The open world superhero franchise Infamous looks pretty spiffy on the PS4.
Infamous is quickly becoming one of my favorite franchises. There’s something great about using your super abilities for good or evil in a open setting, and it seems Sony’s wholly owned studio Sucker Punch is ramping it up for the PlayStation 4. Set in a town – a futuristic Seattle – and starring a new character, the presentation of gameplay from Infamous Second Son and the new trailer starring a character named Fetch all make me want to play the game now, and not wait until Q1 2014 when it’s slated to come out.
You probably already know that Delsin Rowe has taken over as the lead character from Cole McGrath. Delsin has some fancy fire-based powers, and he seems to have a tense working relationship with his brother, a law enforcement agent. Seattle is ruled by what looks like a totalitarian organization called the DUP (Department of Unified Protection) that has been rounding up all bioterrorists a.k.a. the conduits or superheroes that have sprang up.
Based on the new trailer, Delsin seems to have the ability to absorb other conduit’s powers. Fetch – Abigail Walker is her real name – is plucky conduit with a bit of a mean streak, and Delsin infiltrates the city to track her down. Then he decides to absorb her power rather than just kill her like his brother wants, but it’s unclear whether this process harms Fetch or not. This activity or choice will likely feed into the karmic good/evil choices that’s another of the franchises hallmarks.
The gameplay shown is quite impressive. Delsin jumps over buildings and uses his red flame power to hover in the air or teleport short distances, even up drain pipes. Functionally, Delsin’s superhero powers seem very similar to Cole’s electricity-based ones, with power line skating the obvious omission. Still, it looks just as fun to move around the world and take out DUP agents with Delsin’s mobility as it was in Infamous 2.
The presentation at PAX 2013 was brief, and there were no developers on hand to answer my questions, but it did what any game presentation should. I want to play Second Son right now, and it will likely sell a lot of PS4s when it comes out exclusively for the platform the winter.
