Missions are divided into main and sub-missions with some of the secondary missions having the good or evil nature attached to it. That means you'll need a specific karma rating to even activate the missions. The secondary missions are pretty simplistic most of the time with objectives such as removing surveillance objects from the side of a building or just taking down the enemies. It's actually a benefit to complete the side missions in that doing so will clear the areas of enemies so you won't have to be shot at constantly when traveling through them. There are some missions that are tagged good or evil whereby completing a set number will unlock another power. Once completed, you'll see what percentage of each island is now safe as well as the areas being highlighted in your radar and map. This really helps on than other two islands after the first one as you can really get a good amount of enemies coming after you in dangerous territories. Clearing some areas give you some nice breaks and safe havens to rest in.
One great thing about Infamous is how the city seems really alive. People don't just walk around in the streets but they actually do things and do logical things. Because the city is in such a bad shape, you'll see people going into dumpsters searching for food. When an important TV broadcast is on, some people will stop and watch it. If you become a hero to the citizens, you'll see people take out their camera to take some pictures of you. It's just too bad that the citizens aren't as detailed or diverse as say Cole or Zeke. Yes some dress a little differently but there's the change from one to another isn't really that big. So while the actions of the citizens are well defined, the diversity in looks is a little lacking. The city changes as you are playing the game as well. Posters of you will start showing up in areas with the design chosen by you. When completing missions that turn on the sector's power, everything will light up with electronic billboards coming alive with various ads. As mentioned early, the modelers did an incredible job at creating the details of all the buildings and architecture allowing Cole to climb on almost anything. The game does suffer from pop in problems though which is a little bit of a disappointment. While draw distances for the city are pretty good, you'll see things such as buildings and parts of buildings pop in as you move along the city.
The game area is composed of three islands which get unlocked as you go along. I do have one minor gripe about the city though in that all the areas look similar. There's no variety between the three islands but then again, being in a city where it's quarantined and rundown probably doesn't afford much of a difference other than being how dirty it is. Still I would have liked to have seen some different neighborhoods other than the same types of buildings in all of them although the last island does have that a nice big destroyed area where the Ray Sphere first blew up. The surroundings are pretty much what you would expect being on ground zero. I did find the first island started to get monotonous with the missions and what you are asked to do. Thankfully, it gets better as you move to the next island and beyond. Missions get a little more diverse and even the same ones takes on a little better twist than in the first island.
Not only do you travel around the top of the city but you get to traverse underground as well. This is just to turn on the power in substations though and as mentioned earlier, it's where you earn new powers as you light up each part of the city. The areas are so dark though and a lot of it is just comprised of jumping puzzles, which for me is a little annoying. While each mission to turn on substations is a little different and they do serve as a training ground for each new power you acquire, they really started to wear thing after a while. Also, since it's so dark and the only light you get comes from the sparking electricity from your arms there aren't much detail in these levels. So, jumping puzzles + darkness + repetitive gameplay = annoying mission structure for turning on the city's power. Good thing there's only one of these on the last island.
Something really cool is each island has their own set of enemies. You can compare it to gangs and territories as a different group controls each one. And you'll get into a few missions where there are large conflicts between the various groups from each island. While you do get a lot of them after you, the variety of looks in each one within the group don't vary too much. Still you can chalk this up to being a member of the gang so they all dress pretty similar. The one thing that annoyed me though was that no matter whom the enemies are, their aim is impeccable. I mean they can pick you off from three buildings away high on top of a roof. They definitely don't have the aim of a Stormtrooper as you'll take a lot of hits from gunfire in the game. AI though isn't too bad as a lot of the enemies will hide behind cover and some are smart enough to stick behind a fence where your lightning powers are useless but bullets get through without any problems. Each group of enemies will have unique power infused grunts that goes by the Conduit. These guys will be more deadly than the average enemies and often times unleash some super power. While not as powerful as main villains, they can be pretty deadly on their own right. As you move from island to island, there will also be additional enemies that aren't human based. The second island has two different types of monsters made from trash and the third island has these annoying flying machines that launch projectiles at you. It's good to see the changes from each island though in terms of enemy variety.
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