InFamous 2 is a Big Deal. Sony has spent Big Money on this Big Exclusive, and it’s likely to cement the future of a Big Franchise.

I’m not giving it such a Big Score. We don’t give points out for trying.

InFamous 2 certainly isn't bad - it's quite good in fact, and it stands up to the best of the genre. It just doesn't have the cohesiveness and personality required to lift it into must-buy territory. Unless you feel some serious attraction to Sucker Punch's fiction, you could swap in any quality AAA action game and get just the same kick out of it. It's nobody's game of the year.

The boss battles are eye-opening experiences: Sucker Punch really turned the scale up, and you'll probably really notice the game's verticality for the first time despite all that climbing around on skyscrapers. Sadly, their actual dispatch is almost entirely reliant on giant-enemy-crab weakspot-camping, which is a real shame when Cole has so many tactics at his disposal.

The new powers are really the star of the show. Zipping around the city is much more fun, although still tedious if you get caught miles from your next objective, and the ability to pick up and throw cars and other large objects into crowds of enemies (or just crowds, if that's your bag) is hugely satisfying. Sticky bombs are frankly delightful. Finally, the addition of the Amp weapon means melee feels like a respectable option when your creativity, power and time run out (which it will, because every grunt you meet is apparently capable of absorbing an inhuman amount of punishment). Eventually, your inability to mow through low-level enemies, combined with their incessant appearances, means even the appeal of the boatload of electrical powers wears thin.

Once again, the story and karma system makes raising hell around the sandbox city less attractive than in pure mayhem games likes Saints Row or GTA, which sort of makes you wonder why the open world was necessary. There's not a lot to do actually, once the side quests are under your belt. The mission-guided gameplay hasn't been changed that much (curse all unnecessary platforming sections), although a little more variety in quest type and the lure of endless user-generated content may hold your interest longer than in the original game.

The Ravager

On that topic, the user generated content tools are surprisingly robust. You could make some damn cool things with this - although when I had a browse, it looked like the machinima possibilities were proving more popular. Sadly, Sucker Punch hasn't done a very good job of explaining how the tools work, which can be frustrating, and won't let you seek out friends' levels. Put in the time though, and you’ll see the potential for better games than the one you’re nominally playing.

For the sequel, Sucker Punch has ditched the short, admittedly jarring comic book scenes of the original, and to my surprise, I miss them, because now we spend a lot of time watching longer cinematics. I tried starting a second save on the opposite alignment to see if I found it a bit more exciting, but in general, the story just falls a bit flat. Towards the end, the story, the set-piece battles and the missions all get a bit wobbly and that on top of the repetitiveness becomes tiresome. It might have been more fun spread out over a few weeks rather than bowled through rapidly, to be fair. But Cole is of necessity a rather blank character - it's up to the player to shape his personality and make his decisions - and this leaves him as bland as a bowl of bran, although thankfully, less likely to give you the shits.

Customisation is extremely rudimentary, too. The karma system shares problems with that of Fable in that if you want to see the full effect - Cole in the full glory of one or another type of bad-assery - you're pretty much required to make the same choice over and over again. Not doing so shreds what little bond you might have built with your savage psychopath/shining hero. The only difference these choices make is what powers you have access to, and since the abilities of one pole have greater synergy with their fellows than anything on the opposite end, it almost never makes gameplay sense to waver either.

Outside these tiresome artistic endeavours, the game's atmosphere is quite compelling. New Marais is a beautiful New Orlean-style city with more personality, variety and amusing secrets to discover than InFamous’ Empire City, and a strong soundtrack helps ease the sense of emptiness found in sandbox worlds. Sadly, occasional framerate, camera and effect horrors detract from an otherwise magnificent design achievement.

So that’s quite a few problems, but before you turn away in disgust, note that they’re problems shared across the genre. To reiterate, InFamous 2’s greatest flaw is its failure to live up to its potential and hit that Game of the Year tier of quality. That doesn’t prevent it being good, solid fun and well worth a look.

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