My Top 10 Games Of All Time: Number 5
0If InFamous tries to deliver one message above all else, it’s that morality is simply a matter of perspective. While the series seems to have forgotten this message in its most recent entry, Second Son, the original two games delivered it flawlessly.
InFamous invites you to either help or dictate its world, giving creditable reasons for doing either. Dictating the world will potentially give humanity a better chance of survival but will also require you to become hated by your friends and family. On the contrary, choosing to be a hero will result in you potentially having less control, but will also allow for you to gain more allies. Nothing in InFamous is good or bad, making for an interesting narrative worthy of returning to multiple times.
“I don’t think I could ever get bored of playing this instant classic”
InFamous, most importantly, makes you feel superhuman. The narrative direction is largely responsible for this, but being able to use your superpowers during gameplay makes you feel limitless. How these superpowers control reflects on how you use them. Being a hero will grant you more precision, whereas being villainous will make your powers become more powerful but also less controllable.
The gameplay always feels epic, irrelevant of what side of morality you choose to fight for. Traversing around the environment feels fluid and fighting feels impactful. InFamous empowers you enough to make you feel superhuman but also introduces enough challenge to encourage experimentation with gameplay mechanics, making it perfectly balanced.
The definitive game of this series, though, is InFamous 2. InFamous 2 managed to capture the morality of the original and combine incredibly detailed gameplay mechanics to deliver an almost flawless superhero experience. Second Son, InFamous 2’s sequel, failed at truly improving its predecessor’s narrative direction or gameplay, hence why InFamous 2 remains the best.
The InFamous series revolutionized the superhero genre and provides one of the best superhero experiences available. Hopefully the series hasn’t ended yet, but it has been implied Second Son was the final instalment. I hope InFamous 2 will return on PS4 in a ‘HD Collection’, as I don’t think I could ever get bored of playing this instant classic.
Playable on PS3.
