Pixelnauts.net

I have to admit, I really wasn't looking forward to playing Sucker Punch's urban set, sandbox superhero game, InFamous. In my experience, open world games more often than not tend to rely on something I like to call 'busy work gameplay,' whereby you're forced to run between various (and numerous) waypoints on a map in order to fulfill missions generally following a repetitious 'go kill this person' or 'go save this person' formula. Furthermore, packaging all of this into a superhero title did little to assuage my concerns considering that superhero games are known to have a rather, let's just say, ignominous history.

So when I first popped InFamous into my PS3, I was preparing myself for just that: a tedious marathon of waypoints that would ultimately reveal a shallow superhero tale that would most likely leave me even more jaded than I was coming in. But after spending several hours wantonly hurling lightning bolts around the fictional Empire City like a teenage Zeus, I came to a realization; I was actually enjoying Infamous -- a lot.

As you can imagine, this was pretty unexpected. After all, InFamous does employ the waypoint system that I so loathe in these types of games. Moreover, my assumption regarding the story was pretty much spot on. As a narrative, InFamous doesn't offer much. The game tells the tale of everyman, Cole McGrath; a bicycle courier with a voice as grizzled as Dirty Harry's -- and the surly disposition to boot, (a combination which incidentally makes cole about as believable in the role of bicycle courier as, well, Dirty Harry). Anyway, as these things are wont to happen, Cole's routine gets a quite the jolt when one day he finds himself smack-dab in the middle of a massive explosion that leaves Empire City in ruins, but which, curiously enough, transforms Cole into a walking lightning rod. Now, with a super-charged body and an entire city to explore, you get to choose whether Cole uses his powers for good (famous) or for not-so-good (infamous; get it?)

Keeping with the theme, the story is presented as a stylized motion-comic complete with voice-over. While this is certainly the pefect way to tell this rather familiar story, frankly, whether you become the hero or the villain doesn't really matter; the narrative never really becomes all that compelling.

How then does Infamous, a sandbox game with a rather hum-drum story, transcend these potential pitfalls and end up being a game that I recommend emphatically? In a word: pacing.

Pacing is an aspect of gaming too often overlooked by developers, but it's one of Infamous' greatest strengths. Many superhero games have tried to tap into that oh-so-familiar, "if I had superpowers" fantasy, but most have failed miserably. Flying around Metropolis as Superman may seem like a great time, but trying to sustain that feeling for the duration of a game is a different beast entirely. Well, Sucker Punch figured out how to make it work. Just as the novelty of chucking lightning bolts wares off and tedium is about to set in, Sucker Punch gives the game a surge of energy by granting Cole a new power, opening up a new section of the city, or introducing a new type of enemy. All of this adds to the game's ability to maintain a pace that is constantly fresh and engaging. There's such a strong sense of evolution. Whereas five minutes ago you were just a super-charged parkour master, now you're a super-charged, parkour master that can grind on power lines. Gaining new powers like this changes the way you play the game in a very real and practical way. You'll want to continue just to see what power Cole will learn next.