inFamous 2 (name is ambiguous) Infamous English shameful, dishonest and Famous English famous, famous; officially published in Russia under the title Infamy 2 listen)) is an Action-Adventure video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game was released on June 7, 2011 in the US and June 10, 2011 in Europe exclusively for the PlayStation 3. InFamous 2 is the continuation of the amazing adventures of courier Cole McGrath, who became a battery man after an accident. In the sequel, Cole prepares to meet his antipode, nicknamed the Beast. To do this, he goes to the city of New Mare to consult with a certain Professor Wolf.

Game process

The protagonist of the game is the courier Cole McGrath, who found himself at the epicenter of the explosion of the ray sphere (a device that gives people with a special gene an unusual super-strength, and kills ordinary people). He managed to survive, as he was the carrier of a special gene, while Cole acquired the ability to control electricity. The gameplay is based on this skill. Electricity is the only available weapon. As the story progresses, the protagonist gains new abilities that allow him to fight and move around the city. The game combines elements of Action, RPG and platforming. In the upper left corner of the screen is a scale of energy and reputation. Energy is spent on all electric shocks. In the lower right corner is a mini-map, which displays the objectives of side and main missions. Also, if Cole launches an electromagnetic pulse, then the map will display nearby sources of electricity, enemies, as well as useful items such as "Charged Shards", which increase the hero's maximum energy level.

Cole's reputation varies from his deeds. How to proceed is up to the player. There are two ways - either a hero or a villain. A kind of karma also affects the abilities of the hero. The "evil" has more and more destructive and bloody attacks, but they are not effective in terms of saving energy and are weaker. And the “good” one minimizes harm to “civilians”, and the abilities do not spend so much energy, over time they can be treated for this, the player approaches the reputation of the hero and gains experience points, and the citizens will begin to provide you with all possible assistance. We often have to make a choice between good and evil. But even with this choice, one cannot be sure of the final result. In the game InFamous 2, the choice of the nature of the action will play one of the important roles. Kill the bad guy or spare? Act according to conscience or desire? Hold back anger or give vent to feelings? What will be the hero in the game InFamous 2 depends only on you - a good defender of the townspeople, or a narcissistic villain. Naturally, each side has its own advantages and its own characteristics of strength: the hero can control fire or ice, depending on the choice. The forces of fire are based on destruction, and the forces of ice are based on the protection of people and on a minimum of destruction. At your disposal is a huge city, three groups of enemies. The first is the militias, the weakest, although they have equipment (helicopter) and heavy weapons (rockets and miniguns). The second is swamp monsters, the main soldiers are melee, There are also larger monsters: destroyers and devourers. The Destroyer resembles a grasshopper, can create small soldiers, burrow underground and spit acid. The Devourer is only vulnerable to the mouth, which is not always open, has a chameleon-like tongue, and can vomit acid. And the last grouping is the Ice Soldiers, in the grouping all conductors are people with a special gene that gives superpowers. Ordinary soldiers can jump far, are armed with machine guns and grenade launchers, can create ice shields, larger ones are armed with ice beams, less mobile, but can create ice towers. And the most dangerous of all are Crushers and Titans, very similar, but there is more ice on the titan, it is much slower, but like the devourer, it is only vulnerable in the face.

endings

The game has 2 endings. Near the end, Cole discovers that the Beast is his Empire City acquaintance, John White. The player is given the choice of killing him, or helping him activate the conduits. If he acts like a hero, he will activate a special device called an inhibitor and all the conductors (having a special gene) on the planet will die - including Cole himself. If the player acts like a villain, then he will join the Beast and kill billions of people who do not have a special gene, sowing destruction throughout the city and activating the conductors. John will transfer his abilities to him and Cole will turn into the Beast, and the era of conductors will come - people with a special gene.

To become the best video game superhero, you no longer need tights and a funny mask - this was convincingly proved by the shaven-headed courier Cole McGrath in the first part. inFAMOUS. In it, we were thrown into the big busy city of Empire City and given the opportunity to create whatever our hearts wanted in it. If desired, it was possible to throw lightning, throw cars (after the catastrophe that recently destroyed half the city, the hero got the opportunity to control electricity, recharged from lampposts and substations) or take the side of good, return light to the destroyed areas and translate old women across the road.

For those who loved the first part, we have good news - not much has changed since then. But this, as you understand, is at the same time the worst news regarding.

Nicknamed The Beast

Playing the second part of inFAMOUS without seeing the first is clearly not worth it. The plot here, without much explanation, continues the line of the original: already at the very beginning we are thrown into battle with the main scarecrow of the first part - a huge, skyscraper-sized, fiery monster named the Beast, which has already destroyed Empire City and is sent after Cole to the southern town of New -Mare.

But if you know who is who, then following the events of inFAMOUS is like reading a good comic. The plot is presented in the form of stylish hand-drawn screensavers, in which sometimes pretentious, sometimes absurd, but always damn interesting events unfold. All the archetypal characters are in place - the millionaire Bertrand who hates mutants and personally Cole, the eccentric scientist Dr. Wolf, the fragile girl Kuo (a former CIA agent) and the fat friend Zeke, reminiscent of a punk Elvis. Now you can even look at them without tears - the graphics and facial animation have improved many times compared to the first part. Everything from commercials and music to menu design is pleasing to the eye and ear.

New Marais was clearly based on New Orleans (remember the song The House of The Rising Sun in one of the trailers?): there are even entire blocks flooded with water, which, along with other territories that were closed at first, will have to be electrified first. However, they do not represent anything interesting - once you look there, you will not want to return. The incentive for exploration is provided only by the historical center with Gothic cathedrals, parks and neon signs.

In general, New Mare looks much more lively than Empire City: ice monsters, huge cockroaches and other nastiness dart around the city, and Bertrand's militia army hunts for our head around the clock. But Cole is by no means defenseless: from the very beginning, many tricks from the first part are available, such as anti-gravity and grenades, which instantly increase the pace of the game. To feel like a full-fledged superhuman, you no longer need a long pumping. And over time, the hero will learn to call a tornado, launch rockets and even move through the air with the help of an electroweb, like some kind of Spiderman. The protagonist's abilities in close combat have also been significantly increased: now we have a device called the “sparkler”, which scatters enemies to the right and left and allows you to make spectacular finishing moves with cinematic angles and rapid action.

Like the first game, inFAMOUS 2 has a karma system that directly affects gameplay. Speaking on the side of good (that is, performing conditionally “good” deeds), Cole practically does not cause damage to civilians, uses more humane weapons like sticky grenades (which, due to their low damage, are more suitable for mocking enemies than for destroying them) and can massively heal wounded citizens. But he is in the villainous incarnation - more self-centered. The game for him is predictably more aggressive and more fun: you get access to double missiles, the ability to hit several opponents with one impulse and even infinite energy (albeit only for a while) - having a bad reputation turned out to be not so bad!

electric nights

By the way, if in the first inFAMOUS karma had almost no effect on the main plot, this time everything is different. In addition to the main character, other people with superpowers, the so-called guides, began to appear in New Mar. One of them is our new friend Nyx, a slightly unbalanced girl with destructive tendencies, who always strives to drag Cole into trouble. This state of affairs does not suit Kuo, who prefers more legal methods of struggle. Due to the conflict between the girls, you will have to constantly choose which side you are on.

Help the rebels by bringing medical supplies, or trick them into idolizing you? The outcome of the game will depend on such decisions. However, there are also moral choices outside the plot: wandering around the city, it is sometimes difficult to resist launching a couple of cars into a street demonstration held under the slogan "Cole McGrath is the last bastard!" (at least for the banality of the rhyme). Thanks to these situations and well-developed characters (both Kuo and Nyx are actually not as simple as they seem), inFAMOUS 2 is able to play on emotions in a great way, even though the game treats us like a ten-year-old child all the time, labeling " good" solutions in blue, and "bad" solutions in red.

The story campaign consists of 40 episodes, during which there are truly unique moments: you have to exterminate monsters with an ultraviolet spotlight, take compromising pictures of the leader of the Militia, and even launch a nuclear missile. In general, you will not be bored. In addition to the main missions and pranks like killing buskers and defusing bombs, the game has about 60 additional tasks, as well as the ability to create your own levels and post them on PSN. Not Little Big Planet, of course, but if you deal with a difficult editor, it can turn out to be quite amusing. Each quest created by the players appears on the map as a green icon and instantly becomes available for passing, after which it can be evaluated, and the best creations will rise to the top. This creates a good foundation for the emergence of a full-fledged community in inFAMOUS 2.

The only thing that is slightly disappointing is, oddly enough, the opponents. They are quite diverse, and it is interesting to study their behavior at first, but in the second half of the game they simply have nothing to offer us: all the simple tactics have been calculated, it remains only to act according to the learned algorithms over and over again. Everything would be fine, but the same thing happens with key bosses. For example, the first battle with a giant beetle that demolishes buildings in its path is a real event, but when you meet him a second time in the story (which in itself no longer evokes the same emotions), it turns out that since the first meeting he has not acquired absolutely not a single new attack. Instead of pushing us against new enemies, the developers force us to repeat the battles already completed, and this is the main drawback of inFAMOUS 2.

* * *

When you're gliding along wires along sun-drenched rooftops towards a machine-gun nest to unleash dozens of lightning bolts on it, such things become unimportant. At one time, Sucker Punch was pacified with a well-aimed release prototype, demonstrating that they are the ones who know best how to actually make a superhuman simulator. The second part only strengthened the positions of the developers: inFAMOUS 2 still has cool parkour, an interesting open world and an incomparable feeling of power. It seems now Prototype 2 may not come out at all.

Game name/in Russia: InFamous 2/Infamy 2
Genre: Third Person Action
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher/in Russia: Sony Computer Entertainment/1C-SoftKlab
Similar games: InFamous, Prototype, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Platforms: PlayStation 3
Release date: June 7, 2011
Official site: http://www.infamousthegame.com

"... plus the electrification of the whole country"
IN AND. Lenin

After the huge success of the first part of the game, the sequel simply could not be born. The developers, wisely following the saying "the best is the enemy of the good", did not make significant changes to the gameplay. They took what they already had, brushed it up a bit, touched it up, introduced a few innovations that the fans of the first part so longed for, graciously gave the fans a mission editor and, as a result, released a product destined for popularity with the gaming community.

In InFamous 2, you can easily throw a car at the enemy with real telekinetics

The game begins where its previous part ended - in Empire City, frozen in anticipation of the arrival of the Beast. The latter does not take long to wait and pathetically enters the stage immediately after a short introductory video served with stylishly drawn comics (it seems that the authors are not going to hide the source of their inspiration).

These are the comics that tell the story

The Beast appears in the form of a thirty-meter humanoid, woven from red-hot lava and reminiscent (if you do not take into account the color) Doctor Manhattan from the movie "Watchmen". Unsuccessful opposition to him by the protagonist of the game gracefully draws up a training mission and justifies the change of scenery - in InFamous 2 the action is transferred to the city of New Mare, whose prototype was New Orleans flooded a few years ago. In a fight with a dimensionless monster, McGrath loses most of his abilities (retaining, however, the ability to shoot lightning, slide along wires and recharge from any electrical appliances) and, with the help of his friends Zeke and Kuo, crosses away from adversity in search of a way to solve such a gigantic problem. . The situation is complicated by a couple of nuances: firstly, a plague of unknown origin is raging in the city, and secondly, a local tycoon named Bertrand, having seized power in the city, is trying in every possible way to pursue McGrath and similar owners of superpowers (called "Guides" in the game) with the support militia loyal to the oligarch.

And here is the hero of InFamous 2 himself - without fear, reproach and, in some cases, conscience

A rather unpretentious plot organically fits into the gameplay, and a couple of clever scenario techniques, coupled with "embossed" characters and numerous side quests, create the impression of a detailed and integral story. There is nothing to reproach the game with - tea is not an RPG. The characters are worked out very, very well: McGrath himself, who looks like a Hollywood actor Jason Stetham and has unstable moral principles, Zeke, a playboy trying to rehabilitate himself in front of a friend for betrayal in the first part, the “correct” agent Kuo, who also turns out to be the Conductor and her antipode, offended to the whole world "lady with iron nails" Nix - they all fully justify their existence, demonstrating characters and actively participating in the story. Even the main villains - Bertrand and, in fact, the Beast - turn out to be somewhat more than just "comic book" villains, demonstrating a clear motivation for their actions and revealing their view of the world.

A grounded enemy is a great target for lightning

The gameplay is not too different from the previous part. McGrath, actively using his abilities to accumulate and control electricity, rushes around the city, performing numerous story and side tasks, which, with a few exceptions, boil down to beating enemies with all available means. By the way, an arrester was added to such means - a fresh invention of Zeke, which is a meter-long stun gun. Destroying opponents with it in close combat is quite fun, especially with the opening of the hero's ability to new techniques, demonstrated, traditionally, in slow motion. Not Devil May Cry, of course, but also quite personal.

Rip your shoulder, swing your arm...

Enemies attack in droves (sometimes in orderly ranks), but all of them, with the exception of a couple of “bosses”, are an army of clones of three types: militias armed with machine guns and grenade launchers, “ice soldiers”, which became the result of an experiment on pumping South African mercenaries (armed, in addition to machine guns, extremely effective shotguns in close combat) and swamp mutants, similar to a mixture of Homo sapiens and lobster (armed with hard and sharp limbs). Each of the armies has its own "special forces", which cause some problems at first and mowed down by the crowds towards the end of the game. It must be admitted that the monotony of opponents is somewhat tiring. NPCs do not shine with variety either - for example, in one of the missions you have to save three completely identical hostages in the same glasses and even the same clothes.

Mom, I flew again in a dream

Mom, I flew again in a dream

The monotony of side quests is just as boring: despite the fact that they are served more or less diversely, their essence lies in a simple "go to the mark on the radar and kill everyone there." Fortunately, there are exceptions (for example, quests with "supercharge"), but there are not so many of them. Some tasks are mutually exclusive, in which case the player will have to decide which one to complete and, as a result, what kind of reputation to earn.

Nikola Tesla would have been pleased with his unwitting follower

The "karma" system in InFamous 2 is similar to most similar ones used in other games: for good deeds, McGrath earns popularity among the townspeople, while bad deeds invariably lead to the "dark side". Hard work for any reputation is rewarded, sooner or later, with specific abilities. Nothing particularly original. Until the very end of the game, McGrath will be given the opportunity to improve or worsen his reputation, being distracted by minute actions - to heal the wounded, rescue the victim of a robbery, free the hostages, or, on the contrary, attack the police, kill street musicians, steal artifacts from defenseless citizens and disperse demonstrations, chanting slogans offensive to the hero. The story passage will also at times torment the player with problems of moral choice, the main one of which will face McGrath in the final (who would doubt it) and will remind you a bit of Dragon Age: Origins. Be prepared for the fact that not all comrades-in-arms will be satisfied with your decisions and actions (it is impossible to please everyone), and by the end of the game they themselves will throw out an unexpected number.

Burns well...

Burns well...

The development of McGrath's atypical abilities takes place according to the "light-role" system, which, however, has three access levels. First, the superhero needs to "earn" the admission to the skill during the development of the plot (the abilities that directly depend on the reputation are issued separately). Then - fulfill some simple conditions specified in the description of the skill (for example, defeat several enemies while balancing on the railing). And only after that, the coveted ability can be purchased for experience points issued by killing (or arresting) enemies and completing tasks. There are not many skills to be purchased, but each of them is truly valuable and can have a great impact on the passage of the game.

Climbing this tower for the hero of InFamous 2 is a couple of trifles

Moving your alter ego through virtual spaces is very entertaining. Jogging through the streets between cars and passers-by is not for our parkour star with simian agility. A jump, a push off a wall, a drainpipe climb, and the battery-powered chimpanzee under your control is already briskly jumping across the rooftops towards the next target, demonstrating the fact that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Effective, and in combination with McGrath's ability to short-term flights and "pulling" himself to the target with the help of the same lightning, it is also very convenient. Especially if you take into account the chaotic arrangement of energy shards, picking up which the hero increases the capacity of his internal battery. The “electric broom” feels uncomfortable only in two cases: if it enters a de-energized area where there are no opportunities for recharging, or in an aquatic environment that causes McGrath to short circuit.

inFamous proved to be one of only two games two years ago that tried to rival the great and terrible Grand Theft Auto in terms of character, making him a superhero. A large number of self-repetitions and underdevelopment in terms of a living city gave the game obvious disadvantages, but the competitor performed even worse. And they fell in love with inFamous not for the city, but for the hero, his abilities, his history and, in general, seeming simplicity, combined with a well-written story. Since then, the series has not had any competitors, so the second time people enter the same game with pleasure. Even despite the fact that this is the second part.
When you start the game, it seems that this is the same first part. Only two or three minutes pass and we are again in the body of a battery man, a socket man, an electrician Cole, who has somewhat changed in appearance. And now we have the same Empire City in front of us, only being destroyed literally before our eyes. Escape and a new haven for Cole and comrades - New Mare.

Further plot continues to develop again based on the moral choice between good or evil. Two girls, two very memorable characters in this story represent ice and fire, good and evil, the salvation of the city and its destruction. Your path depends on your decisions right from the moment you first launch the game, when you can continue to use your character's abilities from the save game of the first game (in my case, it was starting with a positive character and continuing to develop him into a positive superhero). But this does not mean that you should constantly help others or do good deeds. If you get tired of it, you can slander street drummers for mediocre playing, destroy the police who want to find you, or just kill everyone along the way. But still, this is the same first part with the same unrealistic moments and stupid city dwellers who just crawl under the arm. There are also minimal changes in the management or use of capabilities. Although if something changed here, it would hardly be for the benefit of the game.

But moral choice is not the only thing that is interesting in the game. Toward the end of the story, it is possible to add the powers of one of the girls to yourself and become a more versatile superhero. Maybe it should have been done earlier, but in this way, a person who gets tired of playing the same first game with only the number 2 in the title and starts to get frustrated, at the most opportune moment, gets new character abilities and literally starts the game again. New features, strong story missions and an interesting approach are the secrets of the success of the last chapters of the second part of the game. But other than that, nothing new.

Outcome: the second part of inFamous was not as cool as the first due to the lack of novelty in all but one of the moments. But she still has no competitors. Therefore, the same minuses and those de pluses in total again gave a lot of positive emotions, but by the third part we need to come up with something.

All the best from the first part
+ final part of the game
- all the minuses from the first part
-lack of novelty