There is something splendidly appealing about jumping from the top of the highest building you can find in a dazzling blaze to land on the ground in a jaw-crunching thud.

The resulting shockwave that will send anything that ventured too close to you flying through the air, is a decidedly welcome effect.

Still, as much fun as it is to scamper up the side of buildings, run and jump from rooftop to rooftop, and come crashing down amidst your enemies, it all lends itself to becoming very boring after the initial lightning surge has subsided.

It's a good thing then that the main campaign missions are so imaginative and enjoyable.

Your character emerges from the centre of a giant explosion that ripped through Empire City, leaving devastation in its wake. Blamed for the explosion and labelled a terrorist by the authorities, you set out to uncover the mystery behind the explosion, equipped with some truly electrifying powers.

'inFAMOUS' is at the same time one part "done that", and one part "definitely haven't done that!" The influence of the good-looking-but-boring tech demo that was 'Assassin's Creed' and the low-on-bling-but-high-on-octane 'Crackdown' is everywhere.

In other words, the game manages to create a visceral city environment that looks respectably good and navigates with comfort. But that in itself can become very boring, as was proven by the repetion that killed 'Ass Creed'.

If you were to play every side mission and clear out every area before moving along with the main story missions, you're going to fall asleep before you're halfway through. By all means, get your side mission game on, clear the area of those pesky and dodgy-looking enemies, but please, pretty please, focus on the main missions! Because this is where 'inFAMOUS' shines - and then some.

You'll be hard pressed to find a game that so consistently surprises you with imaginative set pieces. Even the repetitive scenes (running and fighting your way through sewers) are different each time. It serves to lop the looming head of the dangerous repetitive monster right the heck off.

In Empire City you will find an open world with plenty of buildings to scale, rooftops to jump off, wires to scamper along, and enemies to hurl lighting bolts at. But don't go looking for the kind of sandbox gaming to be had in the likes of 'Grand Theft Auto', as you're pretty restricted in what you can do in the sand in comparison.

The city looks fairly respectable though and the action sequences deliver enough eye candy to keep the aesthetically inclined among us interested, but it's not going to set any new benchmarks for detail.

Special mention needs to go to the voice acting, with both the main character and his hilarious side-kick offering enough credibility to pass any test. It might not rise to the perfection of the voice acting to be found in 'Uncharted: Drake's Fortune', but it's still better than most games out there.

As far as plot goes, if you don't get sidetracked too much with the side missions, you're in for perfectly enjoyable suspense. It might be hard to follow at times, but if you keep at the main missions for the most part, it should be relatively easy to follow.

If there's any criticism to be dumped at the feet of 'inFAMOUS', then it would be that more could have been done with the open world city. Freedom of movement is one thing, but if the attention to detail of a game like 'Grand Theft Auto' could have been included here, we might very well have seen the rise of the new sandbox king. As it is, Empire City delivers just enough to keep the suspension of disbelief ticking over.

Ultimately, however, 'inFAMOUS' gets it right in all the most important ways, especially when it comes to the simply stellar campaign missions. It's a great example of how to keep things refreshingly interesting all the time. More of this and gamers will become pretty spoiled on the PlayStation 3.

8.9/10

Buy this game: PS3

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