Infamous

infamous video game box art
8.0 Overall Score
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Controls: 8/10

Fun action-adventure for the PS3

Sometimes glitchy graphics and controls

Game Info

Game Name:  Infamous

Developer(s):  Sucker Punch Productions

Publisher(s):  Sony Computer Entertainment

Platform(s):  PS3

Genre(s):  Action/Adventure

Release Date(s):  May 26, 2009 (US)/November 5, 2009 (Japan)

ESRB Rating:  T

infamous train mission screenshots gameplay

Ride the rails!

Cole MacGrath is a messenger who has been caught in a trap.  While delivering a package, the package explodes, and Cole finds himself gifted with electrical powers.  Unfortunately, the world is blaming Cole for the explosion and the real bomber is still out there.  Empire City has been quarantined by the authorities and as Cole gains control of his powers, he discover that he must choose his path between right and wrong…a disease is sweeping Empire City, and Cole is running out of time!

Infamous (which is sometimes written as inFAMOUS or inFamous or even InFamous) is a third person open world action adventure game.  Produced exclusively by Sucker Punch Productions for the PS3, the game received positive reviews.

I received Infamous (and its sequel) with my PS3…but I had other exclusives when I got the PS3 and never played it.  One day, I decided to finally pop in Infamous…and ended up finishing it in a few days of obsessive playing.

infamous junk tower climb gameplay screenshots

No…my palms aren’t sweating…I’m perfectly fine

Infamous feels a lot like previous Spider-Man games both in story and play.   Cole has essentially a superhero origin and can climb walls and glide through the city (eventually).  The story is rather streamline (if you aren’t a completionist, you could probably do it in a long day), but for those who like to climb and explore, game works like Assassin’s Creed in that you open up and protect areas of the city by exploring and doing side-missions.  While these aren’t important, it does help your character’s karma and helps clean up routes for future missions.

The game isn’t very boss based in the sense you only run into two or three “big” bosses and some of those turn into everyday enemies in later areas.  The challenges are rather uneven at points with some areas being extremely frustrating and other areas being rather quick and simple.  The final boss battle is just a matter of outlast the character by running around and charging yourself…the game is very generous with respawning.

infamous gameplay vs kessler final boss screenshots gameplay

What is Kessler hiding?

The controls for the game are both great and frustrating.  Primarily you holding the left bumper for most of the game while unleashing lightning hell.  The jumping and climbing is good, but I did run into a lot of glitches and sometimes was able to “glitch” myself up a wall instead of taking the appropriate path.  It sped up the gameplay, but it wasn’t supposed to be like that.  The game frequently gets you into massive dogfights where your only hope is to run away and pick off people slowly.  You also will grab onto walls, ledges, etc. when you want to fall and grinding on the rails of the trains gets painfully irritating when you are just try to walk.

Infamous is a fun play and definitely worth picking up if you have the PS3.  It has been made available for download frequently, and the game ends on kind of a cliffhanger to encourage you to follow-up with the sequels.  I don’t know that the game really did anything original, but it is a solid, fun action-adventure climber that adds some variety to games like Assassin’s Creed that sometimes feel played out.  Infamous was followed by Infamous 2 in 2011.

Author: JPRoscoe View all posts by
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Letterboxd @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.

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