Hero or Villain? Choose your path in inFAMOUS 2.

inFAMOUS 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed PS3 game, inFAMOUS. In a year filled to the brim with endless sequels, inFAMOUS 2 stands far above the heads of its competition in terms of style and play, as well as an amazing plot filled with decisions that the player can make, influencing not only the character, but the storyline as well, and is quite easily my pick for best videogame of 2011.

One of the biggest selling points of the game is the ability to choose your destiny. In your quest as Cole McGrath, a paper delivery boy turned superhero, you travel to a New Orleans-like city called New Marais, in an attempt to become strong enough to destroy The Beast, a terrifying entity that is slowly destroying the world. Along the way, you are given decisions to make, which influence your Karmic Meter, inching you slowly toward the path of Hero, or away toward the Infamous title. While this system is no longer a revolutionary feature to gaming, the game does give a new twist to it by making the decisions truly difficult to make sometimes. Things are no longer in black and white, and sometimes the “Evil” decision could truly be the one that makes more sense in the long run. And in the end, your decisions lead to very different endings, along with very different powers.

All the features from the original game that made it amazing were kept and expanded upon to create an even more fluid experience. The superpowers that you gain keep true to the original game while tweaking and improving them in many ways, and the controls are superb, though the in-game camera has a tendency to become unwieldy at times, especially during melee combat. In particular, the visual style of the game always appealed to me, with stunning cutscenes that combined the nostalgic style of superhero comics while giving it a dark, rougher edge that shifted it away from the idealized perception of heroes and toward the gritty realism that defined this game. The plot also manages to stay engaging, constantly keeping the player on the edge of their seat with plot twists and revelations that, quite honestly, blew me away.

In short, inFAMOUS 2 was a rollercoaster of a game that brought life to an industry that doesn’t like to stray outside of the stereotypical game formula that tends to plague games in the last decade. If you own a PlayStation3, I strongly suggest you go out and buy this game, as well as its predecessor; they are definitely worth every penny.