Flashback Friday: Infamous

Released in May 2009, Infamous (developed by Sucker Punch Productions) was a single player story mode game that gives you the ability to chose a good or evil path and can give different power abilities and storylines. The game follows Cole McGrath, a bike messenger who is delivering what he later found to be the Ray Sphere. Cole then activates the Ray Sphere, which devastates half of Empire City and gives him electricity based powers.

Cole is then saved by his closest friend Zeke, who gives Cole rooftop bases to rest etc., his girlfriend-turned-ex-girlfriend Trish, and FBI Agent Moya Jones. Agent Jones gives Cole the opportunity to clear his name for the blame of the destruction of Empire City if he helps her find her husband John White, who is believed to be captured by the First Sons. The First Sons are an in game organization who John White was investigating for causing the Ray Sphere explosion.

The First Sons are led by Sasha, who like Cole gained powers from the Ray Sphere, and after a slew of missions finding Sasha's whereabout and her plans you finally get to the boss fight. You have to travel through a dark and red lit tunnel fighting Reapers, the First Sons henchmen, along the way. My oh my you finally get to Sasha and the first time playing this I jumped out of my seat I was so scared

When she first jumps out of the tar to grab you that shook to me to my core. Her vibes are lowkey hot but also menacing and very much wants to kill you but distracting nonetheless. After so much beating up you finally defeat Sasha, but before you can get more information the First Sons capture her.

The story picks up with Cole being trapped in a borough within Empire City called Warren. Discovering that not only the leader of the First Sons is a man called Kessler but, the Ray Sphere is in possession of Alden Tate and the Dust Men, a former militant group with Alden being a Conduit leading them.

As you can see he is a just a man but controls metal around him to create a large body of armor to protect him. He is able to control the metal through telekinesis. Cole is eventually able to defeat and imprison Alden but Zeke allows the Dust Men to free him. In the midst of Alden's escape and the Ray Sphere missing, Zeke ends up with the Ray Sphere and in a moment of thought between Zeke and Cole, Zeke being jealous of Cole's powers the entirety of the game, inevitably turns away and heads towards Kessler hoping to gain powers for himself.

The game picks up again with Alden on a massive rampage through a different borough in Empire City, the Historic District. Cole eventually defeats Alden once and for all in an epic bridge battle. Before killing himself by jumping off the bridge Alden reveals to Cole that Kessler banished him from the First Sons and it basically just being Kessler alone now waiting for Cole. John White who ends up having no association with Agents Jones but is an NSA Agent who informs Cole that the Ray Sphere is designed to consume biological energy which inevitably means killing every living thing in the radius of the explosion.

The games final act starts with Cole tracking the Ray Sphere and meeting up with Kessler at the site where the game began and where Cole gained his powers. The fight begins and Kessler comes close to killing Cole with almost identical powers to him. After one final attempt Kessler uses every bit of strength he has left to give Cole a message in his mind. It turns out that Kessler is future Cole who, in an alternate timeline could not prevent "The Beast" a super Conduit who destroys anything in its path (Infamous 2 main antagonist) and in the end Cole forgets the Kessler memory but comes away with a new purpose in life.

When this game first came out my brother and I did not put the controller down until the game was beaten both as a Hero and Villain. Hero was more honorable of course and gave you less anxiety thinking about how you're fucking over non existent people in a video game but it still makes you feel guilty as hell. Villain on the other hand is pretty badass, for starters your powers turn red and are that much sweeter looking and you get to befriend the reapers and get to work with the villains whereas the hero side you help law enforcement. Overall this game was fucking sick and I read some article, I think on snapchat of all places, that Sucker Punch has no plans to remake the game. Which, I don't want the game remastered I just want to play it on the latest console. The sequel, Infamous 2, is still a damn good game and the antagonists you fight along the way are a tough fight but nothing compares to the OG.

Here's a badass Gameplay Clip curtesy of Faperture on Youtube