About

InFamous is an action adventure video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions, known for being the creators of the Sly Cooper series) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3.^[1] In the games, the player control Cole MacGrath, who recieved powers after activating a mysterious artifact.

Premise

The first two games focuses on Cole Macgrath. A bike messenger who had accidentally activated "The Raysphere"^[2] and it caused an explosion so big that it almost leveled the fictional "Empire City"^[3]. Most of the people caught in the explosion's blast radius were killed, but those that survived received powers and mutations, and from then onwards were called "Conduits"^[4]. With his new powers, Cole along side his best friend Zeke, must fight the "Reapers"^[5], "Militia"^[6], and other Conduits in order to maintain control of Empire City.

InFamous: Second Son, the sequel, takes place seven years after Cole's story, and it focuses on Delsin Rowe, a delinquent with a cop as a brother. Delsin obtains his powers after accidentally touching a runaway conduit, absorbing his powers in a similar manner of "Rogue"^[7] from the X-men. His town is later attacked by Augustine, a government conduit. So Delsin and his brother Reggie have to travel to Seattle, track down Augustine, obtain her powers, and save his town.

Gameplay

In terms of gameplay InFamous is a third person sandbox game, where the player controls Cole Macgrath/Delsin Rowe and use their powers in offense and defense. A Karma system is present within the games, that presents Cole/Delsin with situations that challenge their morality. They are given a choice to either follow the good path or the bad path. Both paths have a level system, where the highest level will either determine if the character is to be feared or respected amongst the citizens. The Karma system also changes the character's apprearance following the good path will give the character a white jacket, and choosing the evil path will give the character a red jacket.

Second Son's gameplay differed a bit more as the touch screen on the PlayStation 4's controller became a key gameplay element. The SIXAXIS feature on the controller was utilised for mini games.

History

There are a total of three InFamous games. The first infamous game was released on the 26th of May, 2009. The second was released on June 7, 2011. The Third was released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 on March 21, 2014.

Reception

The game was very successful upon release. IGN^[8] scored the game 9.2/10, and Metacritic^[9] scored it a 4 out of 5. The second game was scored by more reviewers, and Gamespot^[10] scored the game 7.5/10 where as both IGN and Metacritic scores remained the same. Cole Macgrath has made more appearances in other games than the InFamous series itself. He is in popluar titles like "Street Fighter X Tekken"^[11], "PlayStation All Star Battle"^[12], even Uncharted 2's Multiplayer as an unlockable skin.

Online Presence

InFamous has become well known on the internet. There are plenty of Tumblr blogs about either Cole Macgrath, Delsin Rowe, or even the game franchise itself. Some of these include "FuckYeahInFamous", "Electric-Man-Cole", "DirtyInFamousConfessions", "ColeMacgrathIsHot", and more. There is almost more than 950 images and fanart about the game, if searched on Deviantart^[13]

Prototype vs InFamous

After the release of the Radical Entertainment video game Prototype, InFamous was released a month later. The similarities between both protagonists were noted and this started various debates amongst the fans of both series to see who would most likely win in a fight. On the 21st of July, Zero Punctuation reviewed both games and analysed that if such a battle were to occur it would most likely end in a tie.

Search Interest

External References