InFAMOUS 2

PlayStation exclusive

Blamed for the destruction of Empire City and haunted by the ghosts of his past, reluctant hero Cole MacGrath makes a dramatic journey to the historic Southern city of New Marais in an effort to discover his full super-powered potential -- and face a civilization-ending confrontation with a dark and terrifying enemy from his own future. Gifted with extraordinary god-like abilities, Cole alone has the power to save humanity, but the question is-- will he choose to do so?

Released: 7 June 2011
Platforms: PlayStation 3
Genres: Puzzle Beat 'em up Adventure
Developers: Sucker Punch Productions
Publishers: Sony Computer Entertainment
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action Open world

About

Infamous 2 is a 2011 action-adventure video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. The second installment in the Infamous series, it is the sequel to the 2009 video game Infamous.

The story follows protagonist Cole MacGrath on his quest in New Marais to grow powerful enough to be able to face his nemesis, the Beast. Cole possesses electricity-based superpowers which are used in combat and navigating the city. The player is given several opportunities to use these powers for good or selfish purposes in the game's Karma system. The Karma system affects what powers become available, the reaction of the city's populace towards Cole, and the story.

›Story

In inFAMOUS 2, people with superhuman abilities, called Conduits, exist. Since the creation of the first Conduit, Cole MacGrath, the emergence of others has unsettled human society. At the same time, Cole has learned from his future self, Kessler, that a powerful Conduit known as the "Beast" will rise to destroy the world and that only he has the power to defeat him.

Story

Following the events of InFAMOUS, Cole (Eric Ladin) and his friend Zeke (Caleb Moody) meet with NSA agent Lucy Kuo (Dawn Olivieri), who informs them that Dr. Sebastian Wolfe (Michael Ensign), the man responsible for creating the Ray Sphere that gave Cole his powers, has developed an even stronger version that would give him enough strength to stop the Beast. Before they can depart for Wolfe's lab in New Marais, the Beast attacks Empire City. Cole tries to fight him off, but even his most powerful attack proves useless. The group is subsequently forced to flee as Empire City is completely and utterly destroyed.

Arriving in New Marais, Cole and his allies learn that energy magnate Joseph Bertrand III (Graham McTavish), an anti-Conduit demagogue, has seized control of the city. Aware of Wolfe's intentions, Bertrand has his private army, the Militia, destroy the doctor's lab. Rescuing Wolfe, Cole learns that he has developed the Ray Field Inhibitor, a device capable of stripping Conduits of their powers. Before he can help Cole locate the energy cores needed to power the RFI, he is killed by the Militia, who also take Kuo captive.

While working to free her, Cole and Zeke meet Roscoe Laroche, a Vietnam veteran who leads a resistance movement opposed to Bertrand, and Nix (Nika Futterman), a Conduit with the ability to manipulate and ignite a black, napalm-like substance, who has been waging war on the Militia. Using intelligence gathered by Zeke, Cole and Nix locate a secret lab where Kuo, revealed to be a Conduit, has been forced to transfer her ice-generating powers to an army of human mercenaries controlled by Bertrand. The two free her, but also end up releasing the mentally unstable mercenaries into the city.

Keywords

anti-hero
comicbook style
super powers

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Infamous 2 is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. The player controls Cole in the world of New Marais. Cole's electricity-based powers are used in movement, offense and defense in combat, and either for better or worse in dealing with the citizens of New Marais. Cole can climb buildings and other structures, grind along power cables and powered train rails, and hover for a short time.

Cole can engage in melee combat with enemies using a weapon called the Amp. The game features many different powers, ranging from simple electric bolts to large electric rockets.

Story

Like the previous entry, InFamous 2 takes place in a fictional city inspired by a real American metropolis. This game takes place in the Southern city of New Marais, heavily inspired by New Orleans. The city is spread across four neighborhoods: the Ville Cochon, the red-light district and entertainment hub (with many parallels to New Orleans' French Quarter); Ascension Parish, the city's historic district that holds a cemetery, cathedral, colonial-era fort, and antebellum plantations; Flood Town (formerly known as Bellevue), a former residential area left flooded and ruined by a large hurricane four years before the events of the games; and the Gas Works, New Marais's center of energy and industry. Being situated in the middle of the Louisiana bayous, the city is also surrounded by multiple smaller settlements and shantytowns.

A month following the events of InFamous, Cole (Eric Ladin) and his friend Zeke (Caleb Moody) meet with NSA agent Lucy Kuo (Dawn Olivieri), who informs them that Dr. Sebastian Wolfe (Michael Ensign), the man responsible for creating the Ray Sphere that gave Cole his powers, has developed an even stronger version that would give him enough strength to stop the Beast. Before they can depart for Wolfe's lab in New Marais, the Beast attacks Empire City. Cole tries to fight him off, but even his most powerful attack proves useless, resulting in the Beast draining Cole of most of his powers. The group is subsequently forced to flee as Empire City is completely and utterly destroyed.

Development

Gaming journals reported the likelihood of a sequel to Infamous due to a Twitter post made by actor David Sullivan reporting on auditioning for the role of Cole in the game's sequel. com", increasing speculation that a sequel was in development. The game was unveiled on June 4, 2010, when Game Informer released the cover for their July 2010 issue which featured a preview of the game. Development of Infamous 2 started immediately after the first Infamous had finished development.

Sucker Punch hired their own QA staff to test and report bugs for the game. Game director Nate Fox, director of the original, also directed Infamous 2. The core development team consisted of 65 to 75 people, an amount considered "small".

Reception

Infamous 2 received "generally positive reviews", according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

The story of Infamous 2 was divisive. Sterling McGarvey from GameSpy thought the story was a "pulpy comic book narrative", Colin Moriarty of IGN found the story well-delivered and "incredible", and Eurogamer's Christian Donlan found the endings of the game to be "genuinely satisfying" and an improvement on the overarching storyline of the series. Conversely, Andrew Reiner of Game Informer found the story disengaging with confusing narrative threads, Giant Bomb's Brad Shoemaker felt the story was scattered and had too much going to find its center, and Tom Mc Shea from GameSpot described the story as bland and lacking a hook to invest the player in Cole's affairs.