Developed by Sucker Punch
Console: PS4 (Exclusive)
Reviewed by V1

Infamous: First Light is an origins story for the best character in Second Son, Fetch. It’s not a full origins story, but more of a set up for the events of SS. It recounts the events that led to Fetch being incarcerated at Curden Cay & her subsequent breakout. We also learn more about her past & the circumstances that led to her drug addiction & her hatred of Seattle’s criminal underworld.

The majority of the story takes place in Curden Cay & sees a captured Fetch recounting her past, as well as practice her powers in front of Augustine. It follows the pattern of practice round in Curden Cay, followed by a flashback story section. It’s an enjoyable story & it definitely fills in the blanks when it comes to Fetch & her motivations. She’s a very likeable character in Second Son & the events of First Light definitely reinforce the feeling. Whereas SS only had Augustine as its main villain, the addition of drug dealing scumbag Shane really adds to the drama. Having no powers of his own, his devious cunning & complete lack of empathy are a nice break from the comic book “evil bad guys”. How he manipulates Fetch into doing his dirty work is fascinating to watch. She could easily kill him with no effort, but he’s so in her head that she can’t help but do his bidding. It’s a great dynamic!

Unfortunately not everything is great. Some of Fetch’s background story is contradictory to the story told in Second Son. In SS, we’re told she’s a junkie who was out of control, but in FL she kicks the drugs pretty easily tbh. It tells a better story if I’m honest, but it feels like this story was shoehorned in because Fetch was so popular, instead of fitting into the canon set by Second Son.

Not really much to add here. It’s a downloadable story for Second Son & is made using the same game engine, so it’s just as gorgeous as ever. There are a few changes to presentation, none of which are substantial but give FL a slightly different tone. First of all there are neon pink colours everywhere & it looks amazing. As I mentioned earlier, Neon is my favourite power in SS & Sucker Punch slapped it all over Seattle. Everywhere Fetch runs is covered in a glowing neon trail, there are neon speed bubbles littered throughout the city & the draining of power sources still drops my jaws every time I see it. Wow this game is incredible looking!

In addition to being able to run around (half of) Seattle there are also a few new locations, including Curden Cay & a gorgeous frozen ravine. Curden Cay is fairly generic looking, with lots of greys & blacks, but the frozen ravine area is absolutely stunning looking & has some whopper particle effects to boot.

Soundtrack is more of the same, which is to say that it’s excellent & I love it. Same goes for the voice acting. All actors are excellent & there’s really nothing bad to say about the voice acting in FL. The talent of Troy Baker is definitely missed, as well as the back & forth between Delsin & Reggie. Fetch & her brother Brent are fine but can’t come close. Kudos must go to Travis Willingham for playing Shane. I couldn’t believe it was the same actor who played Reggie in Second Son. Bravo Sir!

Infamous: First Light plays exactly like any other infamous game. It’s a third person action game with pixel perfect controls, amazing world traversal & cools super powers. While it doesn’t change the formula, it manages to keep things fresh with new & interesting powers. Despite only having one power, Fetch has such an expanded neon move set that I never missed Delsins ability to switch between all four powers (smoke, neon, video & concrete). Some of her new abilities include the ability run much faster than Delsin, air dash, massive death ray, cool stasis bubble & a much improved melee system.

Missions feel very similar to those seen in SS. Story missions generally revolve around chase segments, finding clues, taking out all enemies, or defending positions/people. Luckily the pacing is so good that you’re constantly unlocking new powers, which prevents repetition. Side missions are also similar to SS & include neon graffiti, camera hunts, drone hunts & races. The races are a new addition & are fun, but not amazing by any stretch. I really enjoyed the main story mode, but it’s very short (4-5 hours) & there’s not much replay value, especially if you’ve done all side missions.

Once the story mode is completed, you unlock a time based score attack mode. It’s basically a single player horde mode, where you take out waves of hologram enemies to get the best score. You can chain kills to increase your combo & get even higher scores. There are also a set number of challenges to complete, which earn you lumens to upgrade you powers. These are also earned in single player, but you need to complete all challenges to fully upgrade Fetch. (A cool extra is the ability to play as Delsin if you insert Second Son while playing this mode. A lovely Brucie Bonus, but it’s not part of First Light so it won’t affect my score.) I enjoyed this score attack mode, but it didn’t hold my attention for long. I was done with it after a few hours & probably won’t play it again.

There’s really not much bad to say about Infamous: First Light. It’s a very enjoyable experience & has very little gameplay faults. It’s just very brief & you’ll see everything it has to offer in a single day. I didn’t feel the need to platinum it like I did with Second Son, but I’m glad I played it & I hope there’s more content to come from Infamous in the future.

GOOD POINTS:
• More of that Infamous goodness
• Better main protagonist than Second Son
• More neon powers (it’s my favourite power)
• Fun score attack mode
• Some nice new locations

BAD POINTS:
• Very short campaign
• Forced to play score mode to unlock all powers
• Some plot points contradict story of Second Son
• Half the size of Second Son

Overall, Infamous: First Light is a very enjoyable game. It takes the best power from Second Son & runs with it, offers a better story & revolves around more interesting characters. However it’s very short on story content & is padded out with a fun but limited score attack mode. For fans of the series it’s definitely worth the asking price, but it won’t convert any haters either. 7.5/10