inFamous 2 has bad morals.

By that, I don't mean it teaches little kids to take up parkour and develop a penchant for shock therapy. It's clear from playing the first hour or so of inFamous 2 that this is one of the sequels of the year - it's fantastically well-designed, any weak points in the gameplay have been carefully ironed out or replaced with superior mechanics, and the visuals have had a mo-cap shaped slap in the face. Cole McGrath is an ass-kicking, wall-running, wire-grinding powerhouse, and despite an appearance overhaul that makes him look like a skinny Bruce Willis wannabe, he's still pleasantly familiar. The game is truly outstanding and improves on anything that might have been slightly amiss with the fantastic original.

Which is why it's such a shame that they seem to have completely forgotten about how awkwardly the morality system was shoehorned into the first game. Maybe this can be explained away by the definitive comic book inspiration, but that's not where inFamous' morality system fails. This is the game's only true flaw, and it wouldn't be much of a complaint at all if it wasn't one of the mechanics that it prides itself on. Morality choices in previous games - using Fable as an example - have always differed good and evil by sacrifice and convenience. inFamous 2 only does this by offering you two equally difficult routes; one that makes total sense, and the other unnecessarily chaotic.

In Fable,  for example, you would be provided with one way of finishing a quest that handed out some good points and a small reward. On the other hand, you could take the easier way out and grab yourself a more substantial reward. People would spit on you in the middle of the street, but your life was slightly easier. Perhaps this was some vague metaphor for the weak wills and small hearts of the corrupt, but in inFamous 2, Evil Cole doesn't get anything easier than Good Cole does.

The only real difference morality makes is how Cole's powers manifest, and to be honest, by the end of the game you'll have found the powerhouse combination you love and you'll be perfectly happy zapping away at the game's various swamp beasties, rednecks arbitrarily South African ice soldiers and perhaps innocent civilians with whatever works for you. Neither morality offers any particular advantage, and with enough upgrading, every power is equally lethal. This is another area where the game succeeds - the battles are extremely frequent, and to stave off button mashing tedium, Cole has a huge arsenal of superhuman powers which can be upgraded ad infinitum and eventually, his electricity powers will be augmented with similar ice and fire abilities. There's a lot of choice in how to approach enemies, creating a unique play experience depending on personal preference.

Technically, the game excels all around. Combat is fast, furious, and always offering new challenges (Not to mention ways to electrocute, burn, and freeze said challenges) and Cole's friends have refreshingly deep and relatable motivations - even Zeke, who originally had all the personality and charm of a root vegetable is a likeable chap. An unfortunate byproduct of this is Cole's own narrative ambiguity becoming even more obvious, but that has no impact on the game's enjoyability. Exploring the city is much more of a free experience due Cole's movement abilities having already manifested, reducing the amount of time you spend pressing X whilst straddling skyscrapers. The game world is huge, the main quest line is satisfying and more importantly, can be pursued at your own pace, giving the player plenty of time to explore the sandbox city, tackle random muggings or chase after all the blast shards to make those big encounters seem like nothing.

Cole has his fair share of big things to kill throughout, but the huge battles with towering mutants from the swamp aren't nearly as intense as the smaller and more populated fights. The game tends to reuse old bosses any time it feels like an area isn't challenging enough, or maybe they just assume Cole misses them if they don't pop their tentacles around the door for a coffee and a lightning bolt to the face. Once you've found these creature's weak points, it's easy enough to spam the same move over and over again until the enemy is no longer a problem. This aside, there's two big battles in particular which really stand out and do the game credit.

By its apocalyptic finale, be it the good or the evil ending, fans of inFamous will definitely be satisfied. This is a truly worthwhile experience that gamers will be itching to replay, and with an endless stream of user generated content thanks to Sucker Punch's clever mission creation tool, it's got one hell of a shelf life.