Take the urban verticality of Crackdown and Spider-Man, the open living city of Grand Theft Auto and the Sith lighting powers from The Force Unleashed and you’ve got the jist of what it is like to step into the world of Sony’ upcoming Playstation 3 exclusive, Infamous.
The new decidedly adult endeavor from Sucker Punch of Sly Cooper fame was on display at E3 earlier this month in the form of a 30-minute controlled demonstration. A short q/a followed, but the crew from Sucker Punch punched the small media group back with a lot of “can’t talk about that now” answers.
We were privy to the opening cut-scene from the game which shows a large nuclear-looking explosion ravaging Empire City. A lone man, Cole, awakes in the rubble and soon after begins to discover he can conduct and control electricity. From that point the first quadrant of the city is open for Cole to explore with additional quadrants opening as the game progresses.
The mission we were demoed started with Cole riding atop a metro train and then jumping off to climb buildings. He cannot scale every surface like Spider-Man but can grab onto just about any building ledge or 3-D protrusion to get to the top of any building.
Buildings play an important role when combat comes into play as they serve as one of the primary cover systems. In traditional action games a player will duck behind an object for cover and shoot around the object at his enemy. Cole can do this, but he can also hang off the edge of a building and then raise his arms over the top to shoot at foes above him.
Weapons will be at Cole’s disposal but his primary means of combat are a function of the electricity he controls. He can shoot lightning from his fingertips ala The Force Unleashed and use a super attack against bosses that rains lightning down over a large area. Lightning hitting objects has a blast effect with it that pushes everything the lightning hits backwards. Cole will learn additional ways to harness electricity in subsequent levels.
The one particular boss we witnessed, described as the first to appear in the game, gave the Sucker Punch representative a run for his money. This mysterious thug also had powers allowing him to shoot a powerful wave of energy at Cole, ripping up the street as it traveled. Beating him took quite some time and patience.
Sucker Punch has some wrinkles they are throwing into Infamous aimed to set it apart from other sandbox action-adventure titles. For instance, there are civilian survivors of the blast and your actions will determine how they react to and perceive you. Sucker Punch dodged my question about how deep this interaction goes which we take to mean there may be instances where you might have to fend off an angry mob of civilians later on in the game.
Particularly intriguing is how Cole’s electricity must be managed. Lets say there is a blackout in the city. With no juice flowing Cole has no way to recharge. Once he runs out, he’s out and must rely on melee and guns to survive until the power comes back on. Likewise, electricity can prove fatal should Cole be charged and wander into a wet environment.
For Infamous to succeed we as players must want to battle through the city for a purpose. That purpose is to discover why Cole survived the past and what his powers mean. As expected, Sony and Sucker Punch remain tight-lipped regarding the direction the story will take other than reminding us Cole’s actions will determine his fate.
Infamous is tentatively scheduled for release sometime in 2009 exclusively on PS3.
– Dan Bradley
