they?.....Oh wait, yeah that's right it's the exact same thing which happened to Trish in the first game, talk about surprises. Reggie's death was totally unnecessary and pointless when he was the best developed character in the game. Sure you might go on about Delsins funny attitude but it's not something we haven't already seen before, however with Reggie I really could of seen more development of him coming to accept conduits. In my opinion that's why I feel Sucker Punch need to bring him back as a conduit, something he apparently hates and it would be great to see how he deals with this. Each mission in his small story DLC could focus on his change views to conduits in general and make him open his eyes to what he's been brain washed to hate. However I highly doubt that will ever happen but there's one thing I've learnt about a comic book like universe, characters can always come back from the dead.

The length of the game was kind of disappointing aswell, for all the main and side missions in inFAMOUS 2 with the added user generated content, Second Son doesn't even come close to that. By the time I was getting into Second Sons story I found out it was time to bring the fight to Augustine, I couldn't believe it, I sat there staring into my screen thinking "Is this it...no, it can't be, it can't be the last boss already" but to my surprise it was, there I was scaling the building with my "good, buddy, buddy chums" like we were in a cheesy version of the X-men.

So in conclusion despite Second Son being a solid game and gorgeous to look at it's such a step back from past inFAMOUS games on most fronts. The main things the game does better then inFAMOUS and it's sequel is the graphics (obviously) and the fantastic music attached to the game. At the end of the day though graphics don't make a game do they, and music is not something which can hold a game up on it's own.

I hope in the next game we play as a new conduit, not because I hated Delsin but because he's character personality was pretty cliché, it wasn't as good as Cole's back story and development. Not to mention Delsins power may seem good but story wise it's going to cause a few problems in the future. What this means is that Sucker Punch will have to keep Smoke, Neon, Video and Concrete in the game and add other powers which will waste more time rather then focusing on a few powers and giving them more move sets. The best thing they can do in my opinion is go with the evil ending, make Delsin end up corrupted and become humanities new threat while we play as a new conduit (or an old one...Cough Cough Cole/Reggie Cough Cough) to take down the new "Beast".

[DragonKnight]

Completely agreed.

What I found interesting about the powers is this one in Infamous 2.

Nightmare Blast: Cole creates a cloud of smoke and ash, blinding human sized enemies caught in the blast radius.

It's the same one as this.

Sulfur Bomb: Delsin throws a condensed smoke bomb, release smoke in a large radius, causing enemies to cough and become stunned.

The only difference is that Cole's is infinitely more useful as it binds enemies to the ground while Delsin's only stuns them.

I can't tell you how much I missed shockwave in this game. And polarity wall. Sure, Delsin has an actual dodge mechanic, but Cole didn't need one. He had so many ways of avoiding damage. In a straight fight against Cole, Delsin wouldn't last 2 seconds. Neon would be useless since it's electrically based, same with Video. Smoke would be useless as Cole already has the ability to use similar or better powers. The only chance Delsin would have would be Concrete, and that's a more physical power made to mitigated damage and perform physical acts of destruction, Cole could easily work around that. Yeah, Delsin could try to absorb Cole's powers, but I doubt that would matter given Cole's extensive experience.

There's also the fact that Cole was a lot like Reggie in inFAMOUS 1. He didn't want to be a Conduit, he didn't like being a Conduit, but over time (and manipulation from Kessler) he grew to understand that his powers were a necessity to save the world, and honor Trish. Delsin is upset about it for all of 2 seconds then acts like a kid who was given his favourite toy. He's pretty much the male version of Rogue, only not Southern.

Even the way Cole got his powers was better than how Delsin got his. I hated having to drain core relays in the final boss battle in Second Son.

The scale of SS is smaller, the missions are fewer and less varied, this game feels like half of an inFAMOUS game. It's like SP spent all of their time making it look good. And that's the problem that the graphics whores have created for us.

The tagging minigame was unique and fun the first few times, the music was PHENOMENAL, and the relationship between Delsin and Reggie was so well done. But, I found myself more excited for Zeke's cameos than anything the main story gave me because, quite frankly, Zeke had more personality in his small dialogue sequences than the rest of the cast combined.

Second Son is definitely a good game, but like you said, it didn't do anything for the inFAMOUS franchise as a whole.

[Nicaragua]

I agree, the game looks great but is seriously lacking content.

It's the same enemies all the way through, the city itself didn't seem as much fun as it's predecessors, and there weren't any major set pieces like aldens tower or the prison siege in infamous 1. The powers and abilities all did the same thing apart from the dash move, which still wasn't as cool as Coles electric wire grinding as a means of getting around.

I think they really missed a trick with not going further into eugenes video world, they could have had an entire map of crazy bayonets-esque fantasy stuff and it would have worked within the context of eugenes power.

I've finished the game once but I'm finding it hard to motivate myself for another play through, it just wasn't that interesting. It reminds me of when I played the first Assassins Creed, you could see the framework and engine for a good game, but the game itself was half baked.

[-Foxtrot]

You've pretty much pointed out some stuff I forgot to talk about :)

The tagging thing....good god that got annoying after like the 10th one. Yeah great use of the controllers guys but with how many there was, it became a chore doing it.

"Even the way Cole got his powers was better than how Delsin got his. I hated having to drain core relays in the final boss battle in Second Son."

Least with Cole in inFAMOUS for example, you got a new power when turning the electricity on for a part of the city.

I didn't mind finding a core relay at the start of the game, it was a pretty much standard thing we would have to do. Gaining or main attacks but I'm pretty sure Cole knew to how to at least shoot bolts without a core relay.

Your right about Cole/Delsin though, despite Delsin LOOKING more powerful because of his power swapping ability he only drains a fragment of that users power so he can use the same power. He can't do the majority of the stuff Fetch, Eugene and Augustine can do. Cole could do a number of things, hell look at Kessler, that version of Cole became very powerful WITHOUT the use of core relays, blast shards, gaining a new power from Nix/Kuo etc, imagine how powerful Cole would be once he reaches Kessler age. Plus he gains a time travel power, imagine what that could evolve into.

DAMN...I really want Cole to come back, the world has changed and I think it's the perfect time to bring him back. He sacrificed himself to save the world from the Beast but with conduits actually still being alive and threats still appearing it seems like it was done for nothing in my opinion. It just seems the reason we had a new character because it was supposed to set up a world where Cole can return. I mean I was really expecting the ending to featuring a Cole cameo with Zeke or something. I think it would be a good twist if John wasn't the real Beast but a second "Beast" created by Kessler changing the timeline, was John supposed to die in Kesslers timeline? It would make sense if Delsin was the Beast instead. When Trish died, Zeke was there for him and Kessler in ways but with Delsin, no one is there for him after Reggies death.

As I've said it makes more sense now to have Delsin as the new threat against humanity. Playing the game at the start you see how much Delsin seems to be getting out of hand with his powers, wanting more of them, it's only because of Reggie who tells him "No" and to "Stay put". Cole coming back to go against him would be fantastic. What about if Cole was locked up, alive or in a coma in Curdun Cay, with Delsin freeing the conduits it would allow Zeke to find him.

Either Cole would go against him or his brother if they can find a way to bring him back. I don't think he scanned himself at the conduit check point since I'm sure as a cop he would be granted access anyway and I'm sure they could come up with a power and how he was activated when he fell into the water. Reggie going up against his power crazed brother would be amazing to see.

"Delsin is upset about it for all of 2 seconds then acts like a kid who was given his favourite toy"

Exactly, when Trish died Cole was upset for a long time, it stuck with us until he finally went against Kessler.

For me I'd rather they spent time on the overall game then the graphics. When I think of fantastic graphics in games I don't expect inFAMOUS to have them, so if they weren't as good I wouldn't of minded as long as it was a step forward from inFAMOUS 2.

[NewMonday]

needing to drain core relays is just to introduce the different abilities once you get a new power.

the combat mechanics in ISS is the best in the franchise, gameplay is tight and balanced between short/mid/long range.

what could be better was more enemy types and more substantial side missions.

[DragonKnight]

What different abilities? Most of the abilities are all the same with just a variation in appearance and effect.

The combat mechanic may, subjectively, be the best in the series, but it still sucks. You're a Conduit with a flaming chain, or a light saber, or a huge sword and you still have to wail away on enemies far too long to take them down with melee, and the ranged attacks are actually weaker in this game and more difficult to aim properly.

If the combat were so great, you wouldn't need to constantly run away to regenerate your health or scatter to find a source to drain. It would be balanced enough that the enemy wouldn't have such an overwhelming advantage over you to the point that the most effective abilities are the Sulfur Bomb for Smoke, the similar ability for Neon, and the Decoy move for Video. Those are literally your life line in a numbers situation. Cole was all about the damage output, Delsin is all about lasting long enough to subdue the enemy somehow and then take them out.

[NewMonday]

"What different abilities? Most of the abilities are all the same with just a variation in appearance and effect"

com'on that's like saying all guns and grenades are the same in an FPS

(don't remember the actual ability names so will reefer to effect)..

suffocating bomb/stasis bubble/stealth mode are the same?

ghost thru obstacles/super speed/ flying are the same?

smoke grenade/neon cannon/ blade storm are the same?

[-Foxtrot]

Theres not really that many "different" abilities from the core relays AFTER the smoke ones

I think the only different ones are your L1 button, smoke has the sulphur bomb, Neon has the stasis bubble, while video has the invisible power. I think that's all really along with your special power.

The dash button are all the same, just different ways of getting around.

Whats wrong with telling us that straight away when getting a new power. It's the same ability at it's core, a way to get around, the only thing different is the way it actually gets you around. The same can be said for your special attack but like Cole in inFAMOUS 2 he learned those different special attacks by getting more blast shards.

The rest of them you get are just powers you should already know. I mean if you know how to shoot part of your power from your hand then the first thing you would do gaining a new power would be to try the same thing you learnt from your old power.

At the end of the day it seemed like a plot device to stretch the game out longer. They didn't do this with Cole and when you did get a new ability most of the time it wasn't in the story

[DragonKnight]

"suffocating bomb/stasis bubble/stealth mode are the same?"

Different appearance, same utility. All are designed to subdue the enemy.

"ghost thru obstacles/super speed/ flying are the same?"

Different appearance, same utility. All are movement powers.

"smoke grenade/neon cannon/ blade storm are the same?"

Different appearance, same utility. All are large scale destructive powers.

What I'm saying is that there is no inherently different powers between them. You press L1 and you'll perform a subjugation attack in any of the 3. You press R2 and you'll do a stronger attack than the normal one, with the exception of Video.

I mean, where's Fetch's sustained beam, where's Eugene's ability to turn himself into an angel or demon. THOSE would be different and unique but we don't get them.

[NewMonday]

the problem here is with personal expectation, not with the game design itself.

the problem may be that the developer didn't create situations where you had to switch powers like making different enemies invulnerable to different types of attacks, or making areas reachable using a specific power.

[Ken85]

Actually Delsin probably could've beaten Cole because Delsin could just steal his power and use his variety of others.

[DragonKnight]

Delsin never steals the full power, and he doesn't render the Conduit unconscious. Cole would still have greater experience with his power, and still possess abilities that Delsin wouldn't. Plus Cole's powers negate all of Delsin's stolen powers except for Concrete, and then it becomes a matter of defensive capability (Concrete) vs. Destructive power (Electromagnetism). I doubt Delsin is as fast as Light so no matter how fast he can move, Cole can strike faster.

[Scrivlar]

The game wasn't as great as the hype, which is fair because the hype was huge. Only the fan boys wouldn't accept this and every time someone has a negative thing to say about it they're called Xbox fan boys and told to shut up basically.

[Dumb_username]

I'm an Xbox fanboy but Infamous was one of the only games on the PS3 I liked other then Resistance and Heavenly sword.

The problem with this one was that they aimed for the realistic approach which Infamous was never about.
Seattle isn't as fun or creative as Empire City or New Marais, Delsin isn't as memorable as Cole is, powers are not as fun to use. I liked that they've made new types of powers but it felt like they just put them in there for the sake that they are new.

[DragonKnight]

Empire City was based off of New York and New Marais was based off of New Orleans. The realistic city wasn't the problem. It's that they made this version of Seattle way to small in comparison and focused more on the look of the game than everything else that made the first two inFAMOUS games so good.

[chaosx]

My Delsin is standing on a street corner next to a letter box waiting for my return when the DLC drops……… Fun game , too short, mandatory second play through for complete started to make the game feel tedious and repetitive.

Agree about Reggie being the best character, but is he really dead???

[e-p-ayeaH]

yeah we never got to see his boby

[-Foxtrot]

If my brother was killed and dropped into the sea, I think I would spend some time trying to find him so I can lay him to rest properly. I mean it wouldn't be floating around since he was covered in concrete, he should be in the one place on the ocean floor.

As someone has said above, the fact Delsin just brushes his death off is kind of silly.

People keep saying that they wouldn't want him to come back since it would make his "death" cheap...but the problem is his death was totally unnecessary anyway that him coming back wouldn't cheapen his death scene at all.

I think Reggie facing Delsin would be epic if they went with the evil ending.

You have one guy who loves being a conduit and seems to me to be a little power hungry. He's never had "power" before, he's just been a slacker over shadowed by his brother so it makes sense he's loving his new sense of power and it's easy to see how Reggie's apparent death stops anyone from stopping him going off the deep end

On the other you have a guy who knows what is right and wrong but has been brain washed by DUP propaganda to think that conduits are evil. Him changing into a conduit would make him see how much he was wrong (good karma) or whether or not he'll go down Delsins path (bad karma). Least then it would give him a reason to go against his own brother and would be the one conduit with the courage to go against Delsin. Not all conduits would agree with Delsins new plan for humanity. I could easily see him working with Zeke and his resistance group.

I think a DLC set after Second Son when Delsin has went home to bring Reggie back, like he's washed a shore then finds out he's a conduit. Maybe with a variation of Delsins powers, like he can absorb a power sources unlike Delsin but the draw back his that he can only have so many powers. He would find out at the start he has Concrete powers and Water, then later on he would gain Glass, Wire, Paper and maybe Steel.

[e-p-ayeaH]

I enjoyed 2nd son more than infamous 2 the story at least was more interesting but the original Infamous is still my favorite.

[Software_Lover]

Wow, someone agreed with me.

WTF DragonKnight agrees!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's the end of the world.

[DragonKnight]

Lol, I agree with the truth when it's actually the truth.

[lex-1020]

I really liked the game but there were problems.

You've hit most of them and the comments have hit the rest.

Getting new powers felt forced. Rather than feeling organic like inFamous 1, which felt like you learned new powers as you got better, this forced you to get everything right at the start.

Another thing that bothered me was the mission variety. inFamous 1 had a problem with every sector having the exact same missions. People didn't like it, and they fixed it in inFamous 2, but in SS they went back to the same problem they had in inFamous 1.

Bast shards were also changed in a way I didn't like. In the previous games you earned XP from fighting which went to upgrading power and blast shards went to upgrading your power cores. In SS since all you needed was blast shards I wound up simply skipping fights all the time because there was no point.

Climbing was also weird in this SS. In the first two you could climb anything easily. In SS I was having problems getting up the side of building. I realize they wanted to focus on using your cool new powers to climb instead of actual climbing but parkour up building was something I always enjoyed from the first game.

Finally as you touched on characters. Some characters seemed just to out of place. Good Fetch made no sense, and evil Eugune only made marginal sense. But what really made no sense was that Reggie still supported you even when you're walking around the city disintegrating civilians. He always made such a big fuss about you not hurting people, and doing the right thing, but in the end your choices didn't matter. He still treated you as a hero even when you were slaughtering people for no reason.

[Doletskaya]

What Foxtrot said about the gameplay of Infamous Second Son is basically why I can't find the motivation to finish the game for a second time. For Infamous 1 and 2, I started my second play-through and continued to finish it as soon as I finished my first, but for Second Son, there still isn't enough depth in the gameplay or what you can do with the power in terms of raining havoc to warrant an immediate second play-through.

[Dannycr]

Please don't revive Cole. We have to learn to let go. Reviving him will defeat the purpose of the ending in Infamous 2. If he stays dead, the impact will be greater. It was incredibly "ballsy" of Sucker Punch to kill him in Infamous 2 and that left a longstanding mark in gaming, so please...don't erase it.

[-Foxtrot]

What purpose was that....oh you mean to stop the Beast which posed as a threat to humanity even though seven years later threats are still appearing making his "sacrifice" look kind of pointless.

If Delsin became the new "beast" then he could return because he's needed.

Marvel are apparently killing Wolverine off in the comics.....which means roughly 6 months before he comes back

[hellzsupernova]

FIrst off very well writing blog post. If you are aiming for a job in the gaming industry keep it up.

Yes he has been killed before he will be back. I cannot believe they would spoil such a thing though. I wouldve kept his death under warps as best as possibly

[Dannycr]

That's not what I said. Regardless of the game's story, we should learn to accept the deaths of the characters when they happen and stop asking to revive them.

Even if the sacrifice was pointless, Cole died believing he did the right thing and he saved the conduits and humans at the same time, he died a hero. Even if years laters, threats are still appearing, he did what was needed, so it doesn't make his sacrifice less significant.

[MAULxx]

I enjoyed the game but it wasn't a keeper with all the games I want to buy coming soon. I played it, evil only, then traded it in for credit. I did all the stencils which got repetitive & cleared out all the DUP. I did everything available to do in the city. Evil ending was great I thought but the soundtrack was forgettable. I didn't really have any desire for a second/good play through so I decided to get credit for upcoming games. I'm buying 3 in May so there you have it.

[Blacklash93]

I agree. They built a very solid foundation with the game and did a lot of cool stuff, but the content just feels underdeveloped.

[alti]

the way this title is constructed is to describe "letdown".

a fantastic letdown
a disappointing letdown.

The first adjective makes no sense, unless they really mean to scold the game.
The second adjective is redundant. It's like saying, "I touched hot fire."

Didn't bother to read this article, because I could become retarded by the end of it. If this "author's" title couldn't manage to be coherent, there's no telling what flaws are to be found in its confines. Learn how to write a sentence with the language you've no doubt spent your entire life using. Embarrassing, don't let anybody tell you different.

[alti]

Just mustered the will to read the first proper line that wasn't in caps...and there's a comma splice. lol. Yeah, staying far away from this post.

[-Foxtrot]

http://oi59.tinypic.com/1z6...

What a troll, you came all away in here to say that and waste TWO bubbles. Why...what was actually the point of this, so you can be an ass. If you want to personally attack me please do it in a PM.

You come off like I've offended you in a massive way.

I think your more ticked off that I've called something related to the PS4 or your a huge inFAMOUS fan.

It's kind of sad don't you think.

[-Foxtrot]

Sorry wrong image, that was for another article

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photo...

;)

[Articuno76]

Wow. I haven't played inFamous 1 or 2 so I didn't realise what the tepid reaction to Second Son was about, but I totally understand it now.

In retrospect I have to agree, the powers in Second Son are kind of samey.