inFamous

The WTO riot is not the only time chaos has come to Seattle in the last few years, and not the only time Sucker Punch has drawn on the world on its doorstep for its work on inFamous. "Another thing that happened, kind of similar, was that we had six days of power outage during this one horrific winter storm, and it was incredible how this whole east side of Seattle fell apart, because you couldn't get gas, you couldn't go to the store to get food," says Fox.

"Without electricity things fall apart really fast, and people go a little crazy, and so we're making this game with an electrical superhero - that's why we have these blacked-out sections of the city really, because it felt like the jungle, man. People ignore traffic lights! It's just wild. It's wild how close we are to anarchy. So put that in the game, dude. That's an interesting space."

It's not often that you encounter videogame developers making games as a philosophical reaction to the world on their doorstep. Of course, that's not the primary motivation for inFamous. "Well, we wanted to make a superhero game because we read a lot of graphic novels, and after doing eight years of kind of sneaky thief action, we just wanted to blow things up," says Fox.

So inFamous is primarily a work of gritty superhero escapism in the Frank Miller mode, as well as being a reaction against the stealthy restraint of the Sly Cooper games. Empire City is in extreme dire straits, naturally closer to the Gotham of The Dark Knight Returns or No Man's Land than 1999 Seattle. The graphic novel influence is also reflected in the game's superb cut-scenes, which are dramatically animated panes of 2D art by Sucker Punch's in-house comic artist with a growling, terse voiceover narrative from Cole that's pure Miller (as well as being one bit of house style to survive from Sly).

Nonetheless, climb to the game's rooftops (that's the other vestigial bit of Sly Cooper, you spend a lot of time on roofs) and look out over Empire City, and you'll notice a striking resemblance to the view from Sucker Punch's lofty HQ. It's an exciting vista in any open-world game - seeing the town spread out before you and knowing you can go anywhere within it - and one that's been ably exploited by everything from GTA to Spider-Man 2. Fox reckons it's a particularly perfect fit for the superhero game - "I don't know if you've ever played Grand Theft Auto and thought, 'This is awesome, I wish I could fly'." Or looked out of your office window and thought that, Nate?

After a couple of hours spent playing four missions from inFamous, some from later in the game, it's clear that this is one thing Sucker Punch has got absolutely right. InFamous combines the nimble parkour style of Assassin's Creed or Mirror's Edge with Crackdown's exaggerated, brutish exuberance to brilliant effect. Cole is fast, his movements are fluid and urgent but predictable, his ability to climb anything is completely unrestricted, and in later stages his jumps are assisted by an electrical glide power that allows him to soar through the air for vast distances.

Jumping off a high ledge and sweeping across the city, picking landing points at will, is a big thrill. Cole can also "grind" at terrific speed along any electrical conduit, such as train tracks or the power-lines strung between buildings. This is a big boon when it comes to getting around the city's three islands quickly, since you won't be using vehicles in this game.