The antithesis to that motivation is Infamous’ narrative. The story is lifeless, a slow-going series of events rife with overwrought voice acting and one-dimensional, unlikable characters. It’s tough to care about saving the love of your life when her only character trait is “annoying”; and when your best friend’s sole purpose is to undo everything you’ve worked for through blind, unreasonable betrayal you’d rather let him rot than save him. Because you’re funneled down a set storyline, which concludes more hilariously than shockingly, your decisions have a nearly unnoticeable effect on the world. The only worthwhile plot is the side-story of John, a mysterious, missing agent who has scattered audio logs throughout the city that unravel his tale. For the majority of the 12 hours it took me to wrap Infamous I had no idea why I was fighting, who the enemies were, and why they were bad. I was told to clamber along rooftops and blast lightning from my fists, so I did.

For the most part it made for an enjoyable action game. At other points I wanted to break the game disc with a rocket-propelled sledgehammer. Cole is a wonderfully skilled acrobat when it comes to traversing the city. The guy is graceful and fluid. Just watching him flip over ledges, leap from one building to another and bound up vertical surfaces is a good time, and his huge list of kickass powers allows for some sweet scenes, exciting chases and massive street-brawls.

Here’s the problem: Cole McGrath is a frail, 14-year-old girl.

For a guy who harnesses the power of electricity to forge rockets that shoot from his fist, glide across the sky, and summon lightning storms at will, he’s a total wimp. Superheroes (or villains) shouldn’t drop dead from a bullet in the chest, of which there is an intolerable amount in Infamous. The feeling of being a monstrously powerful entity is stripped away when a hobo with an AK puts you down like a dog. If it weren’t for the graciously forgiving checkpoint system I wouldn’t have the heart to retry many of the missions I failed. Oftentimes it wasn’t even a result of my ineptitude.

Infamous is a buggy game with plenty of agitating glitches. Falling through floors, jumping through walls and being flung across the sky and into a white void of death doesn’t make for a fun time. Earning evil points for doing good deeds makes it tough to be the city’s savior, too. I encountered all of these issues at least once, some of them more than others, and it broke up the pace of the otherwise likable super-powered parkour. Even then, that has its issues. The magnetic feeling of leaping from a skyscraper to a tightrope cable without missing is exhilarating, but exploring for hidden objects is troublesome. Cole is so sticky that it often feels like he’s grabbing what he wants, not what you’re telling him to.

It’s a polarizing game. The majority of it makes for a rock solid open-world action game. Infamous is demanding without being punitive, rewarding without being meaningful, and offers dilemma without consequence. For everything Infamous does well there’s a counter-balance of agitating design decisions. I enjoyed Infamous more as something I wanted to play, but the mounting frustrations made it a more enjoyable idea than it did a game.

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