Sometimes a game just slips under the radar. Whatever the reason for this occurring, be it bad marketing, classification problems or a strange concept, some games just fail to find their audience. Here at Player2.net.au, we want to highlight these rough gems and that is where “In Case You Missed It” comes in. Some games just deserve a second chance.
In Case You Missed It – Infamous: Second Son
The Infamous series has always been something of a minor hit for Sony. It has never set the world on fire with sales but it certainly has a dedicated fan base has enjoyed its brand of open world superpower fuelled mayhem. Infamous: Second Son was the first entry in the franchise on the PS4 and even though it was released very early in the life of Sony’s latest console it remains one of the best exclusives available for the system.
This game was designed as a system seller and as a result, the graphics are simply stunning. From the amazingly detailed city of Seattle to the exceptionally complex facial animations, this is about as good as gaming can look at the present time. It isn’t just the almost photo-realistic graphics that impressed me but the exceptional use of colour and light. This was most evident when I had gained the “neon” power. I simply stopped and stared at the way Sucker Punch incorporated these bright fluoro colours into the world they have created.
The gameplay was everything that I had come to love about an Infamous game. It had me taking the protagonist Deslin around the real life city of Seattle (which is a first for the series. Previous games used fictitious cities) attacking control points, completing exciting side missions and basically fighting the good fight. Of course just like the previous entries there was also had the option to be a jerk and kill everything that moved, whatever floats your boat really. There were 3 unique powers to access (with a fourth only available for the final mission). Each power had a way to quickly scale buildings and glide through the sky making traversal of the city highly entertaining.
The 3 powers all had their own unique play styles and I found that switching them up was the best way to approach large groups of enemies. The Smoke power was great for immobilizing large groups, the Neon power perfect for sniping and the (strangely named) Video power was perfect for sneaking and taking down flying enemies. All of this variety gave me a massive toolset of powers to use ensuring battles with the fairly competent enemies never grew stale.
In all Infamous: Second Son was exactly what the PS4 needed early in its life, A high-quality open world game with stunning graphics. The different powers allowed for entertaining and varied combat and the story, while not award winning, was certainly enjoyable enough to see it through to the end. Add to that the game can be had for a bargain price these days and if you missed it when it first came out it may be the perfect game to fill in the quiet weeks of July and August. Second Son is certainly worth a second look.
Matt Hewson
