Infamous: Festival of Blood

Infamous: Festival of Blood
Promotional poster
Developer(s)	Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Series	Infamous
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Infamous: Festival of Blood is an action-adventure video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions for the PlayStation 3 video game console. Festival of Blood is a standalone expansion in the Infamous series based on the Infamous 2 engine and map but does not require a copy of Infamous 2 in order to play.

The story is set aside from the canon aspect of the Infamous series, being a spoof told by the main protagonist's friend Zeke Dunbar. The game features new characters, powers and comes with a new comic cutscene creation for the main game Infamous 2's user-generated content (UGC), as well as support for the PlayStation Move controller. Unlike previous games, the game does not feature karmic choices on missions due to Cole's vampire state.

Infamous: Festival of Blood – along with Infamous and Infamous 2 – was released on August 28, 2012 as part of the Infamous Collection under Sony's new line of PlayStation Collections for the PlayStation 3.

Plot

The game starts in a bar, where Zeke Dunbar meets a woman and talks with her, when she notices a book Zeke was reading, which she brushes aside as a children's book, and is about to leave until Zeke mentions his relationship with Cole MacGrath, persuading the woman to stay and listen as he begins to tell her a story involving Cole during the event of "Pyre Night", a fictional celebration in New Marais.

During the event of Pyre Night in New Marais, Cole investigates a nearby church after hearing screams, rescuing civilians trapped in its catacombs. As Cole ventures deeper looking for more survivors, he encounters a woman yelling, who is revealed to be a vampire and incapacitates him. Cole is then cuffed and dragged in deep underground by the vampire minions, and awakens on top of a corpse of a female vampire, named Bloody Mary. One of the vampires opens up a vein from Cole's neck and drips his blood onto Mary's corpse, awakening her. She then proceeds to bite Cole, drinking his blood and turning him into a vampire, which rejuvenates her while leaving Cole unconscious.

When Cole comes to, he realises his amp is stolen, forcing him to create a makeshift stake in order to fight his way out. Having escaped, he realizes, to his horror, that Mary has turned him into a vampire and is able to exert some degree of mind control over Cole presently. She taunts Cole telepathically, saying that by dawn, he will become her puppet. He is then driven by bloodlust from his vampirism to bite an innocent civilian. At the same time, vampires begin to attack New Marais, with Pyre Night allowing them to blend in with the garishly costumed party-goers. Seeking a solution, Cole contacts Zeke and both begin researching Pyre Night, the celebration commemorating the burning of Bloody Mary by the town hero Father Ignatius centuries ago. They eventually find out the folklore surrounding Father Ignatius, learning about his special weapon for fighting vampires: a special cross called The Barbed Cross which was buried with him when he died.

Racing to the burial site, Cole arrives too late; the vampires have already taken it. However, he discovers a new ability that enables him to detect hidden vampires and uses it to track down the thief, only to find that it does not have it. Desperate, Cole heads towards Bloody Mary's resting place, believing it to be there. Instead, he discovers a plot by the vampires to set fire to the surface of New Marais with white phosphorus bombs, as well as mementos kept by Bloody Mary detailing her past.

According to the mementos, Mary was a young woman who was fond of children, but got ill due to contact with infected children. However, an acquaintance decides she must not die, so transforms her into a vampire. They manage to go to different places, taking blood out of civilians. However, Father Ignatius follows them, believing that, if he kills the man that transformed Mary into a vampire, she would be set free. Unfortunately, he learns that this only works on the first night that the victim was turned into a vampire. Angered, Mary chased after the father, attempting to kill him. The father, however, makes the barbed cross to defend the city from the remaining vampires and Mary.

Realizing the power of the cross, he goes after the cross, attempting to destroy Mary and end her power over Cole. After finding the Barbed Cross, Cole returns to the catacombs to finish Mary once and for all, finally prevailing after an extended battle with many vampires, while Zeke plants the stolen white phosphorus bombs inside the crypt. As the morning sun rises and Zeke arms the white phosphorus bombs, Cole sees that Mary is attempting to flee the catacombs and hits Mary with the cross, killing her while Zeke destroys the crypt. For a second Cole feels pain in his head but then returns to normal, no longer feeling his vampiric urges.

Back in the bar, Zeke finishes his story. The woman disbelieves him until Cole arrives, needing Zeke's help to retrieve his Amp from a pool. The woman follows Cole to help him out, Zeke curses in terror after the woman shows her fangs revealing herself to be a vampire before the credits roll.

Reception

The game has received positive reviews since its release. On Metacritic, it has received a 78/100 out of 32 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews. On GameRankings, the game received a 79.71% based on 28 reviews.

As of November 19, 2011, the game is the number one downloaded game on the PlayStation Network, and was the number two downloaded game of November 2011. According to PlayStation Blog, Festival of Blood was the fastest-selling PlayStation 3 downloadable game launched on PlayStation Network, as of December 2011. The record was later surpassed by Journey.

External links

• Infamous: Festival of Blood at Sucker Punch Productions