InFamous 2 is the game where Cole MacGrath finally conquers his greatest obstacle. I’m not talking about The Beast (a titan of ash and fire that literally stomps its way across the Eastern seaboard throughout the course of InFamous 2’s plot), nor am I talking about the multitude of mercenaries, militia, and mutants that populate the streets of New Marais. In the same way that Professor X’s (of X-Men fame) greatest foe is actually different than the safe assumption of Magneto, Cole’s greatest foe turned out to be: chainlink fences. They provided the “I can climb everything except this?” paradox in the first game, and so it’s eminently satisfying to press X near a chainlink fence, watch Cole grab onto it, and see the “Don’t Fence Me In” Trophy pop up on your screen.
The above is a little example of the kinds of tweaks and changes that InFamous 2 brings with it to improve upon InFamous. Developer Sucker Punch, for the most part, has made sure that InFamous 2 still retains many of its predecessor’s qualities while tidying up its weaknesses. Not only can Cole climb up chainlink fences, but he can do things like string together melee attacks to rebuild his energy meter; swing in the air via a lightning tether (a la Spider-Man or Nathan Spencer — pick whether the influence comes from comics or games) to scale vertical spaces much more efficiently; and finally even upgrade his radar/minimap to see where a far-off blast shard is. The D-Pad can be used to quickly cycle through a huge array of powers rapidly (which is useful, since many foes require specific types of attacks to deal with). Heck, your inane sidekick from the previous game, Zeke, is actually less annoying (and part of a somewhat agonizing moment depending on your alignment at the end). And it even rewards me for swinging my Amp (a powered-tuning fork that Cole uses for melee combat) at those annoying street performers who spend their days pretending to be statues.
