Infamous 2 did almost everything right. It built upon what was established by its predecessor, and introduced cool new fire/ice powers. The main idea of the Infamous series is that you've got superpowers and have to decide whether you're going be a heroic asshole or just an asshole. Fine, whatever.
SPOILERS AHEAD BY THE WAY
The plot of this game is that a "beast" is rampaging across the US, and you've got to stop it somehow. You figure out why it exists at the end of the game.
In the game's world, there are two types of people: Those who can get superpowers and those who can't. Not all who can get them have them yet. If the cans are exposed to a certain type of energy, their powers are activated. If the cannots are exposed to this same energy, they die. There is also a horrible virus/disease/whatever going around that will kill everyone, but people with superpowers are immune. The beast's goal is to save humanity from this disease by activating all the people with superpowers at once, which would kill all the people who cannot get superpowers (but they'd die from the disease anyway). The heroes come up with a way to kill the beast and MAYBE POSSIBLY cure the disease. They are not 100% sure if it will cure the disease, but it will definitely kill the beast. There is, of course, a catch. If this is done, all the people with superpowers will die.
MORAL AMBIGUITY
Except, no. The game clearly labels these choices as "evil" and "good" respectively. Rather than allow the player to decide what is the "right" thing to do, they tell you. As if this weren't bad enough, they LOCK YOU OUT OF THE CHOICE FOR THE "ALIGNMENT" YOU ARE NOT. For example, I played through the entire game as a "good" character. However, I think I'd rather go with the choice that guarantees that some people survive, rather than, you know, potentially wiping out humanity completely. I can't do this unless I grind for HOURS to get my alignment down to neutral. BUT HO HO HO your superpowers are tied to your alignment! If I were to do this, I'd have no superpowers and wouldn't be able to beat the game anyway unless I continued to grind until I had maxed out my evil points!
To make matters worse, the developers are complete hypocrites. In the game, there are two female companions. One is presented as "good" and one as "evil" throughout the entire game. They comment on your moral choices and whatever else. Here's the fun part: The "good" girl decides that this is the only way anyone is guaranteed to live (like I did!) and endorses the "evil" path for entirely selfless reasons. The "evil" girl decides that she wants to fucking kill the beast, not giving a fuck if she dies and endorses the "good" path for entirely selfish reasons.
So, my female companions can choose the choice corresponding to the morality they have NOT been the entire game. Hell, the "good" girl arrived at the same exact conclusion I did! Why in the FUCK can't I follow the person who has agreed with me the entire game? Why can an NPC do exactly what I wanted to do, but I fucking can't?
If you are going to base your game around morality, then offer a completely grey moral choice, you can't tell me what I want to do is the "evil" thing and not let me do it because I'm a "good" person. Fuck you.
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Better gameplay and graphics than the first game but I think the writing, art direction, and level/map design all took a hit in quality. The new cutscenes look so much worse than the comic book cutscenes in the first game. Not a fan of Cole's new voice actor or character design either. I have to admit the evil ending is amazing. Shame we never got a sequel set in that timeline. The setting could have been really interesting.
Relieved to see this as the warmest-received of the series. Advanced powers felt fantastic in this game and everything they were working toward with the gameplay of the first clicked into place for an amazing experience here.
Also, as loathed as it was at the time, I really do prefer the change in tone, as a pre-Marvel-Explosion take on superheroes with some comedy. First game still has probably the best cutscenes though, amazing stuff.
I have to admit the evil ending is amazing. Shame we never got a sequel set in that timeline. The setting could have been really interesting.
Also, as loathed as it was at the time, I really do prefer the change in tone, as a pre-Marvel-Explosion take on superheroes with some comedy. First game still has probably the best cutscenes though, amazing stuff.