The game’s story progresses through a series of missions that unlock as you retake certain parts of Seattle. These can often be multi tiered tasking you with chasing down a culprit one moment and the next investigating a crime scene. Returning from past entries in the series is the concept of good and bad. Certain milestone missions will give you the option to tackle it as a hero or a criminal - the former taking a more restrained approach while the latter basically being a “do what you want” approach to things. This idea stretches out to pretty much every action you take. Enemies you restrain rather than outright execute for example, saving other conduits or busting drug rings all add to your good karma meter that in turn then unlocks new abilities. On the flip side causing destruction and basically wreaking havoc on the city will add to bad karma unlocking a more skill set.

Sadly none of this feels fleshed out enough. You’re either good or you’re evil – those are your choices. There’s no real benefit to being in between the two as your meter is constantly punished should you drift away from what you initially set out to be in the game’s opener. The game’s story will only differ slightly based on your choices making it tough to warrant a second playthrough other than to see its ending. Game’s by now should have moved beyond this rudimentary style of “play your way” decision making especially moving into the new generation. Infamous sadly merely offers the standard.

Infamous: Second Son’s biggest problem however lies in its variety. Sadly you’ll find yourself performing the same tasks all too often - the more tedious ones in particular. On several occasions you’ll have to chase someone across city rooftops – a mission type that simply isn’t fun and goes on far too long. Taking out groups of DUP agents and hunting down core relays for new upgrades too while fun the first few times struggle the more you repeat due to limited enemy variation. The game doesn’t suffer massively for this, however it can at times feel disappointing that with a next generation exclusive such as this, the game’s ambition doesn’t match its stunning visuals.  The side missions too are fairly limited in their approach ranging from destroying finger print scanners and flying drones to locating hidden cameras and audio logs. Again nothing spectacular.

Visually Infamous: Second Son is currently one of the best looking games on the PlayStation 4 - everything from the game’s fantastic lighting to the small details of Seattle itself. Delsin’s actual powers also create some of the more visually stunning moments with neon and smoke in particular dazzling at every use. This is slightly let down by the game’s animation. Climbing buildings can look a little unnatural at times while enemy A.I. still move in that stiff manner we’re all used to seeing in a game like this. The soundtrack suits the overall edgy tone of the game with voice acting noticeably strong easily selling the loving yet damaged history between Reggie and Delsin or the evil and menacing nature of Brooke Augustine.

Infamous: Second Son is a fun addition to the PlayStation 4’s slowly growing library. Is it the AAA title many of us expected it to be? No. A general lack of variety and ambition prevent this from being the standout next generation product it could have been. As it is, Infamous: Second Son is a neat distraction, a visual showcase for the PS4 and an adventure that one may struggle to remember in the back end of 2014.

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