InFamous Preview

One of Sony's big games for spring 2009 is Sucker Punch Productions' Infamous. The open-world superhero game from the Sly Cooper developer appears to be righting the wrongs of previous superhero disappointments. We caught up with Nate Fox, Game Director at Sucker Punch, to find out how the game is developing, his thoughts on enemies, storyline progression, working with the PS3 and if we'll ever see another Sly Cooper game.

VideoGamer.com: Why did you decide to make Infamous, a brand new idea, and not another Sly Cooper game that your fans were probably expecting?

Nate Fox: When we got done with the third Sly Racoon game, we'd been making these beefy, sneaky, stealthy games, we wanted a change. A big change is to say, well, let's not be sneaky, let's break a lot of stuff. Being big graphic novel fans we wanted to make a superhero game, and then it was just a logical progression. What do you need to put in the game to make it feel like you're going through an origin story of a super hero, which is the coolest part of any super hero story? So we decided to make it open-world. The dominoes fell.

VideoGamer.com: How did you come up with the core idea for the game? Were you influenced by any other titles on the market at the moment?

NF: We were looking at games we thought were cool, and it's impossible to ignore GTA. Everyone played GTA 3. They think: "This game's awesome. I wish I could fly." You want to be a super hero in that world so it feels pretty natural to make that game. Let's make that game where you get to get new powers, upgrade your powers and interact with people. It's like manifest destiny. You feel like the game has to be made.

VideoGamer.com: How have you guys handled the storyline? Typically a superhero develops a grudge with a character over a period of time, eventually becoming arch enemies. Is this the same for Infamous?

NF: We're going to make a modern day superhero game, which gives you the feeling of becoming a superhero. Part of that is powerful, iconic villains. Yes, we have them in the game. I won't ruin it for you now by telling you about that, but you meet them over the course of the game. The hero is almost only as good as the rogues gallery they fight against. Where's the Batman without the Joker?

VideoGamer.com: Can you take different paths or will everyone have the same start, middle and end?

NF: There's a fair amount of choice in the game, mainly in how you choose to interact with the people of the world. Your powers kind of grow based on the choices you make while playing the game. I like to think of it like the Punisher and Batman. The Punisher, when he has to accomplish a mission, he kills everybody. He doesn't care. He just uses a machine gun and mows them down. Batman doesn't kill anybody. He's very thoughtful and surgical in his use of force. We let you have these choices and reward you for making either choice, but have it reflect in how you grow as Cole, the hero of our game.

VideoGamer.com: If you choose to become a darker superhero with a rep for slaughtering enemies, do people in the world look at you differently?

NF: The population has a memory and if they like you, you'll see it. They'll take a picture of you on their cell phones, because you're famous. You have super powers right. This is a real world setting. So if you had super powers all eyes would be on you. If you messed up you'd be condemned, so that's what you get in the game. Hopefully we're trying to make a believable experience.

VideoGamer.com: Recent superhero games haven't been great. We've had Superman, Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. How is Infamous going to improve on those and be the superhero game everyone wants? Does the fact that you're not tied to a licence make it easier?

NF: We definitely wanted to make a superhero game and it's a lot easier to make a superhero game when you start from the ground up saying "what's going to be a fun set of powers?". For instance, flying. You want to fly, but when you really can fly it's boring, because there's nothing to do and you can hit invisible walls. So it's really not a good power for a video game. It's great, the fact that we can invent all of his powers and craft the world around those powers is just fantastic.

VideoGamer.com: In terms of the characters in the game, do you have any well-known voice talent?

NF: We can probably talk to you in a few months. The voice actor you heard for the main character Cole, he's an actor you wouldn't know, but his voice is perfect, so we had to cast him. He has this cool dangerous quality to his voice that's just unparalleled. So we're really exited to have this guy.

VideoGamer.com: In the game you play as the superhero, but are you a lone figure? Will you have allies?

NF: At Sucker Punch we're pretty deeply invested in characters and character development. That's something we really enjoyed in Sly Racoon and we got a lot of positive feedback on. Cole does have a lot of friends in the world. The two most high profile are his buddy Zeik, who is sort of a cross between Fox Mulder and Elvis. So he's a conspiracy nut, who believed strange powers were real and they were being covered up. In his mind, the fact that these crazy events are going down in Empire City just justifies his world view. He was nobody before this blast devastated the city, but now he can help people out. He's at home here in the chaos.

Also another character that's pretty prominent is Cole's love interest Trish, who lost her sister in the blast that took out a lot of city. She blames Cole for that, so you have to make up with her. Both of them are with you on your adventures.

VideoGamer.com: As a Superhero how do you take missions in the game? I take it there's not going to be a signal beamed into the sky?

NF: I would love to answer that question in two months time (laughs).

VideoGamer.com: Is this entirely your own engine?

NF: Most of it is the Sucker Punch engine, although we did get some help from Sony. They do some technology sharing, which is fantastic.