Game Review: Infamous Second Son For The PS4

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It's… just some punk kid? In this instalment of the established Infamous series "Infamous: Second Son" you play the role of the young, rebellious, witty, and somewhat of a juvenile delinquent protagonist. Or is it antagonist? That, of course, depends on the method and nature of your interaction with the surrounding world…

By Igor Butorac

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It's… just some punk kid?

In this instalment of the established Infamous series "Infamous: Second Son" you play the role of the young, rebellious, witty, and somewhat of a juvenile delinquent protagonist. Or is it antagonist? That, of course, depends on the method and nature of your interaction with the surrounding world.


More on the game’s mechanics later. Firstly, we must delve into the, ahem, complex Infamous: Second Son universe. You are Delsin Rowe, a Native American of the Akomish tribe whose ancestral home grounds of Salmon Bay have been invaded by the evil D.U.P. in pursuit of the escaping superhuman “Conduits”, or “Bio-terrorists” as the D.U.P. would prefer you to call them. In a moment of sheer chaos and destruction Delsin finds out by chance that he too is a Conduit who wields the uncanny ability to siphon other Conduit’s power! The world is now indeed your oyster. And for this seemingly awesome realisation you are rewarded with… your tribal aunty being impaled by bits of concrete erupting from her bones. If this sounds weird, and you should be excused if it does, then let me clarify a few points.

This game breaks no barriers nor does it achieve anything new. It seems to only confuse people. What is the purpose of Delsin’s background in relation to the story? Upon embarking on your journey to Seattle with your older brother Reggie you soon realise there is basically none. Don’t go into this game expecting an emotional rollercoaster of snappy dialogue, character interactions and intertwining plots. You are here to shoot and blow up your way to victory and in this sense the game excels. Except, concrete? Neon and smoke super powers? The obvious question may be “Why?”, but allow yourself to ignore internal logic and simply cruise through the game by embracing the ridiculous yet oh-so-fun and cool looking powers and you will be pleasantly surprised. When I say cruise through however, be prepared that you will do just that. Even on expert mode. With that said, it can take up to twenty hours to complete thoroughly.