Ben-DutkaThere are times when I wish I could simply issue a one-word review. In the case of inFamous: Second Son , that word is obvious from the get-go; it’s a word that permeates every last nook and cranny of the game, every particle effect of every prodigious power, and every step your character takes. It’s a word fans of the series know well because above all else, inFamous is – and hopefully will always be – fun . Yeah, I can’t stand the main character. The story has too many predictable “oppression of a certain group” clichés. But you know what I’m very often doing when playing?
Smiling.
Part of the reason for that smile is the splendid environment, which, despite being too dark and foreboding for my tastes, is beautifully constructed and immensely immersive. The city of Seattle is brimming with activity and atmosphere, two traits that make any virtual world well worth visiting. Second Son is indeed a great example of what the PlayStation 4 is capable of, especially in regards to performance. This is a game that runs perfectly nearly one hundred percent of the time, and you can tell Sucker Punch took advantage of the PS4’s power. From the fantastic character design to the meticulous detail seen in our surroundings, this is a graphical tour de force.
The sound isn’t quite as impressive, just because I sense some minor technical difficulties. The balancing is off (again, something I continue to complain about with next-gen software) and the soundtrack, while quite fitting, could’ve been even more insistent than it is. That being said, there’s no denying the extremely high quality of every audio aspect, from the effects to the music to the voice performances. The latter really are great, as top-notch performances from accomplished actors like Troy Baker (Joel, The Last Of Us ) add style and professionalism to the narrative.
Mutants are being hunted because everyone is afraid of their capabilities. This very “X-Men”-like premise places the protagonist, a conduit named Delsin Rowe, in the midst of an ongoing manhunt. After all, he can absorb the powers of others so he’s automatically a societal pariah. Unfortunately, the military presence and fascist regime in the city of Seattle creates an oppressive environment. And why should Delsin fight to protect those who despise him? Why not just exact revenge against an intolerant government? You could be the bigger man and fight for virtue and goodness, I suppose, but…
You can skip all the irritating cutscenes, right?
Mostly agreed, Delsin is crap, sadly everything surrounding the gameplay is geared toward 13 year olds, and that kind of brought me down. I was expecting something more. I think it is more juvenile than Cole's adventure, and I can't figure out why they did that. Maybe to broaden the base to the idiots for massive sales?
That said, Orbital Drop is truly epic.
I've put 40hrs into FFX and that's including being gone this weekend. Who has time for PS4?!
Not me apparently, I couldn't play much because getting back to FFX was all I could think of.
I just spent 2hrs getting my butt kicked by dark Aeons. I see myself putting 200hrs into just X!
Haha, Now you see what I mean by the wrath of the Dark Aeons! They're a complete game changer taking grinding to the next level… Just you wait to Dark Yojimbo…
I just hope the Dark Aeons are worth it. You get them if you beat them, right?
I've always hated the Magus Sisters… And I remember thinking how much it sucked that US gamers didn't get the Dark Aeons when FFX came out. 🙁
No you do not obtain them for defeating them, you normal Aeons are not upgraded either. But I never really considered the option. It does offer some of the series toughest fights though, easily as Iconic as VII's Emerald & Ruby Weapon. Wasn't the Ultimate boss in the US version of FFX Nemesis in the monster arena?… That is nothing in comparison to the Dark Aeons. You'll have to readjust your whole sphere-grid to max stats to really take them on
That's the other thing: I thought I HAD maxed my stats way back in 2001 but I could never come close to beating Nemesis. It was weird, because I always beat all the alternate bosses in all Final Fantasies; prior to FFX, I had taken down Ruby and Emerald in FFVII, Omega in FFVIII, and Ozma in FFIX.
If you've done everything on the Sphere Grid, how can you possibly increase your stats any further?
Ah, that what brigns the grinding to another level. You have to erase prior, weaker nodes and replace them with stronger ones you earn by beating the toughest monsters at the Monster Arena, it turns into a tremendous grind fest.
Holy cow guys, I don't think I can do all that!
Oh Good God…yeah, not sure I have time for that.
Glad to know that 'fun' is still a core tenet in this game. My #1 reason to get a PS4 right here, but I'm still gonna wait.
Probably wise, there isn't much next gen about this game. I think I might have scored it a bit lower than Ben.
And by "next-gen" you were expecting…
I'd like an answer to Cesar's question…
I mean, what in blazes is "next-gen" gaming in the eyes of those with the PS4 that are talking about none of the experiences matching up to their expectations?
There is a lot that is next-gen about this game.
I already loved the game while playing with the first two powers… then I got the third and holy s*it… I can't remember the last time I had so much fun playing a game.
I think of next gen as that extra level of detail that improves the gaming experience. If all the same gameplay, storytelling, audio, and control growing pains that existed last gen are still there then it's like "been here before".
I didn't find Delsin annoying. I don't even like this type of person, in real life, but he's funny and gritty.
I'm in the camp that Delsin is a likable character. Much more charismatic than Cole. Playing hero he does nothing to make you hate him in my opinion. But yes fun game. I just wish it lasted a bit longer.
Irritating protagonist? well I'm gonna do the evil/ruthless path in order to fit more that, hehehe still not sure if buy a PS4 in two months or December but this it's one of the games I'm gonna buy with it.
I might restart and be evil, I always HAVE to be the hero, but this kid is such a douche I might have to Break Bad to even things up.
Hahahahaha well kinda sucks because Cole was entertaining as hero and villain, but I'm sure this not gonna ruin the game for me.
Last edited by Oxvial on 3/26/2014 12:24:23 AM
I wanted to do a co-review of this but sorry folks, I gotta review Witch and Hundred Knight plus great games to play just for fun (FFX HD) and I gotta write a massive project proposal due thursday, so I couldn't weigh in.
Those that down-voted you should die in a lake of fire.
Go purify yourself in the Waters of Lake Minnetonka, LV
Is that a Purple Rain reference I see there, cLoudou?
LV's comments are my favorite. They seem pure enough to me, Cloudou! 😀
They think that because of some criticism I'm saying it's not a good game, not true, when I have time I intend to enjoy it thoroughly but FFX is taking up my time now nad Second Son just happened to miss a lot of opportunities to be better, which is why it isn't a 9.
I've been to Lake Minnetonka many times for partying, good place to purify your feet.
Put a few hours Into it so far, yeah it's fun.
Can't stand Delsin? What is wrong with him? I thought he was awesome, MUCH more interesting to play then Cole. I mean I can't think at all why you guys don't like Delsin. Honestly.
I loved the game, I can't wait to restart and finish the game on the evil route.
The ending was a bit of an anti-climax, and I was expecting more then 4 powers, but that's okay.
Literally just beat the game about 20 minutes ago! Excellent game, great story! My only complaint is the sometimes cringe worthy dialogue and the pedestrians should look alot better on next gen in terms of graphic quality and animation.
Onward and upword now to another game. Just downloaded Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 revelations dlc to go to an already great game.
Anyone from here-I didnt think Castle…
Me-I didnt ask and dont care"
Might want to pop Second Son back in once a week for the next two months for the Paper Trail side story it seems interesting, you might have to link your PSN account for it to show up in game though.
The person you're chasing in the missions has like Origami paper powers and seems super cool.
Do I have to do crap online for Paper Trail?
Yes.
With Paper Trail, you do the first mission, which isn't long, then you need to create a "Paper Trail account" on the infamous paper trail website. At the end of the mission you collect some clues, and those clues are uploaded onto your Paper Trail account, which you have to go look at them.
a new mission will unlock every week, with the full Paper Trail DLC taking 6 weeks to fully unlock.
I like the idea, but the Paper Trail website wouldn't let me sign in on my mobile device, and you can't view any of the Clues with a smartphone, you need a PC or tablet. So that was annoying.
I just can't wait to try out those Paper powers!!!
XD You gave the game the exact score I did! I honestly liked Delsin he was decent in my book and fit the rebellious young 20 something image.
Where I took points off was I felt the story seemed rushed none of the characters were really given time to develop or grow on us the player, and I also didn't really like the whole single big bad villain idea when in Infamous 1 and 2 yes there was a much larger threat in both games but there were also smaller villains who were all interesting and increased the size of the game by including them.
I 100% my good playthrough and even with the audio-logs we don't learn very much.
Aside from the story which was still fine just not as great as I was expecting I encountered a few minor glitches such as clipping, getting stuck on the side of a building for a second(had this happen quite a few time), spray paint art already being shown completed before I finished painting.
Then the biggest one I actually had a mission totally break on me and was unable to complete but luckily this was fixed with a quick reload of the game.
But even with these complaints I still thought the game was SUPER FUN and greatly enjoyed playing.
Also Ben question for you not sure if you timed your playthrough but how quickly did you complete the game?
I finished the game on expert difficulty in two play sessions finishing the story with 89% and ended my second session with 95% called it a night then wrapped up the remaining 5% the next day in probably an hour.
The game just felt really short to me and when I went to check my playtime on my save I was annoyed to see that the game does not list it.
I feel like my evil playthrough of Infamous 1, without doing any of the side objectives that were possible on the Good playthrough, was longer than 100%ing my Good playthrough of Second Son.
They removed the mechanics where you needed to draw health from the environment? Wow… That's a huge surprise. WTF did they do that for? That was such a genius feature!
To be frank I've never liked the protagonist in the Infamous games so that's really not a game-changer for me. But it is unfortunate when a franchise is dumbed down to appear more like any other game out there. Real disappointing.
^This. Forgot to mention it above, but it really is a bizarre decision that such a unique (speaking comparatively against most new games these days) feature was jettisoned in favour of auto-regen. Sad sad.
I haven't played it yet but maybe his powers don't offer a way to regenerate health through the environment. Could be that simple. I don't know…
Yeah, I don't really like it, either.
But the reason I said I was on the fence is because considering the game's design and structure, it does make more sense than the previous method. Everything is so fluid and fast that stopping to try to heal yourself might put a crimp in the flow.
The previous method was more impressive just from a gameplay standpoint, though.
The last infamous games had auto regen as well if you stayed away from a firefight. Nothing was changed, the same applies here. You can get health from the environment, I do it all the time.
Ya you can still get health from the environment but it will also auto regenerate after a bit too.
Smoke is harder to find than electricity so it does kinda make sense.
yeah Beam, auto-regen and health from environment are both implemented.
Auto-regen takes a little while, and honestly it is much easier to just draw a power to get more health.
I HAD to do that during my battles with Augustine on expert. She was too full on to just walk around waiting for auto-regen.
The only part I don't like about health, is that there is no way to tell how much you have, like you get shot at repeatedly then the screen goes black and white, then stays that way until you die.
So it's still there? Or different? Or… what? I'm confused.
thing thats really destroyed this game is it feels rushed like hell!
its so freaking buggy, ive lost count the amount of times ive hit invisable brick walls trying to climb buildings, ive lost count the amount of times ive jumped onto something and the animation goes all stiff and you slide off, ive lost count the amount of times ive clipped into objects, and ive lost count the amount of times ive fallen through the world to my death!
oh and a few times ive had random deaths, like one of the missions you have to swipe the touchpad to open a portable toilet and as soon as i did that i died for absolutely no reason.
happened a few times bashing those DUP panels to destroy the trucks too.
no death screen, no death music, just a quick black screen then the game reloads the mission.
christ ive experienced more bugs with this than skyrim, fallout 3, fallout new vegas put together!
quite the disappointing contrast to titanfall which feels polished to within an inch of its life!
and that rushed feeling carries over to everything else too, like IGNs review noted delsins lines and actions just dont make sense as a evil playthrough.
as the hero hes ok not as good a character as cole, but a stark contrast to him as a anti hero.
the powers are just f*cked, no other way to describe them, just so anti fun and anti useful.
i honestly feel like im playing your typical mundane mindless FPS, instead of a action hero game!
its run away find cover on a rooftop and snipe enemies from there, which makes the other powers useless neons really your only choice.
your a superhero you should be kicking a$$ and taking names personally, wreaking havok, not hiding behind a air vent pleading please dont hurt me like a frigging baby!
i really miss the power tree from infamous 2 how instead of having this is the missile, this is quick fire, this is grenade, and so on.
what i loved about 2 was how they expanded on that and said ok heres your missile, but here is multiple variations and uses of it, instead of just the 1 basic use.
gone are the moral powers as well, the first 2 games had different powers whether you were good or bad.
SS, instead of building and improving on 2, its stripped everything back to its bare bones and done it in such a hurry its a freaking mess!
everything in the game just screams simplified, dumbed down, warted down to the point of non recognition, rushed, unpolished, crapola!
even the story makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and is so thin and basic its embarassing!
i really miss the amazing intricate story of the original infamous.
how the way everything was a question, and everything was slowly unfolded and revealed to you, and how cole and even zeke or other characters growed as characters over the time of the 2 games.
SS has none of that, its probably one of the worst superhero stories put together in the history of the industry!
oh, and not to mention its SERIOUSLY short!
the first 2 games took me over 10 hours to finish, but SS only lasted me 6!
is this infamous, or COD?
im really starting to wonder!
crap striped back gameplay, crap story, 6 hour length, holly crap this really is COD!
this is probably THE WORST game ive EVER played!
and whats really sad about that is i was pretty much expecting this to be a massive disappointment, but somehow it ended up being even worse than i expected!
i was expecting infamous 2, a expanded but watered down game.
i hated 2 because instead of infamous, where it did 1 thing and 1 thing almost perfectly, it did 100000 things and did them all poorly.
but whats so sh*t and disappointing about SS is it does 1 thing, but unlike infamous, and infamous 2, it does it so poorly its having me question whether a professional studio like SP created it, or a student created it for his portfolio to get into uni did it!
no, the games so poorly done and rushed it really does feel like a freaking students done this, not the work of one of the biggest best first party studios out there!
this game couldnt be any worse if its life depended on it!
and all this, on the back of what was one of my favorite new IPs of last gen!
assassins creed, dragged through the mud, a shell of its former self.
dead space, dragged through the mud, a shell of its former self.
army of two, dragged through the mud, a shell of its former self.
infamous, dragged through the mud, a shell of its former self.
hey, maybe its not such a bad thing that dantes inferno did not get a sequel!
You just gave me an idea for a new wallpaper that'll never sell!
I only read the first paragraph of your rant because I really couldn't be bothered to read the rest of your insane ramblings but I feel I should reassure those who are looking to buy this game that it does not feel rushed and it is one of the least buggy games out there right now. I haven't encountered a single one of the bugs you mention and I've beaten the game twice already.
EDIT: I read a little more of the rant and yeah, to anyone reading it don't listen to a word of it. Not a single thing mentioned is true.
Last edited by matt99 on 3/26/2014 11:44:46 AM