Spider-Man vs. Infamous
Story and Setting
Both Infamous and Spider-Man use their setting as almost secondary settings, recreating real-life cities in stunning detail. With Infamous, players get to explore a stunning recreation of Seattle. Dark alleyways are ripe for exploring, neon signs glow in the rain-soaked night, and steam rises from manholes. It’s a gorgeous recreation of the rainy city, and jumping around it can be a real joy. Second Son’s story meanwhile introduces a brand new hero, the rebellious Delsin Rowe. Much of the story deals with Delsin coming to terms with his newfound Conduit powers, and discovering a wider world of other Conduits around him.
Second Son’s story does go to some interesting places, especially with the whole superheroes being criminals theme. The moral choices of Infamous make the game’s story much grittier than that of Spider-Man, and as a whole the Infamous series is a little more grounded than your normal superhero story. Even with what Infamous does well, though, Spider-Man’s story weaves an emotional web filled with big surprises and twists. Insomniac made a bold, and wise, choice with Spider-Man by creating an entirely new universe with a story we haven’t seen, instead of retreading old ground already seen in the comics or movies. This version of Peter Parker has eight years of experience as Spider-Man, and he’s much more comfortable in his role as a hero. The story weaves in a ton of different characters from Spidey’s history, and it does a great job of really making you feel like Spider-Man, through a combination of straight up great gameplay and crazy set pieces.
At the same time, Spider-Man’s version of New York is a massive environment with tons to see and do, and it almost feels like a character in and of itself. There’s a ton of little touches put into the game to make the world feel richer, like being able to greet citizens, crawling up walls and seeing in rooms in buildings, or Spidey taking the subway for fast travel. New York feels vibrant and alive at every point, and as with most pieces of Spider-Man media, the hero is inexplicably tied to the city.
Infamous definitely has an interesting story and setting, but in terms of making you feel like a hero, Spider-Man definitely takes the cake. It’s no small feat, and has only been achieved by a handful of other games, like Batman: Arkham City.
Winner: Spider-Man
