Infamous: Second Son

We don't have a thread for this apparently. Out today, for the hungry PS4 owner.

I always enjoyed the original Infamous. While I never thought it was the 9/10 that some people gave it, and the story and moral choice aspects weren't great, it was just fun to stomp around a giant city with amazing superpowers. Second Son looks to take that up a notch by giving you access to four completely different power sets, and a realistic recreation of the city of Seattle.

I've just started and so far it blows away the original. The graphics are the best I've ever seen, and the gameplay itself is pure fun. Too early to comment on story, but what's there is nicely presented and very cinematic.

Redbox starts getting PS4/XO games today. I will rent it from there.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

The graphics are the best I've ever seen

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What's the qualifier here?

I love that now if I wait a few minutes someone else will make at least part of my post for me.

"Pure fun" sounds like a Nintendo apologist who can't be objective.

This is Sony's Crackdown, and that should absolutely not be taken as a compliment.

The Wii U still has more useful exclusives than the PS4 and One combined. That should not be taken as a compliment either.

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I wouldn't call this Sony's Crackdown. This at least has a story, and The Verge(I think?) said it was the best X-Men video game without being called X-Men(mutant persecution). The Wii U is still the better console though, for sure.

The Infamous series is not nearly as good as Crackdown.

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Originally Posted by Chux

I wouldn't call this Sony's Crackdown.

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Of course not, because Crackdown had good control and fun multiplayer.

Dammit I really didn't come in here to shit on this series again but it's just so easy

The WiiU wishes it had games as good as Crackdown

Crackdown had good control? Whaaaat?

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Originally Posted by Chux

I wouldn't call this Sony's Crackdown. This at least has a story

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

Of course not, because Crackdown had good control and fun multiplayer.

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Maybe we can Frankenstein Infamous and Crackdown together to get one good game.

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Originally Posted by Chux

The Verge(I think?) said it was the best X-Men video game without being called X-Men(mutant persecution).

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Not unless it has this hidden on the disc:

Took this home last night and watched my kid play for a bit. The facial expressions are really amazing. Every now and again the game people do look real.
It had some dumb "shake the controller" or "swipe the touchpad" crap in the beginning.
One dumb thing was that the main dude can turn into firewinddust shit and go through doors, and did so quite often throughout a building. But then to exit the building, that door had to be swiped. Even though another firewinddust dude phased through it no problem.

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Originally Posted by Chux

What's the qualifier here?

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With my eyeballs?

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

"Pure fun" sounds like a Nintendo apologist who can't be objective.

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Then maybe I should qualify what I mean. The game's mechanics are fun to control and the environment begs for exploration, and those two elements combine for an enjoyable experience independent of story and mission design.

As opposed to, say, Grand Theft Auto, which has pretty dull mechanics, but makes up for it with interesting scenario design.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

The Infamous series is not nearly as good as Crackdown.

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Second Son seems quite a bit better than both, at least so far.

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Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

"shake the controller" or "swipe the touchpad"

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aaaaand we are done

Seriously. Why can developers not resist "taking advantage of" every damn feature and button the controller, even when it adds nothing to the game?

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

Seriously. Why can developers not resist "taking advantage of" every damn feature and button the controller, even when it adds nothing to the game?

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You know, it's actually pretty well done here. A little gimmicky, but never annoying. The spray can thing is actually pretty neat (hold the controller sideways, shake it and hear/feel it rattle, and then squeeze the trigger and use motion to fill in the stencils). And none of it's used in the action parts of the game.

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Originally Posted by Chux

Redbox starts getting PS4/XO games today. I will rent it from there.

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April 1, and this ain't one of them.

Maybe not at yours. Mine said 3/21
Edit: and now that I've wasted some of my lunch break to go to redbox it has been removed what the fuck.

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Originally Posted by Chux

Crackdown had good control? Whaaaat?

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I'm not saying it was awesome and precise, but when I told the controls to do something they did that thing.

I never knew TNL didn't like the first two. They were great, and this is getting great reviews. Whaa?

The series is okay, but not really as good as it should be. I feel this for a lot of Sony franchises actually.

That's how I feel about Assassin's Creed.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

You know, it's actually pretty well done here. A little gimmicky, but never annoying. The spray can thing is actually pretty neat (hold the controller sideways, shake it and hear/feel it rattle, and then squeeze the trigger and use motion to fill in the stencils). And none of it's used in the action parts of the game.

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not to keep belaboring the point, but how is this not annoying? Is there a reason this spray can crap is in the game?

Every game these days seems to have some shake or blow or do something dumb or look at some other screen or tilt, I never as a kid thought, "Wow I wish this mundane task in the game was more 'realistic'", I just thought they were stupid

Remember how cool it was in Donkey Kong Country Returns?

I only played the 3DS version because it sounded terrible. Which sucks because I hate the 3DS for the most part. You could ether have nice screen and 60 FPS or crap screen and half framerate and controls that weren't terrible (but since it's 30 FPS it doesn't control as well all other things equal)

This game looks like a great tech demo at the very least. If I had a PS4 I'd get it.

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Originally Posted by Joust Williams

not to keep belaboring the point, but how is this not annoying? Is there a reason this spray can crap is in the game?

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It was totally annoying and unnecessary
there's a giant billboard of the sherriff. You stand there, stencils automatically are put up over the billboard, you shake your controller then "spray". Then a different set of stencils are applied and your paint can changes color. You then "spray" again. Stencils come down, you put a donut in one hand, a gun in the other, and a shit eating grin on the guy. Turns out the guy is your brother. WAKA WAKA WAKA!

At no point did I or my son think "Hey, that was so much better than if it just happened in a cut scene."
It added nothing, and swapping your grip is gay. Did I mention that just shaking the controller wasn't enough? Had to have it vertically oriented as well, or it wouldn't register.
A 10 second cut scene turned into a minute long exercise of dumbness.
Still, once it was over, it's not like I saw an instance of having to do it again. But it's literally the first thing you do in the game. Not exactly a thing to get you psyched for what's coming.

I thought it was more interesting than doing it with Jet Set Radio controller motions anyway. As for how it fits into the game it's just optional exploration shit same as in GTA San Andreas.

As for why it's in the cut scene, it's obvious player training. Dunno why that's so confusing.

Never ended up playing through the second game for some reason, but I loved the first one. Still worth picking this one up? I imagine that any story I missed could be covered by a 2 minute YouTube video.

My kid beat it in less than a day. He liked the first two a lot, liked this one even more.

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Originally Posted by Schlep

Never ended up playing through the second game for some reason, but I loved the first one. Still worth picking this one up? I imagine that any story I missed could be covered by a 2 minute YouTube video.

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Considerably better. The powers and controls are much better, and the whole tone of the game is less dreary, and more "Woohoo, check out the cool shit I can do." Plus the setting is just awesome. I thought I would miss some of the exaggeratedly large set pieces from original, but the sense of vertigo when scaling the space needle trumps any of that.

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Originally Posted by Schlep

Never ended up playing through the second game for some reason, but I loved the first one. Still worth picking this one up? I imagine that any story I missed could be covered by a 2 minute YouTube video.

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Same for me. I would have purchased this already if I wasn't in the middle of Dark Souls II. Besides the unbelievable sniping skills of the common foes in Infamous, I never understood the hate for it.

Just started the game and damn..its one fine looking game. Only about an hour or so into the game but I loved the first two so I can't wait to traverse Seattle and get all those damn shards!

Thanks for the input, Frog. I'm thinking I'll rent since it's supposed to be so short. Unfortunately the Redboxes here don't rent PS4 yet, so it's time to reacquaint myself with Family Video.

There's an ARG for this.

What are the other two powers from smoke and neon? For some goofy reason Sony blocked that and boss fights from reviews.

They didn't block them from reviews, but they embargoed them from earlier coverage. Anyway, they're Video and Stone.

What are playthroughs coming in at? 10-15 hours?

The Day 1 patch and early adopter DLC add about 6 hours of gameplay, which accounts for some of why reviews have called it short.

Short is fine, IMO.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

They didn't block them from reviews, but they embargoed them from earlier coverage. Anyway, they're Video and Stone.

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Release day reviews count as "earlier coverage" now?

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

Release day reviews count as "earlier coverage" now?

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No, some release day reviews (actually the embargo was one day earlier) did reference the other powers. Those that didn't just didn't want to spoil it, nothing to do with Sony.

I understand the concept of embargoes even though I think it is dumb, but dictating that you can't discuss this or that stupid mechanic or this or that dumbass plot point. It's weird.

I don't like the coffee-drinking, Nirvana-singing, beanie-wearing protagonist, but I dig his art style:

http://www.pictureshack.us/images/22...nfuckxboxa.gif

So I finished this on good, 100% side stuff, and about 75% trophies.

Best game in the series by far. The story does feel a little short, mostly because it's all "main" missions. The side stuff doesn't really have any kind of story component this time, it's just stuff like taking out enemy bases or scavenger hunts. The game's biggest strength is just in the incredible powers and fluid controls, and just being a great playground. The missions themselves never get too clever or exciting outside of a few great moments, but they don't get boring either.

It's also the first game I've played that really feels next gen to me. Not only beautiful graphics, but a hyper-detailed city teeming with life, and the ability to zip around it in seconds and see all the way to the horizon really feels like something not possible on older hardware.

I rented this along with GZ and I'm not really feeling it. Climbing and dashing around can be cool at times but more often than not you get all these weird animation transitions that you don't see in a game like Assassin's Creed, and it definitely takes some of the spectacle out of it. And while I'm early and don't have many skills, what's present in the combat is really bumming me out. Of all the games I've played in this genre lately this is probably the weakest, so far.

It is absolutely gorgeous, though, in a way that multiplatform games (even on more powerful hardware) can't be.

This sold a million copies in nine days. That certainly challenges the notion that software sells hardware, as I can't believe too many people bought PS4s for this one.

Early adopters buy hardware for the sake of buying hardware. That said this is the first decent ps4 exclusive so I'm not surprised people bought it. I don't think it's gonna move hardware going forward though.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

This sold a million copies in nine days. That certainly challenges the notion that software sells hardware, as I can't believe too many people bought PS4s for this one.

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I didn't hear about US numbers, but apparently this led to a big bump in PS4 sales in the UK, moreso than Titanfall did for the XBone.

Plus it's hard to sell hardware when there is no hardware on the shelf.

Pretty sure the shortage is over. We have been able to keep them in stock, so that means everyone has them.

Not in Annapolis, at least not at Big Box stores.

Depends where you are. They're pretty abundant around here, but there's not new shipments coming until the summer, so when places sell out they sell out.