inFamous: The electric playground

The makers of Sly Cooper show off the latest from their open-world superhero game, inFamous.

TOKYO, JAPAN: The developers behind the always-fun Sly Cooper series have switched gears, and the studio is hard at work on a new PS3 game called inFamous. At the Tokyo Game Show this week, I was able to get a behind-the-scenes look at the electrically promising new superhero game, one that you're probably going to want in on come next year.

inFamous: the electric playground

Cole loads up on electricity by draining electrical objects.

Electric Feel

inFamous is a modern-day superhero game set in an open-world. At first glance, it reminds of Crackdown, but the striking design of the metropolis and gritty vibe of main character Cole and his powers create what is truly a next-gen superhero game. Coles powers are based mostly around his ability to channel electricity and use it as a weapon. Like any engaging superhero story, Cole has to come to grips with his powers, specifically using his electrical abilities to his advantage&but he will also learn skills such as a form of mind reading, called post cognition, throughout the game.

While Cole can shock in-game enemies to a burnt crisp, he can't simply create electricity out of nowhere. So, he must drain it from electric objects in the city. That means the city's power grid is essential to Cole's progression through Empire City. But it's not just electric grids that give him power -- he can also drain juice from less-noticeable objects in the environments, but they might not completely fill him up.

inFamous: the electric playground

Though electricity is Cole's main power, he will learn others throughout the game.

Don't Fear the Reaper: Enemies

What's really interesting is the way electricity interacts with the world. If Cole is taking on a reaper, one of the in-game enemies in inFamous, he doesn't have to hit him directly with an electrical blast -- he can chain it from other metal objects. So if a baddy is hiding behind a car, Cole can shock the car, which will zap the out of reach foe. Pretty cool, in my opinion.

I watched as Cole made his way through about a 15-minute span of the game, where he climbed up streets lights and buildings, and into a giant electric plant-like area where he battled reapers and exploded electric objects at will. While Cole couldn't hop from rooftop to rooftop yet, I was informed that it is safe to assume he will learn some sort of ability that will make it easy to hop around in the city's skyline. It's not going to be like Prince of Persia, but the developers don't want traversing the city to be a huge chore.

Cole will encounter a few different types of Reapers in inFamous -- I saw a boss, an exploding suicide reaper and amore common variety that was present throughout the short demo. Like red Grim Reapers, these enemies are hooded baddies with your demise on their minds. Plus, they seem to be the only other characters with superhuman abilities aside from Cole&at least for now.

inFamous releases next year, so the team still has months to go with this promising new PS3 game. But for now, it looks as if it could be a gem for Sony in 2009.