Release Date: 07/09/2018
Played On: PS4
Available On: PS4
Time Played: 29h 54m
Progress: 100% Complete / Platinum Trophy
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
At times it feels like 2018 has been the year of over-hyped games, but maybe that's just my own perception messing with my mind. After all, I was never going to be all that interested in a Spider-Man game, no matter how well received it ended up being.
I'm the guy who thinks the Marvel movies are all terrible, even though I've only seen a handful of them. I didn't like any of the Spider-Man movies, and I've never been too interested in anything related to the spandex crowd of super heroes.
So when Marvel's Spider-Man was released and my Twitter feed was congested with praise for the game, I didn't take much notice. I never played the fabled Spider-Man 2, so it meant nothing to hear that this latest release was on par with the classic. At the time I knew I'd probably never play it and put it in my mental bin of games that I will happily pass by.
Fast forward to later in the year when there's a big sale on PSN and I spy Marvel's Spider-Man being sold at a huge discount. Twitter had died down a little regarding the game, but it was still coming up in GOTY conversations all over the place. I had a little extra money in my bank account, so I figured it would be worth checking out, even just to have played one of the year's most well received games.
While I'm still not all that interested in the spandex crew, and I continue to think the Marvel movies are crap, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Sure Marvel's Spider-Man did nothing to blow my mind or surpass my expectations, but it managed to provide a highly enjoyable and polished game from start to finish. I even had enough fun to stick around and complete the platinum trophy, which wasn't all that difficult, but extends the in-game task list significantly.
Story wise I didn't pay too much attention, only because it's the same superhero story we've seen a number of times. There's the hero who's trying to maintain his secret identity, while balancing a private life alongside crime-fighting obligations. The best part of the story is that the writers decided to skip over the origin tale of Spider-Man, which we've seen a million times before (take notes Batman writers).
Instead we come across Peter Parker as an established hero who is trying to get on in the world. His characterisation is actually pretty well done and skillfully avoids any obnoxiously pandering attempts to make him a 'cool teen'. Instead we get to find out about some genuine relationships he's trying to maintain, as well as social obligations that threaten to cross the bridge between private life and his hero persona.
Without spoiling anything, there are a number of villains poking their nose into the story's events, most of which I haven't heard of before. However, there are some big names that come into play, so even the uninitiated like me got a kick out of seeing some characters get introduced. There's nothing new here, but that's okay. I actually didn't mind that the story followed a fairly generic sequence of events. Actually, it was nice to see that the writers weren't insulting our intelligence by trying to outwit us with the same corny plot every time. Instead it just gets left as a corny plot without apologies, and that's a much better experience all round.
Suffice to say that the plot acts simply as a vehicle for the gameplay to take place and the player to have a good enough excuse to have fun with the mechanics. Maybe it's my lack of interest coming into play, but I definitely found myself more focused on moment-to-moment gameplay mechanics than any kind of meta-narrative. Seeing as I'm usually obsessed with narrative story telling in games, this surprised me quite a bit.
Before getting into specifics though, this is your typical open-world game in every way. Marvel's Spider-Man takes place entirely on Manhattan Island in New York City. I've never been to New York so I can't say for sure, but the game's reproduction of the city seemed to be fairly accurate. All the main landmarks are there anyway, plus the Avengers tower because it obviously has to be tied in with the whole 'Universe' thing.
The city is open to explore from the start, but there are literal 'radio towers' that need to be unscrambled for each district's map to be revealed. As you progress through the story, more and more icons appear on the map as collectibles and side activities pile up. Some of these are interesting, like tracking a cat burglar from one crime to the next, taking you all over the city's skyline. Others are a bit more obtuse and make up the large 'filler' component of the game's open-world. I mean, how many backpacks can one kid lose? Apparently a whole lot, as you'll be finding and collecting them all over the place with no real reward other than ticking something off the list.
Structurally the game doesn't do anything interesting or unique, and even retraces ground that's been stomped to death in every other open-world game. While most of the side activities are requirements for unlocking upgrades, none of them have anything else to offer. Thankfully though, some of those upgrades are dope as hell.
Each side activity will give you a token, or a number of tokens. You're then able to spend these tokens on new spider suits and gadgets, which ends up being quite the motivator. There are a wide range of suits on offer, which I assume are taken from the various incarnations of Spider-Man from the comics and movies. There's the wrestling suit from the Toby Maguire films, there's an armoured suit, there's a black and white suit from the 1940s, and many more. Although the best suit is clearly the cell-shaded one that makes every moment look like you're in a comic book scene.
Aside from playing dress-ups, each suit also comes with a unique suit power, which will interest you based on how you like to play the game. Some effect things like health and stealth, while others provide new attacks and gadgets. Suit powers are used during combat sequences as a way to give you the edge, so it really depends on how you play. I ended up liking the second one I unlocked, so was happy sticking with it for my entire playthrough.
Gadgets are similar, as they each provide different advantages during fights, but you'll often want to use all gadgets at your disposal. They all provide a different way to shoot webs at enemies, which is perhaps the most fun thing you can do in the entire game. It's no surprise that something so unique to Spider-Man would be one of the better systems in the game, but I never got tired of trapping bad guys in webs and stringing them up all over the map.
Combat itself is essentially the same that we've come to expect from any game that iterates on the so-called 'Arkham' style. Enemies will gather round and take turns throwing punches, which Spider-Man can counter, dodge, or simply avoid before returning the favour. Thankfully though, the game does its best to keep things interesting. Enemies range from generic grunts, to big hulks, to ranged shooters, and annoying jet-pack douche bags who will fly around stun-locking you with their arsenal.
Sure it might not be anything new, but the combat systems in play are well put together. Spider-Man himself has a number of combos and abilities that can be unlocked as you level up, but it never feels like you're faced with anything beyond your capabilities. In fact, the worst part of the combat is the simple fact that after about half way into the game I found myself going through the motions in every fight, as they stopped posing any real challenge.
Even boss fights end up being a case of 'figure it out, then never lose', as they can all be beaten by continually dodging attacks until you're given an opening to throw some punches. Essentially all it comes to then is a bit of rinse and repeat, which is more a failing of the 'Arkham' combat system than this particular implementation of it. Thankfully though, the gadgets and web shooting elements of combat manage to keep it interesting and fun, even if it's never all that challenging.
Let's be real for a second, because all of this doesn't matter a whole lot and just about the only thing anyone seems to care about in a Spider-Man game is how good it feels to swing through the city. Having never played Spider-Man 2 back in 2004, I have no reference point, but I've become a bit of a convert. I mean, if the old game's web-swinging systems are half as fun as Marvel Spider-Man's, then I'm sold.
Without a doubt, the thing you'll be doing in this game more than anything else, is moving around the city. I imagine that the developers had meetings about the web swinging as a major element of potential success in their game, as it seems to be all anyone online can talk about when referencing the 2004 golden child. The upside is that getting around the city in Marvel's Spider-Man is a whole lot of fun and I never got bored of having to move from place to place.
In fact, it's why I was happy to go through all of the banal side activities and unlock everything on the list for the platinum trophy. Cleaning up side missions and collectibles is an exercise in moving from place to place, so if the traversal mechanics had sucked, I would have happily given up (like I did with Red Dead Redemption 2).
Getting around the city is all about momentum and the more speed you have, the more fun you're going to have. Latching on to a building is as simple as holding right trigger, which sends you into a swing. At the end of the swing you can hit jump to laucnh yourself in the air, before latching on again and going into another swing. It's a simple enough system that it quickly feels natural and fluid, which is perhaps the best it could be.
There's nothing worse than speeding along smoothly, only to hit a wall and immediately grind to a halt, but thankfully that's not a problem here. Spider-Man has the ability to run up walls, as well as crawl over any surface like a spider, as well as pull himself higher with his web launchers as a kind of grappling hook. So if you're flinging yourself happily around the city and happen to faceplant into the side of a building, it's easy enough to immediately get moving again by running up the wall and launching yourself into the air. These parts reminded me a lot of the traversal systems in Prototype, which is one of the best I remember playing, so Spider-Man is on the right track.
Although, sometimes you'll run out of buildings and find yourself flung high above the rooftops. It's hard to swing from thin air, but good old Spider-Man can use his webs to move horizontally by using the rooftop's geometry to pull himself through the air. You might need to suspend some disbelief to go along with it (much like the grappling hook in Just Cause), but the sacrifice of realism is countered well with fun gameplay.
These swinging and slinging systems mean that you'll never be stuck while getting around the city. Even in Central Park it's possible to swing from trees and launch yourself from lamp posts. A lot of work has gone into making Spider-Man feel like he's able to go anywhere with little impedence, and it's well worth the extra effort.
What's more, all of this plays into the reasons why I love open-world games in the first place. The appeal is less about the story or the combat, and more about having the ability to freely axplore and play around in this world. The fun point of difference that Spider-Man brings to the table is that you see the city as you fly through the air instead of driving its streets. It's the key reasons that Marvel's Spider-Man does an excellent job at not only making you feel like a happy-go-lucky spandex-clad superhero, but also at convincing you that the world is truly 'open'.
It's interesting then to realise that I still don’t consider Marvel's Spider-Man to be a brilliant game. Without a doubt it's a very good game and I hope it maintains its reputation as a well-polished experience, but it's still a relatively generic open-world video game. The web swinging mechanics make it a super fun game to play, but without those mechanics it would be as middle-of-the-road as it could be.
The map is coated in collectibles and side activities, there are radio towers and bases to conquer, there's even the odd stealth section to break up the action. While it does all of these things well, none of them are enough to make this more than a well-made game with a long task list of things to do.
In a lot of ways Marvel's Spider-Man is the Prototype of its day for me. After all, I loved Prototype for its unique movement systems, but it was an exceptionally generic open-world game. The saving grace is that having such a fun movement system in such an open-world, is enough to make the game enjoyable. It manages to lift the experience significantly and turn it into something I'd be happy to try again someday.
So if you're a hardcore Spider-Man fan then I can see why you'd get all hot and bothered about this game. It's been a long time since fans have had a decent game to play, so why not get excited about this one when it's clearly a quality product.
As for the rest of us who probably don't care about the spandex as much as everyone else, it's still a fun game to bash through. Think of it like a pleasant Sunday afternoon experience that demands very little from the player, but gives back a few smiles and fun times in return. Perhaps the best thing I can say about Marvel's Spider-Man is that it's very easy to get into and have a good time, which is always a fine success for a team to make something so approachable while keeping it enjoyable.
It might lack any real open-world innovations, but if you just want to swing around the city as Spider-Man, this might be the best way to do it. Just remember that the huge task list sticking out of your pocket is more of a roadmap providing a reason to move from place to place. This is a game that does just about everything right, except it doesn't do anything all that new.
Without a doubt, there's a good time to be had in Marvel's Spider-Man, and really that's all I could ask for. It's still more fun than those terrible movies.