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Infamous: Second Son Review Thread
- Thread starter fluffydelusions
- Start date
Cthulhu_Steev
Member
If you didn't like the first two games overall then honestly I would say don't go near this. It's more of the same, but even better looking (1 was drab, 2 was gorgeous at times) it feels like Infamous, and it plays like Infamous only more responsive in a firefight, and the traversal is slicker. Delsin's a better character than Cole, but I never minded Cole, he's was just a blank avatar for me to fill.
If the reasons you didn't like Infamous were just character based, then give SS a go. If the traversal and slow gaining of powers bothered you in the first games, then they have improved. If you were on the fence about Infamous because it wasn't there graphically, then go for SS. If they fundamentally were off-putting to you, then I don't think this game will change that.
Missing the point of sandbox game? You completely missed I was making about choices for the sake of choices. A sandbox is not about having as many choices as possible, but how those choices enhance the game and gameplay. It is like Sucker Punch said, they could make Delsin swim in the game, but they could not make it fun. If it is not fun then no one will do it. For a studio that has never done driving mechanics, having driving mechanics and making it fun is not an easy task. Even if driving is fun, but it is not as fun as Neon Dash, then why would a player drive a car instead?
You say you don't know how much effort it takes to make have something like this in game and then go on to say that this is the baseline. I'm oppose to this line of thinking at the fundamental level. Having a baseline like this for every sandbox game ever is stupid. It is stupid because it is added cost. In an industry that is suffering from bloated budgets gamers putting an arbitrary baseline like this is just making things worst. Sucker Punch made a choice and as far as I'm conserned they made the right choice. They made powers as freaking cool as possible and made the game as polished as possible.
I think it was GoW: Asscension. Basically any time there's a high profile a Playstation exclusive. Take from that what you will.
Spehornoob
Member
Infamous has never been an insane critical darling, so I'm not surprised by the reviews. It's one of my favorite playing series though, and Second Son easily plays the best out of all of them so far, so I'm loving it to death.
Dude how often do you see spiderman or superman jump into a car to get around? It's not the focus on a game with characters with super powers (unless we're talking lego games - in which case its hilarious jumping into cars with super-powered characters).
Handy Fake
Member
I don't know about you, but the joy of playing The Last of Us was absolutely destroyed for me because Joel can't microwave jacket potatoes. Dat realism. Not sandbox enough.
It's also not about confining the choices to just the ones that you think almost everyone will engage in, because it defeats the purpose of providing choice to begin with.
At least I'm honest in that regard unlike you who just keeps trying to trump up the scale of the task without providing any sort of frame of reference. How big of a deal is this really? Do you honestly have any idea? How many people would they have needed to add to the project, how much more money would they need to spend, how many additional man hours would be required?
You know what else they haven't done besides driving mechanics? The particle physics in this new game. One of their dev videos had a snippet recently about the effort that went into their new particle engine, which required learning a whole new realm of mathematics and physics calculations that none of them had touched before. Somehow I don't think making driving mechanics work and make them fun is at all beyond this studio's capability and you should probably stop trying to sell them short that way.
Ah, but this is a strawman, because I never said its a baseline for every sandbox game ever, just the ones that tend to focus on modern day settings. SP is welcome to come up with whatever alternate reality they choose where no vehicles exist so the creative restriction of not allowing drivable vehicles doesn't seem so contrived. But if they're going to continue the series down its current path towards a basis in more real world settings then I think they're going to increasingly lose latitude from the audience on this particular contrivance.
Incidentally, complaining about having baselines when you yourself are advocating a baseline for this sort of game (sandbox superhero games shouldn't have driving mechanics) is, well, humorous to say the least.
About as often as we see a good spiderman or superman game.EGM1966 said:
Sorry, low blow. It was just too easy to drive a really big vehicle through that opening
Serious answer: Spiderman or Superman? Hardly ever. But Peter Parker and Clark Kent? Different story. Superhumans have reasons to behave like normal humans all the time. They often have alter egos expressly so they can maintain a low profile. Many do not have infinite power or powers that work constantly and consistently w/o needing to recharge - inFamous conduits have to recharge constantly, for example. Many superhumans have weaknesses that can be exploited. Etc.
Maybe if superhuman sandbox games did a better job of of capturing this dichotomy found in plenty of comic book heroes the market wouldn't be littered with so many games of this sort that have only received poor or mixed reviews.
The things that turned me off are what you list as things that have been improved upon. The combat and the slow gaining of powers was a bit off putting but if it's tighter now then it should be cool. I only played the first one, never tried the second one.
...Really, 80s rated games aren't worth $60 anymore. What happened that people are so intent on only playing near perfect games.
Of course I say this without knowing anything of others financial situation.
*sigh* ffs
These are still comparisons. Comparing the graphics of both games then implying that whilst Titanfall has "superb" gameplay, that is not the case with Infamous when there should be no need at all to even mention Titanfall. What exactly is wrong with my statement which you somehow seem to take offence to?
Again, does nothing to change my statement, Infamous has always been about superpowers and their implications, even if we're only talking about the enemies. One of the opening scenes addresses this by showing that the DUP have no problem with taking the advantage that conduits have and using it as a weapon for themselves, somehow drawing a distinction between themselves and the bioterrorists which Metro seem to have missed, it's not some inconsequential aspect of the plot which can just be easily removed.
These are still comparisons. Comparing the graphics of both games then implying that whilst Titanfall has "superb" gameplay, that is not the case with Infamous when there should be no need at all to even mention Titanfall. What exactly is wrong with my statement which you somehow seem to take offence to?
Again, does nothing to change my statement, Infamous has always been about superpowers and their implications, even if we're only talking about the enemies. One of the opening scenes addresses this by showing that the DUP have no problem with taking the advantage that conduits have and using it as a weapon for themselves, somehow drawing a distinction between themselves and the bioterrorists which Metro seem to have missed, it's not some inconsequential aspect of the plot which can just be easily removed.
So I take it you don't think they have ever been off the mark before?
djblackice
Member
You seem way too happy about it. Did you bring up the Toronto Globe and Mail score of 7 like you did with Titanfall?
Spehornoob
Member
I don't want to pressure you either way, but I can tell you that this was one of my biggest problems with Infamous 1 and 2, and it's been rectified in a big way in Second Son, in my opinion.
Mission/Power Structure Spoilers follow (won't mention specifically what the powers are and no plot points):
I don't know if it ever changes, I'm only two powers in, but so far, after each mission in which I got the powers, I soon had a mission which gave me each of the different basic abilities of that power (which can then be upgrade through blast shards).
I also think the combat is a blast, but it's still similar to other Infamous games. Just (IMO) smoother and more polished.
simplythebest
Banned
to run over people with it.
I wonder when will the final paper trail mission will be unlocked on the site?
SEGAvangelist
Member
Not really. Although this thread does beat it by one page
How many times has Amir0x been banned?
It's also not about confining the choices to just the ones that you think almost everyone will engage in, because it defeats the purpose of providing choice to begin with.
At least I'm honest in that regard unlike you who just keeps trying to trump up the scale of the task without providing any sort of frame of reference. How big of a deal is this really? Do you honestly have any idea? How many people would they have needed to add to the project, how much more money would they need to spend, how many additional man hours would be required?
You know what else they haven't done besides driving mechanics? The particle physics in this new game. One of their dev videos had a snippet recently about the effort that went into their new particle engine, which required learning a whole new realm of mathematics and physics calculations that none of them had touched before. Somehow I don't think making driving mechanics work and make them fun is at all beyond this studio's capability and you should probably stop trying to sell them short that way.
Ah, but this is a strawman, because I never said its a baseline for every sandbox game ever, just the ones that tend to focus on modern day settings. SP is welcome to come up with whatever alternate reality they choose where no vehicles exist so the creative restriction of not allowing drivable vehicles doesn't seem so contrived. But if they're going to continue the series down its current path towards a basis in more real world settings then I think they're going to increasingly lose latitude from the audience on this particular contrivance.
Incidentally, complaining about having baselines when you yourself are advocating a baseline for this sort of game (sandbox superhero games shouldn't have driving mechanics) is, well, humorous to say the least.
About as often as we see a good spiderman or superman game.
Sorry, low blow. It was just too easy to drive a really big vehicle through that opening
Serious answer: Spiderman or Superman? Hardly ever. But Peter Parker and Clark Kent? Different story. Superhumans have reasons to behave like normal humans all the time. They often have alter egos expressly so they can maintain a low profile. Many do not have infinite power or powers that work constantly and consistently w/o needing to recharge - inFamous conduits have to recharge constantly, for example. Many superhumans have weaknesses that can be exploited. Etc.
Maybe if superhuman sandbox games did a better job of of capturing this dichotomy found in plenty of comic book heroes the market wouldn't be littered with so many games of this sort that have only received poor or mixed reviews.
I just realized you're arguing for having the ability to drive a car in a sandbox superhero game...
I honestly think you seriously know that such a task would be a full waste of time and development resources.... Especially for a near-launch standout title such a Infamous.
I'm confused why you want to convince people that this would be a good idea.
simplythebest
Banned
Why was he banned and for how long this time?
What if you were going for good karma run? Would they make it easy to not run people over?
WHEN FUCK DID I SAY SUPERHERO GAME SHOULD NOT HAVE DRIVING MECHANICS? My whole argument from the start has been that if the choice is between making superpowers as cool as possible (and polishing the game) and adding driving mechanics, then former is the right choice.
Okay, so you give an example of them spending time on learning something new, and then say they should also spend time and money learning another thing that they don't know. You keep saying that you don't how much it would cost (in terms of time and money) to add driving, but then keep asking them to add that in. Should the people learning new particle physics also learn about car physics and driving mechanics or should they hire new people? Can I tell you exact monetary number (and time for that matter) that it would cost them? No. Conversely, I hope that you are not suggesting that it is not very expensive.
Let's say they do that and add driving mechanics. Now they have to justify having spend time and money on it. So they have to make missions that involving driving. Mission design might actually be the hardest thing in video game. This is another cost.
The cost is also folks not buying this game because there is not driving mechanic. It is however offset by folks buying the game because effects are cool and you can do ridiculous things.
Here is a thought experiment: How about we do a poll in the inFamous OT and ask how many people would prefer drivable cars over polish and cool looking effects in Second Son.
WrenchNinja
Member
why would you want to drive in a super hero game that has super speed as a power
For me it started with simply arguing against the overzealous pushback that's been happening when someone dares to wish for such a thing, like in the case of the post I was originally responding to. I don't think we need "fucking tired of this argument" when it's readily apparent that there's a sizable crowd that's interested in this sort of thing given that they keep asking for it and there's certainly precedent for why they're asking in the first place.
The argument has obviously escalated from there.
I'm more confused why this is such a black and white debate for some of you and there seems to be no middle ground.
Jayu, see above.
Q: "WHEN FUCK DID I SAY SUPERHERO GAME SHOULD NOT HAVE DRIVING MECHANICS?"
A: When you were actively antagonistic to the mere mention of the idea in the first place. When you keep pushing the strawman that this is somehow such a major, wasteful investment of time, money and effort without any real evidence or citation and plenty of similar games that successfully incorporate the mechanic to the contrary.
Plenty of similar games!? Saints Row 4 is literally add on to Saints Row the third. Does Crackdown have look and polish off Second Son?
simplythebest
Banned
I don't know
That's the thing, I wouldn't use it just like I hardly ever drove in SR4. If I have a power like Super speed driving just feels too cumbersome and a waste.
Yes, plenty. Let's not act like other sandbox games like GTA or the first three SR games are so far removed from inFamous just because they don't expressly incorporate superpowers. They swap superpowers for instant access to a massive arsenal of weapons and gadgets, keep some of the superhuman resistance to damage and health regeneration. End result is that you're never really playing a character that isn't at least moderately superhuman in any of these games, so let's not overplay the distinctions here.
illmatic22
Banned
Man you're so full of shit.
Aces&Eights
Member
Sitting at work, copy of inFAMOUS unopened on my desk. I have 3 hours and 45 minutes until I get off. Then, its a 6 minute carpool ride home. LONGEST FRIDAY EVER.
Clearly you and I are on completely different page on this. You are also talking about teams of 200 to 1000 people working on a game versus a team of 80 people. BTW, I will be disappointed if you don't come to Watch Dogs thread and ask about planes.
but dude the game has an 80 on metacritic, why didn't you cancel your preorder?
It's also not about confining the choices to just the ones that you think almost everyone will engage in, because it defeats the purpose of providing choice to begin with.
At least I'm honest in that regard unlike you who just keeps trying to trump up the scale of the task without providing any sort of frame of reference. How big of a deal is this really? Do you honestly have any idea? How many people would they have needed to add to the project, how much more money would they need to spend, how many additional man hours would be required?
You know what else they haven't done besides driving mechanics? The particle physics in this new game. One of their dev videos had a snippet recently about the effort that went into their new particle engine, which required learning a whole new realm of mathematics and physics calculations that none of them had touched before. Somehow I don't think making driving mechanics work and make them fun is at all beyond this studio's capability and you should probably stop trying to sell them short that way.
Ah, but this is a strawman, because I never said its a baseline for every sandbox game ever, just the ones that tend to focus on modern day settings. SP is welcome to come up with whatever alternate reality they choose where no vehicles exist so the creative restriction of not allowing drivable vehicles doesn't seem so contrived. But if they're going to continue the series down its current path towards a basis in more real world settings then I think they're going to increasingly lose latitude from the audience on this particular contrivance.
Incidentally, complaining about having baselines when you yourself are advocating a baseline for this sort of game (sandbox superhero games shouldn't have driving mechanics) is, well, humorous to say the least.
About as often as we see a good spiderman or superman game.
Sorry, low blow. It was just too easy to drive a really big vehicle through that opening
Serious answer: Spiderman or Superman? Hardly ever. But Peter Parker and Clark Kent? Different story. Superhumans have reasons to behave like normal humans all the time. They often have alter egos expressly so they can maintain a low profile. Many do not have infinite power or powers that work constantly and consistently w/o needing to recharge - inFamous conduits have to recharge constantly, for example. Many superhumans have weaknesses that can be exploited. Etc.
Maybe if superhuman sandbox games did a better job of of capturing this dichotomy found in plenty of comic book heroes the market wouldn't be littered with so many games of this sort that have only received poor or mixed reviews.
Did you really just write a novel because a superhero game doesnt have driveable cars? You do know you have these things called "powers" that allow you to have the same level of traversal, if not more, then of a car.
Cave Johnson
Member
I believe the point here is that for a next-gen "open-world" game - it is lacking in many of the features that pretty much define it since way back in GTA3. It's not about having driving cars that is the issue just like it's being inconvenient to ride a train on GTA3 doesn't nullify the world the developers created it.
An open-world game by next-gen standards is not having the density and fidelity to support it making it just another stage back-drop than an actual interactive world. If the excuse of budget is the main issue, than the developer has set themselves up to scrutiny for not living up to the standards of what a next gen open-world should be. It's bad enough that most, if not all open-world titles, rely on copy/paste missions to pad length and now it can't even meet the base requirement that should've been expected from a new generation title.
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
Why on earth would you want to drive in Infamous? Some of you complain for sake of complaining. Go back and play GTA V.
nfbackstory
Neo Member
Another positive review, obviously. I still haven't had a chance to play it, but from what I've seen, it seems like something I'll pick up down the line.
To me, this looks like a more interesting Saint's Row IV. Then I wonder how SRIV would've been different if they had waited for next gen. Now I'm excited for SRV. The cycle continues!
To me, this looks like a more interesting Saint's Row IV. Then I wonder how SRIV would've been different if they had waited for next gen. Now I'm excited for SRV. The cycle continues!
WrenchNinja
Member
driving cars define open world games? since when?
EatinOlives
Member
The traversal mechanics of this game make car driving completely pointless. Why anyone would ever want SP to add car driving for the sake of a bizarre "status quo" is beyond me. Do people realize SP would've been adding a completely useless mechanic?
The only thing I have to add to the thread is that it somewhat surprises me that a ton of people would rather have 100 half-assed things in open world games than half a dozen well done ones.
They'd rather play shitty golf, shitty tennis, do shitty yoga, and do in general shitty events than have devs focus on polishing what they actually think would be the highlights of the game.
They'd rather play shitty golf, shitty tennis, do shitty yoga, and do in general shitty events than have devs focus on polishing what they actually think would be the highlights of the game.
AbortedWalrusFetus
Member
I am confused. I just cleared out the first area of Seattle, and it says there is a hidden camera, double agent, and a few other things, but I can't find them on the map at all? Do I need to progress further in the story?
VanCityGamer
Member
I've only played the game for two hours so far, but it's absolutely awesome. I'm having such a blast. I can't even fathom the 6/10 reviews. So far, I'd personally give it an 8.5-9.0.
I think you're missing the point of a sandbox game where you're a bloody superhero!
Typomancer
Neo Member
edit: Whoops, wrong thread. Meant to post in the OT.
Brad Grenz
Member
I'm looking forward to an open world Superman game where they force you to drive everywhere as Clark Kent instead of flying.