Superheroes have been in action since the start of the 20th century. Whenever a city needs a savior, its citizens can look to Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and a myriad of other mentally- or physically-enhanced characters to bring them from the edge of destruction. Now, for the modern age, Infamous reinvents the wheel and gives us Cole MacGrath, a young man who started his day as a bike messenger and ended it with lightning bolts shooting from his hands. It is a videogame that makes a better superhero movie than most superhero movies.
When the story begins, players learn that the cause for Cole's amazing new abilities is also the explosion that blew his hometown, Empire City, apart. As Cole, you are given an immediate responsibility to answer to those who now blame you for the deaths of thousands. Here is where Infamous gets its name: Players have the option to either pursue a path of righteousness and save Empire City, or unleash Cole's power and make the city go down in flames. Will you fight the trigger-happy gangs of junkies that have taken over the streets, or let the people suffer?
The characters of this game, and how they push the twisty plot, are almost more of a wonder than Cole's ability to summon lightning storms from the sky. Cole, the gruff and reluctant hero (or villain, depending on which Karma Track you choose), is an average guy who just wants things to be the way they were before the blast. Trish, his girlfriend, is struggling through her feelings for him, because she sees him as the reason her sister is now dead. Zeke, Cole's best friend, wants to be a hero, but must sit and watch as Cole becomes someone he can never be. Infamous sucks the player into these relationships and leaves players wanting -- no, needing to know what happens next.
A great videogame story can still fall flat if the gameplay is boring, but that is certainly not a problem here. The game includes a modern twist on a classic superhero pattern: the character begins as an ordinary person, except for one thing that gives him a little extra "oomph." For Peter Parker, it is his scientific knowledge. For Bruce Wayne, there are his detective skills. Cole McGrath, on the other hand, is super-agile thanks to his background as a free-runner, an athlete of the neo-sport parkour. No surface in the game is unclimbable. No wire is unreachable. Cole can jump, slide, scale and balance on nearly anything in the living, breathing game environment, which makes traveling the city as much fun as taking out the bad guys (or innocent citizens, again, depending on your Karma).
The most shocking part of the game is the fact that Sucker Punch Productions, well... didn't pull any punches. Where many superhero stories allow for cheap escapes and ignore repercussions, the creators of this game pushed through. Where you expect characters to get off easy, no one does. The game is realistic, and explores what would actually happen in the event of a situation like Cole's. You will find no bright red spandex here, or glossed-over versions of big American cities. Infamous is grittier, with greater emotional impact, and allows a hero to rise (or fall) at your will.
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