The newest version of Spider Man has room for improvement but leaves little more to be desired. It ticks all of the boxes we could expect from a superhero game, especially one like Spider Man and achieves an excellent story all the while! This is a Short breakdown of all the important things with a final verdict as to why you should buy/play Spider Man!

 

*There will be spoilers and talk of the games details and Easter Eggs so please be warned*

Swinging

First, as with every Spider-Fan the biggest concern is how well does the webslinger swing? The controls are relatively simple, pressing/holding R2 to swing in a continuous manner. This may feel basic but there is a sense of second nature to it as a mechanism – you will be swinging around the map for the entire game, therefore a long and convoluted style of movement would become tiresome and a burden more than a pleasure. Insomniac have got this perfect – not only does swinging become second nature to us but we are made to feel as if our seasoned Spider Man also swings across the city as if it is second nature to him also.

Of course, the more you play the more you can recognise the smaller details to swinging across the city, using objects as landing spots to propel yourself forward at a faster rate. This is a skill that is easy to pick up and easy to misuse, therefore, in order for you to become the master webslinger that Perter Parker is you need to judge every swing and choose your directs right.

I prefer to play close to the ground swinging just above the streets only swinging through the sky at times when it is necessary or just to change up my style. Skimming over the floor makes it feel as if you are moving at a quicker rate but does slow you down navigating tight corners and tall buildings. Pick your style according to your own tastes is something I would recommend, you feel a greater sense of control over the game – don’t just pick the fastest method, have some fun with it.

Fighting

The game allows you to stretch yourself to some extent but can become repetitive. There are various enemies to fight from various factions e.g. Mister Sensitives Corrupt army or the Ryker Prisoners and Sables mercenaries. One problem for me is the much-recycled system of bad guy classes (standard, shields, brutes, elite). Many games make use of a tiered system of bad guys starting with the common soldier and moving up to shielded bad guys then the large brute and finally an elite fighter and this can result in the game feeling a little stilted at times, fights are more of an inconvenience than a challenge to be worked through.

The brute class were a thorn in my side as I would just leave them to the end to be mopped up but could really get in the way. Similar are the later jetpacked mercenaries who were yet an extra inconvenient but do, pleasantly force, a change in fighting style. By having different factions who, more or less, follow the same tiered pattern can become boring as you zip from one to the other punching and dodging effortlessly. I would have liked to see more gruelling enemies who utilise their surroundings to give you a real fight, maybe in lesser numbers to make up for this.

The basic square, circle, triangle formulae for most fighting combos is nice enough and easy to pick up. Once you have, however, you are unlikely to REALLY struggle in combat (halfway through there is a definite rise in difficulty but you adapt fast to this new level).

 

Health, maps and gear

Health is monitored by a bar in the top left of the screen as is most of your gear information, including your ‘focus’ which can be used to revive lost health, or complete one hit finisher moves. This is a nice and easy system to use and becomes second nature to check on during conflict. I wouldn’t say that it is a resounding shakeup of health systems, but it works well and efficiently, so I can’t complain.

As for the maps in the game, the onscreen mini map is helpful, but it is vastly easier to set waypoints on the main map and simply follow the marker. I would wish that, like Assassins Creed you could have the option to hide certain markers from the map – for instance, I would have liked to hide completed side quests from the map but couldn’t see how to do this anywhere.

Gear is a little useless at times ad not really a necessary feature in many ways. I felt that the loadouts were pretty pointless and there more for show than any other real use (I only switch loadout if the mission requires it). I have enjoyed the suit abilities however, finding this very useful and fun to play around with. One example is the Iron Spider legs which can b deployed to make combat slightly easier against those foes with shields etc. I found that this was a nice way to change up my fighting style – I personally favour the EMP power which stuns your enemies and forces them to drop their weapons. Again, gear is all about having a play and finding what fits you best!

 

Story

For the story. I love a good solid campaign that really shows it is invested in the characters and villains.

This part will contain spoilers for the game – you have been warned.

The story is well thought out but doesn’t quite play out the way it was made out to in the trailers with the sinister six seeming to be the primary focus. It actually took me a good long while to meet the villains in the story beyond Mister Negative. The one thing I do applaud is the use of the characters. Mister Negative is superbly interwoven into the story and is a refreshing villain for Spider Man to face away from Green Goblin and the regulars (although many of them do feature in the stories. I loved fighting against the villains from the sinister six but was a little disappointed by how little you get to see of them – Rhino particularly was a great antagonist to be faced with but totally underused.

On an up note – the time invested into Doctor Octopus was spectacular and I genuinely believed that he wouldn’t become a villain in this game – until he did. Doc Oc was well developed and was a character we could all empathise with, falling ill to a serious disease and being pushed on by his resentment and jealousy for his former partner, Norman Osborn. Everything about this character made sense to me and his relationship with Peter made his development into the key antagonist all the more emotional.

I have to mention the importance to the story of Peter Parker being a more seasoned Spider Man. We don’t get to see his origin because we all already know it (or at least we should after the countless recreations of the charter)! Peter has fought many of his enemies before and as Tombstone (a side quest villain) reveals Peter has suffered many serious injuries as his time as a hero. As a young man he has experienced a lost love but also the rekindling of that love by way of the famous Mary Jane.

There is a wealth of detail to go into about the characters and their backstories, but I would recommend you play this game to its fullest to gain the ultimate experience.

 

Other playable characters

As the sub heading suggests, yes, you can and will play as more than one character. Mary Jane and Miles Morales make for a fun break from web swinging and are certainly more challenging to play as, being forced to play worth strategy more than combat.

I would say that from what I have seen so far, Miles and Mary Jane have the potential to go on into future games and become of key importance – perhaps leading to a Miles Morales games of its own?

 

Side Quests

What can I say here? There are plenty of side quests to get on with that earn you tokens that can be spent on upgrades and new skins (coming up soon). The side quests are fun and sometimes tricky but can also get repetitive – I play games very methodically completing one series of challenges before moving on to the next set of challenges. Some challenges are more fun than others, I particularly enjoyed the challenges set by Taskmaster. You will need to explore the wealth of other side quests to learn more about how the game is built up and brought together.

Collectables and photography

As with any open world game there are plenty of collectables ranging from Peters old school bags that he left ebbed up around New York when he was in school to taking photographs of iconic locations around New York such as the Avengers Tower which supposedly ‘nobody uses’ as all the Avengers are off somewhere, possibly the west coast as peter explains.

One series of side quests worthy of note from me are the Pidgeon quests. It sounds crazy, but I found them fun and J Jonah Jameson has some fun rants on the radio about Peter being a bird eating Spider Man. Definitely keep an eye out for these missions.

 

Skins

My favourite part of this game was the skins. I loved collecting them throughout the game and actually spent time completing all the side quests in a set in the hope of unlocking a new skin. I won’t reveal too much about these, but the iron Spider is pretty cool to see in action as is the display covers white spider. Of course, what is spider man without his black suit – after all, it looks cool. I would suggest just playing around with the game and unlocking them all, some give you cool and unique abilities as earlier discussed.

 

Graphics

The graphics are well done for me. I don’t require the best quality in the world when I am playing a game, all I need is an immersive story and lovable characters to fully engage. That being said, Spider Man doesn’t disappoint, the cutscenes are realistic and detailed, the characters look human and I can’t find anything to fault. While it may not be as visually stunning as some games, the mechanics work without a glitch. I would say that it is a good-looking game, not amazing, but it is irrelevant to the overall enjoyability of the game.

 

Future

Until I complete the game I cannot make a total judgement on whether there is a future Spider Man game to come but from what I have seen and hope, yes there will be. Name drops that appear throughout the game suggest that the universe may be ready to expand beyond this game, or perhaps DLC will follow fleshing out the Spider-verse some more.

Miles Morales could have his own story start off or perhaps Mary Jane could get her own story taken from the comics in which she and Peter are literally partners as Spider Man and Woman.

 

Easter Eggs

SO MANY. I don’t know all of the Spider Man lore, but I know enough about marvel and Spider Man that I can recognise many of the name drops and references. Seeing Hells Kitchen and Harlem in New York is made all the more fun by key landmarks Such as Josies, where Netflix’s Matthew Murdock and Foggy Nelson frequent. You can find Rand Tower in the city also.

When fining collectables around the map name drops include Eddie Brock, Mysterio and Sandman. All of which alludes to Spider Mans past and possible future. I wont spoil any more as you should go and find them all for yourself.

 

Rating

I would give Insomniacs version of Spider Man a solid 7.5 out of ten. I think it is one of the best games released for a long time, bringing out the best of the marvel world, and hopefully will lead to an even better sequel that could possibly include venom and carnage, both fan favourites! Maybe we might even get to see something of the other Avengers (Daredevil, get off your butt and help Spidey clean up the streets of Hell’s Kitchen why don’t’cha?!) Hopefully we could see something of Peter Parkers of love rivals such as Cat woman! Let’s hope Insomniac get the encouragement and funding to proceed with a second story!

 

Thanks for Reading,