History VideoGame / InFamous

* TheChessmaster: Kessler comes off this way in the first game, but it's subverted in the sequel where a lot of things indicate his grand scheme is much more [[XanatosSpeedChess ad]] [[IndyPloy hoc]] than it first appears,[[spoiler: despite his knowledge of the future]], with nearly disasterous results. For example,[[spoiler: he's got no idea John is the one who becomes the Beast, which at best leads to [[spoiler: the death of almost the entire East Coast in Infamous 2]], and fails to give Cole the power needed to fight him by the end of the first game, which almost gets him killed at the start of the second. Hell, Kessler admits himself at one point he wasn't even sure that Cole ''would live through the Ray Sphere blast'' in the first place!

* ForTheEvulz: Evil Cole, the Beast, and [[spoiler:both subverted.]]

''inFamous'' is a game developed by Sucker Punch, known for the ''SlyCooper'' series, released in May 2009. The player takes on the role of Cole [=MacGrath=], average-joe bike messenger in the New York [[FantasyCounterpartCulture stand-in]] of Empire City. While delivering a package one day - actually a SuperEmpowering device called the "Ray Sphere" - Cole finds himself at the epicenter of a vast explosion that rips apart several city blocks.

* {{Acrofatic}}: Zeke, who mysteriously appears on the ground after ''Cole free falls from the roof'' and beats Cole to the mainland after both are stranded out on the bridge. (He swam.) Never has a fat man been so fast.
** In the second game, [[spoiler:in the Evil ending, he somehow sneaks up to a church roof without Cole, who is a dozen or so feet away, noticing.]]
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified in the second game]]: it is shown in a flashback that both Cole and Zeke did urban exploration and freerunning in New Marais after the hurricane, so he's actually had some practice, although nowhere near Cole's level, of course.
* [[spoiler:AlternateTimeline: The TwistEnding to the game. The supposed BigBad Kessler is, in fact, future Cole. Kessler had everything he ever dreamed of, and was extremely successful, but when the Beast came, and eventually lost what he gained due to not being ready, he used a new ability to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: ResetButton. That allowed him to TakeOverTheWorld, accelerate the production of the Ray Sphere, get everything in order, and [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn that happy ending]], somewhat. And then we have to put in the fact that Kessler could have done this multiple times.]]

* AndIMustScream: David from the interquel comic, who thanks to Kessler was transformed into a giant gray monster that sucks out the life force of anyone he touches, and of course [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin has no mouth anymore.]]

* [[spoiler:[[AndThenJohnWasAZombie And Then John Was The Beast]]]]: [[spoiler:John White, who after spending the first game trying to stop anyone from using the Ray Sphere more or less becomes a living one in the sequel. Though given the TimeyWimeyBall aspects of the story, John being The Beast also qualifies as a bit of a TomatoInTheMirror. On the other hand, Infamous Cole's ending plays it completely straight.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Cole''': "The plague just sped up the inevitable: an evolutionary jump, Humanity giving way to Conduits. I had been given powers to save the world from this change. But now I stand at its center. '''I have become The Beast.''']]
* AnIcePerson: Kuo from the sequel, who will share her powers with Cole if he makes orderly decisions. Also the PMC/[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Ice Gang"]] Vermaak 88, who act like watered down version of Kuo.
** This actually ends up being somewhat subverted, as despite acting calm and collected for the first act of the game, when Kuo actually does get her powers, she freaks the hell out.

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The Behemoth.

* [[spoiler:BadFuture]]: [[spoiler:Kessler and The Beast hails from one of these.]]
* BadPowersBadPeople: Good Cole's abilities lean towards nonlethal takedowns and precision. Evil Cole's abilities lean towards "slaughter as many people as possible, as fast as possible, as painfully and explosively as possible."

* BagOfSpilling: Partially averted in the sequel, as Cole keeps the "alpha" versions of about half of his old powers. Unfortunately, he still has to absorb [[AppliedPhlebotinum Blast Cores]] to get the other half back, as he blew a lot of his power fighting [[spoiler:The Beast]].
* BaldOfEvil: Every one of the supervillains of the first game, including the female Sasha, and [[spoiler:in the flash-forward, The Beast]]. Evil Cole has Peach Fuzz Of Evil. Maybe being a Conduit makes your hair fall out.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Oh damn, it's bitter when you're a Hero. Your girlfriend dies, you find out the one you're fighting is you from the future pulling off a BatmanGambit, but the city is safe, for now, except when the "for now" runs out it means that a villain will appear who can trounce the whole world so hard he'll ''break the moon.'']] The last line of narration for the good ending is [[spoiler:"I've never been so alone".]]

** [[spoiler:Hell, the Evil ending in 2 is pretty bittersweet: essentially, Cole joins the Beast in a desperate quest to save what little of humanity that can be saved without resorting to the RFI - i.e., the Conduits. In the process, he's forced to kill both Nix and Zeke - both of which cause him considerable anguish, if the frustrated screaming was any evidence. And then the Beast loses heart and admits that he's tired of killing people, even if it is for a good cause, so he transfers all his power to Cole so he can continue the plan; so, Cole is left to gather up the activated Conduits in New Marais and carry on through the United States, killing millions of ordinary human beings in the process- either through the Ray Field Blasts or through simple warfare... and it's only going to continue from there! Long story short, Cole has saved the Conduits, but in the process, he's become the Beast.]]
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Cole's karmic choices play this up for all it's worth. Good choices are about what you expect, saving or sparing lives and generally being a superhero, but Evil choices are almost unilaterally taken as petty, vindictive, and selfish as possible, with virtually no attempt at [[IDidWhatIHadToDo offering justifications]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist that might excuse his actions]] as more a shade of grey.

* BookEnds: The first thing the player does in Infamous is press Start, [[spoiler: which activates the Ray Sphere and makes Cole into a Conduit. The last thing the canon Hero ending of Infamous 2 has you do is let go of all the shoulder buttons, activating the RFI and killing every Conduit alive, including Cole.]]

* BossInMookClothing: Dust Men conduits come in two flavors, both bad news: A MookMaker with higher-than-normal damage threshold and a rocket launcher, or a telekinetic man who creates instant PoweredArmor out of trash around himself and takes around ten minutes to kill. First Son Conduits appear to be this - growing gigantic and soaking up a lot of damage - but they're much easier to kill than Dust Men conduits.

* BrokenAesop: Infamous 2 has a fair amount of FantasticRacism in it, with one of the {{Big Bad}}s being a Strom Thurmond FictionalCounterpart who's constantly bleating that [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Conduits]] have to be [[FinalSolution exterminated for the good of humanity]]. Just before the final battle with him, Good Cole states that, "[[AmericanGunPolitics powers don't kill people. Oh no, it's the person behind the powers that kill people.]]" So far so good. Except, [[spoiler:the [[GenocideDilemma ultimate problem]] is that the same energy that empowers Conduits is lethal to non-Conduits. Cole has to either let The Beast KillAllHumans to activate every Conduit, or use the RFI to kill all Conduits and save humans. [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman Killing all the Conduits is considered the "Good" choice.]] And after that, [[UngratefulBastard humanity begins spreading rumors that Conduits were "different" from humans.]]]] The point may be that trying to apply normal human morality and ethics to superhumans is going to come up short.
** Despite that, Zeke himself gets a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome crowner]] that doubles as a [[TearJerker real tear jerker]] in the Good ending for both mentioning, and then throwing such things out the window.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Cole's climbing skills are ''not'' the product of his powers, but of time spent at his hobby of urban exploration. Subverted in that his immunity to falling damage ''is,'' and gaining this makes it entirely reasonable that he'd put less thought into the dangers of free-climbing a skyscraper.

* CIAEvilFBIGood: [[spoiler:Inverted. DARPA agent Moya appears to be helping you, but she just wants that Ray Sphere to further US government interests. On the other hand, the NSA agent John is the one working to destroy the Ray Sphere.]]

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Good Cole's lightning is blue, Evil Cole's lightning is red, and [[spoiler:if you detonate the Ray Sphere instead of destroying it]], his lightning turns black with red, thorn-shaped outlines to signify that he's become [[MoralEventHorizon irredeemably evil]].
** In ''Infamous 2'', Kuo has icy blue powers while Nix has red fire powers, and which of these two he's more in tune with affects the color of his lightning.

* TheCorruption: The Reapers' mind-controlling tar. [[spoiler:Sasha plans on spreading it out even further.]]

* CozyCatastrophe - Any conduit caught in a Ray Sphere blast gets superpowers, while thousands are dead and more are dying. [[spoiler:And then there's game 2's evil ending, where the world falls apart as superhumans slowly inherit the earth.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Subtle, but there are some clues. The Peak Oil scare-poster on Zeke's roof can, at first, be passed off as part of Zeke's conspiracy-theorist ways, but then you see a gas station and notice the price for regular gas is less than fifty cents shy of ''nine dollars a gallon.'' The {{Narm}} in the acting performance from the woman playing the news anchor on the national news station (the woman, not the Voice of Survival) is clearly intentional and it combines with her ''BlatantLies'' about how awesome a job the government is doing handling the crisis in Empire City when two and a half weeks pass with just a handful of food and supply drops for the sake of appearance. The intent seems to be to paint the news anchor as a full-on government ''shill,'' thus giving the player the impression that the government has gone some ways to being an oppressive state.

* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:Damn it, Zeke. Subverted - he gets zilch, except for a very angry Cole.]]

* {{Differently Powered Individual}}s: Conduits. Apparently, there is a percentage of humanity that can gain superhuman powers if they are stimulated by the neural energy of other humans - though this kills the donors. In [=inFamous=] 2, [[spoiler:the Good ending has Cole wiping them -- including himself -- out to save humanity, and the Evil ending has him wiping out humanity to save Conduits.]]

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Averted, as whether you're a Hero or Infamous, people will either worship or fear you, but played straight in that many of your missions have you be someone's errand boy. At least Good missions are for a good cause... usually.

*** [[spoiler:Though thankfully for Cole ''finally'' gets subverted in iF2's Hero ending, as instead of yet again being the unsung savior of the world, Cole becomes the patron saint of New Marais.]]

* DuelingGames: ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' came out within weeks of ''Infamous''. Forumgoers tend to be [[FandomRivalry fans of one and not the other]].
** Shades of ConsoleWars, too. ''Infamous'' is a PS3 exclusive. It sold less as a result, but had more critical acclaim.
** Yahtzee decided in his review of Prototype that since he put them on equal standards to challenge the creators to make pictures of their rival's title character in lingerie. Sucker Punch and Radical [[FanDisservice took that challenge]], with Yahtzee ultimately declaring Infamous the winner though still recommending Prototype as well. [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/6228-Yahtzees-Prototype-vs-InFamous-Challenge Here's the article with the entries.]] (BrainBleach [[strike:recommended]] required.).
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:The good ending of inFamous 2. Sure, Cole kills himself (Or does he?) and every other Conduit in the world, but he saves humanity from the Beast and the plague at the same time.]]
* EasilyForgiven: Subverted. Though Zeke and Cole are back to being friends as of Infamous 2, Zeke's betrayal of Cole is still brought up several times, and it's clear that Zeke has been working overtime to earn his forgiveness. As Cole says in the intro, he'd do anything to be friends like they used to be. It helps that he's also not a moocher this time.
* ElectricSlide: This is where most of Cole's horizontal mobility comes from -- train lines or rooftop power lines. In Infamous 2, there's also some vertical power conduits on the sides of buildings he can grab to give himself a short launch upwards with. [[http://infamous.wikia.com/wiki/Lightning_Hook A pre-order power]] in [=iF 2=] allows him to hook onto enemies and pull them towards him.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Done with an interesting mechanic. [[spoiler:At the end of the penultimate mission, you get the choice of either destroying the Ray Sphere, the device that started the whole mess and gave Cole superpowers, which is a good action, or use it willingly to enhance your powers further, which is an action so evil it automatically kicks your karma down to "infamous" level and sticks it there ''permanently''. You then gain the ability to carry more energy than ever, and your lightning is now black and surrounded by a red hue, which is ridiculously awesome.]]
** Infamous 2 has a lightning storm roll in on the second to last mission, providing Cole with infinite recharges at any time by ''draining the storm itself''.
* EliteMooks: The gangs all have Conduits among their ranks, with powers comparable to, but weaker, than the gang leaders. Reaper Conduits can teleport and create a traveling explosion along the ground, Dust Men Conduits can telekinetically manipulate junk into spawning robots and mecha suits to attack you, and First Sons Conduits have much mofre bizarre abilities like creating giant auras around themselves or cloaking.

* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler:The very end of the good ending for Infamous 2 implies that Cole might be NotQuiteDead]].
** [[spoiler:Not to mention that lightning strike looked very [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Darkness-a-Light/InFamous2hint.png oddly shaped]].]]

* EnemyMine: In ''Infamous 2'', [[spoiler:all the various warring factions in the city end up (somewhat unintentionally) joining forces to defeat the Behemoth, which is actually Bertrand's true form]]. Also happens in both endings, where [[spoiler:the rebels and militia will fight side-by-side in a last-ditch attempt to either take down Cole and the Beast in the evil ending, or help Cole slow down the Beast in the good ending.]]

* EvilPaysBetter: Many consider the evil powers better (they're much more offensive-based and throw out more projectiles, as compared to the good powers' focus on taking out one target or simply increasing damage), and taking the evil choices makes most missions easier.

* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Alden's tower.
** Also the Ice Tower in the second game.

* {{Expy}}: With his LeParkour movement animations and the flow of the waypoint-centric gameplay, Cole comes off a lot like Sucker Punch's previous hero, SlyCooper, with Moya taking the role of Bentley. This would also make Zeke "Murray".

* FaceHeelTurn: The first game: [[spoiler:Zeke, but he doesn't do much evil. Cole scapegoats him for killing Trish, however.]]
** The second game: [[spoiler:Kuo, who decides to let ThePlague and the Beast kill millions, basically because she doesn't want to die. If you make the Good choice, Cole even calls out her rationalizations as selfish; she's basically acting out of fear. Hell, it's so blatant that in the Good ending, even ''she'' finally acknowledges it and urges Cole to activate the RFI once he's defeated her and the Beast.]]

* FlashStep / TeleportSpam: Kessler, rather annoyingly. To a lesser extent, the Reaper Conduits, UAVs, and some First Sons Conduits can even teleport while {{invisible}}.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the first game, [[spoiler:during the boss fight with Alden, he says that 'you (Cole) and Kessler are one in the same!']]

** About 2/3 of the way through [=InFamous=] 2, Zeke starts coughing every now and then [[spoiler:because he contracted the plague]].

* [[spoiler:FutureMeScaresMe]]: In the first game, [[spoiler:it bothers Cole when he finds out who Kessler is; himself from an alternate future. In Kessler's timeline, he ran away from the powerful being known as the Beast, getting his family and everyone else killed. Which is why he came back in time and orchestrated the events of the entire game to make Cole stronger.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: In the first game, after [[spoiler:Zeke betrays Cole and goes with Kessler, he makes up for it by at least ''trying'' to help Cole in his fight to the death with the old man]]. He gets tossed a good 50 yards for his trouble, but makes it out okay.

*** [[spoiler:Nix, who in the end is actually willing to sacrifice herself to save millions, but ''only'' because she wants revenge on the Beast.]]

He drops it by ''Infamous 2'', however; partly because he knows he simply doesn't have the Conduit gene for obtaining superpowers, and partly because he actually is trying to be a better friend to Cole.
* ILetYouWin: [[spoiler:Kessler tests Cole in the final battle of the game, making sure that he is strong enough to face "The Beast" by having Cole kill him.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Played straight with a number of characters in the original game, but eventually averted with the DC ''Infamous'' {{interquel}} comic, which explains the events between the first and second games--

* KillItWithWater: Since Cole's body isn't completely immune to electricity, he can be killed by walking into even shallow bodies of water. It is more likely that the reason going into water hurts him is that it conducts electricity, meaning that it is leaving his body, and dissipating into the water. This becomes extremely hazardous in ''Infamous 2'', which takes place in a New Orleans-like city that has an area that still hasn't recovered from massive flooding. Flood Town's full of deadly pools of water which will badly damage you if you're foolish enough to leap without looking. On the plus side, you can fry any enemies who happen to be standing in water just as easily, which is a convenient way of netting easy kills that give extra experience (for the Enviro Kill stunt).

* MeaningfulEcho: In the evil ending of ''inFAMOUS 2'', right before [[spoiler:Cole kills Zeke.]]

* MeaningfulName: Cole = coal, which is something you burn to get electricity. Kessler is presumably named after the Piccard-Kessler experiment regarding the electrical field of a moving charge. The man who [[spoiler:will destroy the world is referred to as "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Beast.]]"]] Kuo's name makes sense as following the Good missions maintains the "status '''quo'''", which is also {{Lampshade}}d by the achievement "Quid Pro Kuo" when you take Zeke's suggestion of freeing the police to save her.

** Cole and John [[spoiler:who by deciding to destroy the Ray Sphere unleashed the real Pandora's Box: The Beast.]] Moya and arguably Kessler also count [[spoiler:as everything they did to stop the Beast just end up creating him early, when Cole isn't ready to take the guy.]]

* NoCanonForTheWicked: Despite the game's title, the {{interquel}} comic, WordOfGod, and sequel all say the Hero version of Cole is canon. Though the {{sequel}} does still let you import an evil playthrough from ''Infamous'' and makes appropriate, if minor, changes.

** All the good you did for Empire City? [[spoiler: It is blasted off the map in the first five minutes of ''Infamous 2''.]]
** The Beast spends the beginning and middle of ''Infamous 2'' carving a path through America towards Cole, [[spoiler: activating conduits and killing ordinary humans to cure the plague. In the Hero ending the RFI is used which cures the plague and kills all conduits, everywhere.]]

* TakeYourTime: In the first inFamous, Trish has informed Cole that a box of medical supplies has landed nearby and she needs him to protect it from the Reapers. And Cole gets right on it after doing a few side missions, finding some blast shards, locating a few dead drops, healing (or sucking the life out of) a couple hundred people. Even during missions where the character stresses speed, there doesn't seem to be any reason not to wander around and grab a few things.

* ZeroEffortBoss: At the end of ''Infamous 2'', [[spoiler:if you side with The Beast, then Zeke becomes your "final opponent" at the very end when he tries to stop you and the Beast from exterminating humanity. He stands about as much of a chance against Cole as you would expect. Also counts as a PostFinalBoss, since the "real" final boss of the evil path is Nix, who also wants to stop the Beast, albeit for completely selfish reasons]].

A [[http://www.gamespot.com/news/6264594.html sequel]] has recently been released. It takes place in New Marais, a FictionalCounterpart of [[TheBigEasy New Orleans]], where Cole tries to save a scientist who holds the key to defeat the Beast, who is going on an extended tour down the American East Coast, leaving nothing but death and destruction in its wake. While Cole's character design was initially meant to undergo a major change, a high amount of [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks fan criticism]] caused Sucker Punch to backpedal and promise that these changes would be less drastic than first planned. The game shows that Cole has gotten new powers (including an electrically charged melee weapon), including potentially [[AnIcePerson Ice]] and [[PlayingWithFire Fire]] powers.

* ActionBomb: Some of the baddies in the first game would try to run up to you and then explode.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Cole in the evil ending.]]
** Inverted in the sequel's evil ending, [[spoiler:where despite his now godlike powers Cole admits he hasn't become a god at all, but the devil.]]

* GoneHorriblyRight: If Cole is evil in the first game, Kessler's plan to [[spoiler:teach his younger self not to be weighed down by emotion]] succeeds far better than he likely thought possible. It succeeds so well, in fact, that an evil Cole in the sequel [[spoiler:decides to save the human race by taking over as the Beast.]] It does "stop" the first one...

* {{Hammerspace}}: In [=inFamous 2=], Sucker Punch has Cole, during cutscenes, reach behind his back to store and retrieve objects, noticeably blast cores. Presumably they didn't want to waste time animating him putting it in his backpack.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Subverted. If you choose the "good" path, people will begin to seriously doubt Voice of Survival's claim that you were the one who set off the explosion, and will even put up motivational posters featuring Cole. If you go the "bad" path, [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating you really aren't]] [[YouBastard giving them any]] [[SuperVillain reason to doubt]] him.

* HolidayMode: the standalone Halloween DLC "Festival of Blood", which, among other things, makes Cole a vampire.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Cole, partially because of the bleakness of the ruined Empire City, partially because he's got all sorts of expectations heaped on him, and partially because even with superpowers, he's still "everyone's errand boy." However, while Cole hates the responsibility that comes with his abilities, he enjoys ''using'' his powers, and is often excited when he gets a new one.

* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Zeke, who ''never shuts up'' about how he wishes he could have superpowers like Cole; just about every action he takes involves sponging off Cole's abilities, trying to get him to do something with it (like help more people), or trying to horn in on his act. [[spoiler:It prompts his FaceHeelTurn.]]
** Zeke drops this in ''Infamous 2'', however; partly because he knows he simply doesn't have the Conduit gene for obtaining superpowers, and partly because he actually is trying to be a better friend to Cole.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Surprisingly averted; most bad guys have ''very good'' aim from very far away (even with old Stens) and unless you use cover or sniping ability, they'll whittle down your health remarkably fast. GoodThingYouCanHeal...

* ImprobableAimingSkills: All of the standard mooks in the game are capable of sniping at you from on top of a 20-story building, despite being gangbangers and ''the homeless'' instead of trained fighters. Justified with the First Sons, who very likely ''have'' been trained.

* IncrediblyObviousBug: The surveillance devices are big, out in the open, and constantly flashing red.

* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Despite being able to climb anything that's not made of greased glass, [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/5/27/additional-infamy/ Cole can't climb a chain-link fence]]. Most of them can be jumped over, and the ones that can't are usually extended from a ceiling to the floor. You can glitch through them quite easily, however. Also, Cole can't shoot through them, or ''anything'' metallic for that matter, because his shots, being electricity, are conducted into them. More than one power can get an attack ''around'' fences, though...

* JerkassFacade: [[spoiler:Dallas, aka The Voice, was forced by Kessler all along into making Cole bad publicity]].
* KarmaMeter: Cole gets different powers and responses from the public depending on whether he's good or bad. This is even a part of his FinishingMove, since he can chose to restrain the goons, or suck the life out of 'em. As is almost universal for karma systems, however, your final karma and your ending is [[LastSecondKarmaChoice ultimately decided by a specific choice]] as the game draws to a close. Notably, most karma choices don't change the plot all that much, and instead focus solely on Cole's character development. It's frequently debated on whether this is a clever way of making a karma system that makes more sense than in most games, or lazy writing that makes choices pointless.
** To rectify this, the second game has all the Karma choices, bar one, be an active choice between two missions. Not necessarily different versions of one mission, but usually different missions entirely, in different locations, taken from different people, with different enemies.
* KarmaHoudini: Played straight with a number of characters in the original game, but eventually averted with the DC Infamous {{interquel}} comic, which explains the events between the first and second games.

** Moya, [[spoiler:who despite setting up a fake quarantine and helping to build the Ray Sphere, had nothing happen to her by the end of the game. Averted in the interquel, where she ends up trapped under debris in a sinking ship after Cole wrecks the place to stop David. Though in her last moments, she [[GracefulLoser does tell Cole to forget about her and save himself,]] so she really did care about stopping The Beast [[WellIntentionedExtremist more than anything else.]]]]

*** In fairness, [[spoiler:the Good Karma ending of the sequel ends with all Conduits across the world dying instantly. So they do get their comeuppance by the end of it all.]]

* KillItWithWater: Since Cole's body isn't completely immune to electricity, he can be killed by walking into even shallow bodies of water. It is more likely that the reason going into water hurts him is that it conducts electricity, meaning that it is leaving his body, and dissipating into the water. This becomes extremely hazardous in ''Infamous 2'', which takes place in a New Orleans-like city that has an area that still hasn't recovered from massive flooding. Flood Town's full of deadly pools of water which will badly damage you if you're foolish enough to leap without looking. On the plus side, you can fry any enemies who happen to be standing in water just as easily, which is a convenient way of netting easy kills that give extra experience (for the Enviro Kill stunt).

* LifeEnergy: The HealingHands and Bioleech ability rest on this idea. Also, Cole's HealingFactor is justified by having him absorb electricity.

* MeaningfulName: Cole = coal, which is something you burn to get electricity. Kessler is presumably named after the Piccard-Kessler experiment regarding the electrical field of a moving charge. The man who [[spoiler:will destroy the world is referred to as "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Beast.]]"]] Kuo's name makes sense as following the Good missions maintains the "status '''quo'''", which is also {{Lampshade}}d by the achievement "Quid Pro Kuo" when you take Zeke's suggestion of freeing the police to save her.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Cole and John [[spoiler:who by deciding to destroy the Ray Sphere unleashed the real Pandora's Box: The Beast.]] Moya and arguably Kessler also count [[spoiler:as everything they did to stop the Beast just end up creating him early, when Cole isn't ready to take the guy.]]
** [[spoiler:The Evil Ending has The Beast give Cole his powers; after that, Cole sets out on a global conquest, awakening any conduits and killing any human in his wake. Therefore, becoming what Kessler was trying to stop.]]
*** In the sequel when Cole unknowingly sets free the ice gang upon saving Kuo from her underground prison at a plantation
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Or as a friend put it [[spoiler:"Gunslinging South African ice ninjas".]]

* NoCanonForTheWicked: Despite the game's title, the {{interquel}} comic, WordOfGod, and sequel all say the Hero version of Cole is canon. Though the {{sequel}} does still let you import an evil playthrough from Infamous 1 and makes appropriate, if minor, changes.

* OhCrap: Cole, on seeing Alden's ginormous trash-golem form: "Holy shit."

* PaintItBlack: If you choose to take evil actions, Cole's skin and clothes become proportionally desaturated, making his flesh ashen and his clothes black and white. In the second game, Cole's amp will also rust over and his tattoos change, along with his shirts.
** Getting sprayed by the mind-control tar makes you temporarily covered in the stuff.

* PersonalityPowers: Embodied by Kuo and Nix in ''[=iF2=]''; Kuo's cool-headed to match her ice powers, while Nix is wilder and hot with rage. However, Kuo is also brittle when under a lot of stress, and Nix has a few surprising moments of warmth.

* PowerNullifier: What the [[MacGuffin Ray Field Inhibitor]] does in iF2. [[spoiler:Perfect for fighting the Beast.]]
** [[spoiler:Though it turns out that it actually [[WeaponOfMassDestruction kills all Conduits]] in process.]]
* PowerTrio: Cole, [[spoiler:Kuo, and Nix]] act as the FreudianTrio in the sequal. See the [[Characters/{{Infamous}} Characters Page]] to see specifics.

* RedBaron: Cole's happy to just go by Cole, but he's unofficially known as "The Electric Man" in-game.

* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler:Kessler pulls this on Cole. Cole is given the choice to save six doctors, or save Trish, his girlfriend.]]
** [[spoiler:Which really is no choice at all. If you try to save Trish, it turns out she is with the six doctors, but if you try to save the six doctors, Trish isn't with them. You just can't save her. Since Kessler ''is'' Cole, [[FridgeBrilliance he knew exactly what choice Cole would make]].]]

* [[spoiler:SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong]]: [[spoiler:What Kessler is trying to do, though a lot of his actions, and even his very existence as noted in TemporalParadox, actually make things more worse off.]]
** [[spoiler:Kessler himself would disagree, though, since he views even the ''unforeseen'' consequences of his actions as the lesser of two evils.]]
* ShaggyDogStory: Alot af peoples actions get shot down in the sequel.
** All the good you did for Empire City? [[spoiler: It is blasted off the map in the first five minutes of Infamous 2.]]
** The Beast spends the beginning and middle of Infamous 2 carving a path through America towards Cole[[spoiler: activating conduits and killing ordinary humans to cure the plague. In the Hero ending the RFI is used curing the plague anyway and killing all conduits.]]

* ShoutOut: Sucker Punch used, among other things, the new [[TheDarkKnightSaga Batman]] movie continuity as inspiration for the look and feel of Empire City. See SadisticChoice above for a plot point that bears more than a passing resemblance to a scene from ''The Dark Knight'', especially the way it ends, but the game's production timeline compared to that movie's may make it impossible for this to have been intentional.

** The game is full of shout outs to Sucker Punch's Sly Cooper series on the PS2. Sly's calling card is stamped on Cole's backpack (if you zoom in enough) and a movie theater lists Sly 4 on the marquee. Cole's animations and overall feeling while using his Parkour abilities in platforming sections are nearly identical to a Sly Cooper game.

** in Festival of Blood, there's a point where Cole says [[SpiderMan My Vampire senses are tingling]]. Also, one of the trophies is called [[FrightNight Flight Night]]

* ShutUpHannibal - [[spoiler:The fight with Sasha will irritate Cole, who mutters "shut up" constantly every time she rambles (which is often). Then you get to knock out her lights for real, in which case, she only contacts you twice afterwards - more if you're good.]]

* SphereOfDestruction: The Ray Sphere.
** [[spoiler:Taken UpToEleven in the sequel.]]

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Sasha. She's wearing a jacket that's not concealing her chest a lot and... Well, apparently, that's all. If it weren't for the tar-like substance she produces and that covers her lower body, she'd be flashing you ''all the time''.
** [=iF2=] gives us Nix, who wears lots and lots of leather and accessories, to signify her unstable mental state. Ironically, the outfit would actually be rather impractical for a stripper. Kuo wears a standard business suit upon her introduction, and later switches to something a little more... distinctive. She also gets her hair done, and her skin coloring switches to look like some nice makeup. Still not exactly stripper-wear, but sexier than her old outfit. [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-karma-infamous-2/710914 Compare and contrast]].

* SuperDrowningSkills: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that Cole's powers, being electricity based, go wonky in the water. Dropping into the ocean is an instant death. Cole can actually ''kill'' people by ''standing in the same puddle'' they're standing in. Avoid 'em if you're doing an EscortMission.
** The sequel will make this an even greater threat, what with New Marais being surrounded by swampland.
*** Surrounded by swampland? Half of the city is ''flooded''.

* TakeThat: [[SpringTimeForHitler Tax Loophole]] [[UweBoll Productions presents]] "[[AloneInTheDark Alone in the]] [[HouseOfTheDead House of]] [[{{Bloodrayne}} Blood]]!" Even its poster gives it condescending reviews, such as "Craptastic".

** In New Marais, there are stores called "Red Ring Electronics," an obvious TakeThat against the Xbox 360.
*** Complete with a neon sign. That does the full red ring animation.

* TookALevelInBadass: This applies to Cole, obviously, as he powers up throughout the game, but it also applies to Kessler, [[FridgeBrilliance in hindsight]]. To wit: [[spoiler:Kessler is just Cole from the future with a somewhat-different power set. Cole was a ''bike messenger.'' So Kessler is a (super-powered) bike messenger who somehow managed to research exotic technology and become a super-genius super villain on his own. Apparently all Cole needed ''was'' a little motivation. Having your wife, children, best friend and a whole heap of people killed by a super powered monster would have probably helped him get 'motivated'.]]

** Played with again in the interquel comic's finale, [[spoiler:where after getting his ass handed to him for the past 5 issues, Cole more or less goes through Kessler's own revelation that walking away has never gotten him anywhere, and proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle cut David limb from limb, explode a tank of jet fuel in his face]], [[KillSat and then blow him to pieces with a bolt of lightning powerful enough to sink an aircraft carrier.]]]]

* TwistEnding: At least twenty tropes on this page would not be here if it weren't for the first game's ending. And they're all in spoiler tags because it's that huge a twist. Thanks a lot, ending!

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: All of Cole's non-standard attacks require extra energy, and as such, he must find power sources to charge himself and heal himself (you do also regenerate health, but much slower without a quick charge). In a pinch, he can gain a complete refill of energy by ''sapping the natural electric charge from the bodies of random people on the streets.'' Complete with button mashing sequence in which Cole ''struggles against the horrified potential victim''. Using higher-level powers to take out small numbers of weak faceless mooks also qualifies, since all of Cole's attacks basically ''[[NightmareFuel fry the target to death,]]'' and as such, overkill requires a bit of a cruel mind.
** Not all of them. He can also suck the life out of the bad guys - [[GoddamnedBats how do you like THEM apples, you annoying fucks?]]

*** Don't forget, each civilian you kill nets you a "Bystander" bonus above a certain Evil karma level. For that matter, even "Good" karma random encounters can be turned around to negative karma: you can Thunder Drop on groups of wounded, trigger the bombs left around the city (or just kill everyone near the bomb and then defuse it), kill the mugging victims AND the muggers, dump grenades on abductees... it's less than surprising that this time around, instead of just one or two guys hucking rocks, [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment civilians will actually gather in large groups and try to beat you to death with their bare hands.]]

* WalkingWasteland: The Reapers start putting out massive amounts of black plague tar everywhere so they can infect more people, which will either kill them or turn them into more Reapers. The tar is revealed as coming from a single source, Sasha herself. She must be producing ''gallons'' of the stuff by the hour.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Kessler. As evil as his deeds are, they really look to be necessary for what's to come.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Lots of this happens if you play an evil Cole, and it's inverted if you play a ''good'' Cole, where it all comes from [[spoiler:Kessler, the ''villain,'']] because the only actual goal he's been working towards the entire time is [[spoiler:hardening Cole against the necessity to make difficult choices for the good of the many and the ensuing psychological trauma now, ''before'' he'll actually have to make choices that will determine the fate of the entire human race.]] He views most of the Good choices as being detrimental to Cole's ability to [[spoiler:''save the world.'']]

* WhatTheHellPlayer: Pressing Start for the first game on a new playthrough initiates The Blast.
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: While there are genuinely good people such as the police force, Trish, and Zeke in the sequel, there are also few malevolently "evil" characters in the series. The majority are only [[WellIntentionedExtremist people working for what they believe is right]], [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds tragic monsters]], and those who have been driven [[AxCrazy batshit insane.]]

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: This definitely applies to Sasha. And of course, Evil Cole. Also, [[AndIMustScream David from the comic]].

** [[spoiler:The Hero end in 2. Straight up. The Beast is dead, the plague is gone, and the world is saved. "The Demon of Empire City" is now hailed as the savior of New Marais. But Nix, Kuo, Cole, and every other person on Earth with the Conduit gene are sacrificed to activate the Ray Field Inhibitor.

** [[spoiler:The Hero end in 2. Straight up. The Beast is dead, the plague is gone, and the world is saved. "The Demon of Empire City" is now hailed as the savior of New Marais. But Nix, Kuo, Cole, and every other person on Earth with the Conduit gene are sacrificed to activate the Ray Field Inhibitor. [[OrIsIt Or is he?]]]]

* OrIsIt: [[spoiler:The very end of the good ending for Infamous 2 implies that Cole might be NotQuiteDead]].
** [[spoiler:Not to mention that lightning strike looked very [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Darkness-a-Light/InFamous2hint.png oddly shaped]].]]
** [[spoiler:Now if you consider the fact that Kessler, Cole from an alternate future, learned how to time-travel...]]

** In ''Festival of Blood'', there's a movie theater with movies called L.A. Gore, [[RedDeadRedemption Red Dead Vampires]], [[DeadSpace Dead Face]], [[MassEffect Mass Infect 3]], and [[{{Uncharted}} Unstaked: Vampires Deception]]

* KillItWithWater: Since Cole's body isn't completely immune to electricity, he can be killed by walking into even shallow bodies of water. This becomes extremely hazardous in ''Infamous 2'', which takes place in a New Orleans-like city that has an area that still hasn't recovered from massive flooding. Flood Town's full of deadly pools of water which will badly damage you if you're foolish enough to leap without looking. On the plus side, you can fry any enemies who happen to be standing in water just as easily, which is a convenient way of netting easy kills that give extra experience (for the Enviro Kill stunt).

[[TearJerker/{{inFamous}} The Tear Jerker page]].

* TheStinger: For ''Festival of Blood'' [[spoiler: The girl Zeke was talking is revealed to be a vampire and she was very clearly interested in Cole....]]

* In ''Festival of Blood'', there's a movie theater with movies called [[LANoir L.A. Gore]]. [[RedDeadRedemption Red dead Vampires]], [[DeadSpace Dead Face]], [[MassEffect Mass Infect 3]], and [[{{Uncharted}} Unstaked: Vampires Deception]]

[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCuRKDKGzoY Now with]] [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]], as of Gamescom 2011.

* {{Fantastic Racism}}: Bertrand ''really'' hates conduits, [[spoiler:probably because his powers revolve around [[BlessedWithSuck turning people -- including ''himself'' -- into monsters]].]]

** ''Festival Of Blood'' gives Cole the ability to fly as a cloud of bats, for starters. It's extremely useful for map traversal, but is powered by the blood of innocents. Cole only ''has'' to use it once or twice, but most players will be snacking on anyone nearby, all the time.

** ''Festival Of Blood'' gives Cole the ability to fly as a cloud of bats, for starters. It's extremely useful for map traversal, but is powered by the blood of innocents. Cole only ''has'' to use it once, but most players will be snacking on anyone nearby.

** ''Festival Of Blood'' gives Cole the ability to fly as a cloud of bats, for starters. It's extremely useful for map traversal, but is powered by the blood of innocents. Cole only ''has'' to use it once, but most players will be snacking on anyone nearby.

** Kuo in the sequel plays this even more straight, partly because her conversion to a Conduit was prolonged and ''extremely'' painful. She really does not like being a freak, and simply having powers now causes her to declare that she's "not an agent anymore," which upsets her.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Cole uses an actual amplifier as a melee weapon in 2, [[JustifiedTrope as a logical extension for his powers.]]

* WhatTheHellPlayer: Go ahead. Press the start button. You know you want to.

* ZeroEffortBoss: At the end of ''Infamous 2'', if you side with [[spoiler:The Beast]], then [[spoiler:Zeke]] becomes your "final opponent" at the very end when he tries to [[spoiler:stop you and the Beast from exterminating humanity]]. He stands about as much of a chance against Cole as you would expect. Also counts as a PostFinalBoss, since the "real" final boss of the evil path is [[spoiler:Nix, who also wants to stop the Beast, albeit for completely selfish reasons]].

* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler: Kessler.]] Nothing in his plan ''requires'' him to battle Cole, certainly not one on one in a MirrorMatch when he's got basically an army at his command. Indeed, one might think his plan [[spoiler: to stop the Beast]] has a much better chance of success if he ''doesn't'' fight Cole to the death. Yet it's obvious after the final boss fight that [[spoiler: Kessler]] ''deliberately'' set up the DuelToTheDeath so he could die knowing Cole was ready to save the world.

''inFamous'' is a game developed by Sucker Punch, known for the ''SlyCooper'' series, released in May 2009. The player takes on the role of Cole [=MacGrath=], average-joe bike messenger in the New York [[FantasyCounterpartCulture stand-in]] of Empire City. While delivering a package one day - actually a [[SuperEmpowering super-empowering device]] called the "Ray Sphere" - Cole finds himself at the epicenter of a vast explosion that rips apart several city blocks.

** Inverted in the most warped way possible with [[spoiler:Kessler, who went to beyond unforgivable extremes to make Cole the hero he never was.]]

* PowerTrio: Cole, [[spoiler:Kuo, and Nix]] act as the FreudianTrio in the sequal. See the [[Characters/{{ptitlesb46a9nj}} Characters Page]] to see specifics.