Infamous 2: Cole Shocks and Sizzles!

Despite the decision not to include 3D graphics or PlayStation Move support in Sucker Punch’s upcoming Infamous 2, the game is boasting just enough eye candy to reel in lots of pre-orders, leaving it twenty four places shy of Amazon’s Top 100 Bestselling Video Games. Not only have the graphics received a liberal helping of polygon paint, but the new features added on to this Game of the Year sequel, are certainly much to write home about. Trailers released within the past month or so confirm that Cole will be sporting new elemental powers like fire and ice, a more sophisticated karma system with less black and white choices, and a new user generated mission editor (more details on that later).
[youtube width=”550″ height=”339″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJaXPqiarEs[/youtube]

As shown in the trailer, Cole can now use his powers to vault off ice stalagmites when jumping from building to building, suck in enemies with a fiery tornado of doom, and throw a massive electric discus to send his foes flying back. With each of these new powers though, we begin to see that Cole is starting to reap the havoc of what he has sown. If Infamous 2’s predecessor indicated anything, it was that Cole never really understood the full extent of his powers or the nature of his decisions, and thanks to the grim forecast provided by the trailer, we are certainly in for an exciting new plot roller coaster.

Speaking of plot decisions, the way Cole’s karma moments effect the plot has been tweaked into something more organic than a “morality slider.” This time Cole has the choice of being influenced by two different allies, one of which is a New Marais native that motivates Cole to forget the consequences in the midst of chaos (Nix), and the other an NSA agent acting as Cole’s moral compass during sticky situations (Kuo). Therefore Cole’s actions not only effect whether he is a good or evil “electricman,” but rather his relationships with the two characters and those around them. One question that arises from this though is: Will the color coded system that identified the karma associated with each power make a return or not? It’s not much of a stretch to assume the red fire powers will be evil ones and the blue ice powers will be good ones, but this is still of course purely speculation.

What is really causing Infamous fans to salivate though is the user generated mission editor that is coming packed with the game. The editor gives you a full array of objects and AI behaviors to play around with when putting together your custom mission. I’m sure those with past experience with the last installment can remember the not-so-action-packed scenarios of tagging satellite uplinks on rooftaps or zapping teeny weeny surveillance devices on the side of buildings. Hopefully by including this mission editor, this is an indication that Sucker Punch will refine the model of their side quests and let users have a go at making their own amazing scenarios.