A demonstration of shock and awe.

Moral conflict has quickly become one of gaming's most used staples. Will you be a paragon of virtue, saving old ladies and anyone who needs help? Or will you be an evil bastard, ready to kick puppies and wreak havoc wherever you go? It's a fun system, allowing gamers to do whatever comes natural or go against type to see the possibilities. The problem is, these moral conflicts always work in the extremes. You are either the second coming of Jesus or the devil reborn in human flesh. The original inFamous certainly treated the morality system this way, except for one choice that was truly devious, but the developers at Sucker Punch have seemingly gone out of their way to blur the lines between good and evil in inFamous 2, if only a little. The question is, is the rest of the game good enough to support it?

inFamous 2 picks up a few months after the events of the first game with series protagonist Cole McGrath preparing for the arrival of The Beast, a seemingly unstoppable superhuman that he has been warned about. He is aided by NSA agent Kuo and his former best friend, Zeke,  as they prepare to travel to New Marais in the hopes of increasing Cole's powers. However, before they can leave, The Beast finally appears and Cole finds himself beaten, depowered, and on the run. Now he must try to gain enough power to stop the unstoppable while contending with the power-mad Bertrand who has taken control of New Marais and created a Militia to hunt down all super-powered individuals.

The plot feels stronger and more focused than its predecessor. Whereas before it felt like each island of Empire City was its own separate episode, the story of New Marais never strays from its core story. The player is constantly reminded of how close the Beast is, but Cole must also focus on the more localized trouble that Bertrand is causing. It's a great superhero tale that lives up to the promises of the predecessor while going bigger and better. Best of all, there are twists that you don't see coming, and it all pays off in a great climatic battle. Sucker Punch's confidence in the story also shows in the fact that most of it is conveyed through in-game cutscenes rather than comic panels. The comic scenes are still there but used much more sparingly. It feels like a smart choice since the comics pulled me out of this world each time they came on.

But perhaps the biggest improvement to the story is the implementation of the morality system. It isn't a nuanced system to be sure, but the decisions have more of an impact to the overall plot. Good and evil are also represented by two new female sidekicks, the aforementioned Kuo and bayou dweller, Nix. Both evolve in ways you may not expect and provide context to what your missions will do. The morality system also comes through in ways that you wouldn't normally think. For example, side missions that aren't overtly good or evil can still play differently based on your alignment. If Cole was good, a civilian will thank him for helping her sister in Empire City. If he was evil, she'll call in bad guys to kill Cole as revenge for the death of her sister. Dead Drops, audio recordings that can be found around New Marais, also change depending on Cole's morality. These changes helped make me feel that my choices mattered in the grand scheme.

Of course, the morality system affects gameplay as well with Cole developing different powers based on his choices. Generally, good powers focus on precision while the evil powers rely on wanton destruction. Both sets are useful in their own way though I generally enjoyed using the evil powers more. The powers, while based on many of the ones earned in the original inFamous, are much more varied and can improved as time goes on. These expanded abilities can be mixed and matched in any way the player sees fit and can be switched on the fly to handle any situation. It's an easy system that makes handling the waves of oncoming enemies a breeze. Cole's melee abilities have also been expanded in the form of the Amp, essentially a giant tuning fork that Cole uses as a sword. While I didn't use the Amp too much through the course of the game, I relied on melee far more than the first game. The Amp can also be improved as time goes on but because discovering these new powers and improvements is half the fun, I won't reveal any here but suffice to say that most are enjoyable to use.

inFamous 2 mostly plays like its predecessor but some subtle improvements have been made. Cole is able to climb and move much quicker, making travel in the city less of a chore. He still has the habit of attaching to objects you don't want him to, but overall it does work better. It helps that the environment is much more dynamic as well, introducing some destructibility to the city. Verandas, oil containers, sniper nests, and more can be destroyed giving a sense of chaos to the bigger fights and providing other options to dispatching enemies. New Marais is a much more dynamic place than Empire City. Clearly taking inspiration from New Orleans, the city’s districts are much more distinct and offer a unique feel. Flood Town steals the show with its drowned homes and water-filled railways, leftovers from a hurricane that devastated the city. When combined with Cole’s weakness to water, Flood Town becomes both visually appealing and challenging gameplay-wise.

Like the original, Cole can also take on side missions to help reclaim areas of the city and limit random enemy appearances. The sidequests are much more varied, ranging from carrying an electrical charge across town to taking out boats that are bombarding the citizens of New Marais to using pictures to locate hidden blast shards. Some mission types are only used once while others use the same structure in different areas. Taken with the story missions and dual endings, players can easily discover over thirty hours of gameplay within inFamous 2. And that’s not even including the User-Generated Content.

The user content is always apparent while working through the story because they are presented as extra side missions. Best of all is that these missions earn you experience that can be used to unlock later powers. There’s also great variety in the user content with objectives that include killing all enemies, racing against the clock, and even story-based missions where the creators can write dialogue and guide players along a path. Creating a mission wasn’t something I found easy even though there are templates to choose from. Unlike LittleBigPlanet, there is no tutorial for the creation tools though players can go to Sucker Punch’s website to learn more. While I may have had difficulty, other gamers have clearly taken to the toolset and have produced incredibly creative missions that run from a recreation of the battle of Normandy to finding hidden items in the middle of a huge rave. With all this content, gamers could be playing inFamous 2 for quite some time.

Before the game’s release, there was a lot of debate about Cole’s new voice and redesign. The redesign turned out well, with Cole’s clothes being a more casual version of his previous outfit. Meanwhile, his new voice is so much better than his old one even though they sound incredibly alike. The difference is that Cole doesn’t always sound like he’s growling his words and sounding so obviously evil. His new voice conveys a scale of emotions, some good, some evil, and some casual. It works and the rest of the voice acting is just as good. The music matches the flavor of New Orleans while still giving punch to the action. It’s an excellent mix that helps give inFamous 2 its own aural flavor.

Visually, the game doesn’t look much different. The graphics have been given a very slight boost, but the improvements are all in the background. Civilian variety has been increased to the point that in any one section of the city, I could barely find repeats. The amount of enemies that appear onscreen at once has also been improved, so much so that the only time I ever saw any slowdown was during a user created mission where every type of enemy in the game was attacking me all at once. Add in destructible pieces of the city and exploding cars and the action onscreen can get downright crazy. Of course with any open world game, graphical glitches can occur like frenzied shrapnel or enemies stuck in the air. It never detracts from the overall game though.

There’s no doubt that inFamous 2 is a better game than its predecessor in every conceivable way. The new powers are fun, the new characters are memorable, the city is much more visually interesting, and the final battle is completely different depending on the player’s moral choices. If you loved the original, get the sequel. If you missed out on inFamous or didn’t find it compelling enough, check it out. While it’s not a masterpiece of game design, it’s the perfect summer game; fun and filled with content to keep you entertained.