You know what sucks? Not actually being able to play a demo. This was sort of annoying as I really enjoyed the Infamous series and was desperate to get my hands on it and take our protagonist Deslin Rowe and his smoke powers out for a spin.
So while I might not have actually played the game, I did get to see one of the producers of the game give a hands-off demonstration. What let this demo down a lot is the fact that the producer kept copying what was shown during the live demo at E3, each time he would play the demo he would do the exact same things and say the exact same stuff. That is until I came over.
I don’t know about you, but I really want his jacket….
Right off the bat, this game looks amazing. The world is rich and full of life, and it really does give a good impression of how big the game will be. The producer could not confirm how big the world was (in comparison to Infamous 1 / 2) and he was also somewhat evasive about there being no loading times. When asked all he said was “were there any in 1 & 2?” This leads me to think they’ll be hidden ones, similar to the previous titles. He also avoided answering if you can travel to other locations with Deslin as the trailers were showing different areas such as a forest. The game demo also seemed to have a lot more in it then what the producer was willing to show off which is most likely why only he could play the demo.
After getting into the game straight away you will notice that Deslin can get around much faster than Cole could. He can fly through walls and certain obstacles with his smoke powers and climb faster than before making him very agile and, according to the producer, much nicer to play with.
Cole had a big problem with chain link fences, Deslin Laughs at chain link fences. See, character development!
After jumping around the building Deslin engaged some other super powered individuals in combat using his trusty chain and smoke abilities to dish out massive damage. Like in the E3 demo, the granite-controlling enemy made an appearance, something that will be reoccurring in the game. I asked how these other super powered enemies would tie in but he could not tell me anything, so I inquired into whether Deslin will get anymore powers.
Surprisingly, smoke isn’t the only power Deslin will be able to control, there will be more he can use and abuse but, at this time, he could not tell me about any of those powers. What some fans may like to know is that the chain weapon is a constant weapon in the game and will combine with Deslin’s (Known and unknown) powers in different ways which is a cool feature; a chain as a weapon is pretty badass in my opinion
Being a badass is definitely a concept that the demo was trying to push. Cole was very moody in the original games. He had an inner turmoil and didn’t know whether to do the right thing or not. This gave him a grouchy and intense demeanour which was great but he didn’t seem to ever be happy as a character. Deslin couldn’t be more different, while playing you could see the smug look on the characters face, his cheeky smile as he smokes someone, you can tell that he enjoys having his powers which is a refreshing change. The producer said his attitude was supposed to be comparable to what we would be like if we got super powers which sounds like a good approach to a character.
SMOKIN’! I will stop there I promise.
INFAMOUS 2 SPOILER ALERT!
Speaking of Cole, yes he is dead. 100% dead.
No really, despite the ambiguous ending of Infamous 2, poor Cole is very dead. According to the producer, it was a 60-40 split among players to finish with the good ending and kill off poor Cole, so, that is the canon ending they went with which is fine I suppose. However, I pushed the guy further on the topic and I got the impression he was not telling me something about this… take that how you will.
One last thing I asked is if we would see the return of the awesome 3D/2D comic book cut scene animations which I really loved, the answer was “kinda yeah”. He could not outright say yay or nay but he said something to that effect will be in Infamous Second Son, so maybe good news on that front?
He’s dead Jim, and we can’t bring him back in the next mov- I mean game.
All in all, even though I did not actually get play the demo, Infamous Second Son looks super hero funtastic and seems to be living up the previous games successes. If you are a fan of the Infamous series this is a must buy and if you like super heroes and/or super hero games check this title out as well, you will definitely enjoy it!