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inFamous Second Son: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility!

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Rating: 8/10

Sucker Punch Productions brings the Infamous series on to Sony’s latest tech toy PlayStation 4 (PS4) in the form of ‘Infamous: Second Son’. Infamous 1 and 2 were both runaway hits on the PlayStation 3 (PS3). Cole McGrath’s electric powers were a blast to play with even though the storylines were a mixed bag.

Without going into spoiler territory, ‘Infamous: Second Son’ puts you in control of Delsin Rowe. Your enemies this time are the Department of Unified Protection (DUP) that clearly does not have a liking for your kind. They want to wipe out conduits who they call bio-terrorists. Since you become one of them, you are their enemy. However, your agenda against the DUP is rather personal.

Unlike McGrath, Rowe’s powers are purely smoke-based as opposed to electricity. Initially, you have a limited set of powers and as the story progresses you earn new moves and skills. As you will learn that your powers have consequences that can make you either a hero or a villain. Perhaps no better game fits the famous line from the Spider-Man films here than it does for Infamous: Second Son. With great power, truly comes great responsibility and it is a harsh lesson Rowe learns. 

Rowe has the ability to self-heal but if you are stuck in heavy combat situations, you will eventually die and re-spawn at the last checkpoint. If you take cover you can regain health.New moves can also be earned by defeating certain tough enemies and absorbing their powers. Mobile command centers are scattered throughout the maps that allow you to gain blast shards and reduce enemy control by destroying them.

At the same time, you need to replenish yourself with smoke otherwise you will be powerless against tougher enemies that definitely pack a punch. Melee moves will not work against larger enemies which mean you will need to take cover and attack from distance. You have the ability to move into buildings or using open vents to get to higher areas with smoke dash.

Smoke can be replenished quite easily from cars or wherever you see fumes. Another power-up item is blast shards. These are small flying saucers that you can take down with your ‘smoke attacks’ and go near them to earn blast shards. Blast shards also allow you to buy new powers and skills.

New powers like Neon and Video have their own separate power-ups and are really cool. The ability to chose different powers via different power-ups is great and helps you decide which is suitable for the missions ahead. 

Like its predecessors, it is an open-world game with a main storyline and side-quests. Maps are divided into zones with varying levels of enemy control. You can abandon missions if it gets too hot for you. The one thing that has stayed in all three games is the karma feature. Basically, you decide to be a Good Samaritan or a bad boy.

The decisions you make in the story affect later missions. For example, you can either kill or subdue your enemies. I actually enjoyed doing both depending on the situation. By filling your karma meter, you can use an explosive attack in one go. If you have stayed good most of the time, then it is better to complete the story by sticking to good karma. The bright side is that you can still go back and play the game and be completely ruthless for an alternate story path.

Boss fights are tough and you need to be sharp to avoid their attacks as they take a lot out of you. You have to constantly replenish your powers and stay behind cover and use the right opportunity to attack. They may be frustrating but the satisfaction gained from victory is priceless.

The touchpad on the Dual Shock 4 comes in handy several times especially when absorbing elements and opening doors. The controller also gives out certain sound effects which are really cool. Delsin Rowe can be a bit annoying at times, but that does not take much from the game. The graphics look brilliant and are a massive step-up from previous titles. It is one of the games to get if you have just bought a new PS4. 

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