Hey all!

I don't normally do this, but I've seen the odd person do game reviews... and since I have some spare time at the moment, I thought I'd do one.

This, of course, is a review of the PS3 current top-seller inFamous. I began playing it a few days ago and I've gotta say, I'm impressed.

Originally, I watched a friend of mine play it through most of the 1st of 3 islands available in the game for about... 2-3 hours before I'd ever been able to put my hands on it. I got to play for a short burst during that time and in that time, before ever buying it, I was pretty hooked. Now that I've been able to play through a large majority of the game's story, I gotta say it's fan-freakin'-tastic!

Lemme give you the basic premise to the game:
You play as Cole McGrath - a courier who just so happened to deliver the worst package imaginable to a location (a bomb). After the package exploded (levelling 6 city blocks), Cole was suprised to see that not only did he survive the blast, but he gained an odd affinity to control electricity. He can fire it off and do other cool abilities as things progress that he has to figure out. The entire city that this takes place in is quarantined after the blast due to a mysterious plague beginning to form just after the explosion. Now Cole has to live in crime-infested streets and try to understand just what all lead up to the incident and fight not only the rampant gangs, but the citizens who believe him to be a terrorist and the cause of the blast.

Don't worry... the story blurb I mentioned is pretty spoiler-free... much of it is on the back of the box and is explained pretty early in the game.

The main draw to inFamous is the ability to choose what kind of character you want to be... a hero that fights for the greater good, or an anti-hero who fights mostly for himself (you're not really a true villian, but you don't give two shits about anyone else but you). You will constantly be given choices within missions on what you can do and the populous will react around you differently based on it.

I've so far played as "hero" Cole and when your "karma" meter goes higher on the hero side, people will run up and take pictures of you, clap, cheer and sometimes ask you for help. From what I've heard, the "infamous" side has civilians fearing you.

Graphicly speaking, the game is great - it runs very nicely with no slowdowns and the graphical style is sweet. The cut-scenes dotted throught the story are all done in semi-still images that look like they're from a comic book (and in a super-hero origins kinna game like this, it fits perfectly). There are no graphical bugs to speak of in the game.

Audio-wise, everything sounds fine, the voice acting works (and has some clever jokes once in a while) and the music (when it kicks in) only hightens the scene.

The story is fantastic - that's all I can say here. Some people apparenly feel the game is dry at the beginning and sometimes quit out before getting past the 1st island... but those who keep going get some really amazing twists and cool things to see and do. I'm near the ending and it's looking to be epic.

Gameplay, of course, is the big thing and this game brings it to the table very nicely. Travel in-game is mostly limited to on-foot (because, as they explain early-on, Cole will more than likely blow up a car if he sits in it with his electrical powers). One of the things Cole is blessed with other than his electric super powers is that he can survive long falls without taking any damage. This is very good, since one major aspect to controlling yourself in this game is free-running (climbing up walls, running across roofs, that sorta thing). The game rather intuitively allows Cole to grab almost any survace large enough for his fingers/toes to hold from. Even if you're only a foot off, Cole will still likely reach and grab it or partially be magnetized to it (which sometimes seems kinna odd). Combat-wise, you use your basic attack (an energy bolt) very often on enemies. The game has no auto-aim, so you're manually targeting whenever you're in firing mode... which works incredibly well. If you're in a generally right area for a head shot (or head shock), it will likely land (which normally KOs your opponent).

Your other basic ability is to drain electricity from any object that has a charge. This helps recover from damage and lets you use special abilities you gain later on in the game. Sometimes, you can even fire your basic energy bolt to charge up a metal object and pull more electricity from it. It's kinna funny how you can suck electricity from an object to heal, fire your energy bolt rapid-fire into the object to charge it up again, then drain it again for a re-fillable health pack. It can also save your life sometimes.

There are a few very clever elements to inFamous that they threw in. First and foremost, if you're in a section of the city that has no electricity, Cole feels weaker and cannot find places to recharge. Cole also be effected by water. If you walk through a puddle, it'll become electrified (killing anyone in the puddle). If you're in shallow water, like a fountain, you take damage. If you fall into the river, you die instantly.

I won't spoil any of the special powers, but they will begin to help you as the game progresses from little aspects like transportation to big elements like attacking. I will tell you that you earn experience points (XP) from fighting and completing missions. This XP can be used to purchase upgrades to your abilities.

Not only does your negative/positive karma effect people's outlook and changes elements of the story, but it also effects your abilities. Some abilities get different traits based on if you're good or bad... like doing more damage to the enemy or restraining them. There are also some skills that become different (or more accurately, you gain a different skill) if your good or bad.

For all it's great aspects, there are a few faults... but nothing major. First and most direct is that there are a few control/terrain glitches. Once in a while, you'll find yourself stuck on one spot where two pieces of ground connect (like say part of a sidewalk onto a dock). Since the game is so intuitive and lets you partially stick to surfaces, it kind of gets a little confused. All you need to do is jump to fix it, so it's forgivable (and it doesn't happen often). The only other small complaint I have is that many side-missions are repeated throughout the three islands. Fortunately, you can bring up the map and see by the name of the mission what kind it likely is and do them in whatever order you want (if you want to at all). Completing side-missions takes over territory (taken over territory prevents enemies from attacking you while running around). Still, these gripes are very small.

I will give you one warning... this game is ADDICTIVE and will suck you in. If anyone reading has "next level" syndrome (where you say "I'll turn it off after the next section.", then when you get there, you keep playing to the next section and so on), you're gonna be trapped in this game until your eyes hurt, the PS3 overheats (auto-save, don't worry) or you have to turn it off "or else". Also, since there are two endings and the cut scenes change based on your karma, the game has replay value... so you will be in for a long haul.

A lot of reviewers have given inFamous a 9.5/10 score... I have to agree. There are some small issues, but if you have a PS3, this is a must-buy! Trust me on this one, this game lives up to it's reputation and hype. If you were wondering about buying this, don't - it's not likely you'll regret this purchase.

Oh... and about inFamous vs Prototype (because I've heard so many people compare them), I haven't played Prototype before, but I from what I've heard, Prototype starts big, then peters out, while inFamous starts a little slow (say like GTA), but then gets bigger and better... it just goes insane after a while! Most reviewers seem to agree as well, as inFamous has a higher rating on average.

Bottom Line: 9.5 out of 10 - Buy this game!