jp
Home Talks and Slides My GameLog Research and Projects Publications Resume Teaching
Back  //   GameBreadth Project  //   Game Ontology Project  //   GameLog

Infamous Second Son (PS4)

Status: Finished playing
I started playing this game on Friday 27 March, 2020  //  I stopped playing this game on: Sunday 14 June, 2020
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

April 10, 2020 02:26:47 PM
Finished!

It's interesting that the last set of powers (concrete) only becomes available at the very end for the final boss fight. The more I think about it, the smarter the decision sounds - it makes narrative sense (your driving motivation the whole game has been to steal the concrete powers from the big bad boss) AND it also makes game design sense.

After the final boss fight and all the cut scenes are over, you're dumped back into Seattle (regular nice day weather, rather than night time rainy) with the invitation to keep on playing, to mop up remaining side missions and to expel the DUP from the city.

So, you can continue playing, and you have a bunch of new powers to use/enjoy - it also gives you a reason to chase down remaining shards (to power up your new power and unlock more options for it!). So, there's a good reason to continue playing beyond "mere" completionism.

My problem is that I've really enjoyed the "Video" powers - I like being able to zip around super fast. So, I'm not excited for the concrete powers - but perhaps I'll just have to upgrade them a bunch and then see?

The other thing I noticed is that the powers don't increasingly get better? Well, they do - but it's not necessarily liner? I think? So, I'm wondering if the concrete powers are really good against enemies that still give me trouble? But, I really dislike the lack of mobility I have (so far) on the concrete powers.


Oh!

I'm also super impressed with the graffiti gameplay. It's obviously a side-thing, but I think it might be the best system I've seen in a game? Best in the sense that it's "realistic" to what you actually do with the controller - rather than swipe/press a button and nice art shows up on the screen you press a button and literally spray paint! You end up with nice art because the game uses template/cut-out graffiti. The character tapes up a cardboard and you spray wherever there are holes, then another cardboard on top of that (with different holes) and so on. So, it looks nice and feels authentic - and the layering is nice too!


March 29, 2020 03:52:25 PM
I've played this a few hours (ok, perhaps more than a few) over the last two evenings and I've really been enjoying it.

The beginning was a bit confusing, because it seemed like the game was a pretty narrow linear experience (ala Last of Us) when all of a sudden - it became an open world (ala Spiderman or Ubisoft games)! The transition was weird and confusing to me, but weirdly exhilarating once I realized what was happening. It basically happened as I was going through security (to enter Seattle) and all hell breaks loose - and I ended up going pretty far, not sure what to do, shooting things down and then slowly, as I realized I was not in "open world" mode - going back and picking up things I'd missed.

The progression seems weird/interesting. Not in a bad way. So you collect these shards (or something) and use them to upgrade your powers. And, I haven't been getting them ALL, but it looked like I was really going to max out super early. This seemed weird, but I thought - oh, maybe the final upgrades are super expensive?

So, last night I ran into another "conduit" (superhero) and then I learned HER powers...and now there's an entirely new tree with upgrades to buy! I wonder how long this will go on for. The new powers are cool - and I FINALLY feel like I'm powerful in combat, but I'm not sure I want to have to toggle back and forth between them, and if more are added to the mix?


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria