Infamous (series)

Infamous is a series of action-adventure platformer video games developed by Sucker Punch Productions, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. The series follows the adventures of Cole MacGrath, Delsin Rowe and Abigail 'Fetch' Walker, super-powered 'Conduits' who must decide their own destinies of becoming either good or evil. The series includes Infamous, its sequel Infamous 2, the non-canon downloadable game called Infamous: Festival of Blood, the DC Comics comic book series of the same name, the third main entry for Infamous Second Son and a stand-alone expansion Infamous First Light.

Infamous
Genre(s)Action-adventure, platformer
Developer(s)Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher(s)Sony Computer Entertainment
DC Comics (comics)
Platform(s)PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
First releaseInfamous
May 26, 2009
Latest releaseInfamous First Light
August 26, 2014

Setting

The series takes place in the present-day United States with real and alternate versions of real cities; such as the setting of Infamous, Empire City, which resembles New York City; and the setting of Infamous 2, New Marais, which resembles New Orleans (Infamous: Festival of Blood also takes place in this city). Washington, D.C. is occasionally mentioned, and Infamous Second Son takes place in Seattle. It features an American government agencies such as the FBI, NSA and DARPA,[1] along with agencies fabricated for the series, such as the DUP (Department of Unified Protection), an agency with the sole purpose of stopping conduits, now labeled "bio-terrorists", from causing mass destruction similar to what was caused by Cole MacGrath.

Gameplay

Gameplay in the Infamous series is primarily an action-adventure third-person view platformer type across an open world environment. In the first two games and the spin-offs, the player controls Cole MacGrath, and in the third game, Delsin Rowe, Abigail 'Fetch' Walker, as they freely roam around the city, fighting crime or creating havoc along the way. Cole, Delsin, and Fetch can use their parkour skills to jump and climb buildings throughout the city, along with their powers to help them fight enemies. Their powers come from a gauge which depletes whenever they uses various attacks, and refills when they absorb electricity or smoke, neon, video and concrete from nearby objects or bodies, such as street lights, nearby smoke sources,(such as vents or burning cars) or neon lights or video appliances or bodies of the DUP.

Morality, or Karma, is a major factor in the gameplay and storyline. The player is able to control the course of the game by having Cole and Delsin use their powers for good or evil. The choice allows the player to have a different mixture of abilities, as both good and evil have their own set of powers. The game also uses a Karma meter which changes based on the main character's actions throughout the game and determines whether he eventually becomes a good or evil character.[2]

Games

Main game
Release timeline
2009Infamous
2010
2011Infamous 2
Infamous: Festival of Blood
2012
2013
2014Infamous Second Son
Infamous First Light
Aggregate review scores
As of September 3, 2016.
Game GameRankings Metacritic
Infamous 86.17%[3] 85/100[4]
Infamous 2 84.37%[5] 83/100[6]
Infamous: Festival of Blood 79.71%[7] 78/100[8]
Infamous Second Son 80.57%[9] 80/100[10]
Infamous First Light 74.89%[11] 73/100[12]
Infamous
is the first game in the series, released in 2009 to rave reviews by the gaming press.[13] Set in 2009, The game explains the origins of Cole MacGrath, a bike courier, who gained his electrical-based superpowers after surviving a large explosion in Empire City caused by the package he was carrying containing the Ray Sphere. The Ray Sphere is an object of great power as it is able to consume the energy of the people around the user and transfer that energy to the user, making him immensely powerful at the cost of thousands of lives. After the explosion, the city was quarantined by the government causing organized crime groups within the city to seize control of Empire City from the local authorities. The game follows Cole's journey to obtain the Ray Sphere in order to escape from the quarantine as part of a deal he made with an FBI agent during his failed escape attempt at the start of the game. Cole eventually obtains the Ray Sphere and the player is given the choice to either destroy it or use it. Regardless of the choice, Cole will eventually come face to face with Kessler, the leader of The First Sons, the organized crime group in the city who had seized control of the city after the quarantine. Kessler duels Cole in a battle to the death and it is eventually revealed after Kessler is mortally wounded that he is in reality a version of Cole from the future of an alternate timeline. Kessler reveals his motive for the events throughout the game telling Cole that he was preparing Cole for an eventual battle against an entity known as "The Beast" who had destroyed Kessler's world. He had set the events of the game into motion by ordering the construction of the Ray Sphere as well as passing it to Cole for him to cause the explosion. The game ends when Kessler dies and Cole proclaims, "When the time comes, I will be ready."[14]
Infamous 2
is the second game in the series, released in June 2011 as a followup to the first game's story, taking place a month afterward. The game follows the adventure of Cole once again as he escapes to the city of New Marais after the events of the first game to prepare himself for the eventual battle with "The Beast" (a powerful being that obliterated Empire City and much of the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S). New Marais was the location for the construction of the Ray Sphere and where Cole believes he will find more answers to the events of the first game. However, the city has been taken over by the Militia, who are controlled by an influential industrialist, while the city is being rampaged by beings known as the corrupted who became mutated by the leader of the Militia. The Militia's goal is to keep anything mutated or with superpowers out of the city which unfortunately includes Cole. Thus he must traverse the city fighting against both the Militia and the Corrupted to learn more about Kessler, the Ray Sphere and "The Beast".[1][15]
Infamous: Festival of Blood
A downloadable side story for Infamous 2. It takes place sometime during the story of the main game but never tells the player exactly when. Zeke is telling the story of what happened to Cole MacGrath during Pyre Night to an attractive woman while sitting in a bar. Cole goes underneath St. Ignatius' Cathedral and is bitten by a vampire, and only has til morning to kill the vampire that bit him, Bloody Mary, or he'll be her slave forever. The game takes place all during the night, and introduces new elements, like flight, into the game. User-generated content (UGC) remains, but UGC from Infamous 2 and vice versa cannot be accessed. The Karma System was replaced by a blood meter, which fills as Cole drinks blood from civilians or stake vampires. It was originally rated Mature by the ESRB for its copious amounts of blood, which was eventually trimmed down to a minimum, giving it a teen rating. It came out on October 25, 2011, and was the best selling PlayStation Network game, until Journey launched.
Infamous Second Son
was released on March 21, 2014, based seven years after the events of the second installment, in 2016. This focuses on a new character, Delsin Rowe, a graffiti artist who absorbs the power from other prime conduits. After his initial meeting with Henry "Hank" Daughtry early in the story, he absorbs Hank's power which is smoke and fire. After another prime conduit, Augustine, starts killing the residents of Delsin's hometown, he and his brother Reggie go to Seattle to find Augustine, absorb her concrete power, and save the Akomish back home.
Infamous First Light
A prequel to Second Son. The game takes place in 2014, two years before the events of Second Son and follows the story of Abigail "Fetch" Walker and her neon powers. Fetch had an accident with her powers that changed her life, hating drug dealer Shane for tricking her. Due to that, she was incarcerated in Curdun Cay Station and trained by Brooke Augustine so that she could "Learn how to control them". While practicing she escapes and ventures off, hunting Shane.

Web browser games
Infamous: Precinct Assault: is a browser Flash game. It was released in 2009 to promote the first game in the series, Infamous. The game is a 2D side-scrolling platformer video game played from a third person perspective. Unlike the main games, players must choose whether they want to use their powers for bad or for good before the game starts. The game consists of three levels.[16]
Infamous: Anarchy: is a spin-off game on Facebook, released along with Infamous 2. The game allows players to make a custom avatar, build their own city, help friends expand their cities, fight enemy players, and others. The game has since been updated with more features such as screenshot taking and competition among players. When players reached an unknown criteria, they are rewarded with a code that can be used to unlock additional items in Infamous 2.

Infamous Collection

The Infamous Collection is a collection of Infamous, Infamous 2, and Infamous: Festival of Blood, bundled together as part of Sony's line of PlayStation Collections for PlayStation 3. The collection, along with the God of War Saga and the Ratchet & Clank Collection, were the first releases in Sony's line, being released on August 28, 2012 in North America. The games feature the same features as their original releases. In addition to the games, the collection features bonus content, including extra missions, and additional character costumes, power ups and weapon styles.[17][18]

Other media

Comics
Main article: Infamous (comics)

The Infamous comic is a one-part comic released in March 2011 and was published by DC Comics in association with Sucker Punch to coincide with the release of the second game in 2011. The comics take place in between the events of the first and the second game showing how Cole escapes from Empire City to New Marais. The comic series was written by William Harms and drawn by Eric Nguyen, and also includes covers drawn by Doug Mahnke.[19] A graphic novel titled, Infamous: Post Blast , was released on IGN depicting the events that lead up to the events of Infamous. There currently are four comics, each focusing on both Cole MacGrath and John White. The story of the comics takes place between the Introduction and First Glimpse.

Film

On July 25, 2009 it was announced that Sony had chosen screenwriter Sheldon Turner to adapt Infamous into a feature film in a seven figure deal. Brothers Ari and Avi Arad will produce, and Sony executives Matt Tolmach and Jonathan Kadin are handling for the studio.[20] Turner told The Hollywood Reporter he was excited that the game had a "big idea and a character arc," which he believed was "the future of gaming."[20] He believed the game was essentially "a love ballad to the underachiever".

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References
  1. Joe Juba (June 4, 2010). "July Cover Revealed: Infamous 2". Game Informer. Archived from the original on June 6, 2010. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
  2. "inFamous: Something Stirring". Game Informer. GameStop: 40–49. July 2008.
  3. "Infamous Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  4. "Infamous Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  5. "Infamous 2 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  6. "Infamous 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  7. "Infamous: Festival of Blood Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  8. "Infamous: Festival of Blood Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  9. "Infamous Second Son Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  10. "Infamous Second Son Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  11. "Infamous First Light Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  12. "Infamous First Light Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  13. "inFAMOUS Acclaim". Metacritic. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  14. Sucker Punch Productions (2010-05-26). Infamous (PlayStation 3). Sony Computer Entertainment.
  15. Faylor, Chris (2010-06-04). "inFamous 2 Confirmed". Shacknews. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
  16. "inFAMOUS: Precinct Assault". MobyGames. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  17. Cardona, Christian (August 6, 2012). "Never Stop Playing With PlayStation Collections". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Computer Entertainment America. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  18. Cardona, Cristian (August 28, 2012). "PlayStation Collections Available at Retail Today: God of War, inFAMOUS, Ratchet & Clank". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Computer Entertainment America. Archived from the original on December 13, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
  19. Mike Fahey (December 20, 2010). "inFamous Gets The Comic Book Series It So Richly Deserves". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  20. Fernandez, Jay A. (2009-07-29). "Scribe takes ride with 'inFAMOUS'". The Hollywood Reporter. pp. 1, 10. Archived from the original on January 9, 2010. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
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