When the Playstation 4 was released it didn't have many exclusive games to brag about, but the ones it did have were fine. It was not until a year later that an exclusive developer of the company decided to launch an installment of a saga that had its fame on the Playstation 3: inFAMOUS. Characterized by a system of "karma" that, depending on our actions, we will decide to be the hero or villain of the story. In 2014, by the hand of Sucker Punch, we had the exclusive game inFAMOUS: Second Son, a game that despite the years continues to look just as good as on the day it was released.
For a game developed in the first years of a generation of consoles, its graphics are dazzling, Sucker Punch deserves all the credit for having created a good visual section only a year apart from having started the generation. And the merit gets a bit more breadth when it comes to an open world game, and that is that inFAMOUS: Second Son offers us a city big enough for the type of game that it is, with detailed places to explore and a solid 30 frames per game. second at 1080p resolution.
A YOUNG MAN WITH POWERS OF SMOKE
New delivery, new story; The developer company decided to start a story detached from the previous inFAMOUS, so you can play inFAMOUS: Second Son without knowing the history of the previous two, if it is true that we will find certain details that refer to the previous games but nothing that affect us in this story. Our main character is Delsin Rowe, a young American who unknowingly is a "driver", one day he receives an incredible power that will change his life and that of the people around him.
Delsin will have to leave his life on the outskirts of Seattle to enter the big city and fight the D.U.P (Department of Unified Protection) an organization deployed by the government to contain drivers, now classified as a bioterrorist, led by Brooke Augustine who also she is a driver. None of this is a spoiler, in the first 20 or 30 minutes all this is explained to us. The story is a bit simple, objectively, it is told well, it has good dialogues that serve as the perfect excuse for us to travel the city from end to end and meet other people with powers, who we will try to borrow.
A super characteristic brand of inFAMOUS is its choice of karma, it is a mechanic that will allow us to do good or evil, be a hero or an infamous. Here we have no place for nuances, blue and red will determine the good or bad actions, from the beginning we will have to choose to be heroes or infamous; the story will vary according to our choice, the conversations, the reactions of the characters, the cinematics and even the powers will vary depending on our choice. This has always been an excellent mechanic to replay an inFAMOUS, since it gives a high value to the game to pass it again to see all the content that it offers us either as a hero or infamous.
SEATTLE AND THE D.U.P
If we take the path of good we will carry out anti-drug raids, we will help characters in distress and "drivers" to leave under suspicion of the D.U.P. On the other hand, if we decide to be bad, we will have to use force to dissolve demonstrations, leave the D.U.P agents on the ground and without the possibility of getting up or massacre civilians at our pleasure. Although there are also equal tasks for both “karmas”, and that is that the most important objective of freeing the streets of Seattle from the D.U.P.
The map is divided by districts and as we go on missions we will lower the control of the D.U.P in Seattle. We will destroy security cameras, fortifications, discover secret agents, hidden cameras and destroy mobile command centers. When we finish with a large part of the D.U.P in an area, the confrontation for the district will be unlocked, if we win we will kick the D.U.P out of the area and we will obtain some advantages.
We will do all this as we progress through the story, and it is sometimes necessary to destroy the D.U.P command centers in order to advance in the story and it is also necessary to achieve improvements in our powers. There are various ways to get skill points, we can find them in androids that are flying around the map or in some hidden places, and also destroying the facilities of the D.U.P. In inFAMOUS: Second Son there are no full-fledged secondary missions, there are no secondary stories or that implement other characters, all we will have will be optional missions to get control of the districts or improve our skills.
DRIVER POWERS
As for the powers, in total, we will have four but we can only have three throughout the story, after completing the story (either with good or bad “karma”) we will unlock the last one. Each power has unique attacks at short and long distances, in the form of projectiles and special abilities such as being able to get through the ducts and use them as a trampoline, run along the walls or fly for a brief moment. But the amount of power you have will be spent and we will have to fill it with different elements that are on the map, regardless of the power we are using. If we want to use and fill the power of the smoke we will have to go to a burning roof or car or for the neon go to one of the many signs that are around the city, and so on with each of the powers that we want to use.
In confrontations, long-distance attacks will be more important than at close range, if you want to face in close combat, only three armed enemies will be enough to discover that we are not very resistant to bullets. The normal difficulty is well adjusted, enough to be very careful in the combats that by themselves are quite chaotic and massive. Each power has its pros and cons, an example of this is neon, when we use it and use the shooting mechanics it will allow us to see a blue area on the feet and a red area on the head, this adds a plus to our "karma" post our choice of shooting will influence our history as hero or nefarious.
The enemies also have their own powers and all kinds of weapons, one of the weak points of inFAMOUS: Second Son is that the artificial intelligence of the enemies is a bit deficient, in combat they go crazy and their abilities surpass us more with quantity and brute force than by skill in combat. And although this does not break the game experience, it does bear fruit if we do not take care in the movements we make.
TECHNICAL SECTION
The game manages to be entertaining, agile and dynamic, I could make you lose track of time of how intuitive it can be. It improves the playability of the previous inFAMOUS in all aspects, the movement, the climbing and the exploration is satisfactory but without being the most remarkable, although compared to the previous games it is much better to move around the city in this installment.
If you only limit yourself to playing the main story, the game can last between 8 to 9 hours, but let's face it, it is undeniable that we will take a walk through the secondary missions. I also have to add that to see all the content of the game it is necessary to take another turn, whether you choose to be hero or infamous you will not want to miss out on different cutscenes that completely change your perspective on the story. As expected, the soundtrack also measures up, made by three different composers, the melodies are coupled at each moment when necessary.
The animations is another good section, especially the facial expressions, without the need to make big gestures when the situation warrants it, the faces of the characters manage to express each feeling placed on the screen. The popping is almost non-existent, I did manage to see it sometime but nothing that stood out.
CONCLUSION
If you have a Playstation 4 and you have not played inFAMOUS: Second Son, I don't know what you are waiting for, if you are one of those who like open world and action games, this is one that I recommend. We must also take into account in the eighth wonder of the world, as a game has its flaws, personally, I would have liked them to modify the mechanics when climbing a building, I know the easiest way is by using the powers but sometimes I I was left without them and had to resort to this mechanism, which is not comfortable at all. But anyway, none of that prevented me from entertaining myself at the time of doing good and evil on the streets of Seattle; inFAMOUS: Second Son is, without much trouble, one of the best Playstation 4 exclusives.