TGS 08: InFamous eyes-on
It's been over two months since we last saw InFamous, but developer Sucker Punch took some time at TGS to show us how it's progressing. So how's it look? Pretty much the same as last time. The demonstration was set in a different part of the in-game city, but very little new gameplay was actually revealed.
Sucker Punch's Ken Schramm guided us through a mission, titled "Blood Trail," while senior producer Grady Hunt talked us through what was going on. The level is fairly early in the game -- about five missions in -- and has protagonist Cole discovering a new power. "Post-Cognition" allows you to read people's memories; in this case, giving you a new objective. A dead woman's mind (do dead people still have minds?) reveals an "echo" of her running through the streets towards a Reaper hideout.
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After reading the memory, Cole was able to follow this echo, which takes the form of an outlined silhouette. On the way, he was ambushed by Reapers and we were shown more of the game's combat, which is familiar by now. Schramm took advantage of Cole's ability to climb the environment, as well as his electric based combat abilities: shock grenades, force push and his normal electric projectiles. The demo showed off the destructible environments as Cole ripped apart and electrified the surrounding area.
During the fight, Cole encountered an Elite Reaper which, sadly, was exactly the same as the one in previous demonstrations. We were hoping to see more examples of enemy powers, but this character was wielding the ground quake and super speed powers that we'd seen before. Apparently, there will be boss characters which will have the powers of all of its underlings. Hopefully this means large set pieces with incredibly powerful enemies. Unfortunately we weren't shown any of that.
Narrative begun to sneak into the game in the form of radio communication with various friends. We're not sure who all of Cole's friends are, but they're fairly chatty. They made the experience seem a lot less lonely and allowed Cole to soliloquize without it sounding hokey (even if he is voiced by "Stephen Hawking" until an appropriate voice actor is found).
Two other new powers were also shown. One allowed Cole to draw power from a downed enemy after combat. Very handy if you suddenly find yourself in a blackout, without anywhere to draw power from. The other superpower shown was a lightning summon, which will be -- *gulp* -- motion controlled, just like the tornado launcher in Ratchet & Clank.
Various other things were teased, such as the fact that "powers you start the game with will be very different to powers you'll end the game with." The superpower system will be layered too, so you'll find powers change as you progress through the game. Post-Cognition won't just be used to find echos later in the game, for example.
Sucker Punch kept teasing about these layered powers and the morality system that will supposedly be a core part of the game. Until we see them, though, it's hard to tell how it'll affect the gameplay. At least with the addition of objectives and the radio communication, things are starting to feel slightly more integrated. Considering it's still seven months from release, there's plenty more to come.
