Marvel's Spider-Man

Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4)

Does Whatever a Spider Can

Score: 9/10

Sixteen years ago Spider-Man 2 came out, changing the face of superhero games at that time. It showed us that web swinging in a giant, open world was something everyone wanted to do. Seven years later, Batman: Arkham Asylum released changing the format even further with free-flowing combat, tons of super-villains to fight, and puzzles to crack. Now, Spider-Man, developed by the ever lovable Insomniac Games, takes those concepts and throws them into an incredible experience from start to finish. Marvel’s Spider-Man is among the handful of games that prove that video games can be art just like any film can be, despite some repetitive gameplay.

       Marvel’s Spider-Man establishes its own story and continuity for the web-crawler. It doesn’t take from any specific story like the movies. Instead, it takes characters we already know and love and changes them up to fit a completely unique narrative. This version of Spider-Man finds Peter Parker out of college and struggling to balance his personal life with his crime-fighting life. After Spider-Man finally puts away Wilson Fisk (King Pin), a terrorist dubbed Mr. Negative appears and begins to take control of the city in order to set in motion a much grander scheme. Throughout the story,  Peter is constantly called to be somewhere normal, but Spider-Man needs to track down some criminals instead. This leads to a very realistic exhaustive feeling anyone can relate to. The dynamic between Peter and Spidey is nothing new. However, it’s everything around Peter that is different. Mary Jane is a heavy hitter as a Daily Bugle reporter, a giant step up from doing basically nothing in the comics except lead Peter on. Miles Morales from Ultimate Spider-Man also appears. These two are playable for certain missions and it changes up the gameplay in refreshing ways.

        Every character, hero or villain, brings memorable moments to the story. Peter is insanely likable as just Peter, and the bad jokes and quips run from his mouth like water when he’s Spider-Man. Aunt May keeps Peter grounded in the worst of times, and Mary Jane has a surprising amount of personality and kills it as sidekick/ love interest. J. Jonah Jameson even makes an appearance as a knock-off Alex Jones podcaster, which makes way too much sense in retrospect. Widely known villains such as Rhino, Vulture, Scorpion, Electro, and a few other couple others I will not spoil make explosive appearances and fun as hell boss fights. Mr. Negative has easily removed himself from the Marvel C-list now and will likely become a household name like any other big Spidey villain. Lesser known villains such as Black Cat and Task Master round out a section of the side content, but their inclusion is still really fun. Everyone has a personality that is derived from their comic counterparts, but new designs and motivations make every twist and turn with these characters still feel new for even veteran comic fans.

       Despite all the fun and games, the story gets dark. Like really dark. Bombings and mass executions happen in multiple scenes, and while they are not overly bloody or profanity-riddled, it still startled me how dark some of the scenes are. I did not see certain parts of the ending coming at all, and it sets up for a sequel that will easily be more action-packed than this game. Everything left me feeling as if I had just watched an MCU film, leading me to throw a string of speculation at my girlfriend who was still crying over the heartbreaking ending she had not signed on to watch.
         Anyway, enough swooning over the story. Everything else about the game is what brings the experience out. City traversal is identical to Spider-Man 2, with webs being anchored on buildings, and using momentum gets you where you need to go. However, style is just as important as physics in this entry. You can perform tricks, zip around corners, and fly through the air at Mach speeds to each destination. It’s possible to get from one side of the map to another in a matter of minutes once you get the swinging down. Swinging is so fun and rewarding I rarely used the Fast Travel System. Fast Travel is nice to have if you need it, it even rewards you with funny scenes of Spider-Man on the subway, but again, it’s really an after thought after a while since the alternative is so freaking fun.

         The game also enables you to create your own Spider-Man. This is something that really speaks to me. While his personality may not change throughout the game, I felt pride in knowing I was crafting the best possible combat experience for myself when I wasn’t watching the set story. There are skill trees to gain perks from and many different gadgets and Spider-suits to craft. Each Suit has an ability you can mix and match, so you can look like the best possible Spidey, and fight like one too. Abilities are interchangeable mid-combat to fit the situation you are in as well. Combat is identical to the Batman Arkham games, albeit more finely tuned to fit Spider-Man’s movements. It’s so finely tuned there is a somewhat frustrating learning curve at the start of the game, but after a couple hours of practice and upgrading, you will really come into your own.
        Exploring Manhattan is a blast. The map is insanely beautiful and the city is uncannily lifelike. People call up to you and ask for pictures, car accidents and arguments occur in the streets, and people are relaxing on rooftop verandas. You can’t go inside every building, but you can creepily look into windows and see evidence of people living inside. Photo mode will also take up a large chunk of play time. This mode pauses the game and lets you take a screenshot of the action around you and then add filters and frames to it. It is a trend a lot of games are jumping on, and I hope it keeps gaining traction. Fun Fact: Almost all of the pictures in this review were taken by me or my girlfriend via Photo Mode

         There is a plethora of side content to keep you busy in the hyper detailed map if aimless exploring isn’t your style. You can find backpacks with Spider-Man artifacts inside, take pictures of New York and Marvel landmarks, take down bases owned by King Pin and Mr. Negative, and what may be the most riveting collectible in any game ever: Chase Pigeons. The fact that I could only catch twelve of the little bastards made me want to take the game back, but I looked past this and grew as a person. That said, the content gives you a steady stream of things to do, but this is also were the games falters if only slightly. The side content is pretty repetitive. Most enemy encounters boil down to a simple "go to a marked location, beat up bads in an arena-style style match-up, rinse, repeat." format.
        Enemy types are limited, and the content that strays from straight combat is too far and in between comparatively. Taking on a Taskmaster Challenge or tracking down Black Cat is fun, but there is only a handful of these distractions throughout the city. There are also themed side-missions that feature characters from the expanded Spider-Man lore, but again, I just don’t feel like there was enough of them. Despite the repetitive nature, I was always engrossed in what I was doing. I was taken out of the game from time to time after stopping the same crime three times in a row. This was usually followed by Spidey spouting the same quip afterward too. Despite this, I kept going back in, because I was able to change up the fight how I wanted. Overall the story alone will take you about 18-20 hours with the side content fluffing up the experience to about 30 hours. It makes for a meaty game, even if it is not The Witcher 3 levels of gigantic.
       I don’t look at the repetitiveness as a failure on Insomniac’s part as some others might. Yes, I am doing the same thing over and over again, but this is easily one of the biggest undertaking Insomniac has ever taken on, and I think they played it safe this time. We can cut them some slack. Based on popular consensus, and some turns the story took, I think the next game will go even bigger. If no one took to the concept of a truly open world Spider-Man game, then why continue a franchise. Insomniac is well known for hearing what fans want, and I think that they will look at the minor complaints of receptiveness, and do their best to fix it. It is only a matter of time before we have a truly dynamic superhero experience the likes of which none of us has ever seen.

- Picture Courtesy of Crystal Sherbondy