Put a lot of time into this game tonight. I'm starting to feel the same way I did about the first game, the more you play it, the better it gets... but damn, they played it very safe. The first game was a great base to build off, but they've done no such thing.
I'll reserve judgement until I open the second island(very close now by the look of things), but I really don't see how they could have been any more conservative in what they put together. As a result, I have the same powers and abilities and now I feel limited. The bad guys are still an annoying roadblock... Cole is still annoying. But hey, the good parts are back as well.
I wish I could skip to the part with the good platforming sections and where bad guys aren't these faux militia or whatever. The problem with the first is that this first island is boring in terms of traversal. The problem with the second is the health system is really exposed. Cole is fairly vulnerable, which isn't bad by itself. But then you get in a situation where you're constantly falling back to recharge because only a couple of bad guys with assault rifles can be a pain in the ass if you get caught in no man's land where you're taking damage as you're trying to get within melee range, but they're too close for the camera to deal with when shooting. I wish I had some sort of a power lunge or sprint just so I can get in close and get away quickly if I have to. And of course there are those idiots shooting you in the face with an rpg from point blank range, wonderfull.
It's a bit of a shame really. They're not making the next Modern Warfare, they can afford to take a chance. Why not try some new things? The mechanics aren't good enough to make the same impressions a second time around. It's still a competent game, but now the shine has wore off and it's getting stale.
The ice powers open up the traversal a bit more. Also, the second island is far more varied, as it has larger platforming areas and eventually moves into more vertical spaces. I don't think you can really say the game is the exact same as the first until you get a bit further with the improved powers. The production values in the graphics and cutscenes made the game far more enjoyable for me. Infamous 1 had a very solid story hurt but some of the worst cutscenes i've seen, so Sucker Punch did a great job of addressing it.
That seems like a pretty low estimate, period. I've barely done anything and put like 5 hours in already. Of course I'm not flying through the missions either soooo....
It's definitely shorter than the first game, a lot of the missions also feel a lot shorter. Might be because they took out the sewer sections or because there's so little platforming in said missions, but I clocked in at just over 11hrs, found all the blast shards, 28 of the dead drops, completed all the karma and side missions.
Pro tip, engage the enemy as much as you can towards the end, some of them drop side missions that you'll need to complete for the island trophies.
Dang, even with side missions it's only 11 hours? That's rough. The first game was definitely longer than that.
Ah well, I'll definitely take my time. But I do want to build a sweet platforming towel of babel in user created content so there's always that to look forward to
Absolutely agree with the bolded parts. People are playing I2 as if it were I1; a game that revolves around infinitely spamming the insta-hit bolt. There is a noticeable difference in gameplay between the two games and 2 is definitely the more difficult one in terms of having to manage energy and determine when to effectively use the powers at your disposal. Using the right type of bolt for the right situation is also critical to your survival in I2. SP essentially nerfed the bolt by making it drain one battery core every 15 shots (7 for Stream) and no longer insta-hit, but they made up for it by giving the players much more variety in how to tackle the combat situations in the game.
Outside of throwing cars at enemies I don't see any more variety in this than the first.
And I find the idea that there is a wrong way to play the game ridiculous. Part of the appeal of the first game was that you could choose how you play.
I cannot believe they give Lightning Tether at so far late in the game Had I know that they will give powers like Lightning Tether from the beginning I would skip all the side missions and go straight towards the mission that gives me that power... it makes platforming around stuff a lot more easy, bearable, and enjoyable.
And the ending battle, at least for the evil side, is so underwhelming
Yea, if you're going for melee attacks on the militia guys, you're really leaving yourself exposed. Even though I've unlocked some of the combo finishers(some crowd control there), you're still at a disadvantage.
I wish they would have left the improved hovering power alone, what's the point in taking that away along with the rest? It makes linking the power lines together so much easier. And what's the point of XP if I'm still always limited by what story mission I'm on? Might as well just unlock them for me when the game decides best, that's what it comes down to anyway. XP is irrelevant.
Anyway, enough with the whining. Now that I have SOME power back, everything seems to be moving at a better pace.
Absolutely agree with the bolded parts. People are playing I2 as if it were I1; a game that revolves around infinitely spamming the insta-hit bolt. There is a noticeable difference in gameplay between the two games and 2 is definitely the more difficult one in terms of having to manage energy and determine when to effectively use the powers at your disposal. Using the right type of bolt for the right situation is also critical to your survival in I2. SP essentially nerfed the bolt by making it drain one battery core every 15 shots (7 for Stream) and no longer insta-hit, but they made up for it by giving the players much more variety in how to tackle the combat situations in the game.
That seems like a pretty low estimate, period. I've barely done anything and put like 5 hours in already. Of course I'm not flying through the missions either soooo....
I must have put nearly 10 hours in already and I am on the first island still (2nd locked still). I am doing all the side missions available, hunting shards, exploring. LOVING IT.
I played the beta, finished the game twice, dicked around and played some user generated levels and still am not used to it. Close cameras and low fov are just one of those things that bother me in games. It's worse in Infamous 2 where enemies attack from all direction and you're supposed to be this nimble guy.
I actually remember posting about how the camera should be pulled back while I was going through the first game. Well, at least when you're in the air the camera is pulled back. I just wish that was the default camera range.
I would say closer to 15. It's about the same length as Infamous 1 or more IMO. There's like 50 or more side missions, a good 25 story missions and that doesn't even count UGC missions.
Is that just from the demo? IIRC you had infinite electricity during that, you don't see that standard bolts take energy until the full game. They are still pretty spammable though.
Dang, even with side missions it's only 11 hours? That's rough. The first game was definitely longer than that.
Ah well, I'll definitely take my time. But I do want to build a sweet platforming towel of babel in user created content so there's always that to look forward to
I have a message board rule of thumb when it comes to the average estimate of a game's length. Take whatever number is thrown out there and multiply it by 1.5. That generally seems to work for me.
Are you being serious? The ionic powers, the improved melee, the ice/car jump that can get you out of a sticky situation real fast, the man different types of bolts/grenades/rockets/pushes... I mean, I can make a lot of criticisms about this game, but saying there isn't much new in terms of gameplay strikes me as ridiculous.
I would say closer to 15. It's about the same length as Infamous 1 or more IMO. There's like 50 or more side missions, a good 25 story missions and that doesn't even count UGC missions.
I agree it took me at least 15 to complete the game but I think it was actually closer to 20 and that was with all the side missions on medium and doing 1 UGC mission.
Outside of throwing cars at enemies I don't see any more variety in this than the first.
And I find the idea that there is a wrong way to play the game ridiculous. Part of the appeal of the first game was that you could choose how you play.
Are you being serious? The ionic powers, the improved melee, the ice/car jump that can get you out of a sticky situation real fast, the man different types of bolts/grenades/rockets/pushes... I mean, I can make a lot of criticisms about this game, but saying there isn't much new in terms of gameplay strikes me as ridiculous.
I didn't say there isn't much new. I said there isn't any more variety in the combat.
Plus I don't feel the melee was improved at all. It's slower and the camera sucks. The loss of overload/arc lightning sucks too, along with the camera on the Frost shield making it near useless. Also no Karmic Overload for the Good side.
I finished the game a few days ago but wanted to write a quick review on it.
Overall, I had fun but it ended up being a disappointing sequel.
Gameplay: Infamous has some of the best open world combat. However, outside of a few boss scripted encounters I never felt like the combat scenarios were well designed. I had the same problem in the first game where Sucker Punch would throw a ton of enemies at you and Cole would get shot up, making me feel more like a paper doll then a super hero. This isn't true for all of the encounters but I feel like a balance hasn't been reached yet. I don't like taking out a bunch of enemies only to die to a rogue rocket that every enemy seems to own.
I'm very glad at the extended traversal options and the different powers all feel fun and unique to use. The actual traversal system is fine but I still got caught up on too many things and couldn't get that accurate precision jumping from something like Crackdown. At one point I was trying to get into a warehouse window and Cole kept leaping around the edges.
Presentation: Sucker Punch definitely improved the engine as there can be a lot of action going on and it all runs very smooth. I enjoyed the brighter colors too which helped give life to the environments. The overall sound design doesn't help though as New Maris is a quiet place for what appears to be a riot filled party city. That, and I disliked the faint use of music, with Inception horns sounding and then fading as I was just trying to get around the city (avoiding some combat encounters).
The game though still shows well, that opening fight will stick in my head for a while. I can't help but wonder what a cel shaded Infamous would look like though. Might be kinda neat and blend in more with the comic effect, which seemed very underused here. It also didn't help that the main characters models and cinematics were much better produced and there fore made the comic scenes jarring.
Story: This part disappointed me the most as I really enjoyed Infamous's tale. Here, Sucker Punch spend way to much time on Bertrand, a not very interesting character. Fun to fight but not fun to listen too. Kuo and Nix are both horribly used, with some bad voice acting on Nix's side. Kuo
turning on you at the end for a short while felt out of place and just made me sigh. Terrible.
The Beast was a nice idea and I loved the loading screen and the sense of urgency. However, nothing much happened with him for a while until the end, were things finally became interesting, but then that was entirely dropped. I became excited when
the beast was revealed as John and he started speaking telepathically to you. But then you never hear from him again.
Sucker Punch also seemed to want to have Cole have a more lighthearted tone. But it didn't jive well with me. I mean, he only mentions
Trish once
and it all felt uneven. Zeke was great though and he generally felt like a good dude.
Overall: I'd give the game a 7 or so. Fun, but ultimately forgettable. I didn't talk about the end much because I didn't really care. The side missions also didn't feel as good as the first. If there is a Infamous 3 I'd like Sucker Punch to completely overhaul its enemy design and bring a more interesting story to the table.
Oh! The UGC stuff is a great idea for open world games (imagine a Just Cause UGC) but felt very weak in practice.
Ultimately the strength of the UGC depends on the content and that's up to the users.
Zabka said:
I didn't say there isn't much new. I said there isn't any more variety in the combat.
Plus I don't feel the melee was improved at all. It's slower and the camera sucks. The loss of overload/arc lightning sucks too, along with the camera on the Frost shield making it near useless.
It's definitely shorter than the first game, a lot of the missions also feel a lot shorter. Might be because they took out the sewer sections or because there's so little platforming in said missions, but I clocked in at just over 11hrs, found all the blast shards, 28 of the dead drops, completed all the karma and side missions.
Pro tip, engage the enemy as much as you can towards the end, some of them drop side missions that you'll need to complete for the island trophies.
This is so not right unless if you were playing on easy, maybe.
I beat Good getting all of the trophies that I could in that playthrough (shards, XP for all powers, dead drops, side quests, trophies, etc) on Hard. Clocked in around 20-24 hours. And no, I'm not a bad player.
This is so not right unless if you were playing on easy, maybe.
I beat Good getting all of the trophies that I could in that playthrough (shards, XP for all powers, dead drops, side quests, trophies, etc) on Hard. Clocked in around 20-24 hours. And no, I'm not a bad player.
You are WAY WAY WAY below the norm. I did the my first playthrough on Hard/Good and collected all possible trophies one can get on the first playthrough and clocked in at 12.5 hours or so.
It felt longer to me although I'm doing some UGC as well as all the side missions, just found all the shards, all in all it's a pretty hefty game, and I'm playing on hard.
I'm more annoyed by the RPGs in this game than I ever was by snipers in the first. Given the game's increased emphasis on melee and decreased emphasis on doing ranged damage, it's annoying that there are a bunch of enemies that can one-hit kill you at point-blank range and who often look very much like the other enemies they're grouped with.
I'd say it's on par with the first, but if they spot you/you pass relatively close to them. They no longer have their sixth sense of seeing you coming off a mile off and accurately pulling off head shots.
Enemies with RPGs are annoyingly accurate, but only if you're standing still. Enemies with sniper rifles now have laser sights and fire only once every 3-5 seconds.
You are WAY WAY WAY below the norm. I did the my first playthrough on Hard/Good and collected all possible trophies one can get on the first playthrough and clocked in at 12.5 hours or so.
Mmm... I thought about it a little harder, and I might have overestimated my hours. 18-20 (probably closer to 20hrs) sounds more accurate to me now when I do the math, but I still have no idea how the hell you can do EVERYTHING on Hard at 13hrs. Maybe you ground for XP a cheap way? I did it the old fashioned way by just running around the city and killing peeps.
This is so not right unless if you were playing on easy, maybe.
I beat Good getting all of the trophies that I could in that playthrough (shards, XP for all powers, dead drops, side quests, trophies, etc) on Hard. Clocked in around 20-24 hours. And no, I'm not a bad player.
Normal, I took my time, wasted at least 30mins searching for dead drops before I activated the final mission. 20-24hrs is just madness unless you were playing/fooling with the UGC missions.
Darkatomz said:
Mmm... I thought about it a little harder, and I might have overestimated my hours. 18-20 (probably closer to 20hrs) sounds more accurate to me now when I do the math, but I still have no idea how the hell you can do EVERYTHING on Hard at 13hrs. Maybe you ground for XP a cheap way? I did it the old fashioned way by just running around the city and killing peeps.
You really don't need to run around the city killing peeps for XP as the side missions, missions give you more than enough XP to unlock all the powers.
Just did the destroy turrets mission.. god that was fucking horrible. Terrible camera angles all of a sudden + rocket launching bad guys everywhere = not fun.
Normal, I took my time, wasted at least 30mins searching for dead drops before I activated the final mission. 20-24hrs is just madness unless you were playing/fooling with the UGC missions.
You really don't need to run around the city killing peeps for XP as the side missions, missions give you more than enough XP to unlock all the powers.
I didn't do any of the side missions until the very end of the game so traversing the city wouldn't be as desolate and boring. Also, I unlocked every power as I got them before continuing the game, which obviously led to more grinding.
I think I just played it a different way than most people, that's all.
