inFAMOUS Second Son (Only on PlayStation!)

[Aslanna]

I wasn't going to get this Day One but I changed my mind. Have to support my platform of choice! So I guess I'll give my impressions over the weekend. I haven't heard anything negative about it so far. There is still a review embargo in place but people have apparently been getting it early so if it was a stinker people would probably have let that slip by now.

[Animalor]

The other two were pretty great so I can't see how this one would be bad.

[Aslanna]

Infamous : Second Son amasses 1 million pre-orders globally. Digital numbers revealed

We all expected Infamous : Second Son to be massive in terms of sales, but never did we expect the game to have the highest amount of pre-orders for any next-gen game. Courtesy of our close amigo at SCE, as of March 18,2014, the game has 1 million pre-orders globally. This is the first time pre-orders for any next-gen game has reached a million before release. Below is the breakdown for the pre-orders of the game :

North America : 417,000

PAL/Europe ~326,000 . An additional ~100,000 pre-orders for the PS4-Infamous bundle.

We have gotten digital pre-order numbers for the game, which is a little over 190,000 units globally. We just do not have the split in terms of region, but we have been informed that SONY is prepping to ship around 400,000 PS4 consoles during Infamous launch weekend, globally. By looking at the pre-order numbers, it seems SONY is turning Microsoft's dream of a digital future into reality.

Nice numbers!

[Animalor]

To be fair, to have digital pre-order numbers, you actually have to offer digital pre-orders to begin with.

Microsoft doesn't offer those. If you want the game digitally, you buy it when it comes out.

[Winnow]

I hope it's good! I'll pick this up pretty quick if it gets a 96 metacritic which would be equivalent to Titanfall's 86 minus 10 for the online only deduction.

I like rain/water and this game seems to emphasize it a lot. The developers are all proud of their wet surfaces!

[Aslanna]

To be fair, to have digital pre-order numbers, you actually have to offer digital pre-orders to begin with.

Microsoft doesn't offer those. If you want the game digitally, you buy it when it comes out.

Sounds like a fail on Microsoft's part then! For a console that was all about LOOKING FORWARD that seems pretty near-sighted.

Although currently digital preorders don't get you anything since you can't predownload. However I do believe I saw something that said that would be coming in April.

[Winnow]

Gamespot Gave it an 8 but it was mostly positive:

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/infamou ... 0-6415705/

The Good

Dynamic, fast-paced combat
Breathtaking visual design
Side missions offer a fun diversion
Exciting boss fights
Moral alignment determines how to excel in fights

The Bad

Black-and-white morality is overly simplistic
Delsin is an annoying character

ah Metacritic out now:

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstat ... second-son

80 so far

[Animalor]

To be fair, to have digital pre-order numbers, you actually have to offer digital pre-orders to begin with.

Microsoft doesn't offer those. If you want the game digitally, you buy it when it comes out.

Sounds like a fail on Microsoft's part then! For a console that was all about LOOKING FORWARD that seems pretty near-sighted.

Although currently digital preorders don't get you anything since you can't predownload. However I do believe I saw something that said that would be coming in April.

I'm going to agree with you there. Pre-purchase and digital pre-load is an oversight that they need to address. Especially when games start reaching consistently into the 20+GB range. It would allow them to manage their bandwidth much more effectively by slowing down the distribution and layering it over a week.

That being said, it look me about 60-90 minutes from the time I purchased Titanfall to the time I was playing it on the Xbox One. Essentially I bought it, got my kids ready for school and out the door, had breakfast then sat down and played. (Had some time off work and I was in a use it or lose it situation).

[Fairweather Pure]

The Day 1 patch adds 19 new missions and 5ish hours of additional game play.

Full 1.01 Patch Notes:

Cole's Legacy Content Pack
FREE with pre-order
Explore the events immediately following inFAMOUS 2
Work with an investigative reporter to understand the source of conduit powers
4 story missions, approximately 1 hour of gameplay

inFAMOUS Paper Trail Storyline
FREE bonus missions and exclusive web content
Innovative online and in-game story arc co-developed by Sucker Punch and 42 Entertainment
Manga and murder, follow the trail of origami doves to discover the full story behind the D.U.P.'s occupation of Seattle.
19 story missions and corresponding web-based investigations, approximately 5 hours of unique gameplay.

Difficulty Balance
Normal difficulty has been slightly increased to challenge the player’s mastery of their powers
Expert difficulty has been fine-tuned to ensure it is the best experience for skilled gamers
Karma progression extended to support longer playtime

Boss Fights
The boss fights have been re-tuned for difficulty and fun
More dynamic boss behaviors and attacks

Pedestrians and DUPs
Engine performance tweaks to allow for more life and activity in the city
Increased pedestrian and traffic density and variety
Increased pedestrian-related karmic opportunities
Post-story enemy activity and D.U.P. raids

Technical Improvements
Graphics and performance improvements
Fixes for a small number of infrequent blocking bugs
PSN integration to support Paper Trail DLC

That may be the best Day 1 patch/content in video game history right there.

[Winnow]

Any game could withhold content then add it day one as a patch.

[Fairweather Pure]

Any game could withhold content then add it day one as a patch.

How on earth would that be a cost effective idea? It's not like this stuff is already on the disc and you're DLing a 3MB patch to unlock access to it. It's 300MB. To put it in perspective, Dead Rising 3 recently had a 13GB patch that added nothing at all if you didn't purchase the DLC. You had to DL it anyway to stay compatible online.

The #1 complaint I read in reviews of this game were lack of side missions. I hope people amend their scores once they play the game after the new, free content is added.

[Tyek]

I had this at the register at Target Wednesday, but the other cashier saw it and told the guy they could not sell it. Gotta love teenage employees. They pulled the rest off the shelf. I wonder if any got out that day before the other cashier noticed.

[Aslanna]

Any game could withhold content then add it day one as a patch.

How on earth would that be a cost effective idea? It's not like this stuff is already on the disc and you're DLing a 3MB patch to unlock access to it. It's 300MB. To put it in perspective, Dead Rising 3 recently had a 13GB patch that added nothing at all if you didn't purchase the DLC. You had to DL it anyway to stay compatible online.

Don't engage and you'll be better off. Winnow is just trolling and looking to pick a fight in every thread that isn't on it's knees before Microsoft's throbbing cock.

/tingle!

[Fairweather Pure]

Goddamn this is a pretty game to look at. I'm about in hour in so far, and well, it's another infamous game! Only better of course. Traversal is better in this sequel for one thing. I like the power set a lot too. Upgrade path looks interesting, but I haven't gotten too fa down any of the paths yet to really comment. Seattle is a great location to play around in. This is easily one of the best looking games out there right now. Well, at least on par with Tomb Raider which is pretty godly too. I would put infamous over it though because of all the beautiful lighting going on the entire time. Tough call though because Tomb Raider is pretty flawless in the graphics department.

It was late last night so I wasn't able to play as much as I wanted. I'll be putting in more time today though.

I received Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Infamous: Second Son last night for my birthday and tried to put a bit of time into each. They are all great for different reasons. Quite a great game mix there!

[Aslanna]

I finished my first playthrough on the Good karma path on Normal difficulty and am halfway through on Expert (Hard) doing the Evil path. I'm up to the first real boss but quit for the night because I didn't want to go to sleep frustrated. I'm a bit wary of one of the boss fights coming up as it was pretty tedious on my first playthrough. It just goes on and on. If I had one complaint about the game it would probably be the boss fights as I didn't really find them all that enjoyable.

Will have more thoughts later on but overall it's an enjoyable game. I do wonder though how they got those marbles in my DualShock 4!

[Fairweather Pure]

I sunk a good 4-5hrs into this. Extremely enjoyable chaos. It's a cross between Red Faction and Crackdown with super powers. I also experienced the first video game inspired vertigo while climbing the Space Needle. I'm unsure if it's the realistic graphics that caused it or if it was a weird fluke. I'll be paying attention whenever a current gen game deals with heights to find out!

How long is a playthrough?

[Winnow]

I also experienced the first video game inspired vertigo while climbing the Space Needle. I'm unsure if it's the realistic graphics that caused it or if it was a weird fluke.

Can't wait to do that kind of stuff using VR in the near future. Some of the Tomb Raider tower climbing stuff would be intense as well.

[Fairweather Pure]

I also experienced the first video game inspired vertigo while climbing the Space Needle. I'm unsure if it's the realistic graphics that caused it or if it was a weird fluke.

Can't wait to do that kind of stuff using VR in the near future. Some of the Tomb Raider tower climbing stuff would be intense as well.

The game does a very subtle zoom in and jiggle while platform jumping at extreme heights. I think that might be what was doing it, but still unsure. I'm very aware of it now and will try and narrow down what's triggering my brain.

Actually, thinking back, I had a similar feeling when I first used triple monitors and was flying in WoW. That went away pretty quickly though.

[Aslanna]

How long is a playthrough?

That depends on your play style really. If you just blast through it doing the main mission you could probably do it under 10 hours. It's not a very long game which I suppose could be another criticism. I took my time getting all the shards and doing the other stuff so my first time through took awhile. But even playing that way I don't see how I wont 100% it by the end of the week since I have all the trophies done other than the evil story related ones and finishing it on Expert.

I don't regret the purchase but if someone isn't a huge infamous fan they could easily wait and pick up a used copy on the cheap in a couple months if not sooner. Or even rent it if so inclined.