Marvel's Spider-Man review

Exceptional

by bgsmith3

So far as Spider-Man games go, Spider-Man 2 (based on Sam Raimi’s film of the same name) is generally hailed as being one of if not THE best Spider-man game, and arguably superhero video game. The game did a lot of things right and at the end of the day, while it is an adaptation or tie in to the film, it still stands on its own feet as a solid narrative and fun gameplay experience. Insomniac has presented a challenger to the title of “Best Spider-Man game ever” with this game. The game isn’t an origin story, instead the game takes a lot of inspiration from the Batman Arkham series and really drops the player into a familiar universe that is already fleshed out and can be further understood by prior comic lore, but much like the Arkham games this game does withhold major villains and story beats and presents them in the game in a fresh and new way that we haven’t necessarily seen before. The story starts of f with a Peter Parker and Spider-Man that is a little older, he’s graduated high school and college and is trying to balance his life amidst a changing world. The story begins when Spider-Man successfully takes down Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of crime. But Fisk leaves behind a power vaccum that other criminals, both normal and super powered seek to fill. The story continues to escalate as things get personal and frantic for Peter and later New York. This is a fantastic game narratively and how the gameplay and rising stakes and conditions are reflected across the city both physically and visually as well as in the writing and story. There are fantastic performances from all of the actors and the writers create new spins and twists on so many of these characters and even faced some struggles with Marvel on some story decisions. But at the end of the day, I admire that these developers were given a voice and Marvel ultimately respected that voice and allowed them to make the game they wanted to make. I feel that in art and entertainment, the big studios and executives tend to stifle creativity just for the sake of spectacle and appeasing fans. The game takes a lot of inspiration from the Batman Arkham games and this is reflected in how they approach their story, but also in the gameplay. The gameplay is so smooth and beautiful to command and behold. Visually the game is wonderful with amazing graphics and wonderful designs, I would say that Spider-Man hasn’t looked better in a video game. It is a free roam game so there are plenty of familiar free roam mechanics like side missions and collectibles. But with the places that this story goes to and with the scale and scope of this story and game, I worry about how and where Insomniac can keep taking this series to maintain an air of freshness and to ensure that they don’t repeat what they have already done. The combat , acrobatics and web swinging is probably the best in ANY Spider-Man game. There are a variety of villains and supervillains who keep you on your toes as you go toe to toe with bosses and various grunts. The world feels so dynamic and active, much like the Batman Arkham games, and is even impacted by the story, much like the Batman Arkham games. I will say that the AI is kind of lacking. When you have enemies that shoot RPGS and they shoot them at point blank range at you……that becomes annoying and ridiculous after the first time. Hopefully, AI will improve going forward but I hope that it definitely improves in this game. Overall, Spider-Man hopefully is a wake-up call to Disney-Marvel. They have always had excellent material to make video games with and have made amazing video games in the past (X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Spider-Man Edge of Time, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Spider-Man 2). Stop marrying your comics and your video games/movies. Focus on good narratives and developers and create quality content that stands on its own. Because I guarantee that this game will be looked at by so many people as inspiration for future comic book video games and future Spider-Man stories. Hands down the best super hero video game since Batman Arkham City.

Rating: 4.5/5