inFAMOUS

Game Description:

Infamous is the story of Cole, a simple bike messenger, who gets caught in an explosion that takes out a portion of city called Empire City and winds up giving Cole super electrical powers. Empire City is now under quarantine by the government and as Cole you will be presented a series of choices throughout the game that will either lead you to being Empire City’s hero or its destructor.

Being the hero is not always easy either. Many people in Empire City view Cole as a terrorist. After all it was Cole who was carrying the package the exploded and took out a good portion of the city and now he has super powers to show for it. It looks pretty shady to the people of Empire City including Cole’s girlfriend whose sister was killed in the blast and now wants nothing to do with him.

So now Cole must set out to find who is responsible for the blast and also to find out just what it was that gave him these powers. Will Cole become a hero in the process or will he really become the terrorist the city views him as? That is up to the person playing the game.

What Parents Need to Know

Violence

Infamous is played from a third person point of view. All of Cole’s abilities have to do with electricity ranging from shooting lightning bolts out of his hand to eventually being able to call down lightning bolts from the sky. Cole also has the ability to heal people with his energy, but he can also bio leech energy from wounded people’s bodies which kills them.

When Cole is shot, the frame of the screen shows splatters of blood. There is also some blood in some of the cut-scenes which play out like a graphic novel (comic book).

Language

There is quite a bit of bad language used in Infamous. In fact, I heard just about every swear word that can be used in a T rated game (no F words). The words most used , however, were damn, hell and b*****d.

Sexual Content

There is reference that after the explosion in the city, everything went into chaos and that some people were even being raped. There is also some mild sexual innuendo.

There is also a mission where Cole tries to rescue a certain woman’s brother because Cole’s best friend Zeke is hoping to score with the woman if her brother is rescued. Cole, however, says he will never do a mission for that reason again and later you find out that things did not work out for Zeke the way he had planned.

Spiritual Content

Cole can use his abilities to see flashes of the past at times very similar to a psychic. There is also an enemy in the game who is a very powerful mentalist and is able to lift a bus with his mind.

Reviewer’s Thoughts

Infamous is a lot of fun and the story is pretty cool, especially the ending. There is, however, a lot of violence, bad language and adult themes that play throughout the game. For this reason I would not recommend Infamous for young children.