Infamous First Light is more of a spin-off from Second Son, rather than a full fledged Infamous sequel. It’s set in the same world as Second Son and follows one of the supporting characters, Fetch. The story is a prequel, as it follows Fetch in prison who recounts her past with her brother Brent, in Seattle. The biggest flaw with the story is how it is simple. It’s a basic story of Brent being held hostage and Fetch forced to use her powers to help the kidnapper, while finding a way to free herself from this situation.
Fetch wields neon powers, and this allows for some stunning visual effects. If you have a HDR TV, then the game will look amazing. Even on a normal TV, it still looks impressive, even if the color palette is too drab. The controls and Fetch’s combat abilities will be familiar to anyone who’s played an Infamous game. Her default powers are being able to fire neon blasts from her hands and travel extremely fast by becoming a literal neon trail.
With the familiar open world of Seattle, there are a lot of collectibles scattered around. They are the same types of side activities as Second Son but less numerous. Completing these will give Fetch points to unlock additional powers. She’ll eventually be able to fire homing rockets, trap enemies in statis and being helplessly floating around, finisher moves and better parkour abilities. Travelling around the world is extremely fun with the addition of neon rings scattered around where if you rush through them, you’ll get a burst of speed. This is very addictive.
The game plays it safe and generic with everything. From the open world activities to the mission structure. Missions will task you from defeating waves of enemies to chasing down items. At times, it feels too safe, but thanks to the game’s polish, it manages to keep your attention. Fetch as a character is also likeable so even though the story is bland, you’re still invested right up to the final scene. That said, there are some good scenes towards the latter part of the story which handles the emotions that Fetch is feeling extremely well.
If you focus on the story, it’ll only take around three to four hours to complete, and that’s with a little bit of exploration on the side. As a DLC, this is not bad, as a standalone game, it’s slightly disappointing. However, the short length is also its strength as it keeps up the pacing. The finale was also surprising as you would have thought that by this point, the whole game is taking place in Seattle, but then it suddenly transports you to a brand new area that contrasts against the urban setting you’ll been playing through so far.
Once you finish the story there are still some content left. More abilities are unlocked and there’s the open world side activities to finish. The biggest piece of content though are the challenge arenas. You’ve been playing through some of them during the story but now you can complete them for high scores, or aiming for certain challenges. If you’re into this sort of content, it’s a lot of fun and plenty to keep you busy; if you’re not, then the game has nothing else to offer (although it doesn’t help that there’s only two modes and three maps).
Overall, Infamous First Light is a solid expansion to the Infamous series. It’s effectively the same as Second Son as far as gameplay and settings go, but this isn’t necessary a bad thing. The story, and the game itself, is short and sweet, allowing it to be much more focused than some other open world games. It has a good ending, tying nicely into the beginning of Second Son. The game is fun and worthwhile even as a standalone, as long the price is low (which it is).
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