Fact Sheet: inFamous

BY Mufaddal Fakhruddin | POSTED: 30 May 2009

Hero or Villain? You decide.



Press release:
Imagine this..You’re falling, from a very serious height, after having spent the last few minutes scaling a shaky skyscraper somewhere in the city. Spread out below, and around you, is Empire City, a huge metropolis crumbling in the wake of the same catastrophic event that gave you the ability to climb this monstrosity in the first place. The vertical junkyard flashes by as you drop, until finally you smash into the ground – get up, dust yourself off, and start again.

This is inFAMOUS – the next generation super hero adventure, delivered exclusively for the PlayStation 3. Players will discover and grow extraordinary powers, fighting villains in an organic and open city as they choose a path between Super Hero and Antihero. The city and its population will evolve and react depending on how the game is played, with every action having a ripple effect on the ultimate fate of the city.

inFAMOUS consists of several missions, each with a distinct series of activities, making it impossible to predict how the game flows. But packed into those small bits of the game were sneak peeks at some of inFamous‘ most intriguing features.

You play Cole MacGrath, who has electricity running through his veins, literally. After a bizarre accident in a world gone mad, the next thing you know you can throw lightning bolts whenever and at whoever you want. The situation provides a convenient excuse for why Cole can’t hold a gun (it would explode), drive a car (it would explode) or swim (he would be immediately fried to death).

In a mission called "Food Drop," the friendly local government had dropped food into the city, which had plunged into anarchy. Cole is the only one who can climb up a building in the town square and bring the food back down for everyone. Once you do, you’re faced with one of the game’s first moral choices: Do you shoot the townspeople and take the food for yourself or let them have the supplies?

This is where your decision will affect the game play moving forward. Whatever decision you reach, will affect the superpowers you will acquire. Some of those abilities, which can be upgraded as you earn experience points by killing enemies and completing missions, are reserved specifically for either heroes or villains. For instance, you can’t utilize "Arc Lightning" — big, spread-out bolts of lightning, unless you’ve killed a few innocent civilians and earned a reputation as a bad guy.

Infamous will have a nonlinear, open environment style of gameplay. It is a superhero sandbox game that will allow players the freedom to play the game the way they want to play it. You couple some really rich powers with a really reactive environment and population, and you end up with something players haven't seen before.
According to the developers, Sucker Punch, inFAMOUS draws inspiration

Below are the key features of inFAMOUS:

KEY FEATURES

•    Be a Hero: Take on the role of Cole, an everyday guy and urban explorer who develops a wide range of electricity-based powers. Learn how to control Cole’s evolving powers in an attempt to save Empire City and its people.
•    Super Powers: Unleash super powers that evolve and grow based on the decisions you make during the course of the game. Play as an evil character and the available power upgrades will reflect your sadistic streak. Play as a good guy, on the other hand, and you will unlock more benevolent upgrades. Every action you take will shape your gameplay experience.
•    Karma System: Be as good or evil as you want with a six-level karma system that monitors moment-to-moment actions, allowing you to see how Cole is perceived by the people of Empire City. Starting in a neutral position, performing good deeds will elevate Cole to the ranks of Guardian, Champion or Hero.  Performing unkind acts, however, will see his ranking slip to Thug, Outlaw or Infamous.
•    Karma Moments: Discover the direct consequences of your actions at over 15 pivotal points in the story, when you will be forced to make a difficult moral choice and deal with the results.
•    Urban Exploration: As an experienced urban explorer, Cole is capable of traversing nearly any surface, whether it's the face of a skyscraper or a dilapidated tenement building. Explore Empire City in a way that no one else can, using the landscape to open up a wide array of offensive and defensive combat options.
•    Epic Battles: Find out what it is like to be a true hero, taking responsibility for every action as you battle against powerful, iconic villains.
•    Open Dynamic World: Coupling rich powers with a reactive environment and population, experience complete freedom to explore a deep, open and interactive city. With over 100 missions spanning three massive islands, your conscience will be put to the test as you choose whether to save or destroy Empire City.
•    Organic City Ecology: Watch both citizens and city react and evolve depending on your actions. Events will unfold based on the role you take, eliciting broader reactions from the city’s people and environment.
•    Graphic Novel Storytelling: Journey with Cole as he discovers what it means to be a modern day super hero. A dynamic story arc will be unveiled as you progress through the game, told through a combination of graphic novel cut-scenes and comic book style animation.

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