Infamous: Second Son

A game that uses all PS4's strengths and features, including its controller.

A Great PlayStation Exclusive/10

I played all Infamous series games and found this one is the most boring. The story is mediocre and I didn't feel engaged. The district clearance tasks are all extremely repetitive.

Some boss fights are good. But that's all the good about it. The game encourages to do a second play to see the other side of the character. But just thinking about all the repetitive tasks I will have to do again, I gave up on that idea.

It looks like Sucker Punch just needed to get the games out the door. It lacked game passion and souls. Only good graphics don't make a great game.

I was just dying to finish the game and get it done with.

I've had a PS4 since day one and have been massively disappointed in terms of games, we had the average killzone and the pitifull knack whilst the xbox had forza titanfall dead rising and ryse. It's taken 5 months to get its first worthwhile exclusive and boy was it worth the wait.

Infamous on the ps3 was a good game, it wasn't ever going to get as much attention as it is by being the debut big title on the ps4. This game is fun, that's the main thing everyone wants, it's fun for 15 minute messing about and it's fun for a 4 hour gaming session.

Graphically it is superb, the detail is awe inspiring and the effects are flawless, occasionally there is a slight texture glitch, bug that's to be expected with the amount of action being done on screen. The voice acting is great and the characters have rarely looked closer to being actual human beings, sometimes in cut scenes it's startling how real they look, from the hair to the mannerisms. Delsin is probably the most detailed but overall most characters are of a high standard.

Here's a tip, if you see a game with the lead character voiced by Troy baker you know its good, the last of us, mgs v , batman and bioshock infinite all had his voice and were all classics.

Story modes good, the standard good vs evil choices exist. The only issue is the story doesn't truly reflect if you've chosen to go down the evil route, you can see an effort has been made to use to cover both bases but his interactions in cut scenes after being so evil don't really add up other than that can't complain. The choices can be a bit unnatural and not really fit in with the fast flowing action. I have completed both modes so there is definitely an ins entice to play through both good and evil.

The gameplay is good solid fun, the only issue could be it's fairly repetitive, although you unlock different powers, the actions you make and things you have to do don't change much, for me it didn't matter, I was constantly blown away by the detail and effects so never got tired of it.

It has intelligent AI, they run for cover, shoot dodge and act well compared to games like killzone where the computer opponents seemed to be blind and act irrationally. Overall it's well made, entertaining and the true first must bug on ps4.

Tonnes of replayability , it's just down right fun, gorgeous graphics mixed with a decent story and amazing effects! What more can you want, easily a must buy and a positive step to the ps4 being the only true next gen console.

It has a steep learning curve and some of the stuff you need to do is not explained that clearly, like any game there are tiny flaws but overall its a breath of fresh air.

Is it the best game out on ps4? Arguably tomb raider, assassins creed 4 are probably the two best, but with ground zeros and infamous things are looking up! Online may have been a good addition but there is none but overall it's the first and best exclusive that'll make the ps4 stand out, solid 1080p smooth graphics means the xbox one would have had a glitch filled unpolished version if it was a cross platform title.

9/10

The inFAMOUS games on PlayStation 3 are undoubtedly my favorite games of all time. The first installment grabbed me and I was in for the whole ride. Loved almost every moment of its story, gameplay and open world. InFAMOUS 2 took this a step further with a more polished presentation, a more dramatic and emotional story, an incredible open world, as well as some good additional content. Basically, I'm a huge fan of this series and I was aching to see what would come next. Second Son was exciting when it came out, as we got to see a new protagonist with an interesting set of brand new powers on the next-gen tech of PlayStation 4. As a standalone game, Second Son is a pretty good time. Gameplay is impressive, visuals are even better, and it works well as a launch title. But once you start to dig deeper into what this game is and what it has to offer, the more cracks start to unfortunately appear.

Starting off positive, the game excels in its gameplay, visuals, mission design, as well as the cinematic/cutscene direction and the soundtrack. The strongest aspect of this game is its visuals. The graphical fidelity, art direction, animations, and VFX still look AMAZING to this day as it did back then. Gameplay is faster and more seamless than the previous games - though some of the depth within movesets is lacking. Playing through the campaign is a blast, as the main/story missions are diverse and take advantage of every gameplay element. When it comes to cinematics/cutscenes, Second Son absolutely nails it with great scene direction, lively performances, good cinematography, as well as stellar animations and motion capture. Lastly, the soundtrack also proves to be quite strong. It really taps into the culture of Seattle and Indigenous Americans, mixing grunge rock and vocals that are akin to Native American folk music.

Now for the bad. While I wasn't expecting Second Son to be better than the first two games in terms of storytelling, I was expecting an interesting and fleshed out standalone narrative. On a surface level, Second Son does have a really cool story. Even in execution, the game has a fairly strong first act, with entertaining dialogue and compelling plot points. But the rest of the story falls a bit flat. Characters are often very shallow and inconsistent. The karma system becomes even more of a burden to the consistency of the overarching narrative. The worldbuilding also comes off as a bit lazy, as the open world itself feels static and lacks the soul that previous settings had, and the lore is not presented in a very consistent or compelling way. What sucks even more is that one of the more serious themes of the game doesn't get much focus outside of one great scene near the beginning of the game. Then there's the side content. While inFAMOUS 1 & 2 didn't have the greatest side content, what was there was fleshed out enough to be worthwhile and interesting. Side missions and collectibles may have been a bit repetitive, but there were gameplay benefits, valuable mini-stories, and some good worldbuilding that came with them. Those side missions, while short, were lengthy enough to feel like proper missions with multiple objectives (with the average side mission being around 4-10 minutes). Second Son completely downgrades all of this. Side missions are turned into quick and repetitive activities that can be done in seconds - offering almost nothing of value in terms of additional narrative or gameplay benefits. The only "side missions" in Second Son are the DLC missions: "Cole's Legacy" and "Paper Trails." These feel a lot more akin to the side missions of the previous games, with multiple objectives that can be done in 4-7 minutes. These missions offer some decent worldbuilding and try to answer some questions that may come up in the main story, while also rewarding you with some cool cosmetics.

When Second Son gets good, it gets REALLY good. It's a fun superpowered sandbox game with some great visuals and main missions to tie it all together. But when Second Son feels lackluster, it feels like a downgrade. Lack of quality side content and an inconsistent story do hurt the experience for me. Is it a bad game? Absolutely not. In fact, it was quite close to becoming a really stellar entry in this overlooked franchise. And those that haven't played the inFAMOUS games on PS3 have a lot to like here. My biggest problem with this game is that it feels rushed. There are so many great ideas that needed more time to develop - plus the watered down side content is appalling. But if you can sandbox your way throughout the fun and replayable campaign, then Second Son almost makes up for its shortcomings.

Almost.

The first thing that has to be said about this - the voice acting is just superb. I don't have a single game on any platform that has better voice talent. Everything they do, the emotions, the tone, it all comes through brilliantly. The interplay between the two male leads is just a joy to hear.

Graphics - for 2014, this was amazing. Now being upscaled on my 4k HDR TV, it's still gorgeous. The little things make a huge difference. There are details that are fun to find, and no matter how many times I replay it, I seem to find something new.

Sound - immersion is fantastic. Even the ambient noises, falling rain, far off noises, it all is perfect for placing yourself in the action, whether over a dolby stereo or headphones.

The game can be repetitive, but what video game isn't? It's not the grind that Destiny is, though...

This game was the ONLY reason I purchased a PS4. I got the original Infamous from Sony for free after their security breech, and the timing was perfect since I had just finished it, and a week or so later Infamous 2 came out. I waited for this one, and while I was disappointed like many to not have Cole having somehow returned, the dialog, the voice acting, the story, it draws you in and you really come to like this guy. The character building is phenomenal here.

You can play both sides, the good and evil, and I've done both many times. There are some powers that work best as the evil though, and I miss those while I'm playing the good guy. And vice versa.

And I'm not kidding about replayability. I can't tell how many times I've played it. My son loves having me pass the controls to him to do the spray paint tagging And even that's nicely done, and taught me how so many things like that are even made. I never knew about the stencils and such...

Yes it's now nearly a 5 year old game. But despite my absolute love of Halo, and all the hours I have with it doing multiplayer with my son, this is still my favorite game to fall back on when I've finished whatever new pretty shiny was released... Soundtrack is awesome as well...