Infamous: Second Son is, in many ways, a large step away from the comic-book roots of its predecessors. Don't misunderstand – Second Son is very much an open-world superhero action game first, and an excellent one at that. Its flashy powers look and feel great in battle, and that’s really what games like this are all about. But I didn't expect to enjoy the weightier, more realistic tone of the characters as much as I do. It’s a change that initially surprised me as fan of the franchise, but one that ultimately pays off. Despite failing to believably marry the player's moral choices with the protagonist's own sense of right and wrong, Second Son hits some big high notes in both character interaction, and most importantly, open-world gameplay.
It didn’t take long for Second Son's remarkable lighting to leave me staring slack-jawed at my screen. The power of the PlayStation 4 is evident in every street-side puddle reflection and in every swirling tuft of smoke that left my flaming hands. The city of Seattle is beautifully and diversely realized, but it never looked better than when I was blowing everyone and everything around me to bits. Serene city streets turn into fiery disaster zones with gleeful regularity, and both the before and after are great to look at, despite occasional stutters when the effects get out of hand.
While high production values are often a smokescreen for weak characters, Second Son succeeds here, too. Troy Baker’s motion-captured performance as our new Conduit, Delsin, remains believable whether he’s being a snarky, reckless jerk, or a plucky, bohemian do-gooder. He’s not universally likable, but the chemistry he has with his conservative, law-defending brother makes for some absorbing familial banter.
Delsin is a young man who, like so many others, is filled with equal parts anger and idealism, and the fact that he wields such overwhelming destructive power makes that inner conflict tense, and interesting. Sure, it’s well-covered territory, but Baker imbues it with a charm, and youthful abandon that keeps it from feeling tropey or overwrought. Add in the icy, iron-willed villain Brooke Augustine, and the result is a conflict that boils to a genuinely affecting climax.
Sadly, the rest of the cast isn’t as well-utilized. Supporting characters like the immediately interesting Abigail “Fetch” Walker are quickly introduced and brushed aside, with limited involvement outside of the two or three-mission-long arc that pertains to them. While Second Son’s individual beats and characters are well executed, the plot that strings them all together is frustratingly straightforward and limited in scope, depriving the bit players of the chance to make a meaningful impact on the core conflict.
Story quibbles aside, Infamous is about feeling formidable, and Second Son doesn't disappoint. Delsin’s four varied power sets turned every D.U.P. checkpoint into another chance to flex my super-powered muscles. From the explosive destruction of smoke to the swift precision of neon, each set feels strong enough to hang an entire game on, and strategically switching between them during heated battles by draining power sources from around the city made me feel like an unstoppable force of nature.
Skill trees offer more options than previous Infamous games, allowing you to either concentrating on one power or split your resources between multiple paths, and the unlockable powers differ based on your moral alignment as well. An evil neon user for instance, can make targets explode into novas of pure energy, causing chain reactions that can obliterate groups of civilians in seconds, while a benevolent neon user can slow time to a crawl to carefully incapacitate foes one by one with a series of exacting attacks. Not only does this variety keep combat fresh, but it creates a strong incentive to replay and experiment with different combinations.The streets of Seattle are flush with random karma opportunities and predetermined side missions, so you never have to look far for an opportunity to put your powers to good (or not so good) use. Downing mobile D.U.P. command centers was a particularly rewarding venture, offering up some of the most steeply pitched firefights, and doling out big skill point rewards upon completion. I happily lost hours wandering around and taking the city back district by district, becoming ever more powerful as I went.
Between scraps, I found Delsin’s nearly unfettered sense of mobility exhilarating. He speeds up the sides of skyscrapers, and soars across the Seattle skyline at your whim...once you get all the right power-ups. Until then, you’ll be leaning on the old-fashioned parkour from the previous games, but it doesn’t feel nearly as sticky or reliable as it has in the past. This led to a few frustrating situations where I couldn’t grab ledges that were clearly in reach. It becomes less significant as you expand your suite of traversal powers, put when everything else feels and plays so well, it’s hard not to notice.
Something that sticks out even more however, is the state of the morality system. The red vs blue decision making comes off as woefully outdated, and disconnected from Delsin’s personal motivation of healing his injured tribemates. There’s nothing in the story that suggests that he’d ever be interested in killing innocent civilians, or that his police officer brother would be okay with it if he did, and yet you’re clearly incentivized to murder everybody you see if you want to make the most of your evil playthrough. Extremism is always rewarded with more power, and as such, there’s never a reason to partake in evil actions when you’re trending good or vice versa. This essentially takes moral decision making out of the equation, which is sorely disappointing for a game that attempts to place choice front and center.
