Infamous: Second Son video game review

In Sony's new superhero fantasy Infamous: Second Son, conflicted antihero Delsin Rowe, whom players will control, is a rabble-rousing Banksy wannabe who discovers his hands can conjure smoke and set the world ablaze. His stenciled graffiti art pokes fun at a police state set in a futuristic Seattle.

Fear brought on by the emergence of humans with superpowers has turned the Pacific Northwest into a society where segregation and surveillance have run amok. Rowe is thrust into the role of unlikely liberator.

Developed by Sony-owned Sucker Punch Productions, Infamous: Second Son also is designed to be a showcase for the PlayStation 4, the system's first major exclusive work that will illustrate the new home console's graceful slickness.

On that level, the game succeeds. Praise to the PlayStation's 4's handling, as the controller is outfitted with a small touch pad that allows heavy gates to be opened with a swipe of the finger. And then there's the look of the game. One of Delsin's superpowers permits him to harness neon light, allowing him to zip through an impressively realized Seattle as a blast of fluorescent pink and blue.

But it's the game's highly politicized undercurrent that serves as its most alluring characteristic. Unmanned drones haunt the skies, fingerprint checkpoints protect entry into Seattle, the government is tapping cellphones and Delsin watches the evening news manipulate his own exploits. Second Son, the third and most topical game in the Infamous series, hints at quite a bit, yet ultimately backs away from most of it. The game ends up content to make allusions rather than stake out a point of view.

RATING T for Teen

PLOT Superhumans pose a super threat to the Seattle of the future.

DETAILS PlayStation 4, $59.99

BOTTOM LINE A worthy initial showcase for the PS4.