"Nasal drip".

This phrase will be forever lodged in my memory. While I don’t remember too many sermons from my childhood church days, one stands out in particular due to its elegant euphemistic skill. Our minister described a moment from a movie in which an actor accidentally lost some "nasal drip" during a dinner scene - our minister knew more ways to smile than dirty words, and utterance of the word "snot" was far beyond his sensibilities. As he described, the drip fell off screen to lands unknown, but he postulated that had it fallen in anyone’s drink that they’d steer well clear. He then broadened the idea, stating that even if a man had the cleanest, clearest cup of water on the entire world, the smallest bit of "nasal drip" would contaminate the whole lot.

Knock knock! ...come on folks, perk up! This is a good one! KNOCK KNOCK!

The ultimate point of this allusion was that any amount of evil would corrupt an otherwise upstanding person. While that may or may not be the case, I’m going to apply the same idea to something I’m far more qualified to talk about. It was playing Infamous that summoned up recollections of this quaint phrase and its associated lesson. Infamous is an altogether capable game, fun by all traditional metrics. But even though upgradable powers, free-roaming environments, cool superpowers, and great looking cut scenes provide a cup of crystal clear water, a nasal drip’s worth of voice acting spoils the whole thing.

This caused me no shortage of dismay, but not because I’m particularly attached to the game or its creators. For many reviewers/writers/denizens of message boards, Infamous is one of those games that people use to prove that the PS3 is really good at playing games really seriously. I tend not to care. I have, however, held that if a game’s core mechanic is fun enough to play, players can and should overlook niggling little problems; if the water’s good enough, overlook the nasal drip. Why is it that I’ve been able to overlook small problems in games like Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia, and Mirror’s Edge, but now I find Infamous’ niggles untenable?