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inFAMOUS: Second Son is the sequel to inFAMOUS 2 and was one of the first “next-gen” games exclusively for the Playstation 4 (PS4). I played both inFAMOUS and inFAMOUS 2, but never beat either one of them. The openness of both of those games were really overwhelming and I ended up doing the same thing that I do in nearly all “open world” games, play through some of the missions, and get distracted doing other stuff. However, this review isn’t about those games. Let’s dive into inFAMOUS: Second Son.

You start off the game playing as Delsin Rowe, a Native American from the “Akomish” reservation. inFAMOUS: Second Son takes place 7 years after the end of inFAMOUS 2. The graphics for inFAMOUS: Second Son are jaw dropping to say the least. It really looked like it should be exclusive to the PS4. The sheer number of polygons that are pushed to the screen, not to mention particle effects, is astounding, especially because it doesn’t drop frame rate. The animations were also very well done. When there are close ups on the characters during cutscenes, you can see very small details that make them look even more realistic. The gameplay is actually unique in comparison to inFAMOUS and inFAMOUS 2. You don’t get the traditional lightning powers that Cole had. Instead, you get your choice of 3 powers as the game progresses. You start off with Smoke power, the ability to turn your body into smoke and phase through some objects. This was by far my least favorite power. About ⅓ through the game, you unlock Neon power, the ability to turn into light. This power was the most useful after you unlock the “Endless Running” power. With this power, you can run up and down obstacles without having to take a break. ⅔ through the game, you unlock Video. I had my issues with this class, but it was less annoying than Smoke. inFAMOUS: Second Son promoted the “completionist” attitude, beating the game 100% as opposed to just beating the campaign. Every side mission that you did had an effect on the world around you. For instance, if you cleared out an entire district of the “D.U.P.”, the enemies of the game, you can then fast travel to that district instead of having to walk there. This also gave you shards, the points you use to upgrade your powers. So, by the time I finished playing through the campaign, I had already beaten that file 100%. However, in order to earn a platinum trophy in inFAMOUS: Second Son, you need to play it again. This time as the opposite karma track than your first time. You also need to beat it on Expert difficulty. This is the first game that I actually wanted to earn a platinum trophy in.

The story of inFAMOUS: Second Son isn’t the best, but it’s not terrible either. With the different karma routes you can go down, it slightly affects the dialog. Basically, after your reservation is attacked, you go to Seattle to try and find the leader of the “D.U.P.” to heal what she’s done to  the reservation. While in Seattle, you can choose to liberate the districts from the D.U.P. soldiers, or not. Speaking of the D.U.P. soldiers, this has always been an issue I’ve had with the inFAMOUS games, the AI has insane accuracy. You can be 30 stories up on a building, and they can still hit you with a submachine gun. That just shouldn’t be physically possible! Throughout most of the story, I couldn’t believe what the antagonist was doing. She seemed way too evil to be believable. However, ONLY in the final fight do we get to understand her reasonings. It was only during this fight that I started to actually believe what she was doing and why she was doing it. I still didn’t feel it was right, but she had legitimate reasons for it.

My final thoughts are very good for inFAMOUS: Second Son. If it says anything, this is the first game that I got a platinum trophy in, so I felt like this game was good enough to get everything in. I wasn’t the biggest fan of how the story was written for the evil karma, but it wasn’t the worst story in the world.

I give inFAMOUS: Second Son…. a 9/10

I’m blurryphoenix and game on!