inFamous Review (for the PS3)

I haven't done one of these in a while. Figured I might as well catch up and do another review...at least a brief one...

And what a game to review! Infamous (technically "inFamous", although typing it that way will annoy me, so I'm going to just refer to it as Infamous) is a hell of a ride. It's arguably the best Playstation 3 exclusive to date, counting MGS IV and Uncharted.

In Infamous you play the role of Cole, a bicycle messenger whose delivery of a package goes horribly awry. The package explodes, although Cole doesn't, and the resulting blast imbues him with superpowers -- specifically, the ability to manipulate energy.

The game unfolds in a Grand Theft Auto style, with side missions that recover "territory" for you and story missions that advance the game. In terms of action, there's a certain Devil May Cry element to it -- you can do amazing leaps and jumps onto all sorts of surfaces, "grind" electrical wires, and basically scale any structure you see. Gameplay is never boring and you'll find yourself loving shooting off your various electrical array. To repower yourself, you can suck up energy from any number of electrical conduits.

An Evil Cole drains energy...

Along the way, you'll be picking up "blast shards" from the initial explosion that extend your power meter, as well as collecting "Dead Drops"; recorded messages placed on satellite dishes that advane the storyline of the game. Think of them as hidden packages from GTA.

One of the biggest gimmicks in Infamous is the Karma Meter. Almost all missions will give you an opportunity to choose between good and evil actions (and there are specific good and evil side missions) which will drive your Karma either up or down. Drive it down enough and you'll be shooting red lightning and people will react to you as a villain; drive it up enough and you'll see the city plastered with posters of you as a hero.

Whether you're good or evil also gives you your powers. There are good and evil levels for each power, and a special power for good and evil each. You choose. There's no downside to going evil, and there's no upside to going good.

The graphics are luscious. Sucker Punch really went all out on this one; "Empire City" looks beautiful. The AI is pretty good, and I believe it's adaptive -- that is, it will evolve to match your play style (I could be wrong on this one, but I'm pretty sure I read that it was adaptive AI). Either way, while you'll be facing some challenging missions down the road, the game never becomes utterly impossible, and Infamous is very good at reloading missions quickly if you fail them.

Bottom line: This is a must-have for your PS3 library.

The quick breakdown:

Graphics: A-

Gameplay: A

Storyline: B

Replay Value: B+

Learning Curve: 1-2 hours

Overall: A-

I hope...

...that Wanda Sykes gets ovarian cancer.

What? It's just a joke, right? :-)

Jerry Remy recovering from lung cancer surgery...

Yes, I'm sorry, it's true, Jerry Remy has lung cancer.

The Remdawg said in a statement, and I echo his sentiments: "I hope that disclosing my bout with cancer will reinforce the dangers of smoking to every member of Red Sox Nation, especially children"

The Slap Chop "Rap Chop"

You're gonna love my nuts!

Patriots Draft Picks

Just a quick note to say I like what we're doing in the draft so far. Although it doesn't surprise me. Belicheck always trades down in the draft -- especially this year, when everyone thinks it's a weak draft. We've picked up, what, two 2nd-round picks for next year's draft?

And if Comcast stops broadcasting the NFL Network I am going to be seriously POed.

Notes from the Underground

I live again...

That's right, I'm not dead or anything. My mother has been in the hospital for the past three months and I've simply been too busy to make a blog post. But far be it from me to cease annoying those few people whom I rightly annoy.

Let's talk about the stimulus and the budget. What I really don't get is people who act surprised that Obama is spending so much cash so fast.

What did you expect? The guy has the most liberal voting record in Congress (yes, I hear you people saying, "That's a lie!", except it's not a lie, for God's sake, look up the ACU ratings, and you'll find Obama with a like 1 or 2% rating). We elected a liberal, and he's doing exactly what liberals do: He's taxing and spending the crap out of everything.

Now, far be it from me to decry deficit spending. After all, I'm a defender of Reagan, who ran deficits, a defender of Bush, who ran deficits, and a disciple of Milton Friedman, who thought deficits were just dandy.

But even I flinch at the spending Obama is doing.

Let's face the facts, here. Stimulus bill? Budget? Please. What's going on is an orgy of liberal spending on liberal programs, a liberal hostility to people who earn lots of money, and a liberal love affair with Europeanization. That's right. People who wants us to be more like France. People who want us to be more like France. It sounds so awful, I had to say it twice. Wait. France. People who want us to be more like France. Ah, the French. Who only have one terrorist alert level above "Surrender" -- "Collaborate".

So what's the fuss about? I knew what this cat was going to do when we elected him. Push through every left-leaning wet dream he possibly could and spend like a drunken sailor.

Am I the only one who simply expected this? Did you people really think he was a "new" Democrat? Did you really think he has a conservative bone in his body? Hell, the Republican nominee barely has a conservative bone in his body.

So, shut up already. You're getting what you voted for. This is "change we can believe in". As in, "I will spend and spend and spend until there's nothing left but a little change, and then I'll spend again."

And yes, I'll post more often. :-)

When reality bites back...

It's done. It's over. The historic election has come and gone. And I congratulate Barack Obama and his supporters on their ground-breaking success. I know they're ecstatic right now.

But there's a fly in the ointment. A big fly. Here's what it is: 48% of the country, myself included, did not vote for Barack Obama. 48% of the country disagrees with him on major issues. Did this number change simply because he was elected? No. 48% of the country will continue to disagree with Barack Obama.

That's a lot of people. A lot, a lot, a lot of people.

Obama did indeed promise that he hears the voices of the people who did not vote for him. This is a speech every president makes. There's nothing new about it. Remember Bush talking about how he would be a "uniter, not a divider"? Did it happen? No. Will it not happen again? Probably.

Obama now faces the real prospect of governing the country. He's promised just about everything under the sun, so now he's in a little bit of trouble. He either keeps his promises and appeases his liberal base, or he moves to the center (as he has been doing recently), and governs center-right, which is where the majority of this country lies. Reports are that he's studying up very carefully on the disastrous first two years of the Clinton administration, when they tried to push through too many fringe ideas too quickly, and crashed and burned. Barack Obama is not a stupid man.

We are not a united people. We will not all get together and sing "Kumbaya" simply because Obama was elected. Those of us who disagree with Mr. Obama will continue to disagree with Mr. Obama, until he shifts positions.

And for those of you conservatives in the dumps over the election -- just wait. The GOP could use some wilderness time to rediscover their Reaganite roots and think about how badly they screwed up by going drunk with spending binges. Just...wait. Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976 and was "Saint Jimmy" to many people; the world was going to be saved. Instead he was a disaster and in 1980 the world got Ronald Reagan. Bill Clinton was elected in '92 and two years later accomplished something that had not been done in almost fifty years -- he lost control of the House and Senate to Republicans.

So, again, for you 48%, along with me, who do not agree with Mr. Obama, simply have some patience. Either Obama will move to the center, in which case we start to get what we're looking for, or he falls prey to the liberal agenda he ran on in the primaries, in which case he becomes a spectacular failure and a one-term president.

Time and reality have a way of taking care of things, even such platitudes as "hope" and "change". Even when it's Change You WILL Submit To. Even when it's watered-down Socialism.

Take heart, and wait. When Obama becomes president, he is going to find it very hard to be all things to all people, and he will have to choose his path.

And 48% of us will we watching very, very closely.

Congratulations...

...to President-elect Obama and his supporters.

I mean that. They ran a very good campaign.

On the bright side for the Rs, we can still filibuster.

But for now, congrats to the Obama supporters...

...but in a couple of months, I'm going to start up the ranting against The Obamanation...