inFAMOUS – Greatest Hits / Platinum – pick it up cheap!

[Shin-Ra]

Found a few more screenshots I haven't seen before:





This shot:



At dusk:

















http://uk.playstation.com/games-medi...1457/inFamous/

Network play: "with network play features"

[Shin-Ra]

We're starting to get a better picture of the variety Sucker Punch is injecting into inFAMOUS now.

Island 2: The Warren VIDEO Interview

Infamous Updated Hands-on -- New Island, New Powers, New Enemies

We try out an updated version of Sucker Punch's upcoming action game that lets you live the highs and lows of a superhero.

Seattle-based Sucker Punch's upcoming Infamous aims to offer up an interactive approximation of what it's like to be a superhero. The open-world game is an original title for the PlayStation 3 that's been making waves for the past two years at Sony's press conferences and assorted events. We recently had the chance to try out an updated version of the game that let us run through some old and new missions as well as check out an all-new island that makes up another section of the once shiny metropolis of Empire City.

If you've read our last few previews of Infamous you know that main character Cole is having a pretty bad few weeks. The ex-messenger is the only survivor of an epic explosion that left him with superpowers (once he got out of his coma) and caused all manner of trouble for pretty much everyone else in the city. The upside for Cole is his amazing array of electrical powers which, aside from being fun at parties, lets him do some neat stuff. Unfortunately, to paraphrase Spider-Man's perforated Uncle Ben, with great power comes great baggage. In Cole's case, it means his heroic life is more "Batman" than "Superman" in terms of being accepted by the general population. Unfortunately, Cole is tied to the explosion that's causing all the trouble for everyone because, as mostly bad luck would have it, Cole's last pre-explosion delivery was to the building that went boom. This doesn't really endear him to the locals--unflattering security cam footage will do that to you--and makes his budding hero career more of an uphill battle. But so it goes.



Cole's getting ready to deal some electrified pain in the PS3-exclusive Infamous.
Our demo started with a quick run through the early level that finds you guiding Cole through the start of the game and meeting his boy Zeke and lady friend Trish. The basics of the mission haven't changed; you still follow Zeke to collect his gun and then head over to an air drop of food. You'll help the food find its way to the ground for the people trying to get it and deal with the Reapers, a local gang. There's just a bit more polish in place and the locals have some pretty distinct reactions to you. There's also some chatter from a local guerilla broadcaster that pops up on video screens. It doesn't really help Cole's social standing when that security cam footage is called up and people recognize him.

The next portion of the demo hopped forward into the game and found Cole helping Trish, who works as a makeshift field medic helping the injured. In this particular instance, she's tending to people who are being injured by mysterious black water that's oozing out of nearby fountains. Unfortunately--and we'll say that a lot when describing many of Cole's situations--there's some friction with Trish, who is no longer one of Cole's fans (her sister was in the building that exploded). Still, like any good medic, Trish just wants to make sure people get help, so she's chilly but communicative with Cole and explains the water problem.

Cole is able to help out by shutting off a valve letting the goop into the water supply, but gets a splash of the gunk on his face. The mystery water blinds him and causes some odd side effects which foreshadow what's coming later in the level. In addition to the vision problems, the gunk causes hallucinations and makes Cole receptive to telepathic chat with the Reapers' boss who, in true evil leader form, is very much into monologuing.

Your first encounter with the gunk requires you to follow Trish to get some solvent to spray it out of your eyes. After you're cleaned up you'll guide Cole to three other valves, each of which spray him the goop. This time out the effect from the gunk is temporary, although the Reaper boss just doesn't miss a chance to talk smack. Your valve-turning duties are complicated by roaming mobs of Reapers who are out to stop you. Dealing with them let us play around with Cole's powers and get a feel for using cover. While the mission was still fairly early in to the game, we got access to Cole's grenade ability which essentially let him toss sticky grenades that exploded with enough force to take out mobs. The catch, of course, is that the grenades drained his energy stores quickly so it was only possible to toss a few out before being tapped and forced to recharge from available power supplies.



If we could do this in real life, you would all be our unwilling minions.
While there were ample light poles nearby, it was also handy to hop onto trees to avoid gunfire. Once the valves were shut down, we guided Cole to take out the source of the gunk, which lay at the end of an underground tunnel. The race up to the truck offered some intense, claustrophobic combat that offered a nice counterpoint to the open world stuff we've seen. We had to face off against mobs of Reapers which was complicated because some of them were real while others appeared like hallucinations out of thin air (although they certainly hit like the real thing). We were impressed by the sheer amount of action and clutter on the screen due to explosions, gunfire, Cole's powers, hallucinatory weirdness from the gunk, and the onscreen representation of Cole's health. The framerate dipped some but, for the most part, the action hummed along well.

Once we saved the town from the perils of black gunk we finally got a chance to move on to a new district on the second island, dubbed the Warren. While you might assume that the Warrren may not be in the dire straits that first island in Empire City is in because it wasn't near the blast, you'd be guessing wrong. Our first impressions of Warren are that it's an even bigger mess, mainly due to the presence of a gang called the Dust Men. The aggressive group is made up of the various transients that were around the district and who, in the wake of the explosion, were mobilized into a group by a man named Alden. Since then, they've been terrorizing most of the area.



The new island, known as the Warren, looks to have a whole new set of challenges for Cole to overcome.
The local prison, staffed by the last remaining police officers, has become a fortress of sorts. Unfortunately the officers appeared to have bitten off more than they can chew at the start of our demo mission. Cole shows up just in time to help fend off an attack from the Dust Men who are fighting mad that the officers have caught Alden and locked him up. Rather than question why their fearless leader was nabbed so easily, the surly gang assaults the prison in the hopes of springing him. Matters are further complicated by the fact that the many members of the Dust Men have gained their own unique super powers. Unlike Cole's electric powers, the Dust Men's are telekinetic in nature which makes things pretty interesting.

The level starts out with you protecting Zeke from incoming debris flung over the prison walls by the gang. The most effective way to deal with the incoming balls of junk was to use Cole's EMP pulse at the right time and shove them back. While the pulse used up a fair amount of Cole's energy store, the grating he stood on was charged with electricity which replenished him at a decent rate. Once the bombardment was over, things got nasty as the Dust Men blew some holes in the prison walls and began pouring in. Thankfully we had access to another new ability called "precision" which essentially worked like a sniper rifle. We triggered it by hitting up on the directional pad to toggle the vision on by zooming in our view and slowing things down. We were able to target from a greater distance than Cole's standard lightning, although we were eating up energy while in the view.

Besides dealing with armed Dust Men, who wore eerie camouflage outfits, we had to contend with golem-like Dust Men soldiers who used surrounding debris to create makeshift suits of armor. As with the first part of the demo, Cole benefitted from standing on an electrified grill which helped keep his energy high. Eventually, the Dust Men systematically take out his power supplies, which forced us to improvise. While we were still able to drain power from some objects, the faster solution was performing the bio-drain move on normal Dust Men. In order to access the move we had to engage in melee with an enemy and knock him to the ground. When an enemy is on the ground pressing R2 let us target him and get the option to bio-drain them which leeches their personal bioelectricity to charge Cole. As you'd expect it's not a great experience for the person you're leeching from and it offers some very clear ideas on the game's morality system, which looks to fall somewhere in the Fable 2, Mass Effect neighborhoods.

In fact, energy consumption and conservation became a central issue in the latter part of the level as the Dust Men totally shut down the prison power grid, effectively leaving Cole with the morally ambiguous bio-drain as his only option to recharge. Our demo wrapped up with the grid being restored, which required us to do some platforming and shimmying around and up the battered prison. The trip highlighted the game's unique urban platforming that mixed your standard running and jumping with rock-climbing style movement along nooks and crannies.

All told, the demo showed off a lot of promise, as well as the expected rough edges from a work in progress. The camera was a little troublesome in spots, the framerate dipped in some areas, and the amount of effects during some of the crazier combat segments, such as the tunnel battle, made it difficult to follow the action. Now, that all said, Infamous has a lot going for it. The game's open world feel and the sheer freedom of hopping around and climbing places is very cool. The different ways you can use Cole's abilities, and upgrade them--by collecting shards that are debris from the explosion you can absorb--is a nice touch. We also have to call out the stylish cinematic screens that move the story along. Sucker Punch's games have always had a cool, artistic flair to them and Infamous stays true to the spirit of the Sly Cooper comic panel motif, although clearly with a more hard-edge style. In fact, the layered, animated look of the cinematics has more life than some of the high production CG movies we've seen in other games.



Who's scared of flying metallic junk when you've got EMP blasts?
The visuals in the game continue their positive development towards a finished product with more polish being layered in. We especially like the distinct personality the city is taking on the more we see of the game. The outdoor park area and claustrophobic tunnels of the black water mission had a unique look to them that was different than the first areas we saw. The Warren district offered another take on the ruined city motif, with some subtle color palette tweaks and different architecture that was very effective. The look extended to the Dust Men and golems we encountered, which all had a disturbing patchwork feel to them.

Based on what we played, Infamous looks to be coming along nicely. The game seems to be doing a fine job of balancing style and substance with impressive visuals, engaging gameplay, and a meaty story. While there's still the expected assortment of rough edges to the game, they're mostly overshadowed by the potential on display. The sense of freedom when you're going about your business, mixing up the use of your powers, interacting with the city, and the intriguing story are a compelling draw that should be worth keeping an eye out for. Infamous is slated to ship later this year for the PlayStation 3, look for more on the game in the coming months.

[Poetic]

So awesome, I'm really excited for this game. Thanks for posting the new info!

[-diVe-]

I had my doubts, but this game is looking like it's going to be a blast to play.

ACDC's Thunderstruck would fit well when Sony starts advertising this.

[dpomp]

seriously this is the game i'm looking most forward to this year! i can't wait!!!

[Shin-Ra]

IGN NYCC 09: Infamous Progress Report

The powers in Infamous only get cooler. We've known for a long time that the game's main character, Cole, would have a set of sick electricity-based powers and have seen that character zap foes all over the place, but as you play, the powers we already thought were good get better. Know that concussive blast Cole has that knock opponents off their feet? He's going to be able upgrade that ability to the point where he can knock people into the air and then just keep knocking them further and further away until they're so high up and far gone that they'll never bother a soul again.

See you later, dumb enemy who keeps shooting me in the face/grandma!

In December, I was lucky enough to get my hands on Infamous, and today I repeated the feat. Rather than show me the same old Cole, Sucker Punch bigwigs took the reigns off their baby and let me try out a new mission and watch Cole battle some new, nasty baddies a ways into the game.

You'll need to recharge after moves like this.

Folks who have been following Infamous as rabidly as I have should know the basics of what's going on in this game. Cole was a pretty normal messenger in Empire City until a package he was dropping off turned out to be a bomb and leveled a hefty portion of the town. When Cole awoke weeks later, he found that the city was cut off from the outside world and in the grips of a plague, that he was the lone survivor of the blast, and that he now had electricity-based superpowers. Just when Cole was getting the hang of his case of the zaps, a suspicious video popped up on working TV screens that showed the bomb going off in Cole's hands and blamed him for the devastation. Cole's girlfriend, who lost her sister in the blast, walked away from her man, and the city turned against its would-be savior.

The hands-on portion of my demo picked up somewhere after the events of the first chapters I played. Although onle a few months have passed, I was immediately stuck bu how the game looked and ran smoother -- the textures weren't jaggy, the NPCs were just doing their thing, and the city looked good… well, good in terms of the rubble and destruction all over the place. When I got behind the controls and began to push Cole forward on a sunny Empire City day, the moans of an injured man caught my attention. Upon investigating, I ran headlong into Cole's ex-girlfriend tending to the man's wounds. She yelled at the Cole for a bit about how it was his fault all of this had happened and that her sis was dead, and Cole tried to plead his case. Eventually, Trish told Cole that if he wanted to help, he could start by figuring out what's up with the water mains all over the park they were near. I walked Cole over the water wheel connected to the pipe right by Trish, gave it a turn, and some black ooze shot out and covered the hero.

Cole loves pole dancing.

Things went south quickly. The camera suddenly went drunk, Cole grabbed his head and began stumbling around, and the shocking powers were nullified. Trish freaked out a bit and said that she had some cleaner that could get the clearly laced tar off Cole's grill. She ran out to lead the way, and I was left to try and keep a drunk hero on her tail. Aside from the jarring controls and change in view, a new voice began getting piped into Cole's head. That of a lady, the voice told Cole that Trish would never love him again and trying to atone for his sins was a fool's errand, but the voice said that she would always love Cole. With a bunch of folks having powers since the blast, it's not out of the question to think that this is the work of a telepath inside our man's mind, and that assumption was only bolstered by the sudden appearance of gargantuan versions of the Reapers -- the hooded sweatshirt-wearing gang Cole's been tussling with on the streets. These hallucinations weren't real, but I'll be damned if they weren't creepy.

Eventually the duo makes it back to Trish's supplies just as Cole collapses. She sprays him with a cleaning agent but says he's on his own the next time it happens and then runs away. Back to full power -- but still covered in that icky tar -- Cole heads to the park to get to the bottom of this sticky situation.

The next few minutes go as you'd expect. Cole locates a water main, turns it off, gets dosed with the inky junk, and has to let the effects wear off while battling some of the Reapers who are on the scene. The cleaner Trish used on Cole must have inoculated him against the full effects of the dark goo, because after getting dumped on in these small instances and hearing more of that lady's spiel, Cole's ready to fry his enemies again. This journey soon leads Cole down a roadway tunnel full of abandoned -- often burning -- vehicles. Every now and then, a group of Reapers will rush him, but a few blasts of electricity send them to the pavement, and the cars and downed foes provide enough energy to recharge Cole's health and electricity reserve. Near the end of the tunnel, things get crazy again. The voice and gigantic hallucinations are back, but this time the hulking foes can actually hurt Cole so he's forced to zap the bad but dangerous dreams until they drift into the ether.

Possibly real/possible fake bad guys out of the way, I came to the end of the line. Here, a tanker truck was parked and was feeding its contents into the city's water pipes. I took aim using L1, and held down the electricity blast button to store up enough juice for the super-blast known as overcharge. A few of the colossal shots, and the tanker exploded, the city was safe, and Moya -- an FBI agent helping Cole along the way -- briefed him on the goo's mind-altering powers via the hero's cellphone.

Hanging and zapping for the win.

The next part of the demo jumped pretty far into the game and introduced The Warren, an entirely new borough of Empire City. Seems that the Warren wasn't a sunshine-and-kisses type of place, and the end of civilization inside the city limits hasn't made it any better. The massive amount of homeless citizens that used to roam the streets are now telekinetic beasts known as the Dust Men. Scurrying all about the Warren, the Dust Men look a lot like that fake monster from The Village except the Dust Men dress in dirty white outfits and will actually kill you.

Cole's part in this story is helping the police of the Warren. Although the cops and Cole are constantly at odds in Infamous thanks to Cole being a domestic terrorist and all, they've stuck up a temporary peace agreement here because the police are out of options. The Dust Men have driven the cops back to the old prison, and the flatfoots are getting ready to make their final stand and could really use the help of a superhuman who knows his way around a nine-volt.

Up until this point, we've really only seen Cole fight small groups of baddies. Here, he's up against an army of Dust Men. The siege starts with telekinetic balls of trash and metal flying over the prison's walls -- it's up to Cole to shoot the projectiles out of the sky a la Missile Defense -- and ends with an army of Dust men smashing though the wall and taking the fight to the army of cops in the yard. Now, Cole could probably help the cops best the platoon pretty quick, but the problem is the Dust Men have brought in scrap metal mechs. Well, ok, they aren't really mechs; one of the super-power Dust Men is at the center of these massive metal men using telekinesis to hold together the makeshift beast and stomp, crush, and kill anything that gets in the way.

To beat the metal bad guy, Cole's got to shoot off the plating piece by piece and maybe lob some electro-grenades inside of the suit. It's really your choice what powers you use to take care of the threat -- you can even use the new move, Precision, which slows down time and zooms in on targets -- but you need to take the metal man down quick and help the coppers all over the prison.

That's the TK mech.

The Warren's penitentiary actually took the blast that destroyed Empire City rather badly. As Cole began to navigate the structure, he came to a blown out staircase and suddenly had to use those urban exploration skills we've talked so much about in the past. He leapt to platforms, used his powers to glide to an exposed beam, and eventually climbed to the top of the prison, where he found a blast shard. Pieces of the original disaster, blast shards are scattered all over the city and allow Cole to store more juice once he finds them.

The fighting would continue until a rather interesting cutscene that reinforces how much I dig the characterization in this game, but I won't spoil for you here. As the fisticuff wore on I did get to see a few more Cole upgrades. As you continue to max out your arsenal, the electricity grenades can be modded to automatically tie down anyone caught in their blast radius, and once an opponent is down, Cole can now kick them in the balls while his foot's glowing with electricity.

Yeah. That's probably a good place to end this one.

[j_rocca42]

This will be a day one purchase for me i think. thanks for all the info shin.

[Ippiki Okami]

Link:

It's already been established that inFamous will arrive sometime this Spring, but when in the Spring? The release date was cleared up a little bit for Blend Games during a special Playstation event on Friday.

A rep for Sucker Punch Productions, developer of the super hero action game, told Blend Games that they're looking at a late Spring release. "Spring doesn't end until June 21st so you can do the math on that," said the rep.

True, it's not a definitive statement of a June release but it gives a rough indication of when this game is expected to hit stores. Plus, I imagine many of you didn't know June 21st was the actual beginning of Summer, not Memorial Day. If nothing else, we've helped you study for your next Earth Science test.

sweet!

[Shin-Ra]

1UP Preview

Defeating the Reapers exposes one of the moral dilemmas that runs beneath the action surface of the game. With the food secure, you get the option to either share it with the citizenry, or to run off the commoners and horde it all for you and your girlfriend. Depending on which way you go, you receive either good or bad karma. The developers hesitated to say much more about the karma system, but it definitely plays into how the population of Emerald City responds to you over the course of the game. But I learned that the condition of the city reflects your choices: Clean up efforts get underway if you restore order, but deterioration prevails if you only serve your personal interests. This selfish vs. selfless decision could make a nice evolution over the typical black-and-white good vs. evil setup. The shades of gray give you a lot more interactivity with the story, while also relieving you from the game straining situation of playing as a morally bereft character, but still earning the same happy ending.

Click the image above to check out all the inFamous screens.

The side missions and dealing with what Sucker Punch calls the "crime ecology of the city" will also shape Cole's in-game morality. While the side missions seem pretty standard, the crime ecology presents another interesting way to tie back into the consequences of how you play your character. Street crime may increase or decrease in response to whether you bother trying to stop it, and how much order has been restored to the city as a whole.

The other two levels I played -- one in which I stopped some Reapers from polluting the water source, and another that involved powering a commuter train so it could get to a safe station -- offered a little more insight the game's story. Though it wasn't fully explained, I learned that Cole was at the epicenter of the blast that set everything off. He also communicates with a mysterious FBI agent named Moya who appears to be working through him to fight some sort of conspiracy underlying the events. And, cryptically, he hears some sort of mysterious voice in his head that claims to love him more than his girlfriend ever has. While these amount to little more than a tease at this point, everything inFAMOUS does to create depth and substance beyond just running around the city as a powered-up character goes a long way toward differentiating it from the competition.

[Shin-Ra]

Catch inFamous on Spike TV Tonight
Posted by Katie Reid // Senior Public Relations Specialist, SCEA

Hi all,

More exclusive new inFamous info is on the way…tune in to Spike tonight at 1 a.m. PT/ET for inside access to inFamous with GameTrailers TV as host Geoff Keighley goes on-site at Sucker Punch’s studio in Bellevue, WA.

A new trailer will be revealed and for the first time, meet Cole’s female nemesis while experiencing the first boss battle. If you miss the show tonight, check it out online this weekend at GameTrailers.com or on the PlayStation Network video store.

[saprano]

Didn't really care about this game. but the more info and screen shots released im starting to like it.

[Rike255]

Don't know much about this game, but I'm excited that it's not an FPS. I'm gonna have to keep my eye on it!

[Shin-Ra]

I Am Scared Trailer HD

Best one yet I think.

[KilloWertz]

I think the new trailer is really good as well. inFamous has been on my radar for a while. Unless it somehow falls apart, I'll be getting this when it comes out.

[Shin-Ra]

Ok this is probably the best order to watch everything:

I'M SCARED Trailer
Sickening Gameplay
Dinner Plans Gameplay (SPOILER - first boss)
Cinematic Clip (SPOILER - first boss aftermath)

[PH3AR]

This game looks awsome cant wait to get my hands on it!

[xtop]

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/...bout-this-one/

Here is some of what I saw that I liked that doesn’t come through in screenshots and trailers:

-A good line: In the opening cut-scene, the hero’s voice-over includes the question: “Have you ever been called a terrorist?” I haven’t, but I find that line sharply encapsulates a role that seems interesting to play. An explosion in Cole’s city has left much of it lacking electricity or any rule of law. Cole is blamed by some and on the run. It’s a good set-up.

-Defibrillator Powers: I knew Cole could shot electricity from his hands to charge things and fry enemies. I didn’t realize he could hogtie enemies with bands of electricity, serve as a human defibrillator for wounded people and leech energy to the point of killing others. All these actions affect the hero’s moral alignment.

-“This is a yes you can game”: That’s what the game’s director, Nathan Fox, told me while showing me so many of the acrobatic climbing moves Cole can commit, the bosses he can fight, the choices for characters with which he can interact, and so on. He said the game is doling out a new power to the player every hour of play time. Given everything that the “Sly Cooper” games allowed players to do — and given how many activities games like “Grand Theft Auto IV” compel players of open-world games to want to do — the Obama-style “yes you can” design philosophy seems like a very good thing.

-A dash of “Crackdown”: While most of what I was shown in “Infamous” were main missions, I wanted to know about the side stuff. The peripheral missions and general life of the open-world are what make or break games in this genre. I learned from Fox that, not only are there going to be many side missions, but that there will be a “Crackdown“-style dynamism to this game. “Crackdown” was a well-received open-world super-cop game for the Xbox 360. The city of “Crackdown” was unusually organic for a game of its type. The player was charged with hunting the leaders of enemy gangs. One member of the gang might be a weapons dealer, another a vehicle supplier. Attacking the weapons guy and defeating him would cause all of the gang members of his gang to have inferior guns. Locking up the vehicles guy would have a regional affect on enemy vehicle quality. There were several dynamics like this, all of which were affected by the order with which the player decided to attack the leaders of the gang.

What “Infamous” has that is like this is a system of civic morality that changes the rhythms of muncipal life. Helping civilians in one area might bring some safety and economic prosperity back to a part of the city. Assisting cops might improve police patrols and think the ranks of local gangs. Actions of a more nefarious bent are supposed to have grimier implications. This type of dynamism that allows player-chosen actions to begin to re-color the world — not seen in even the ambitious “GTA IV” — could greatly enrich the “Infamous” world.

Those are a few of the things that stood out to me, the kind of things you can’t deduce form a screenshot or trailer. I’m pleased with the graphics, the controls, the combat and action I experienced. But those are the relatively easy things to get right. They are common successes.
It is the uncommon qualities that “Infamous” has the possibility to get right that excites me.

‘Infamous” is slated for a spring release for the PlayStation 3.

not sure if any of this was known or not. but good news is good news. plus i want this game!

[Maximus]

Sounds interesting. Kind of like Sim City but with awesome lightning powers!

[Shin-Ra]

Ohsheeeeeeyt!

inFamous Date, Demo, and Art revealed
Posted by Greg Phillips // Producer, SCEA

We know many of you have been wondering when urban hero Cole McGrath and his electrifying arsenal of superpowers is coming to a town near you. Well, we want to share with you today that inFamous will be launching worldwide this June, and here’s a first look at the front-of-box for the title:

Another question many of you have been asking is: will there be a demo? And, the answer is yes. We’ll have more details on when and how the demo will be available shortly. Stay tuned for a new trailer next week as well of loads of other inFamous goodies from the Sucker Punch crew this month…

[silversnake]

That's an awesome cover art. June can't come soon enough !