inFAMOUS

A friend once told me that I should always sleep on major decisions because waiting until the morning supposedly helps you from doing anything rash. It's the middle of the night now and I just beat inFAMOUS, so I'm about to write my review of it before I go to bed. I should probably take my friend's advice and let the anger and resentment I feel towards the game simmer down a little before I write it up, but screw it: I'm on deadline.

THE VERDICT by Will Herring Will Herring's Avatar An intriguing sandbox experience, Tae definitely enjoyed getting his superhero on with what inFAMOUS had to offer, from an engaging open-world to story-altering karmic decisions. Also -- come on -- you shoot lighting from your hands. What else do you need?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Well, judging from the early comments, it sounds like some of you found my review to be a little confusing and contradictory. Let me try and clear up the issue: the review does focus a lot on the game's faults but as I point out, they're all minor. I think the reason why I focused so much on the negatives is because my mind was focused on them when I went to write the review. Now that I've had some time to let go of my initial frustration, let me say a little bit more about what the game does right. Hopefully, this clears up the confusion a little.

The game world is awesome and I loved the way the buildings were laid out (though the world could have used a few more "surprise treats" that rewarded careful exploration); the electricity based super powers were really fun to mess around with and the missions, while predicated upon a poorly executed story, were fun enough that I was entertained over the long haul. inFAMOUS really is a good game and I stand by my score of 4.5. The story is terrible and I found some aspects of the combat to be rather annoying; that last boss fight was also not enjoyable at all. Still, the game's strengths more than compensate for these faults and I would still recommend it. If you have any further questions, shoot me a note over PM and I'll get back to you.--Tae

Fame and Fortune

Let's begin this review from where I left off: the end. Without spoiling anything for you, let me just say that inFAMOUS' final boss fight is, without a doubt, one of the most frustrating gaming experiences I've had in a long while. It's long, drawn out and not fun in any way. It isn't particularly difficult once you get the final boss' attack patterns down but he has a huge health bar that your attacks can only nibble away at, so you basically feel like a mosquito trying to take down the Jolly Green Giant. The game also ends with a plot twist that would have M. Night Shyamalan muttering "Say what?" The story was sort of convoluted to begin with but the ending comes right out of left field; even worse, it conveniently sets up a sequel, which makes it feel even more contrived.

inFAMOUS

So yeah, I probably should have gone to bed and written this up in the morning because the sting of the bad ending might have worn off by then and I would have started things off by focusing more on what the game does right. Like how the game world is well realized and how the electricity based powers are really fun to mess around with; my favorite was the fully upgraded electricity grenade which blows up your foes and chains them to the floor with electrified restraints. You also gain the ability to grind power lines and train tracks and floating down from the sky using electricity to dampen your fall is pretty sweet too. inFAMOUS has a lot of side missions as well, though it can't match the sheer variety or number of other sandbox games like GTA IV, and they were fun enough that I often put aside the main campaign to bring a little justice to the city.

inFAMOUS

Comments [59]

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slm90031

Wow. I have never read such a confusing review in my life. If you read, you would think that this game was "okay" at best. But then it gets 4 1/2 out of 5 stars? "CONS: Confusing storyline; terrible ending; frustrating combat." Why would I want to play this game? Because I'm hard up for an exclusive PS3 title that "looks" good? PASS! BTW...shooting electricity from your hands was done in Bioshock so please stop making it sound as though this game has something we have never seen before.

Eagle_Claw

If that wasn't some king of twisty, weird review. Reads like a bad game, but gets a high score? Can you sy "corruption"?

Triller

Tards ^. This review is at least an accurate one. You have to focus on both the good and bad, and if the bad out weighs the good then you don't buy it. This review told me what I needed to know and that is that. I will wait for MAG to come out before I buy a PS3. You guys whine so much. If the score bothers you, don't look at it. The review is excellent and the score is irrelevant.

duffmanth

Good, but a confusing review. It sounds like the game is 50/50 good/crap from this article, but gets 4.5 stars!? Anyone thinking about getting this game, I highly recommend it as I've played through the demo a few times. It's a great open world game like GTA, there's some great climbing and leaping abilities, and the super powers the main character has are pretty cool. The only complaint I have is there are some MINOR graphical glitches, but the game looks really good overall. It has that gritty, dirty city look that GTAIV has. Ign.com 1up.com, and gamespot.com gave the game glowing reviews, so maybe check those out for people who are sitting on the fence.

weinymew

Wow talk about the most bizzar review ive ever read! I'm sory i've seen games score2.5 outta 5 for having bad controls. Mix in a bad story and you've got what exactly? I thought this game would be like crackdown but much better visually. This Gamepro editor is a failure, so imma bout to hop on 1up to see if their right hand and their right side of their brain can agree. You can not give a 4 1/2 stars for bad controls and bad story. When ff13 comes out it better get a platnum 5 star review based on this rubbish review.

rahrah12

seemed angry in the review but it still received a good score...that is some unbiased reporting.

TKK

lol, you guys are too much. If you actually read my review, you'll see that I wrote it when I had just gotten through the last ending and was frustrated a little by the poor end boss fight. I admit that from the get-go. In hindsight, I do admit that I talked about the game's faults more than the positives; sometimes, when you play a game that isn't "perfect" but is good, you tend to focus on the negatives out of a sense of wistfulness ("if only they had gotten that right..."). But if you read my conclusions, you'll see an admittedly hasty wrap up of my points, including this:

"UPDATE: I've decided that it's the former. Great game, minor faults, a lot of fun to be had, terrible story but the gameplay holds up despite it. Maybe this "sleeping on it" thing has some merit, after all."

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weinymew

so with it's bad ending and poor controls and horrible boss scene, terrible story in all it's glory, the graphics gives it a 4.5? Wow! Great im gonna pick this up asap!!!! Believe me? No, i didnt think so.

TKK

weinymew wrote:

so with it's bad ending and poor controls and horrible boss scene, terrible story in all it's glory, the graphics gives it a 4.5? Wow! Great im gonna pick this up asap!!!! Believe me? No, i didnt think so.

The poor ending, somewhat spotty controls (i ever really complained about the "sticky hands") and the bad boss fight are just three elements of a game that took me over 10 hours to beat, and that's considering the fact that I still left a ton of missions unfinished to reach the end. My point is that while the ending is disappointing, the overall game experience is very positive.

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