In the three years that have passed since we last saw inFamous, Sucker Punch Productions has spent countless hours wrestling with Sony’s latest console: the PS4. As with other development studios, toppling the challenge of working with a new architecture has been motivated by the adrenaline rush produced by trying to tap into its potential. inFamous, being the franchise that’s always fallen just short of being first class, is the perfect example of a series that could benefit greatly from a challenge.
Being touted as the system’s first must-have title, does inFamous: Second Son deliver on its promise of successfully ushering the franchise into its next chapter?
In inFamous: Second Son you play as Delsin Rowe, an exceptionally ordinary 24-year old male. Although he becomes a superhero early on in the adventure, much of the time he doesn’t feel like one. Being the laid-back slacker that he is, his carefree nature fosters both a connection that isn’t present when playing as a the ‘perfect hero’ archetype, while also remaining somewhat uninteresting given his high-school level dialog. Nonetheless, he tries to be humorous to win over the crowd.
Delsin’s journey is as short as it is compelling. Clocking in at 9 to 10 hours—just for the main story, mind you—, much of it is spent delving into small story pieces that feel unimportant in the grand scheme of things. In every case these quests end with you earning a new power type to use. Your drive to unlock these new skills that are perpetually teased before you leads to moments of thrill when you finally acquire their power.
Interactions with other characters are done through several impressive in-game cutscenes. The facial animations and voice acting together are top-notch, offering us our first true look at how the PS4 will be able to deliver stories as we progress deeper into the generation. There are also comic-style videos shown that fans of the series will find familiar, and they look as good as ever.
The biggest problem is that being Delsin just isn’t all that entertaining to play as. Some of that comes from his modest ability set. Most of it comes from the ill-conceived controls. Using the basic ranged attack in nearly all power types feels like you’re throwing paper airplanes at foes; they lack the sort of feedback that makes playing as a superhero as exhilarating as it should be. This lack of audio and visual cues wasn’t particularly a problem in the last two games which makes it a strange shortcoming. As with the previous games, you have to keep tapping R2 to repeat fire. It’s a strange design decision that makes you feel as if you were playing a shooter like Call of Duty and were limited to a 9mm handgun that shoots rubber bullets.
