What's not to love about Infamous?

No, really, I'm asking.

I know this might be a little dated, given that this game came out almost a year ago, but I've only just gotten to this game in my big stack of unplayed, well-reviewed titles.

I've played through a fair chunk of Infamous, probably logged 5-6 hours so far, and it is a solid sandbox action game. It moves along at a good pace, has a fairly interesting sci-fi storyline, and some pretty entertaining superpower mechanics. I've enjoyed what I've played so far, and as such I have eaten up every sidequest possible up to where I am in the game.

So, why don't I love it?

The closest analogy I can come up with is that playing Infamous, for me, has been like watching TV late at night. I am clearly finding some entertainment value in what I'm doing, because I sit there doing it...but I'm not sure what that value is.

The game is pretty well put together, top to bottom, but it's like it doesn't have a heart - I don't care about any of the characters, I don't care about the people I'm saving. The game appears to have a mechanic that the city's population celebrate my heroic deeds, apparently by having some schmuck run up to me, point at me in an exaggerated way and then run off, or by my friend Zeke popping on the radio to tell me people are putting up posters of me around the city. It's a nice aesthetic touch, but really, I don't care much about it. I'm more worried about increasing my completion percentage than I am about whether a random bystander accidentally gets hit by a flying car.

And what's with the guy playing the main character? I know we can't have Nolan North play the role of every hero, but it probably doesn't help that the main protagonist Cole seems about as charismatic as a broken blender, with a voice to match. Maybe that's where the disconnect lies? Cole doesn't seem too concerned about anything that's happening either, presumably because of the morality system - he's got to play neutral until you decide whether he's going to do what's right or what's easy.

I suppose this makes Infamous seem like a bad game. It's not. It's really not. It's got a lot going for it. At the end of the day, I'm going to keep playing because of the neat gameplay and to see / mess around with Cole's other powers, but I think what keeps this game from being truly great is the disconnect that I've described above. I don't really feel involved with Cole or any of the characters. I'm entertained, but not engaged. And that's too bad, because all the right elements are there for a great experience, but they don't quite seem to fit.