On Being Evil

I am getting married in a little over a month and I could not be happier. However, there is one unfortunate side effect of my pre marital bliss, saving money. I know what you're thinking, "but Matt you handsome rogue, saving money is a good thing" and you would be right. The problem lies within the fact that the only thing I could really cut back on was buying games. I can only hope my future wife appreciates the magnitude of the sacrifice I've made here.

So with my new games flow reduced to zero I've been forced to play some titles on my back catalogue. These are games I've been meaning to replay either because they were just plain awesome or had something else to offer I hadn't tried yet. First on my list was Infamous, and yes, I aim to misbehave.

For the uninitiated, Infamous is a PS3 exclusive super hero sand box game developed by Sucker Punch, the folks behind the awesome and sometimes over looked Sly Cooper games for the PS2. It looks good, runs smooth, and was overall a killer app for the PS3 circa 2009. You play as Cole, a rough and tough courier who delivers a package that explodes, destroying several city blocks. Somehow you survive and develop the ability to shoot, throw, drain, and travel with electricity. No, you don't ever get some sweet Superhero name, a missed opportunity in my opinion.

The City is put under quarantine because of a plague and crime jumps through the roof. I mean, talk about not being able to see the best in people. Every other person in Empire City must've been a raving lunatic. The characters and developments over the course of the game are great. Sure there are redundant side quests, but the gameplay itself is so fun and engaging qualms can be easily overlooked.

On my first play through I did what I always do in games with "morality", I played the savior. It just comes natural to me, I don't care that its just a game, I have to do what is right. In Infamous playing the morally upright character isn't easy. You have to carefully aim every bolt, grenade and explosion to make sure you don't accidentally take out an innocent bystander.

That said, playing through on Evil isn't exactly easy, sure you can fire at anything that moves, but its the morality that makes the difference. One thing I really loved about Infamous were the "Karma Moments". This is essentially Cole just doing some inner-monologging. He generally offers up some valid reason to be evil. For instance: The first Karma Moment you come across is at the very beginning of the game. The army just dropped off some medical supplies and when you get to the scene Reapers arrive (Think Reavers in Hoodies with AKs… and not quite so horrifying). You fight off the Reapers then the Karma moment starts. You can either let the crowd of people rush in and take most the supplies you worked for, or you can zap one of the people so they back off, and you and your friends live a few extra days with the supplies.

Now obviously there is a good and a bad decision there, I mean, its not rocket science. That did make me take a step back in hindsight though, what if it were my fiance? What if we were starving and I had this power… It actually made me stop and think about it. There is another point later in the game, and I won't spoil it, but I made an evil decision unknowingly, simply because I was attached to the characters, now thats power in story telling.

As for my evil play through, I've found the logic slowly diminishing over time. I don't have a problem with this because the simple fact of the matter is with each bad decision I'm making Cole more and more evil. He doesn't need to justify why he does something, he's more powerful than anything and he can do what he wants.

While I can accept this here its something I couldn't quite swallow as the silent pro/antagonist of Fallout 3. I felt as though I was cartoonishly evil, there was no point to it, it just made life easier. No matter what you did it all led to the same place with the same terrible ending. Don't get me wrong, I think Fallout 3 is a great game and I will get New Vegas, even if it is just an overpriced expansion. The difference lies in motivation.

Infamous puts you kind of a slippery slope, being evil can get addicting in that game. Sometimes while I was playing my Fiance would ask why I did something (usually because it was very mean) and I'd almost always have an explanation to lend to the development of Cole. However, when asked the same while playing games like Bioshock and Fallout 3, all I could come up with was "well… because I'm bad".

That just doesn't cut it for me. As an inherently good person I want motivation and reason if I'm going to play through as a bad guy. Ultimately thats what most games are lacking. Sure there is the overused "antihero" but to be a bad guy there needs to be more substance than just to feed sadistic gamers there half. Until these decision engines evolve though, all we're going to get is Shining Holy Savior, Middle man, and Mustache Twirling Evil. We need the equivalent of the Watchmen but for video games, and I'm thats a long way off.