The Second Coming - inFamous: Second Son Review

Since Adam was nice enough to lend me his copy of inFamous: Second Son, I figured I’d do a small review and give my thoughts on it. I’ll try to leave any spoilers out, and FYI, I played on normal difficulty.

So to begin, you play as Delsin Rowe, a native/Amerindian man of the Akomish tribe. Delsin goes about doing petty crimes, while his brother Reggie (a police officer) pesters him continuously about it. Long story short, a truck crashes near the Akomish reservation, and some criminals escape. You end up saving one of them and accidentally grab his power – smoke. You also end up meeting the antagonist, Augustine, who has the power of concrete. She is head of the D.U.P. (Department of Unified Protection) which is tasked to rid the streets of Seattle from “Bio-Terrorists” – aka people with powers, such as Delsin. 

Augistine has the bitch-face down pat

Smoking Hot Positives

The storyline is presented effectively and allows the game to flow nicely. It’s nothing overly complicated and is rather satisfying in its simplicity. The characters you meet feel fleshed out and allow for a smooth progression of the story. I find that many games have iffy moments in storytelling, but not so in Second Son. A second playthrough of the evil or good side (whichever you didn’t pick first) is probably warranted because the story is different. Characters’ feelings for you change – I’ve only just begun to play as “evil” and I can already tell there’s a difference.

Graphically-speaking, this game is top notch. Being an open world game could have its problems, but the problems I see in this genre are minimized. Pop-in of cars or people happened maybe once or twice through my first playthrough. Frame rates stay very steady; I believe reports show it hitting 40-45 frames per second and dipping to about 25-30 during busy scenes. All of this allows for smooth, seamless gameplay. Personally, I only experienced very minor slowdown at most 5 times throughout the game. Boss battles ran perfectly, so gameplay was not really affected.

Intense action aside, taking a step back to explore has its merits. 1080p games sure do look good, infamous being a prime example. I loved stopping to look at the skyline or the great rain effects.

Gameplay doesn’t stray too far from the rest of the series. You choose which powers to learn as you collect more blast shards, just like the last two inFamous games. You get multiple powers, so this allows you to vary your play style, unlike in the previous titles of this series. Besides story-based missions, you can foray into enemy territory and rid zones of the enemy.

Concrete-Crushing Negatives:

So I get it: you’re supposed to use your powers to defend, attack, and climb buildings, but I just felt that regular climbing (without powers) was half-assed.  I’ve come to appreciate Assassin’s Creed’s climbing mechanics, and as such, it’s a gold standard when it comes to climbing. Hell, how about Uncharted? The climbing mechanics were just fine; and correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t Sucker Punch and Naughty Dog buddies? They should have sought after some helpful tips from Naughty Dog.

Each area (called district in the game) has something called a District Showdown: a final fight in the area, you could say. The fights brought nothing original, just a horde of troops you’ve seen before. I feel like this was a missed opportunity, as it would’ve been nice to see some original mini-bosses show up.

On a minor note, sometimes I just wish there was a cover system. Again, I know I’m supposed to use my powers to evade attacks, but sometimes there just seems to be well-placed obstacles—obstacles I could have used to my advantage. There’s no way to cover, and no real cover animation when you stand behind a tall enough obstacle.

Final Thoughts
The pros vastly outweigh the cons for Second Son. The game is really fun, has some replay value, and is generally a step in the right direction for the series. In reality, my problems with the game are forgettable and minor.

Moreover, it’s the first game any PS4 owner should check out. It’s not really “next-gen” in some senses, but it sure looks gorgeous.

Random Thoughts

Sucker Punch has some good sense of humor. My favorite line from an NPC: “I have a Delsin tattoo on my ass”.

I liked the cover song of “Heart-Shaped Box” at the end credits of the game.