Infamous: Festival of Blood Review

InFamous: Festival of Blood is considered by many to be DLC for the great InFamous 2 which released earlier this year. However, some will be happy to know that it is, in fact, a standalone title aimed at getting more potential fans to check out the franchise. Selling for just $10 on the PSN Store, this two to four hour experience is everything that you like about the series, wrapped with a new look and some minor additions. If you enjoyed either of the InFamous titles, Festival of Blood is a safe bet.

The story in this downloadable title actually takes place in an alternate, fictional setting as being told by Zeke, one of the main protagonists from the series. This allows the game to escape to a new reality that would otherwise not mesh well with the established mythology of the franchise. New Marais is celebrating a very Halloween-like festival, and Cole finds himself rescuing some stranded partiers from the catacombs which have suddenly collapsed. There, he is suddenly overpowered by a group of monsters and his blood is used to revive their leader, the Bloody Mary. She bites Cole, thus also infecting him into becoming a vampire.

With only hours left until sunrise, the characters must discover the truth behind Mary and how to defeat her. This is a similar mechanic that was used in InFamous 2 to track the approaching Beast and player’s progress through the main missions. Festival of Blood tells an entertaining and fairly straightforward story, slowly revealing the plot via the game’s signature animated cutscenes, which still look great. A few signature one-liners and jokes are great, with the characters being just as entertaining as you remember. After completing the story missions, the game does allow you to continue and play in the world.

Most of the mechanics in Festival of Blood will be instantly familiar to those who already know Cole, as there are no changes to player controls since InFamous 2, meaning smooth and fun combat and platforming. Because Cole is a vampire, there is now an additional health and ability meter which can only be filled by biting civilians or collecting vials of blood around the island. Cole’s sole enemies in this game are various breeds of vampires, which behave very similar to the enemies in InFamous 2 – some are ranged, some are melee, and have very similar looking attacks. Firstborns act as minibosses, requiring a lot of firepower to take down and also having the unique ability of creating zombies, to further complicate things for the protagonist during a heated fight. Perhaps the most notable shortcoming of the new enemies is that they have very limited personality and sound effects, which often makes you feel disconnected from the combat.

Because this is a fairly limited release in terms of scope, there are no morality choices, only Zeke occasionally reflecting on Cole’s inability to stop biting into civilians. There are no shards to collect (players start out with a fully unlocked electricity reserve), and all of your powers unlock in a linear fashion by achieving combat milestones. The X-ray vision - like the one from the end of InFamous 2 - also plays a small part in the proceedings. The one truly new power, though, is simply awesome – Cole has the ability to turn into a swarm of bats and fly around the city for a limited time.

In Festival of Blood, users only get access to the first island from Infamous 2, but it’s a rather large area as most will tell you. The whole island has been completely redecorated to match the spooky setting of the game. There are tons of decorations, unique objects and visuals, from costume dressed civilians to fire pits in the middle of the street. It has to be said that the visuals in the game, particularly lighting effects, look fantastic and seemingly better than in previous games. Some new sound effects and tunes help add to the overall atmosphere. A new catacomb area also exists, but it’s a long linear corridor which is most often used for story sequences rather than any fresh gameplay opportunities. Outside of the main missions, there is only one type of side quests available that’s the same as the hostage rescue from InFamous 2. Players can also collect vials of blood which extends the health and ability meter.

Possibly providing the most replay value to the experience is the included User Generated Content editor. Again, much like InFamous 2, players are able to create their own quests and missions. Though this time around, a new cutscene creator has been added, letting you put together story scenes from in-game stills and text bubbles. It’s a definite step above the UGC in InFamous 2 and a welcome addition for those who wanted to add a bit more narrative to their created content.

It’s reasonable to predict that Festival of Blood was originally set to be released as DLC for InFamous 2 – there are indeed many similarities in the game mechanics and mission structure. However, by making it a standalone title, Sucker Punch have made the game available to a much wider potential audience, and with perfect release timing at Halloween. Those who have played a title in the franchise already won’t find anything that’s significantly different with Festival of Blood – but with solid combat and fun platforming, changes aren’t exactly needed. It is indeed a heavily modified (at least visually) part of the InFamous 2 universe and comes with all the great action, humor, and personality that players would come to expect. At such a low price and quite a few hours of solid entertainment, InFamous: Festival of Blood is easy to recommend to just about any action fan. For those who own InFamous 2, this should be a no-brainer purchase because it’s more of the same quality, polished experience with a new twist.