We've taken Majesco's highly anticipated horror-thriller, Infected, for a ride and have survived to tell you about it. Infected is many things. It's gory, bloody, profanity-filled, violent, fun, did we mention gory? With no other game has it been so evident that the PSP is very much a gaming device for adults, not just for kids. The game is also quite in-depth and fun, with a variety of upgradeable weapons and unlockables and a rich and unique multiplayer system. Our copy is only a preview build, but it plays and feels like a finished game.
M for Mature
We have to get this out of the way. Infected is not for kids. Blood is one thing, but there is a lot of profanity and gore in the game. This is very much a game for adults, not for kids.
Story
You are rookie officer Stevens. A nasty virus by the name of Infected is spreading like crazy around New York. You've also caught it, but somehow, you don't turn into a blood-thirsty, limping zombie like everyone else. In fact, when put in shells, your blood is used in a viral gun to kill other zombies.
Features
You start out by picking your officer from a cast of male and female characters, choosing their body type, skin color, outfit and hair. Once in, you are ready to check out your first mission. Each mission has a cut-scene or bit of info to introduce your objective. You work your way through New York in various areas, and completing one area will unlock other missions in the same area and let you move on as well. Completing each area in a certain time will earn you more cash and unlock useable goodies.
As you progress, you'll be able to get new weapons, such as the MP5, RPG or BMFG, chainsaw, grenade, fire bomb and others. Some of the weapons even have a few levels of upgradability, and you can boost your health and speed guage as well. This will keep you coming back for more as you try to upgrade your weapons and improve your character.
Gameplay
Gameplay is quite simple -- first you blast away at zombies until their energy guage has gone down, then you shoot them with your viral gun to permanently do them in. Sounds easy, but wait until you're surrounded by 5 of them. The point of most missions is to blast away all the zombies in the quickest time or with as many survivors left standing as you can manage.
Controls
Controlling officer Stevens is actually quite easy. By taking out the ability to look up and down, one analog stick is sufficient. The game features a loose lock-on system, so you can easily aim at enemies. Pressing the [R] shoulder button locks on to an enemy so that when you move around you're rotating around that enemy. Pressing X shoots your main weapon and Square pumps out a shell from your viral gun to finish off the zombies.
There's an interesting combo system which deserves mention. When you weaken a group of enemies with your main weapon, you'll see a line connecting the zombies if they're standing close together. Shooting your viral gun at this point will net you a combo point which increases how much money you get at the end of the mission.
Graphics
Keeping in mind that this is a preview build, the graphics feel somewhat in between PS1 and PS2 quality. There are no noticeable slow-downs or framerate drops that we've noticed.
Sound
The soundtrack in the game is quite varied, and you can select which tracks you don't want to appear in the playlist. Some of the artists include Agony Scene, Chimaira, Fear Factory, Ill Nino, Junkie XL, Pimp X, Slipknot, Trivium and many others. If you're a metal junkie, you're set to go. The music definetly helps to get you in the mood for blowing away countless droves of Santa zombies and other infected beings.
Load times
Loading a mission takes about 5 seconds, which is very minimal and acceptable. Once you complete a mission, you'll have to wait about 5 seconds to get back to the menu. This doesn't feel very long, and helps you calm down a little from all the 'zombie around the corner' anxiety.
Multiplayer
Infected has both Ad-hoc (local) and Infrastructure (internet) multiplayer with deathmatch, team deathmatch, saviour and mad cow games. Mad cow is an interesting game where you try to find a mad cow suit and see how long you can survive with it on.
Local games were easy to setup and intense to play, and will surely suck many of you in. Unique to Infected is the ability to infect your losing opponent's playing field with your avatar when you win. This is also possible via internet play, but we couldn't test this feature in the preview build.
Overall
We're curious to see the game in a finished version. It's already quite rich with features such as the weapon upgrading and unlockables. At the same time it can be somewhat repetitive. You're always blasting zombies, and there don't appear to be anything other than human zombies (ie, no giant flying creatures or rabid horses, etc).
The fun is in completing a mission in the quickest time possible or by finishing with the most people left alive. Action can get quite tense at times as you've got non-zombie humans running around and you're trying to prevent them from getting infected, or you've got a pack of infected Santa's running towards you and your gun is reloading.
Infected is a high-quality action game, well developed, full of great multiplayer action, zombie destroying weapons and is a blast to play.
ive been witing for this game since they comfirmed infrastructure, and captain i have a question do the levels differ or are they like the same? are they big or small? thanks good reveiw too
tubtak said: "ive been witing for this game since they comfirmed infrastructure, and captain i have a question do the levels differ or are they like the same? are they big or small? thanks good reveiw too
Like I said in the review, it's all in New York Sometimes you go through the subway, mostly you're outside, sometimes there is a park level. Things don't vary that much though, but it's a 'real-life' game, as opposedto sci-fi/fantasy where you'd expect a candy land or futureville. No such environments here.
Cappy ... you are da' man! Thanks for the heads up! I have been on the fence with this one and your preview has just elevated my enthusiasm! This is my definate next title!
I like how you can infect your opponents game... I read that there will be some type of stats to see how far your avatar has infected other PSPs. Very cool
nick people like it b/c of its online capabilities, supposedly u can infect other players psp's and do some stuff to it, etc. also its one of the few games with infrastructure.
I can see it now: You're about to beat your opponent and infect his PSP, but all of a sudden (and like so many HALO players), he exits out really fast to avoid being infected or messing up his stats, haha.
I'll be picking this up when it comes out; it looks fun and innovative.
you must be a member to reply or post. signup or login
PSP411 | Top
PSP411.com is not an official site affiliated with Sony in any way.
Content and graphics Copyright 2004-2009 PSP411.com
All rights reserved. | Contact | RSS
7
