After an excellent game, composed of many detailed layers, the Spider Man finale is something worthy of discussion. Is it good? Absolutely. Is it great? I’m not sure. Spider Man, as anticipated overcomes this iteration of the Sinister Six and emerges, mostly, victorious.
I say mostly as Peter is left with the heart-breaking decision to selfishly save his aunt or the infected New York populace. Peter seems generally recovered from the loss of his Aunt when we see him in the next cut scene three months later, not struggling with the loss of his final family member too much and moving on with life with Mary Jane and Miles Morales at his side.
The final cut scene (post credits) definitely hints at a sequel with Norman Osborn looking on to take up his throne as the ultimate antagonist of Spider man, Green Goblin. Harry Osborn is also hinted at as becoming our next major antagonist in the form of Venom, the much loved and feared villain (or anti-hero). With any discussion on Venom we also receive thoughts of the even greater threat of Carnage. Perhaps the next Spider Man game will really hone in on the symbiotes and the carnage they cause across New York. What would be particularly imaginative of Insomniac is to allow the player to explore Venoms very own story in a much more frantic and violent manner. We can only wait and see if a discussion on a follow up game is worthwhile.
We also have hints of the possible appearance of Sand man, Mysterio and (hopefully) the return of Shocker (I really enjoyed this version of his character). Some of these iconic figures making their mark would be great! It is also likely that the King Pin himself would make a return running the criminal underworld from his prison cell.
While it is great to speak about the villains that Spider Man may encounter in his journey it may be worthwhile thinking about which friends Spider Man may come across. I personally enjoyed the cameo that Daredevil made in the PS1 game as well as cat woman but if this is likely I couldn’t say with any real hope.
With regards to Peters relationship with Otto Octavius we could really see Peters struggle and perhaps his weakness with his former mentor and father figure. Perhaps Insomniac will continue to build on this relationship with Peter aiming to ‘save’ Otto from his illness and altered personality.
Insomniac has really worked hard to set up a great game with a future and this really seeps though the final moments of the story. However, while the future looks extremely bright for the Marvel game we need to look at what we have from the current game – a great game with a good ending that is satisfying but lacking a real ‘wow’ moment. Of course, this isn’t Insomniacs fault, in a market saturated with superhero stories it cant be easy to create a finale that really shocks us (perhaps Peter Parker could have been killed off to make way for his successor, Miles Morales (that would have been a shocking conclusion). Or perhaps Mary Jane could have also been bitten by the spider that bit Miles, resulting in various Spider characters and introducing a female superhero to the gaming world.
Thanks,
L
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