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Warning! The following review contains minor spoilers for the game in question. So don't complain if anything is spoiled, I warned you.
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Spider-Man's first outing on the PlayStation 4 sets out with one goal and that's to "be greater". Insomniac's decision to set this game eight years after Peter Parker became the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man not only places players in the boots of a more experienced Spider-Man but introduces them to a world of pre-established history and secrets just waiting to be discovered.
I realize how late I am throwing my two cents in on this but after spending so much time with this game, absorbing everything it had, from its in your face action sequences and hard hitting story beats to its obscure Easter eggs and more, finally here is my review of Marvel's Spider-Man
It took me just two days to beat Spider-Man and that's probably down to the fact that I simply didn't stop playing. It than took me a further two days to finish the game 100% and nab the platinum trophy in the process and I have to say I enjoyed every single second of those 96 hours.
Insomniac set out to make a great Spider-Man game and a great Insomniac game and being completely honest I think they succeeded.
Before we talk about Spider-Man and everything he can do, lets take a minute to talk about his playground, New York City.
Of all the Spider-Man games that came before it, Insomniac's take on the city that never sleeps is a sprawling landscape filled to the brim with crime, familiar locations, collectibles and of course the occasional super villain.
The random crime system is a fun addition when you're swinging around but because there are only a limited amount of each crime it can become a little repetitive after a while. There is only so many times I can stop a speeding car the same way before the novelty wears off.
Thankfully Insomniac counteract this by adding in a bunch of collectibles if you're not interested in fighting crime all day. The stand out of these are Peter Parker's old backpacks which are scattered all over Manhattan, each with its own little trinket, if you will, that expands on the already pre-established history in the game.
But the best part of the city, for me anyways, were the landmarks. Not only is the game full of actual landmarks from New York such as the Empire State building and Times Square but also a bunch from other Marvel comics and films like Avengers Tower, Alias Investigations and the Sanctum Sanctorum.
And geographically all these locations have a bit of credibility behind them. For example, Alias Investigations and Nelson and Murdoch: Attorneys at Law can both be found in Hell's Kitchen while the Sanctum Sanctorum sits right next to Washington Square Park like it is in the MCU.
In short Spider-Man's open world feels alive and one that could exist not only in the real world but also in the fictional superhero setting the developers have created.
Now lets dive into the gameplay shall we? Lets start off with the main feature this game has to offer, the web-swinging.
Swinging around the dense locale of New York City has never felt better. The web-swinging in this game not only looks great but feels great. It's very obvious that Insomniac Games looked to past Spider-Man games when designing the web-swinging, right from the get-go everything feels natural and while there is a small learning curve to the swinging, once you pick it up you'll be soaring through the New York skyline looking and feeling, amazing.
via GIPHY
Now when it gets to the combat it's pretty obvious that Insomniac Games took a few pages out of Rocksteady's book, it's very much akin to the Batman: Arkham style but rather than button mashing and knocking enemies about left, right and center, Spider-Man encourages you to be a little more tactical, using aerial attacks, web-strikes and gadgets to beat your foes.
Every attack you land will build up focus which is essentially your bread and butter in combat. Focus allows Spider-Man to dish out special take downs but also, if you wish, can be spent regenerating health and you'll be surprised how often you'll be doing this. Nailing that perfect dodge isn't as easy as it looks.
Spider-Man of course comes with its fair share of usual suspects in action games. I am of course talking about the various enemy types. You have your grunts, heavies, the ones with shields and the ones with sticks that you can't hit unless you do something first. Games like the Arkham series, Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor, all of which use a similar combat system have these types of enemies but Spider-Man breaks its enemy types into factions such as, thugs, prisoners, Fisk thugs, demons and Sable agents with each faction being tougher than the one before it.
In other words, the Sable agents hit harder than the average thug.
But of course this wouldn't be an Insomniac game without the gadgets. Using a similar layout to the weapon wheel in Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man has a collection of little gadgets and gizmos that aid in combat and while all are great in their own way but I found that I was only using three or four for the entire game. Web-shooters, impact web, web-grenade and the trip mines are probably the best of the lot and switching between them to take down the various enemy types regularly can turn a fight from mediocre button mashing to something quite tactical and stylish.
Like the swinging the combat also has a learning curve to it, one that took me a quite a while to master, but once you have the slightest grasp on how to perfectly blend all these moves together combat feels so much more satisfying and stylish.
But combat gets really interesting when you introduce suit powers into the mix.
Like the more recent Spider-Man games, suits are a big part of this game. The two Amazing Spider-Man titles had a variety of suits but I always felt they were more cosmetic than anything else. In this game however each suit not only looks great but each comes with its own individual suit power and each suit power gives you that little bit of edge during combat.
Each suit power is unique in its own way and depending on how you want to play you can choose your suit power accordingly. For example if you're the kind of player who likes to take down enemies as quickly as possible then use Web-blossom because it is ideal for crowd control.
The best part about the suit powers however is that once they're unlocked you can use them with any suit.
Take the Iron Spider suit which is of course taken from Avengers: Infinity War. This comes with an awesome suit power where spider arms come out of Spider-Man's back and increase the amount of damage you can deal. I love this suit power and while the suit itself looks amazing, it's not my favorite to wear but because I can use suit powers with whatever suit I want it just means I can "look the way I want and play the way I want" (hands down the best thing Bryan Intihar has said throughout the promotion for this game!)
I realize the picture above is not the Iron Spider but it's close enough I guess...
Honestly though the weakest part of the suits are the suit mods. Suit mods are pretty much perks, just added aid to help you along in a fight. There is a whole bunch of them to unlock but honestly I found myself using the same ones throughout the entire game, these were of course added ballistic and melee and a focus booster. I did try the other suit mods but honestly the three I had for most of the game were the most practical.
But the gameplay is not all about Spider-Man. There will be times where you have to play as Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson and Miles Morales. Playing as Peter Parker usually requires you to walk around and play a few mini games to advance but this never felt like a chore and playing as Peter Parker allows you to see a side to the world that Spider-Man would never be able to show the player.
In other words it's great playing Spider-Man but it's just as good playing as Peter Parker.
Now playing as Mary Jane or Miles Morales is when things get really interesting. These sequences usually involve you sneaking around a heavily guarded area and while at times they can feel forced I have to admit I really enjoyed them. At one point Miles goes head to head with Rhino, a situation which is extremely tense as you've no actual way of fighting Rhino and he is huge.
Moving right along into the story this honestly feels like the one aspect that I was worried for the most. Nailing a story in a superhero game is tough, not only do you have to craft an original story for the game but you also have to take into consideration the established lore of comics and such because if you didn't you'd pretty much divide a fan base.
Luckily Spider-Man has a brilliant, if not slightly conventional story. I particularity liked the fact that Insomniac chose to use Mr. Negative as the main antagonist for most of the game. He was a breath of fresh air, a villain that not many fans of previous Spider-Man games would know very well. Of course the more traditional Spider-Man villains such as Electro, Vulture and Rhino show up eventually and that's really when the story flies off the rails.
And before we go any further that while it was so blatantly obvious that Doc Ock was going to take the rains from Mr. Negative eventually I didn't mind this and instead couldn't wait to see the calm and kind Otto Octavius embrace his darker side. All in all the inclusion of Doc Ock and classic Spider-Man villains was a smart choice from Insomniac.
But unfortunately the story does suffer from some good old fashioned predictability. While it's not apparent at every twist, it does kind of ruin the dramatic reveal when it does finally decide to show itself. Funnily enough though this game also has the ability of throwing you completely for a loop, dropping emotional bombs on you right when you least expect it and oh boy, they hit home really hard.
All of this, of course, would be nothing without the superb voice acting. Yuri Lowenthal, Laura Bailey, William Saylers and all the main cast deliver their lines spectacularly. Not one piece of dialog feels out of place or badly acted which is perfect for pulling you right into the immersion.
Finally lets talk about how this game looks.
I don't like talking about graphics in reviews, I really don't. Sure there's an expectation with modern games to look great but I would rather see a game boast awesome gameplay and an engaging story than have both of those elements suffer because the developers wanted to make their game pretty. With that said we have to talk about the graphics because, oh damn son, this game is whopper fine looking.
Character models look great, New York City looks great, Insomniac even went out of their way to model little rooms inside windows which just adds a whole new level of depth to the city. Every individual suit has its own unique look and don't even get me started on the lighting. Whether it's early morning or late evening this games lighting is incredible and completely changes the look of the city. Times Square is cool to look at but Times Square at night is a whole other thing. I stood there for ten minutes just soaking in the pretty lights.
Overall Marvel's Spider-Man is a brilliant experience and while there was so much doubt that Insomniac wouldn't be to pull it off I am extremely glad that they did. I have loved every minute of this game and honestly I cannot wait for the DLC just so I have an excuse to go back and play more.
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