Wednesday, August 18, 2010

InFamous Re:Design

A lot has been said lately about the redesign of Cole from InFamous, so I thought I would throw my two cents in because I think a lot of people are missing the point. IGN.com just did an article with several opinions about the redesign and change back and skimming through them I noticed some of the people had never even played InFamous. While it's good to have an outside opinion in this case I'm calling irresponsible reporting. Shame on you IGN for posting several responses that were just filler. You get enough of that dribble in the comments section, now it has to be in the main article?

OLD VS. NEW
When InFamous came out a lot of people didn't like the character of Cole. He seemed cold and distant (unintentionally) and his ridiculously gravely voice was often lampooned. Sucker Punch took that to heart when developing InFamous 2. They did a complete redesign and even changed the voice actor (still no news if they've switched back to the original voice actor).

Here's the thing, Sucker Punch sold themselves short. The fact of the matter is that the greater majority people who didn't like Cole's original design changed their minds after playing the game. I wasn't a huge fan of the design at first, but when I saw the character in motion I appreciated it more. After I finished the game I had grown attached to Cole the I had completely forgotten I disliked him in the first place!

I think that's what happened with a lot of people, they played the game and grew attached to the morally ambiguous guy. When Sucker Punch announced the redesign they thought it'd be widely accepted but it was instantly picketed against. People wanted the character they knew and loved, not some new pseudo hardcore Nathan Drake rip off.

Sucker Punch developed a fun and engaging game that was absolutely terrific. They are a great dev because they listen to their fans, thats why they did the new cole, and thats why they changed him back. It has nothing to do with folding on their creative vision. I can't wait for InFamous 2, and I am so glad that "original Cole" is back.

No comments:

Post a Comment