While Second Son’s individual beats and characters are well executed, the plot that strings them all together is frustratingly straightforward and limited in scope, depriving the bit players of the chance to make a meaningful impact on the core conflict. Supporting characters like the immediately interesting Abigail “Fetch” Walker are quickly introduced and brushed aside, with limited involvement outside of the two or three-mission-long arc that pertains to them. Sadly, the rest of the cast isn’t as well-utilized. Add in the icy, iron-willed villain Brooke Augustine, and the result is a conflict that boils to a genuinely affecting climax.

Sure, it’s well-covered territory, but Baker imbues it with a charm, and youthful abandon that keeps it from feeling tropey or overwrought. He’s not universally likable, but the chemistry he has with his conservative, law-defending brother makes for some absorbing familial banter.ĭelsin is a young man who, like so many others, is filled with equal parts anger and idealism, and the fact that he wields such overwhelming destructive power makes that inner conflict tense, and interesting. Troy Baker’s motion-captured performance as our new Conduit, Delsin, remains believable whether he’s being a snarky, reckless jerk, or a plucky, bohemian do-gooder. While high production values are often a smokescreen for weak characters, Second Son succeeds here, too. Serene city streets turn into fiery disaster zones with gleeful regularity, and both the before and after are great to look at, despite occasional stutters when the effects get out of hand. The city of Seattle is beautifully and diversely realized, but it never looked better than when I was blowing everyone and everything around me to bits.

The power of the PlayStation 4 is evident in every street-side puddle reflection and in every swirling tuft of smoke that left my flaming hands. It didn’t take long for Second Son's remarkable lighting to leave me staring slack-jawed at my screen. Despite failing to believably marry the player's moral choices with the protagonist's own sense of right and wrong, Second Son hits some big high notes in both character interaction, and most importantly, open-world gameplay.

It’s a change that initially surprised me as fan of the franchise, but one that ultimately pays off. But I didn't expect to enjoy the weightier, more realistic tone of the characters as much as I do.

Its flashy powers look and feel great in battle, and that’s really what games like this are all about. Don't misunderstand – Second Son is very much an open-world superhero action game first, and an excellent one at that. Infamous: Second Son is, in many ways, a large step away from the comic-book roots of its predecessors.

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