Reading yesterday's list of the top ten stupid things about Infamous, you might have gotten the impression that I didn't like the game. You'd be wrong. I quite liked it. It's a solid action game that happens to have some really clumsy stuff in it. If I had to rate it on a scale from Godfather II to Far Cry 2, I'd put Infamous above Mercenaries 2 but below Assassin's Creed. I'll let you do the math on what sort of rating that would be. Meanwhile, here are the reasons I liked the game.

After the jump are ten cool things about Infamous.

10) Awesome opening. Your first view of the game when Infamous boots up, and then the brief introductory sequence when you press the start button, is remarkably effective.

9) The checkpoints within missions made dying and retrying painless, even during traditionally annoying missions like "escort the target" and "protect the target". There was no mission that couldn't be completed with minimal persistence. Infamous can be challenging, but it's never punishing.

8) You might not remember a 1977 movie called The Gauntlet in which Clint Eastwood drives a tricked-out armored bus through several city blocks of sustained gunfire. But I do. And so does Infamous.

7) The electricity theme might feel a bit forced - couldn't they have gone with "gamma energy" or "bioflux lifeforce" or "blue crackle"? - but Sucker Punch knows how to commit and see it through. Cole's powers, how he replenishes them, and even how he interacts with the environments and the inhabitants all make for a great example of creative unity. It might not make sense, but it's nothing if not consistent.

6) The graphics look soupy at times, but they serve the gameplay perfectly. Infamous does not suffer from slowdown, or a lack of detail, or bad wonky physics. Saints Row 2 might have better gameplay and Grand Theft Auto IV might have better graphics, but both of those games are lacking in graphics and gameplay, respectively. Infamous, on the other hand, is the "just right" compromise where the technology and gameplay are a perfect tuned to each other.

5) As you choose to do good things, people snap your picture. Cute, but I already saw that trick in the last Spider-Man game, so it doesn't count as one of the cool things in Infamous. However, the one I liked was seeing the citizens throw rocks at the evil gangs once you've cleaned up the streets a bit. Go, bystanders! Let he who is without themed gang garb throw the first stone!

4) No multiplayer. You might think this would go under the "ten stupid things" list. But I admire a developer that doesn't feel the need to waste resources shoehorning in some sort of obligatory multiplayer support. Co-op would make no sense in Infamous and competitive games would just be a quickly forgotten side show. Whatever time Sucker Punch didn't spend on multiplayer was probably time well spent.

3) The powers in Infamous are spectacular. It's better to let them unfold for you as you play rather than read about them in a review, so I'll refrain from specifics. They're central to how Infamous is superbly paced. As it progresses, the gameplay evolves along with Cole's powers, which keeps thing fresh throughout, even if the city itself is pretty dull.

2) The cover system is flexible enough to let you switch hands when you're slinging superpowers, which makes a difference based on how you're looking around a corner or over a ledge. What's more, you can easily fight bad guys on top of a building while you're dangling from the edge of the roof. It's even easy to fight while clinging to the side of a building. I might have accidentally stuck to a low ledge or rail on occasion, but when it came to fighting bad guys, I never once felt the geometry of the city was a liability instead of an asset.

1) "You are powerful. As Infamous progresses, you get more powerful." Those ten words are Infamous in a nutshell. Never mind the godawful story, bad writing, shallow characterization, and mostly uninspired world building. The bottom line is that Infamous is a game about wielding superpowers (I never once wished I had a gun). It accomplishes this goal admirably, gradually scaling up your power in gratifying increments until, finally and literally, the sky is the limit.

So there you go. Infamous comes out on May 26th. If this list makes the wait too difficult, simply read up on the top ten stupid things to temper your enthusiasm.