inFAMOUS 2 (1)It’s remarkable really that with some of the biggest comic licenses in existence creator-owned talent at the helm, and we’re guessing not with  exactly insubstantial budgets, DC and Marvel have never really been able to nail a superhero game that actually makes you feel, well, super.

But then out of the darkness sprung Sucker Punch to save the day. 2009’s inFAMOUS proved that everyone’s new friendly neighbourhood games developer knew not only a thing or two about the superhero mythos, but they could craft a brilliantly open-world/morality adventure game to boot.

Following the surprising and shocking events of inFAMOUS’s cliffhanger (if you haven’t played it, it’s advised you do – although it’s not mandatory), and an opening showdown with the iniquitious Beast that sees our protagonist’s ass handed to him in crushing style, Cole MacGrath is forced to relocate to the deep south in a backwater city called New Marais.

As with the original, action and story are both King, with the third person fighting standing out as some of the strongest on the console. As a superhero/villain in the making (that’s yours to decide depending on how maliciously you handle missions and the city’s civilians), you’re gifted with some undeniably kick-ass electrical powers and a face-smashing new melee weapon known as the Amp (which, conversely, flags up the game’s real bugbear – a sporadically vertiginous and wonky camera).

inFAMOUS 2 (2)
inFAMOUS 2: Electrifying (we couldn't help it).

The further you progress the more XP points you acquire and the stronger you get, but Sucker Punch have mercifully avoided the sequel cliche of stripping your character of all his previously acquired abilities in an awkward plot twist, and so you’re free to bound about the city in style from the off.

Cole’s movements are as fluid and appropriately Spider-Man-y as characters get, and while New Marais is a distinctly different playground to Empire City, you still get from A to B in snazzy style – whether zipping along telephone wires a la Jet Set Radio or scaling walls with nifty abandon, he’s a joy to move around and – more importantly – use to deliver untold destruction on the enemies and unwitting plebs around you.

inFAMOUS 2’s other big up-sell is the addition of User Generated Content, which allows players to create their own missions, objectives and side-quests with a baffling array of tools. It’s not the most intuitive, but considering the franchise’s already passionate fanbase, it’ll be fascinating to see what people do with it after a play around.

With an involving story that even Rockstar would be jealous of, buckets of style and action that flips between both cinematic and visceral with ease, Sucker Punch may not have reinvented the superhero game wheel but they’ve certainly pimped it.

[Rating:5/5]

inFAMOUS 2 is on General Release now, and available on  PS3.