I’m a day into inFamous and I think I’m in a position to give some impressions about the game. Firstly I have to say that I’m really enjoying the game. It has a nice visual style and once you get some powers under your belt, the ability to power slide along wires for example, it’s really enjoyable to just travel around the city.
The bad so far
Character Animation
The character animation in the game is slightly old school. Linear progression between animation frames looks, to be frank, really awful nowadays and the running animations are rather comical. This is most apparent at the start where you’re running along to a food drop with your buddy.
Repetition
The bane of all games of this type is repetition in the side missions. inFamous is no different, but it’s a lot better than something like Assassin's Creed. Still, I’m finding it quite repetitive far earlier than I would like, and don’t get me started on how many times can they repeat the same looking jumpy puzzle down in the sewers to unlock new areas.
Combat
Combat doesn’t feel directed. It feels more like you’re just throwing attacks towards enemies and hoping some hit. It lacks satisfaction in combat.
The Karma system
Whatever you’ve heard about the karma system doesn’t prepare you for how bad it really is. It lacks even a hint of subtlety with a big icon telling you when you can make a choice, and the option is always rammed down you throat each time it comes up. To be utterly honest it adds zero to the game, which would survive perfectly well without it so far.
The amazing so far
Collecting shards.
One of the things that brings me into sandbox games is the collection tasks. In this case you’re collecting shards of a thing and snippets of audio. The way that these have been integrated into the map on your hud is really nice. The information isn’t there all the time, you have to click L3 to get it, but it does a really good job of not letting you miss a really well hidden item.
Flying and sliding
I was quite anxious about if the gliding around the city would work, but work it does. Between that and the ability you get to slide along wires between buildings and you get a great fluid movement across the city
Atmosphere
The key to any sandbox game is whether you feel that the city is alive. There's no worries here, with the civilians reacting to you depending on how they feel about you working really well.
All things considered I’m really enjoying the game so far but I do have a big worry, and that’s length. After a few hours I think I’m further in than I’d expect and I fear that it might be more of a Godfather 2 in length than a GTA4. There also doesn’t seem to be that much to do outside of the main plot and collection so it’s quite like Godfather in that aspect as well. I don’t know what this will do to long term playability after the plot is completed, but so far I’m not too optimistic.
To sum it up it's a fun game, one of the best PS3 exclusives I've played. If it is as short as I think then it's going to be a big point against it, but it'll be a fun journey to get there. It's no GTA or Crackdown, but that doesn't mean it's not a good game.