Empire City has been cordoned off as a biohazard. A convenient enough device for a game looking to establish boundaries to its open world, but also neatly tying into the origin story for our protagonist, Cole. Shortly after his home is shattered by a mysterious blast, Cole awakes in the rubble to find himself imbued with electrical powers and, as the city falls to civil unrest, the player can choose how to employ them: do you become a defender of the innocent or rule Empire through fear?

Our demo session of the game resolutely fails to answer the question of just how substantial the effects of such a choice will be. It seems as though being good amounts to defibrillating citizens when they get caught in the crossfire between you and the gangs that have taken over the city – which, in this demonstration, are represented by a large number of identical gun-toting gang-bangers. Having zapped a few thugs, Cole demonstrates his Altaïresque climbing abilities, scaling a lamppost before leaping on to a building.

Cole can use streetlamps and other electrical sources as a means of drawing power and healing – a facility which Sucker Punch periodically denies through blackouts in order to increase tension. This happens at one point in our demonstration as Cole encounters another super-powered citizen.

Cole’s opponent, a ghostly figure in a hoodie, has the ability to warp short distances, making him tricky to hit with the usual point-to-point electrical blasts – instead, Cole summons down a huge lightning strike from the sky, evaporating his enemy and tossing cars into the air.

Many questions remain about Infamous – one of the largest being how much the decision to help people actually affects the world. Will the game drive towards making your actions feel significant, or simply aim to give players a super-charged sandbox – a high-voltage version of Crackdown?