In this past generation zombies have been done to death (pardon the pun). They are literally everywhere, even cropping up in games that aren't zombie games such as Call of Duty, Red Dead Redemption and Borderlands. So instead of following the trend the kind folks at Sucker Punch gave us something different for the must have PS3 exclusive InFamous. They gave us Vampires.
Festival of Blood is a stand-alone downloadable title that ties into the world of InFamous 2. You play as Mr gravel voice himself Cole McGrath in a story narrated by his best friend, and Elvis lookalike, Zeke as he tries to woo a lady in a bar. Zeke tells the story of how Cole was kidnapped by Vampires and used to bring back a powerful vampire by the name of Bloody Mary that used to terrorise New Marais. When Cole is bitten by Bloody Mary it becomes a race against time to stop Cole from turning into a vampire and to save New Marais from a vampire uprising.
The plot is, compared to the previous InFamous stories, relatively goofy and light hearted thanks to the narration by Zeke. Its also surprisingly shallow and seemingly pointless due to never elaborating on plot points it sets out and barley delving into the new characters backgrounds at all. This makes it feel more like a holiday themed DLC rather than an essential expansion to the InFamous universe. Its also extremely short coming in at barley an hour long for the main quest, with no side quests and only a handful of collectibles to seek out.
Gameplay remains largely unchanged from InFamous 2. Once again you are given the entirety of New Marais to explore at your leisure, though the story missions only take place in the central part of town giving little reason to venture outside into the swaps or suburbs of the city.
A focus on melee combat has been brought forward this time thanks to your amp weapon being replaced by a wooden stake and very few electricity based upgrades available. Its does seem a little odd to remove focus from the the superpowers in a superhero game however the formula works well for this bite sized chunk of a great game.
Though on the flipside of this Cole does earn a few new powers based around classical vampire powers such as being able to turn into bats to fly around the city and focus your mind to see hidden secrets littered around the landscape as well as detect newborn vampires from a distance.
User Generated Content also makes a return though its unlikely to be as well received as its InFamous 2 predecessor.
Festival of Blood looks just as gorgeous as InFamous 2, though it does lose out on the gorgeous lighting engine due to the game taking place exclusively at night. New Marais also looks a little different aesthetic as it is in the middle of a Halloween style festival meaning that a lot of fireworks and strangely dressed people now litter the streets instead of a hustle and bustle of cars & warring gang factions.
The top notch voice acting also makes a return alongside some great new talent for the likes of Bloody Mary. The games soundtrack also takes a more fantasy type feel to it rather than its urban style it normally has.
In short, Festival of Blood is a great expansion to the universe for fans of the series however it offers little to newcomers and wont change your mind about the series if you have failed to enjoy it so far. Its not an essential buy, but if you want a short bust of InFamous action from your favourite anti-hero without replaying either one of the previous games then Festival of Blood is where to go.
InFamous: Festival of Blood – 7/10
+Focus on Melee Combat
+New Vampire Based Powers
+More InFamous
-Too Short
-Not Enough To Do
-Story Wastes Potential
