At Comic-Con, two new characters were announced for Sony’s upcoming brawler. This time they are less of a surprise. Both options come from critically acclaimed franchises from some of Sony’s best first party studios. Still, they are great to officially see.
Cole MacGrath, the superhero from Sucker Punch’s inFAMOUS, was a shoo-in for the Comic-Con announcement. His basic electrical attacks are all there. Electrokinetic bolts, grenades, and missiles create a lovely light show. Electromagnetic powers, like a modified Induction Grind, shield-like Polarity Wall, and Lightning Tether are also present. I think I saw a bit of telekinesis too. Even with all these superpowers, Cole isn’t afraid to get in there and swing his Amp around. His top super unleashes an Ionic Vortex, which even wreaks havoc on some of the level. Cryokinetic abilities, borrowed from Kuo, are shown once. Cole appears in his positive karma attire, and is only seen using blue electricity. Whether he has access, or the option, to switch to his more devastating red attacks, or Nix’s fire powers, is still unknown. While ‘Good Cole’ has plenty of awesomeness to keep me satiated, the option for ‘Evil Cole’ would really take him to the next level. An appearance from the inventor of the Dunbar Beam would also be welcome.
Jak and Daxter, Naughty Dog’s titular duo from the PS2 era, were also revealed. My biggest question about Jak concerned his appearance (an issue Cole was also familiar with leading up to his sequel). SuperBot has favored the more mature, aggressive look from Jak 3, which is probably the right choice considering the juvenile Jak from the first game had far fewer moves in his repertoire. Plus, early Jak was Pecker-less. Who doesn’t love Pecker?… The Morph Gun appears as Jak’s main method of attack. Many of the gun’s upgrades are present, like the ricocheting Beam Reflexor, the devastating Needle Laser and Arc Welder, the turret-releasing Gyro Burster, and the enemy-freezing Mass Inverter. Jak can also evade with his hover board. Daxter even provides some melee assistance from time to time. Dark and Light Eco powers are also at Jak’s disposal. For his top super, Jak assumes his Light Eco form and flies around the screen shooting projectiles.
That’s two characters off my list. Once again, execution seems near flawless at reproducing two diverse characters. I can’t wait to give them both a spin. Now I eagerly await the announcement of my main, Ratchet & Clank, and cross my fingers that Sony ponies up the dough for the rights to their original icons, Crash and Spyro. Plus, I’ll be praying to the gaming gods for some third party support from Rayman.