inFAMOUS Preview

Sucker Punch Studios is gearing up for the release of a new take on the superhero genre with inFAMOUS, a PlayStation 3 title that explores the duality of men and penchant for good and evil within everyone.

First seen at E3 in 2008, SCEA has since released a four-level demo of the game (which is slated for release at the start of June), and not only is the game a stylized action-adventure, it is also rife with deeper texturing as the protagonist – Cole – struggles with his increasing powers, the possible alienation of those closest to him and a city in quarantine that is crawling with more than starving people. The game takes place in Empire City, and begins within the quarantined arena in which Cole is partnered with Zeke. Through static comic-book style graphics, the game details that Cole unknowingly delivered a package that turned out to be the bomb that devastated the city. He was at ground zero (if the story was interpreted correctly) and was seemingly unaffected by the blast … well, that is until he started to mutate and began developing electrically based powers.

The demo began with the Food Drop mission, the first in the game that acts like a tutorial to Cole’s burgeoning powers. Not only can he channel electricity, producing aimed blasts, but he can also generate an electric shock wave. A government plane has dropped food, but it’s hung up on the centerpiece of Archer Park. Cole, because he can survive falls from great heights, climbs up to release the food and as it hits the ground, one of the truly bad groups (the Reapers) shows up, machineguns blazing, to claim the food. It’s up to Cole to fend them off. But shortly thereafter, the game introduces the player to the biggest element in the game – moral choices. Cole can make decisions that give him good karma, or bad, and there is a bar on the game’s HUD (heads-up display) that moves to show which direction Cole is moving in – either towards being a good guy, or feared and evil.

Three other levels were on the demo disk, “Dinner with Sasha” (the first boss battle of the game), “Terrorized Streets” (a new gang using armored buses to kill civilians on the streets), and a fourth mission where Cole defends a jail against a Dustmen assault. Each of the levels (shown at GDC) showcased the power sets that Cole is able to build up (the game has an RPG feel in that Cole gains experience in each level of the game and through missions and can work up various powers. It also showed off the graphical prowess of the game’s engine, as well as the tight control scheme.

The game is told through Cole, not only with an introspective look at what has happened, but his thoughts as he thinks about what he needs to do. The first level clearly gave insight into his character as he debated sharing the food he had saved from the Reapers with the starving people of the quarantined city, or driving them off and keeping the food for Zeke, his female friend Trish and himself.

inFAMOUS is looking like it will give players something to think about rather than merely running around, draining electricity from the city’s infrastructure and using it to fry whatever gets in the way. The game is looking good, playing well, and promises to be not only a treat on the action front, but also give players a reason to engage their minds as well and think about their actions.