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Too busy to devote 12+ hours a day to your gaming habit? Here's a review that's sensitive to your needs: Short and focused on just the things that a busy gamer like you really needs to know.



Busy Gamer Review - Infamous

Reviewed On: PlayStation 3.

Infamous - Ow, that's gotta hurt!

In a Nutshell: Climb, jump, run and eventually grind your way through the city’s rooftops while electrocuting the bad guys with your killer bod. Your basic sandbox game enhanced by the now almost de rigueur actions-influence-outcome functionality.

Learning Curve: Relatively easy to pick up and play. Being primarily an Xbox gamer, I was learning both the PS3 controller and the game at the same time. Given how quickly I picked it up, any regular PS3 gamer should be able to master the controls almost instantly! .

The Save Game: Game auto-saves after a completed mission, but does not always save respawn checkpoints during longer missions - so quit mid-mission at your own risk! You can also save at any time, but remember that the game still only saves completed progress (found objects, completed missions and tasks). Also, since this is a massive sandbox game, loading or respawning generates a whole new set of randomized environmental elements (enemies, people, etc.). It won't be just how you left it, but you can still pretty much pick up where you left off.

Family Factor: This one is for grown-ups and older teens only. The game features non-stop violence as roving gangs attack almost constantly, leaving victims dead or dying in the streets. The main storyline requires a high-level of violence regardless of how you play (good or evil alignment). Much of the action revolves around murdering gang members and others related to the main storyline. Those who play for Team Good will see a decline in the urban decay and general nastiness of the game and will have an option to “heal” gang victims in the street. Even these changes are not enough to allow little ones in the room. Those on Team Evil have the option of sucking the life out of victims on the street, a nightmarish image likely to propel small children into a lifetime of therapy.

Buy, Rent or Skip? Buy, with some caveats. Outside of some ridiculously long (and tough) boss battles, the game flies by pretty quickly. Completists will enjoy the opportunity to wander the city looking for shards and finding random side missions that range from mind-numbingly stupid to pretty challenging. The game’s primary play for your repeat business is the light side/dark side business. How you play (good or evil) has a definite impact on how you and the city appear as you progress, but you won’t really notice the difference unless you play through twice. (Or see another person playing the opposite spectrum, which is easy in this household!) Gameplay can be repetitive and the preponderance of bad guys does get annoying at times. But those who can stick with it through the first few hours will be treated to solid game with some truly funny moments. Take time to read the billboards as the city lights up – many of the game’s best jokes are in the background.

On a Personal Note: I hesitated to pick up Infamous because the controller seems, at a glance, so different from the Xbox 360. Yet after just a few minutes, I found the thumbsticks and buttons to be a natural fit in my hands, allowing me to focus on causing mayhem. Speaking of which, I love that going down the dark path not only changed me, it changed the city. For the first time, I saw my actions truly impact my game play, and not in the usual "I got this cut scene instead of that one" format.