Amazing. Spectacular. Superior. Sensational. These are all words that have been used to describe Spider-Man since his inception, but up until now, most of his appearances in games have been mediocre at best, with only a few standout titles even coming close to making gamers feel the power and responsibility placed on the shoulders of one of the world’s most popular superheroes. Does Insomniac Games’ newest release Spider-Man change this? Well, read further to find out, true believer!
Since we all know who Spider-Man is, and if you don’t you should probably come out of your hole and join us in the present day, the game skips over the origin of the hero, putting us in his shoes roughly eight years after his debut, with a number of rogues already established within the game world. His first task is to assist the police in taking Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin into custody, and the game takes no time in getting you used to controlling the titular hero. You’ll jump right into the thick of it on the first mission; no punches are pulled in terms of the enemies it throws your way, with guns being a thing right out of the gate. Much like the rest of the game, the combat takes its cues from the Arkham Asylum series, requiring you to counter or evade your enemies attacks for success, all the while using the various tools at Spidey’s disposal. The combat is fast, precise, and as you progress through the game, becomes as deep as you want it to be. Want to just mess with the enemies using your various forms of webbing? Go for it, although early into the game your limited ammo will make this a less viable option. Want to counter everyone? Go right ahead. If you’re less interested in the nuances of the combat, mashing the square button to pummel their faces in works wonders.
On the opposite side of the spectrum are the stealth segments; these can be fun later in the game, but they stumble early on due to the omission of an assigned button to put the web slinger into stealth mode. In addition to that, some buttons pull double duty as a standard attack and a stealth takedown, resulting in the bad guy getting a weaker punch attack in place of the one and done takedown. Once you are acclimated to the way stealth works, this quickly becomes an easy affair, allowing you to make quick work of even the largest of teams with ease, all while completely silent, zipping from one vantage point to another akin to that caped guy.
The biggest success the game has under its belt is the true feeling of speed and movement while traversing through the city, which never fails to feel truly fun. While this has been something that time and time again gets better as new Spider-Man games see the light of day, swinging through the city never felt this fluid or easy, only getting better as your abilities fully develop. Few open world games succeed in this area, with quick travel becoming more of a staple than it should be. Even with the option fully in place early into the game, I rarely felt it was needed.
The game uses the token upgrade trees that are slowly becoming a staple of any game with unlockable skills. You’ll be given regular upgrade points to level your abilities and specialty tokens to upgrade your tech and costumes as you see fit. Unlike the previously mentioned Arkham series, you can change your costume on the fly, even mid mission. On almost every occasion the suit you choose will be on display during the many cut scenes. Each costume comes standard with a unique power that can be used regularly with the option to mix and match being in place, allowing you to suit up based on the challenge at hand.
The tokens are unlocked by completing side missions or finding collectibles within the wide open city of New York. Keeping in line with other open world games, the map is fairly huge and 100% available to you from the start, with no areas being sectioned off; new tertiary challenges will be added as you progress through the story. There’s less thrilling side quests that often teach you the nuances of some of the more challenging mechanics, timed challenges, parkour style races, photography challenges, as well as backpacks to pick up, all while including small Easter Eggs and nods to the franchise or other Marvel properties. Each type of event offers up different types of tokens, which are used in various combinations to unlock additional equipment, with bonus tokens being up for grabs if you elect to complete optional objectives. The only token that really requires any grinding is the challenge token, earned by meeting score requirements while competing in a few set challenges, making you the best web-slinger you can be.
The story works on many levels, allowing you to take a break from the main narrative at almost any point to stop street crimes or explore the additional content that is packed in, much like a real life super hero would. The biggest issue I had with the story was the pace, with most of the “missions” resulting in being simple transitions depicted via cut scenes, only used for moving the story forward, failing to see the true enemy of the game until well into the second act. It makes some noteworthy changes to the canon, the biggest being MJ featured as a reporter, which I could take or leave. What I wish was left on the cutting room floor were the repeated stealth segments in which you play as MJ or the secondary character that I will leave nameless. Much like Spidey’s stealth actions, these brief times break momentum in what would otherwise be an outstanding experience.
The visuals and sound design are prime examples of why Sony is winning this console generation, with almost flawless execution resulting in photo realistic textures and designs. Spider-Man is hands down one of the best looking games of this console generation, with even the smallest of details being painstakingly recreated. These details include the realistic depictions of real life landmarks strewn across the city, incorporating fictional landmarks as well, such as the Avengers Tower. Just as much effort was put into the character models, with an impressive amount of NPCs that wander about the thriving city, rarely showing the same characters on screen at the same time. Each and every one of Spider-Man’s suits look impeccable, with the mixed textures looking so real they could jump off of the screen. The one area that I was unimpressed with was MJ’s overall look, which not only lacks the detail found in other characters, but she looks so different from the comic book – the only thing they have in common physically is the red hair. In the game, she comes across as a plain looking woman in her 20’s, who looks more like Ellie from The Last of Us than she has any business of, whereas her comic interpretation showcased her as a knock out super model. I know, these are petty complaints, but when the game is this amazing, there isn’t much else to complain about.
The story never lives up to the ridiculously high bar set forth by the Arkham series, but every other facet of Spider-Man delivers. Whether you’re a fan of the hero or amazing games in general, this is one that checks all of the right boxes and deserves your time.
9 out of 10
Pros
- Near Flawless Visuals
- Traversal is Fluid and Fun
- Tons of Costumes/Abilities
- Crazy Amounts of Content
Cons
- MJ
- Story Pacing
- Some Stealth Mechanics/Controls
Spider-Man was developed by Isomniac Games and published Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released on PS4 September 7th, 2018 for $59.99. The game was not provided to us for review. If you’d like to see more of Spider-Man, check out the official site.
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