InFamous –Good or Evil?–

“Being a hero is optional” 

Ah, InFamous. One of those rare games that I had to replay as soon as I’d finished it. You see, InFamous, like many games, has a karma system, wherein the player’s actions determine the ending of the game depending on if they were “good” or “bad”. Many games with a karma system also alter the gameplay in slight or varied ways, as well as the player character’s appearence. In this regard, InFamous excelled; having many karmic oppertunities, and the overall gameplay changing as attack properties would alter depending on the morality, or immorality, of the player’s actions. The story of the game is located in ‘Empire City’, a fictionalized version of New York. As the game begins the screen prompts the player to press start and, well, this happens.

No wonder they call it ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ 

 


After a short run through the burning streets and generally wondering what the hell’s going on, Cole inadvertently summons a large electrical storm and passes out. Now let’s skip forward a bit, Cole’s recently gotten out of hospital and he’s living on a rooftop with his best friend Zeke. His girlfriend, Trish, has mixed feelings about him because the blast killed her sister Amy, and the whole city’s been placed under quarantine, causing chaos through the streets. First things first, Zeke and Cole go grab a gun, with Cole displaying some of his powers, and then head on over to Archer square, where the second mission, and first set karma choice take place. See, the government was dropping food at certain points of the city, and in this particular drop, the parachute holding the crates of food snagged on a (really tall) statue.Now the player, and Cole, have two choices. After climbing up and dropping the food down, there’s the choice to A: let the starving civilians take some food or B: scare them away and take all the food yourself.

Pictured: As much as my Mum buys on any shopping trip. 

Now while the food has no effect on game-play the karmic choice you have does. Let them have the food, your lightning stays blue. Take the food and Cole’s appearance becomes slightly greyed and faded, his lightning taking on a wicked red hue. Either way, Trish will give some appropriate commentary, and the player will either feel warm and snugly or… nothing? See here’s the kicker, right at the very first karmic choice, the player, has absolutely no immediate reward from being bad. Hell, the majority of the testers who played this game chose the good choice. Why? Because apparently, being good feels good. Especially since this is such a comparatively petty action of villainy, which has, quite little bearing upon your immediate game-play Overall, the first choice is simply there as a gateway, for both Cole and the player. However poorly (or well) the first choice was structured, its redemption is what happens afterwards. A young man known only as “The voice of survival” hacks into the televisions across the city, and broadcasts a message telling the people of Empire that you, Cole MacGrath, were responsible for the blast that ruined their city. Trish hates you, and all the citizens try to beat you up. NO MATTER what you do, give them food, let them starve, they try beat you up. The strength of this is it puts the player further into Cole’s mindset, no matter the morality; a good Cole would be understandably more reluctant to be altruistic ever again. He even shouts as he’s chased away “I GAVE YOU PEOPLE FOOD!” Then again an evil Cole would only see his actions further justified.

Heavens to Murgatroyd! Exit, stage left! 

As I said earlier, the karma of your character has an impact on game-play. The impact affects both your playstyle, and the experience as a whole, so out of laziness I’ll break it down as such;


Play-style: Good powers and evil powers are pretty different, and it makes sense; the powers themselves are manifested differently according to Cole’s attitude. Colour aside, causing a head shot (or head shock) with the basic attack levelled up will cause a mini explosion when evil, hurting other enemies and causing potential collateral damage, however when good Cole will simply regain energy and health from the head shock. There are other changes too, the evil grenades become clustered, causing much more damage, and in a wider area, compared to the good ones which have increased damage, and the ability to restrain enemies with low health. In short, evil powers are more damaging, as befits a careless, if not outright evil Cole, while good powers are much more restrained, yet precise.


Then there’s the levelling aspect. Tied into Karma, players will only be able to utilize the ‘good’ or ‘evil’ versions of their attacks by having the right karma level. These levels are defined as such; Guardian, Champion, and Hero for good, and Thug, Outlaw, and Infamous for evil. Karmic moments are one way of changing your alignment, but then there are some ways to do so during game-play. Beaten an enemy to the ground? Finish him off, gain XP, but no change to your karma, or restrain him, for XP and good karma. Alternatively you could shoot them after you've restrained them for some evil karma to balance out the good, or instead of restraining them, drain them of their bio-electricity, restoring you to full health and refilling your energy meter. That’s right, Cole can drain energy, not just from cars and power lines, but people too! Yes, people, not only his enemies. Then there’s the options of restraint or carelessness when fighting (or generally running around the city). Do you slowly fall or hover off a building? Or would you rather accelerate down and create an electrified shock-wave upon landing, regardless of who you land near (or on)? Those sick citizens on the ground, heal them? Or drain them? Will you attack enemies with wild abandon? Or be more careful of the people around you?

Easily the most awesome attack in the game, and the easiest to cause collateral damage with! 

And now, the Experience as a whole:


Play InFamous as a hero, and people love you! That’s right, they grow to love you. Posters begin to be hung of Cole over and around the city, depicting Cole as a heroic figure, hell you even get to choose if you want to have a heroic or an evil poster! Civilians will run up to you and ask for help, or just cheer you on as you run around the city. More importantly, at Hero rank civilians help in the fighting, throwing rocks or punching out your enemies. Really, nothing’s more awesome than seeing an average Jane/Joe punching out an armed thug!

The city itself eventually becomes cleaner, with less dead bodies and criminals running around. While it might be harder being good, it really pays off. More importantly, I felt like the experience was richer as a good character; rather than getting booed and hissed (if the civilians were brave enough to do even that) I’d be praised and damn near worshipped! Most importantly for Cole, and the player to an extent, is that he reconciles with Trish, providing some much needed catharsis before the end.


On the other hand… As a bad guy, you can do whatever you want, to whoever you want. Don’t like the way some schmuck is looking at you? Zap him. Think that woman on the floor is whining too much? Drain her of all her bio-electricity. Want to get through a busy crowd? Start punching! There’s no need for precision when all your attacks become geared towards crowd control, and more importantly, Evil! Cole ends up getting a longer energy bar due to some nifty in game events which I won’t spoil. Moreover, after the final boss the city has much more bodies on the ground, and as befits the home-town of a super villain, the sky is now perpetually covered in red clouds, making it look deliciously evil.

There is in fact, such a thing as ‘bad’ publicity. 

 Still unsure? Well, personally, I found being good to be much more satisfying. The powers overall were more fun to use (homing missiles made of lightning, anyone?), and the approval felt great! Face it, would you rather be a villain, or a hero? The storyline was more satisfying as a good character, and the karmic choices made more sense, as the good ones were either a choice of pragmatism or outright altruism, while the evil choices were pragmatism, pragmatic evil, or pointless evil. It was rarely(immediately) beneficial to be good, but the results paid off, what with weaker enemies, civilian allies, and the fact that being good just felt good.

Cole and I both held incredible power in our hands, and we both made the right choices. Did you? 

Originally written for and posted on Comikkazee.
Posted on the 14th of June, 2012