The original infamous is a pretty special game to me, as it was the first game I ever played on a PS3, as well as the first game I ever played on a non nintendo console/handheld I had purchased. I bought the game because I wasn't sure what game to get with the PS3 back in 2009, and I saw a video review by IGN for it, and said to myself, "this looks pretty good" and bought a copy of it with my PS3.
The game blew me away, as I never played something quite like it before. The traversal and movement felt great. Shooting guys with electricity felt great. The game was graphically impressive to me at the time, and the morality system which most people felt was binary added a cool new layer to the game for me and made it re playable,which was something I barely did with video games as I typically do one save file with everything completed, or try another difficulty after.
Looking at it again, story wise the game was a bit rough, but the fact it built up to something at the end really made its ending stick in my mind. I stayed up till 3 fighting the final boss, and it might have been the sleep deprivation but my mind was blown that night.
Fast forward a year and infamous 2 was teased at Sony's e3 2010 conference. Cole had a new look and VA which I didn't mind. The graphics took another leap, and the gameplay looked smoother and improved thanks to the new powers and melee system. I was pumped.
When I played it, I thought infamous 2 was superior to the original in almost every way. However the biggest improvement to me was the characters. The characters in infamous 1 weren't fleshed out, and I down right hated Zeke, but 2 really fleshed its characters and probably is the only time I ever did a 180 on a character as Zeke, a character I loathed in the first game became my favorite character in the second. I honestly came close to tearing up during the good ending of infamous 2.
So when Second Son was announced at the PS4 reveal, the inital reason I was hyped was because "fuck yeah, more infamous". I was excited to see what SP could do since I felt they significantly improved on infamous 1. I bought a PS4 day one for infamous and waited patiently for the game. Pre ordered the special edition with the beanie, and played the game in a marathon session. I completed it on good after 2 days of playtime, I just felt empty. It didn't feel right. So I went ahead and 100%'d my good file. I didn't feel satisfied. So I went ahead and played the game on hard for my evil playthrough. Once completing that, I still felt off about the game.
I decided recently to replay the original infamous and infamous 2, which is something I rarely do for video games to see if something was up. And now that I have completed both of those games again, I can say that although sucker punch definitely improved on graphics and core gameplay, second son is lacking in almost every other area.
Characters
This is probably the biggest disappointment I have with second son. The characters just aren't fleshed out enough in SS. I think this is probably due to my expectations due to the fact Troy Baker, Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey were all attached to second son. I mean, Roy Mustang is your older brother, that's pretty great. Also, there was a thread on GAF that showed the first 15 minutes of the game, and it set up its tone and characters incredibly well. Problem is, the rest of the game never reaches those heights ever again. Fetch and Eugene are barely in the game, and are never fleshed out. They are both stereotypes of a junkie and a geek, and don't do much to overcome those stereotypes. In comparison Kuo and Nix from infamous 2 have a lot more layers than either fetch or eugene because Cole was constantly interacting with them. Nix and Kuo have long character arcs that last throughout infamous 2. You get a general feel for them throughout the game, and dont just disappear 2 missions after you met them. Compare meeting Nix for the first time in comparison to Fetch. Nix first meets cole and asks for his help and in exchange, she will give him a blast core. He accepts, and after they finish burning Burtrands propaganda, she gives him the blast core and says we will keep in touch, and she does. She constantly appears throughout the following missions and is constantly aiding you. You then learn about her backstory once she feels like she trusts you enough, and then continues to help you till the conclusion. Her presence is always there. Fetch on the other hand, you investigate her for one mission, chase her in the next mission, get her powers and develop them , and then finally make your karmic choice of corrupting or redeeming her. And after that mission you never see fetch assist you again until you assault Augustines tower. Fetch and Eugene dont feel like they are integral to the story at all. Also the brother relationship that was promised to be the core of second sons narrative isnt fleshed out as well as the Zeke Cole relationship in infamous 2. Reggie and Delsin are easily the most developed characters in the game, but the relationship didnt feel meaningful. Asides from a few serious moments at the beginning and maybe the middle of the story, the entirety of the game is just Delsin joking around and Reggie getting annoyed. Thats why I was really disappointed that Reggie died in SS, because I feel like their relationship still had room to improve. The Cole Zeke relationship in infamous 1 is comparable in the same way, but SP fleshed it out in 2. I was hoping for that kind of relationship again in Second Son, or at least a continuation in the sequel, but now that Reggie is dead that relationship just feels half baked, as I didnt feel emotional resonance to Reggies death as I did Coles in infamous 2.
A lot of the story elements in Second Son have the same faults as the first infamous, but I was hoping that SP would continue to improve after infamous 2, not regress.
Side Missions
This one is glaringly apparent. I'm not saying Sucker punch are masters of variety in open worlds, but the previous infamous games at least had some, and not to mention the side missions all told some neat little stories. For example, the original infamous had similar side missions to second son, but they all had a reason for doing it and contributed to the story. Drug runners contributed to the tone of the world in the original infamous even though it was a simple fetch quest. The good and evil side missions also contributed to the world as well. Anyone remember the end side mission where it concluded with a massive battle between the first sons and the dust men? Even infamous 2 expanded upon this and added more variety to the side missions. The quest to help the ice soldier who realized his mind was degrading was a really awesome mission. As well as the side missions in 2 assisted with setting a tone. In comparision second son only has these
Sign Twirlers
Street Musicians
Spray Paint
Drug Dealers
Activists
Acuran Gang Members
Heal Citizen
District Showdowns
None of these contribute in anyway to setting a tone. None of them even tell a story. Its just lazy as all they want you to do is go to the icon, shoot at a few things and your done. Not to mention the Heal Citizen is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in a video game, as when you heal the citizen, the SAME PEOPLE that were beating him up stop and cheer when you heal the citizen. WTF?
World building
There was a lot of hype going into SS about Seattle. SP would brag about it saying they really captured "the feel" of Seattle, and this was the first time they are building a real city. Problem is, Seattle has no character, story or atmosphere to it. In comparison Empire City and New Marais had established tones way better than seattle. With Empire people are sick, they are starving, the city is in ruins, and people were struggling to stay alive. With New Marais, each of the districts where characterized by the enemies that inhabited them. The city was plastered in Betrand propaganda, but they were still full of life and lights. The swamps were barren and swarming with corrupted. The flood Zone was dark, and people were begging for help. Each of these zones in the world established a tone.
Second son?
You all remember the reason we have this gif
Remember the tone Nate Fox was trying to sell at the PS4 reveal? Can you honestly say that it translated anywhere into Seattle? Do you ever see citizens being put into those pens? Do you ever see anyone failing a scan except Delsin? No. That feeling of oppression is not seen at all in second son. Seattle has no tone to it.
Second Son just disappoints me when I think about it. When I Iook at the previews for the game, all that it seemed like SP focused on was the graphics. Sure Second Son is pretty, but when it feels like you forgot so much from your previous games, the trade off just doesn't feel worth it. They improved their core as moving around and shooting is the best its been. But the side missions, the characters, the world and even the mission structure in many regards, second son is just inferior to 1 and 2.
The game blew me away, as I never played something quite like it before. The traversal and movement felt great. Shooting guys with electricity felt great. The game was graphically impressive to me at the time, and the morality system which most people felt was binary added a cool new layer to the game for me and made it re playable,which was something I barely did with video games as I typically do one save file with everything completed, or try another difficulty after.
Looking at it again, story wise the game was a bit rough, but the fact it built up to something at the end really made its ending stick in my mind. I stayed up till 3 fighting the final boss, and it might have been the sleep deprivation but my mind was blown that night.
Fast forward a year and infamous 2 was teased at Sony's e3 2010 conference. Cole had a new look and VA which I didn't mind. The graphics took another leap, and the gameplay looked smoother and improved thanks to the new powers and melee system. I was pumped.
When I played it, I thought infamous 2 was superior to the original in almost every way. However the biggest improvement to me was the characters. The characters in infamous 1 weren't fleshed out, and I down right hated Zeke, but 2 really fleshed its characters and probably is the only time I ever did a 180 on a character as Zeke, a character I loathed in the first game became my favorite character in the second. I honestly came close to tearing up during the good ending of infamous 2.
So when Second Son was announced at the PS4 reveal, the inital reason I was hyped was because "fuck yeah, more infamous". I was excited to see what SP could do since I felt they significantly improved on infamous 1. I bought a PS4 day one for infamous and waited patiently for the game. Pre ordered the special edition with the beanie, and played the game in a marathon session. I completed it on good after 2 days of playtime, I just felt empty. It didn't feel right. So I went ahead and 100%'d my good file. I didn't feel satisfied. So I went ahead and played the game on hard for my evil playthrough. Once completing that, I still felt off about the game.
I decided recently to replay the original infamous and infamous 2, which is something I rarely do for video games to see if something was up. And now that I have completed both of those games again, I can say that although sucker punch definitely improved on graphics and core gameplay, second son is lacking in almost every other area.
Characters
This is probably the biggest disappointment I have with second son. The characters just aren't fleshed out enough in SS. I think this is probably due to my expectations due to the fact Troy Baker, Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey were all attached to second son. I mean, Roy Mustang is your older brother, that's pretty great. Also, there was a thread on GAF that showed the first 15 minutes of the game, and it set up its tone and characters incredibly well. Problem is, the rest of the game never reaches those heights ever again. Fetch and Eugene are barely in the game, and are never fleshed out. They are both stereotypes of a junkie and a geek, and don't do much to overcome those stereotypes. In comparison Kuo and Nix from infamous 2 have a lot more layers than either fetch or eugene because Cole was constantly interacting with them. Nix and Kuo have long character arcs that last throughout infamous 2. You get a general feel for them throughout the game, and dont just disappear 2 missions after you met them. Compare meeting Nix for the first time in comparison to Fetch. Nix first meets cole and asks for his help and in exchange, she will give him a blast core. He accepts, and after they finish burning Burtrands propaganda, she gives him the blast core and says we will keep in touch, and she does. She constantly appears throughout the following missions and is constantly aiding you. You then learn about her backstory once she feels like she trusts you enough, and then continues to help you till the conclusion. Her presence is always there. Fetch on the other hand, you investigate her for one mission, chase her in the next mission, get her powers and develop them , and then finally make your karmic choice of corrupting or redeeming her. And after that mission you never see fetch assist you again until you assault Augustines tower. Fetch and Eugene dont feel like they are integral to the story at all. Also the brother relationship that was promised to be the core of second sons narrative isnt fleshed out as well as the Zeke Cole relationship in infamous 2. Reggie and Delsin are easily the most developed characters in the game, but the relationship didnt feel meaningful. Asides from a few serious moments at the beginning and maybe the middle of the story, the entirety of the game is just Delsin joking around and Reggie getting annoyed. Thats why I was really disappointed that Reggie died in SS, because I feel like their relationship still had room to improve. The Cole Zeke relationship in infamous 1 is comparable in the same way, but SP fleshed it out in 2. I was hoping for that kind of relationship again in Second Son, or at least a continuation in the sequel, but now that Reggie is dead that relationship just feels half baked, as I didnt feel emotional resonance to Reggies death as I did Coles in infamous 2.
A lot of the story elements in Second Son have the same faults as the first infamous, but I was hoping that SP would continue to improve after infamous 2, not regress.
Side Missions
This one is glaringly apparent. I'm not saying Sucker punch are masters of variety in open worlds, but the previous infamous games at least had some, and not to mention the side missions all told some neat little stories. For example, the original infamous had similar side missions to second son, but they all had a reason for doing it and contributed to the story. Drug runners contributed to the tone of the world in the original infamous even though it was a simple fetch quest. The good and evil side missions also contributed to the world as well. Anyone remember the end side mission where it concluded with a massive battle between the first sons and the dust men? Even infamous 2 expanded upon this and added more variety to the side missions. The quest to help the ice soldier who realized his mind was degrading was a really awesome mission. As well as the side missions in 2 assisted with setting a tone. In comparision second son only has these
Sign Twirlers
Street Musicians
Spray Paint
Drug Dealers
Activists
Acuran Gang Members
Heal Citizen
District Showdowns
None of these contribute in anyway to setting a tone. None of them even tell a story. Its just lazy as all they want you to do is go to the icon, shoot at a few things and your done. Not to mention the Heal Citizen is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in a video game, as when you heal the citizen, the SAME PEOPLE that were beating him up stop and cheer when you heal the citizen. WTF?
World building
There was a lot of hype going into SS about Seattle. SP would brag about it saying they really captured "the feel" of Seattle, and this was the first time they are building a real city. Problem is, Seattle has no character, story or atmosphere to it. In comparison Empire City and New Marais had established tones way better than seattle. With Empire people are sick, they are starving, the city is in ruins, and people were struggling to stay alive. With New Marais, each of the districts where characterized by the enemies that inhabited them. The city was plastered in Betrand propaganda, but they were still full of life and lights. The swamps were barren and swarming with corrupted. The flood Zone was dark, and people were begging for help. Each of these zones in the world established a tone.
Second son?
You all remember the reason we have this gif
Remember the tone Nate Fox was trying to sell at the PS4 reveal? Can you honestly say that it translated anywhere into Seattle? Do you ever see citizens being put into those pens? Do you ever see anyone failing a scan except Delsin? No. That feeling of oppression is not seen at all in second son. Seattle has no tone to it.
Second Son just disappoints me when I think about it. When I Iook at the previews for the game, all that it seemed like SP focused on was the graphics. Sure Second Son is pretty, but when it feels like you forgot so much from your previous games, the trade off just doesn't feel worth it. They improved their core as moving around and shooting is the best its been. But the side missions, the characters, the world and even the mission structure in many regards, second son is just inferior to 1 and 2.
