Review
Played on: PlayStation 4Released: 2014
After the fantastic Infamous Second Son, read me review here, I was hungry for more. So, here we have Fetch's story, in Infamous First Light! It takes place before the events of Second Son and tells the story of how Fetch and her brother came to Seattle. The game is a sort of DLC, but it doesn't require the original game to run.
As such, it is a fantastic deal for the low entry price. You should, however, play Second Son first for context, even though this is a prequel. Second Son eases you into the gameplay in a more gradual way and teaches your abilities at a slower pace, it's a much better place to begin. Especially if you're new to the series like me!
First Light is divided into two main areas. The city, which is the backdrop for the story, and the arena. The arena is a perfect place for levelling up and feels like a mini-game of it's own. Here you have to either help hostages or fight increasingly harder waves of enemies.
Normally, I find this type of combo and arena fighting difficult and tiresome, but in First Light it's fairly manageable. As you level up Fetch, each wave becomes easier and you progress to some of the later ones required to earn Trophies and full completion. While I did alright in them, this type of gameplay isn't something I personally enjoy so much.
Luckily, the story mode plays exactly like Second Son, added are some really cool and nifty abilities Fetch unlocks. Illustrating how good the neon ability was in Second Son. There are some cool missions to play in the story too, which bring new ideas into the picture to make it a slightly original experience alongside the main game.
Just like Second Son, First Light is a graphical showcase for the PS4. It renders an amazingly detailed, and beautiful, Seattle. Though, this time limiting you to the lower residential side, with the Seattle tower. There's even a mountainous snowy landscape, further into the story, that once again showcases how diverse this game engine seems to be. It's really is impressive how good they've made a free roaming world look. Especially the characters, they look incredibly detailed in their faces.
For it's lower entry price and generous hours of gameplay, this is a good DLC for fans of the main game. It's amazing they're giving people the chance to get it at this price, when you consider you don't need the full game to run it!
I enjoyed it, even though the arena stuff wasn't exactly my thing. The best part of First Light is learning more about Fetch, as she really is a great and a different character from Delsin to play.
Play Second Son first, though, then pick up First Light immediately, for a similar, but different experience as Fetch!
Two awesome exclusives in one year, great work on Sucker Punch Productions' behalf! Probably the best exclusives to the thin line-up of PS4 exclusives this year.
Review
Played on: PlayStation 4Released: 2014
Upon hearing about a new game from the Bastion creators got me very excited! There are a few similarities, especially the way the story is told, with a distinct storyteller voice. However, further similarities ends there, and so Transistor becomes Bastions spiritual successor, but a fairly distant and more weird one at that.
Transistor's world is clearly designed similar to Bastion, but it sets itself in a futuristic city, fused with an Art Deco artstyle. The gameplay is a sort of turn based RPG, in limited battle areas. You use a time stopping mechanism, which serves as a way to limit your moves each turn.
You need to combine various skills and attacks to take out the enemies. Winning depends very much on strategic decisions and the way you move around each turn. It gives some homage to the old JRPGs that featured a square-based board for a playing field.
This is a fairly uncommon gameplay style in today's world, I found it interesting and refreshing. The story is very stylishly presented too. However, I found it to be very confusing and difficult to actually understand. At times it's a strong story, while at other times, it's like standing in a modern art exhibition where I understand nothing, but it at least looks artistic.
I found Transistors gameplay to be intriguing and it's 1920's Art Deco setting wonderful, but it became a little to obscure for my taste. The story is way out there, don't get me wrong it's presentation is mysterious and well executed with the storytellers voice, but it just was too dreamy and strange for me.
If you've never played the developers previous game, Bastion, you really should start there, it is fantastic. If you're looking for a Bastion inspired, but ultimately very different and more psychedelic game and story, well Transistor may be to your suiting.
