Infamous was a pleasant surprise for me; very few open world games manage to add something unique to the genre – and pull off a lot of exciting gameplay that validates the 'sandbox' buzz term. Infamous did it; by giving the main character, Cole McGrath , super powers and tons of flexible movement abilities, it freed up the world and gave players carte blanche over how to approach each mission. It was fun, basically – and that's what any game should aim for, right?

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Now, Infamous 2 intends to improve on the formula – and given the handful of rough edges in the original, there's plenty for developer, Sucker Punch , to build upon. So what's new? And will you dig it? (Hint: probably.)Welcome to New Marais – a city with a pulse, culture and a distinct feel to it. Frankly, it's just nice to be gliding around and climbing through a city that isn't trying to ape Manhattan for a change. By setting the story in a New Orleans-inspired town, Sucker Punch has freed up its colour palate significantly and injected a lot of ornate design elements into the cityscape.Buildings now have intricate textures, featuring a distinctly southern mix of filigreed woodwork and wrought-iron details. Smaller details, like lamp posts and window awnings hold as much careful design work as the trams that now zip around the city's winding streets. In all, it makes for a refreshing change and a fascinatingly moody environment to tear apart.

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Better+Overall+Storytelling

Deeper+Decision+Making

Heroic+or+evil?+Chances+are,+both+will+end+in+rampant+destruction.

Flexible+Movement+and+Powers

A lot of games have tried to integrate slow-motion combat, be it a critical blow that slows the action down to appreciate the impact, or just a Matrix-style camera swirl for flair. In Infamous 2 Infamous 2 does a great job of letting you juggle multiple enemies from all sides. More than that though, by slowing down the action just a bit, it gives the player more chance to plan their next attack or, importantly, readjust their stance and take on another opponent.The first game strove for epic, but landed somewhere short of the mark when it came to storytelling. A lot of this had to do with the rough-shod in-game cinematics that failed to deliver the impact that its comic book interstitial sequences did. Really, when still drawings out-class the in-game animations, there are some issues to address.Thankfully, Sucker Punch now use a full-body motion capturing suite to perform most sequences in cutscenes. The resulting sequences are fluid and life-like – aided by major retooling of the character facial animations too. In addition to roundly improving facial features, lip-synching and more, we noticed a general boost to character texture details too. It all builds to better convey the drama in-game without necessarily breaking away to the comic book moments. Of course, those are still in place too; why break a good thing?In the sequences we played, based around freeing Agent Kuo from the evil Militia dominating the city, you have two options. On one hand, you can follow an indirect 'good' path and free a squadron of police officers being held captive in a moving convoy and use their aid as distraction while you get the job done. The other site has you taking on the full might of The Militia head-on – literally walking through the front gates of their compound in the park as you start wailing on anything that moves.This is just one of promised dozens and dozens of morality-driven missions. The game's story will ultimately feed you through some necessary plot points, but who you trust and who you target are a major factor. Like the original, feeding your penchant for destruction might prove a lot of fun – but you'll potentially miss out on missions offered to more tempered players.Parkour-style movement is all the rage in open-world games like Assassin's Creed and Infamous – and with good reason. The freedom to scale a building in front of you, rather than having to pound pavement around the side, gives the whole game a new sense of verticality. This, in turn, gives gamers choice and strategy – very valuable commodities in a sandbox game. Infamous 2 adds better grab detection, more traversal options (different points on vehicles, all kinds of subtle points on buildings and more) and improved character physics and animation, thanks to the motion capture facilities.We've touched on the improved melee in Infamous 2 – but that's only half the story. The other side is, you now begin the game with powers. This means you won't have to grind your way through the first couple of hours of gameplay with barebones abilities – and you'll appreciate the feeling of being an all-powerful superhero (or villain). When you finally break out your Ionic Vortex for the first time, triggered after performing enough damage on enemies and collecting energy in the environment, you'll get a sense – just a taste – of the bigger, more brutal game that awaits you.