Spider-Man

Extremely formulaic but polished open-world game. Good if you’re in the mood for that kind of thing. It’s Spider-Man so a lot of the fun is just recognizing characters and places. Wow, there he is…Kingpin! Wow, there it is…Avengers Tower! Welp, enough of that, time to hunt for collectibles.

A very big surprise of a game that takes quite a bit from previusly established comic book/super hero games (Arkham in particular) and ramps it up and improves upon most facets already establisshed. The graphics are impressive, especially the facial animations of the main cast, and overall it is one of the best looking games to date period, though I will say the NPC side characters look a little bland at times. There was a tremendous amount to do, so much so in fact that it became a little unnecessary and overwhelming to finish everything in the end, but that’s better than not having enough. Only real criticism of note would be that it maybe felt a little long and not quite as well paced and tight as I’d hoped, however the characters and story were pretty memorable and well thought out. Overall, this is a pretty awesome game with so much to offer and the sequel is greatly anticipated.

Score Breakdown

“The Tale”
Story- 8
Pacing- 6
Characters- 8
Originality- 7
Linearity- 9
Length- 7
Epicness- 8

“The Presentation”
Visuals- 10
Display- 8
Music- 8
Sound FX- 9

“The Mechanics”
Ease of Use- 8
Innovation- 8
Replayability- 7

The wait for a great Spider-Man game had seemed infinite. Many games have come out from Activision revolving around the web-slinger for years now. But none of them reached that level of polish and fluidity that many people want out of a Spider-Man game. Treyarch’s ‘Spider-Man 2’ was the closest we got to the ideal web-slinging experience. Many years later of crappy games about the hero, Sony regained the rights and gave the reigns to Insomniac games. The studio behind Sunset Overdrive and Ratchet & Clank revealed their new depiction of the hero simply titled ‘Spider-Man’. Two years later the game came out to critical acclaim across the board, and for good reason. This was not only the definitive Spider-Man experience but the best superhero-based game that I’ve ever played.

Of course, one of the main ingredients of a Spider-Man game is the web-swinging. Fortunately, Insomniac understood that it had to be fluid and responsive, so that’s exactly what we got. Just swinging around the city was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in a game. It helped that momentum was also a goal that the team had. Rarely did I ever just get stuck on a surface or ledge. This was by far the best aspect of the game, but that’s not where the studio just stopped and called it a day at. Many other aspects of the game felt just as polished as the web-swinging. Take combat for instance. Comparing this game’s combat system to others like it I can definitely say that this is the best of its kind. Just like the web-swinging, the combat here was so fast-paced yet fluid. Stringing combos together always felt satisfying, mostly because it wasn’t easy. Don’t get me wrong, the controls were solid and easy to learn, but the combat itself was difficult to master. This was elevated by the great AI that would often attack in groups. Sure, they screwed from time to time but as a whole, they gave me a decent challenge most of the time. Of course, there were many other systems that fed into combat, such as gadgets to upgrade, suits to collect with special abilities and leveling up to gain points to gain further combat moves. All these systems came together to create a game that constantly rewarded you. But what’s the point of all these systems if there isn’t anything to use them on.

Most open-world games suffer from busy-work and dull side activities. As for ‘Spider-Man’, I’d say the game was guilty of such activities. However, you’re Spider-Man. This fact alone automatically made these usually boring side activities into exhilarating and addictive tasks. You have your typical towers to hack in order to reveal more of the city, collectibles, etc. Except here towers were quickly dealt with due to Spider-Man’s agility, and collectibles consisted of learning more about this universe. In turn, I felt the incentive to activate these towers to uncover these interesting and charming collectibles. However, these weren’t the only side activities. Harry Osbourn left a decent amount of these “Research Stations” in order to help improve the city from an environmental standpoint. These stations presented an array of fun and interesting agility challenges. Add in Taskmaster who tasks you to partake in fun combat scenario challenges to gain meddles, side missions that take you through fun mini-stories, and challenging crimes and bases to take-down. The only side activity I’d say was boring was Black Cat’s. Her missions tasked you with finding cameras around the city to take a picture of a cat with at different locations. These set of missions never captivated me, but at least it provided with a nice looking suit.

Game-play will always be the key to making a game good, but the narrative will also always be important for games who decide to focus on one. In my opinion, the story presented here was fantastic. My only issues with it had to do with a few of the weak stealth missions with Mary Jane and Miles, and the underdevelopment of Mr. Negative. Other than that I thought narratively speaking this game succeeded with flying colors. First, I thought the use of cheesy humor and dialogue worked fairly well for when it was appropriate. It added to the charm and wit of Peter Parker. Speaking of which, I thought this portrayal of Peter Parker was one of the best we’ve gotten in mainstream media. Not only was he well voice acted, but he was interesting and made mistakes. And ultimately the end of his story was impactful, to say the least. Supporting characters such as Mary Jane, Aunt May, and Miles Morales were all welcome additions adding more of an emotional anchor to Peter. But what about the rogue’s gallery? I’d say it was pretty solid. Nothing crazy or too surprising from what we already knew, but there was one villain who was not exactly surprising but welcomed. Not going to spoil who it was, but let me just say that this character had solid motivations and partook in one of the best and most impactful cutscenes in the game. As a package, the narrative in ‘Spider-Man’ was tightly presented and will be remembered as one of the best game narratives of 2018 in my eyes.

Although ‘Spider-Man’ didn’t blow me away from an originality standpoint, it managed to capture the very best of Spider-Man and polish its features to a tee. Never was I bored or felt anything repetitive. I lost myself within this world for hours upon hours, and I don’t regret one bit of it.

Easily one of the best titles of PS4.

Not even 1 minute from the start, the game is already letting you know how great of a time you’re about to have.

All the way to the end, it’s a super rewarding ride.

Although great fun. It felt like I had already played the game. The story was good. But sometimes the gameplay left me wanting. The webslinging was wonderful but heading to markers just felt like a routine. Particularly with side quests feeling very disappointing, with rarely any worthwhile content involved. Only the two main villains felt like a worthwhile threat, leaving the others to get easily beaten, even when outnumbering you.

I feel like there was a lot of work put into some areas, and not a lot into others, which left me ignoring side content after a point and just cruising through the main story. I enjoyed my time with the game and will be happy to see how the inevitable sequel improves on it but I don’t think I’ll be back to clean up the city’s postgame.

Pfffff what can i say? Hi! XD. No….. The game is absolutely stunning the fight is not like the arkham games its not about button smashing at all, you need to think in fights and i like it. The graphics is amazing! The web swinging is spectacular. The story is good and you feel like they put similar scenes from all the released movies for example train fight or the boat from homecoming is the same. The city could be more life full but its not a problem. And i think the game can handle more main villains than this….. The dlc should be in the game and its okay…..