Few people would say that Sucker Punch's InFamous was a bad game, but that didn't stop the developers from really looking hard at what worked and what didn't when they sat down to craft the game's sequel. The answer they came up with was to improve on the experience of being a superhero, and if the demo shown to a small gathering of journalists at a break-out session in E3 is anything to go by, it looks like the development team is off to a strong start.
Changes abound in InFamous 2, in fact. Series protagonist Cole McGrath has been completely retooled, for one, and the game also takes place in a completely different city, this time modeled after New Orleans. Sheer brute force was also an important part of the equation—something that Sucker Punch feels is used in modern day superhero movies to increase the impact.
The solution here should be obvious to anyone that's seen The Dark Knight or Spider-Man 2: make the action more visceral. As a result, Cole now carries around an electrically charged weapon used for melee attacks.
"Part of the core fantasy [of being a superhero] is just knocking someone's block off," said Nate Fox, the game's director, during the demo session. "We've given Cole a big iron weapon that he charges with electricity and then slams into somebody's body like a giant cattle prod," Fox said. "We call it his amp."

The melee looks more stylized the original game's combat, as well, incorporating zoom, swoop and slo-mo flourishes. Another welcome improvement over the original is that InFamous 2 doesn't reset Cole's proverbial superhero clock at zero. You'll start the game with a wide range of abilities learned during Cole's time in Empire City, drastically improving the feeling of actually being a superhero rather than going through the obligatory power strip-down that's become so common in most games. Fox said over the course of the game Cole will only gain more powers, becoming a "a really super superhero," which we feel can only be a good thing.
"The villains [also] scale with you," Fox said.

During the short segment we saw, only one villain was shown, although there were some monsters as well. Whereas the first InFamous skewed less towards the supernatural, InFamous 2 seems to be really embracing its comic book roots. Forced to flee Empire City after fighting "The Beast," the giant monster alluded to at the end of the first game, Cole winds up in New Marais, Sucker Punch's New Orleans homage that will serve as the backdrop for the sequel. However, Cole isn't the only non-human in New Marais—the town is controlled by a supremacist group known as The Militia, a southern organization that will stop at nothing to protect New Marais from what the group simply calls "freaks." Cole is of course on top of their list of targets—the demo begins as the leader of The Militia, an old southern bigot named Bertrand, is leading a hate rally against "The Electric Man." New Marais is also populated by zombie-looking monsters with vertically torn mouths. Although it seems like it would make more sense to just ask Cole to take care of the monsters, Bertrand just wants to see all non-humans all dead.

After some of said monsters crash the rally, Bertrand exits in a limo and Cole gives chase. Thankfully, Cole has retained his ability to slide along powerlines to quickly get around the city, and can now horizontally move across some surfaces on buildings (think of it as a cross between grinding and wall-running). After a brief and explosive chase through the city, showing off the improved particle and damage effects on New Marais' gothic architecture, Cole catches up with Bertrand, only to be knocked off his limo by a helicopter. InFamous 2 definitely feels more like a superhero film, and this section really proves it. Borrowing a page from Uncharted 2, the chopper chases Cole through the city with cinematic aplomb. Cole does his part to get away, taking down Militia members while running through the environmental destruction happening around him, eventually creating a whirling electrical cyclone to dispatch his airborne pursuers in an impressive display.

New Marais itself is an impressive city, with its more varied architecture, interesting locales and a feel of its own. Fox said a place like New Marais is great for a story like Cole's.
"My father is actually from New Orleans, so [growing up] I heard a lot of tall tales as a child, about dogs getting eaten by alligators, about very dangerous places to go when you're a boy, scary alleys, cemeteries above ground, spooky architecture, people going crazy on Mardi Gras," he said. "It seemed like the ideal place to put a superhero story...it's much more gothic."
The tone fits well with the direction the story is taking—following the chopper chase, Cole is confronted by a huge worm-like monster that ends the demo—although how it plays out remains to be seen. Overall, though, the game seems to be a vast improvement over the original. Although some fans have been none too pleased with Cole's redesign (I actually think it's great), Sucker Punch emphasized that it's a work in progress, and could still be changed before the game ships next year. In any case, InFamous 2 looks to be much closer to the ideal superhero game, with more character and color than the first. Be sure to check back for more about the game as new information comes out.]