Players earn points toward new skills by completing story missions and side missions, or grabbing floating red globes called lumens which are sprinkled throughout Seattle. Like Second Son, Infamous: First Light features an extensive skill tree, though it's far more intuitive in the newer game. This makes the neon dash not just the best way to flit around the map, but the act of dashing around like an elemental made of burning noble gas is thrilling and satisfying by itself, even before you start combining the dash with your leaping abilities to grab those high-flying, precious lumens. As in Second Son, the dash allows Fetch to sprint around the city, climbing walls and leaping from rooftops with ease, but the First Light incarnation of this power is far less likely to get hung up on nearby geometry, suddenly stopping our heroine's momentum. Speed is a theme for the character, and one of the first powers Fetch learns to use is the aforementioned neon dash first seen in Second Son. Not just a flashy stunt, this addition makes hand-to-hand combat more useful, as even in large groups of gun-toting foes Fetch can alternate the standard punch combo with explosive dropkicks to quickly clear everyone out. Melee combat now features a finishing attack which launches Fetch into a neon-fueled dropkick that instantly destroys all but the most powerful enemies. More importantly, developer Sucker Punch has done a fantastic job identifying which gameplay aspects of Second Son were most entertaining, then stripping out the less fun parts in favor of new tricks. Her predecessor's blandness, meanwhile, did its best to ensure that less than a year after release I'd have to look up Delsin's name just so the references in this paragraph would make sense. It's hard not to cheer Fetch's joyful glee at blasting DUP soldiers with finger lasers, or crushing a few dozen simultaneously via swirling pink neon singularity. Where Delsin always felt like a petulant brat, unsure of his burgeoning superpowers and moral imperatives, Fetch is a grizzled street tough who views her laser shows as the ultimate high and revels in her newfound power. Fetch is a more complex, believable character than Delsin Rowe, with a traumatic backstory that more than justifies her cynical attitude and general distrust of others. According to the devs, First Light boasts improved graphics, new superpowers and even an enhanced Photo Mode, but are these new gameplay wrinkles as brilliant as our heroine's own bolts of light, or do they fizzle out like so many garish signs drained of their luminous neon gas as Fetch strolls by? Either way, any excuse to flood Seattle with a deadly light show is a good one, so it's time once again to play superhero in the Emerald City.For the majority of its too-short runtime, Infamous: First Light weaves a story far superior to the plot in Infamous: Second Son. Set two years prior to the events of Second Son, First Light follows Fetch through a story of deceit, revenge and cathartic destruction.

Now, developer Sucker Punch has returned to virtual Seattle with a prequel, dubbed Infamous: First Light, starring the neon conduit herself, Abigail 'Fetch' Walker.

'Sublime' is a hyperbolic descriptor, but 'wicked rad' is an apt substitute. Sprinting up buildings while trailing a day-glo zephyr of light in your wake was the defining experience of the early days of the PlayStation 4, and rarely has an open-world game offered such gratifying freedom of movement. Categorically, objectively, spiritually incorrect.

Got your answer? If it's anything other than the 'neon dash' ability, I'm sorry, but you're just incorrect. Think back: What was the best part of Infamous: Second Son? Was it the Seattle skyline? The inventive, elemental superpowers? Delsin's clichГ© toque? Go ahead, I'll give you a moment.

Infamous first light abigail