inFamous

Comic-book characters such as Batman provided inspiration for the superhero romp inFamous, but it was getting caught in an actual riot that had an even bigger impact on the game's development.

Game director Nate Fox, from Seattle-based games studio Sucker Punch, found himself caught in street riots triggered by protests surrounding the 1999 World Trade Organisation conference, an experience that had a dramatic impact on the developer and the content of his latest game.

"I found myself in that riot," Mr Fox says. "And it was really interesting, because when we were getting tear-gassed, people around me were breaking into windows and stuff - there are no cops, you are not going to get arrested being a jerk. (Yet) a lot of people around me were offering me food, water to wash out my eyes.

"In this place where there were no consequences, people are still kind. It made me think about what would exist in this game world when people are operating on a more base level."

inFamous, out next month on PlayStation 3, is set in a city that is "rocked to the core" by a massive explosion and a subsequent plague that forces authorities to quarantine and abandon the metropolis.

"People freak out, there is a large riot, and most of the cops are killed," Mr Fox says. "Since then, Empire City has become a lawless place. There is no structure any more. This neighbourhood, for example, the Neon district, is now under martial law, controlled by a gang called the Reapers.

"They were just a bunch of drug dealers before the blast, but since then they have become much more organised and well-armed."

In the blast, the game's protagonist, Cole McGrath, is transformed from a humble courier to a superhero with dazzling electrical powers. But when he is suspected of causing the calamity, he becomes public enemy No. 1.

Like Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown, inFamous is set in a sprawling urban environment that offers gamers a huge playground to explore, and fantastic freedom to use Cole's electrical powers for good or evil.

"From the beginning of the game you can do things like chuck cars around (with electromagnetic bursts)," says MrFox, before demonstrating other powers such as hurling electrical grenades and charging up otherwise inoperative railroads in order to train-surf.

"And, of course, you can use your powers to take people alive, using electricity to incapacitate the enemy as opposed to killing them outright." Or even use defibrillator powers to bring people back from the dead.

"You can choose to be a nice guy or a total jerk, (but) if you treat people in the city badly they will remember. What you do has consequences."

You don't have to stick to the city streets, with Cole able to scale tall buildings and use the environment strategically to help him combat (or avoid) foes.

But no superhero game is complete without iconic villains. "Where is the Batman without the Joker?" Mr Fox says. "So we deliver those big moments, the kind of things you'll remember a month after you played the game."

Source: stuff.co.nz