Marvel's Spider-Man - PlayStation 4

I'd read the reviews of this game online but never any "in-depth" reviews as I was pretty sure I wanted it and didn't want any 'surprises' to be spoiled. This is probably my favorite console game ever. I'm a huge comic nerd, and I've always liked Spider-Man, so this game is right up my alley. It's "open-world" --so if you've ever played an open-world game you know what to expect. It's a main story, lots of side missions, towers that have to be unlocked to reveal a map, etc. There is nothing super-unique about any of it....save for the fact of how well it's all done. The creators appear to have really built New York City from the ground up! The details of the map are just incredible--from Central Park to Radio City to The Empire State Building it's all there, and all where it should be....with a few Marvel touches of course (Avengers tower is a prominent feature of the skyline). The story is fun, without really following the comics canon to a fault. This game is set in it's own universe with some interesting touches--Norman Osbourne is the mayor, MJ is an old flame, etc, but the pieces of the Spider-verse are all there, with lots of great easter eggs for old-school fans. The controls are a little wonky from time-to-time (the chase missions frustrate me to no end) but for the most part they are pretty easy and feel natural. Once you get the fight mechanics down you want to go looking for fights because they're so much fun. The best and most fun of this game BY FAR is the web-swinging mechanics. Swinging around the city is an absolute blast, and really feels like Spider-Man. I probably could have completed the main quest by now, but I've had so much fun exploring (and random crimes come up all the time so there's lots of action breaks) that I haven't been in any hurry to get it done. The side missions are fun...for the most part. Some, obviously, are more fun than others, but a couple get a little repetitive. You'll want to complete them all just to unlock all the other cool stuff like... The spider-suits!!! I've only unlocked about half at this point, but they are awesome---suits you've seen on alternate universe spider-men, the suit made just for this game, even some surprise suits (and some I had never even heard of) are unlockable in this! The level of detail in the suits (like the rest of the game) is just stunning. Overall if you like Spider-man, action games, open-world games or just plain fun games (that are suitable for the family) then you can't go wrong with this. I'm actually glad there's downloadable content coming--I will get whatever they release so long as it leads to more playtime!

Spider-Man is going to be a game that's nominated for a ton of awards, but likely win very few. That's not so much a knock on the game itself as it is the stellar competition it's up against. It's an entertaining and unique experience in it's own right, but there's a decent of repetition that drags it down. The game itself reminds me a lot of Assassin's Creed 1 or Arkham Asylum. I fully expect the inevitable sequel to blow this game out of the water. Web slinging feels spectacular and is extremely fun. Kudos to Insomniac for giving you the option to fast travel around the city though I'd find myself slinging from point A to point B most of the time. JJJ podcasts helped provided some entertainment which added to the experience. You also can pick off a lot of side missions along the way. The story surprised me in how confident it was told. I loved seeing Peter as an experienced Spider-Man, a new version of MJ, and a fleshed out Miles Morales. As a fan of the comics this definitely felt like a fully realized alternate universe version of some beloved characters. Things were familiar, but new and I could easily see this as a graphic novel or its own series. I loved the take on all of the new characters. There's a decent amount of gameplay where you're MJ and Miles and thankfully those missions don't feel like a chore to get through. All the supporting villains and characters really added to the world especially in the context of an experienced hero. There are references to a bigger Marvel universe which are hopefully allusions to a much bigger sequel rather than just Easter eggs. Playing through the game is a pretty easy Platinum Trophy if you're into that sort of thing. I was able to get it after completing the final mission of the game though you can always go back and take on the side quests after the fact. TBH I don't know if i'll be getting the DLC for the game though they sound like they're solid additions to the game and not just pure money grabs. There's a much bigger sequel to be made both in terms of gameplay and story that I'm looking forward to. Who knows what platform it'll come out on, but this game is enough to make me so much more.

Insomniac Games did a great job bringing Spider-Man to the gamers. From gamers to comic fans, especially for those Spidey fans out there. They won't be disappointed with the Spider-Man gameplay. An easy combat combo system complete with finishers that just brings those comic pages to gamers and comic fans alike. The tutorial built into the story's prologue will get players familiar with controls. Yes, gamers can even swing through the city freely pulling off acrobatics stunts along the way to missions. Players can unlock, spidey suits each with unique special abilities and mods to empower Spider-Man. A with combat skill point system that gives more abilities to Spider-Man. Players do NOT need to unlock the skills system just adds for more combat options. For those players that like to, unlike all the skills before heading out on the story. Check out this youtube link here: https://youtu.be/smkgcGQD3bQ to unlock all the skill points early and level up Spider-Man. Along with combat skill points, players can add special gadgets to Spider-Man's combat abilities. There is even an in-game only social media menu. Players if want to, can read all the comments the citizens have about Spider-Man good and bad. The game is not without flaws and one of the biggest ones is the controls. At times the control gets sluggish or nonresponsive. Switched out controllers several times and even purchased a new controller and the response is still the same. This is a pain during combat and while trying to complete the challenges presented. There the tedious parts of the story that players have to play as the supporting characters. There was only one of those that enjoyed playing. Then the combat with the villain bosses being scripted doesn't distract but just would've liked to have more combat. Upon completing the story gamers can still free roam around the city fouling crimes. Hang out with citizens around the city to riding the subway. There is also additional content being added to the game that will introduce more gameplay with release dates yet to be determined. There may be reasons that some players will compare this title to another older title, Batman Arkham Asylum games. But Spider-Man stands on it's on webbing here.

Almost everything is perfect. I wish that the range to web things for swinging was a bit longer, and there are few instances were I feel like I'm telling the game to do something, and the conditions for what it requires are met (and does so 95% of the time when told in similar circumstances), and it disagrees with me about that and so it feels like it's ignoring button inputs, which can be super frustrating. I feel like there could be some adjustment on the button layout to make things smoother. Those issues weren't so common that they really detract from everything else the game does well. It looks great, it feels great. The story is easy to get invested in, and I want to follow it into sequels. I would note that one of the things many people complain about are sections where you're not playing as Parker/SM, with a largely stealth-focus. I enjoyed them. I enjoyed the game taking time to show other peoples perspectives, stepping back from SM's powers, giving them time to develop and shine. The sections aren't perfect, they could definitely be improved, and I hope a sequel maintains them while fleshing them out. I don't feel the game can escape comparison to the Arkham "Quadrilogy" (though not in a bad way, as of yet). Of that series, Asylum had a narrower focus on location and story that made a stronger package than its successors. The follow-ups, while still mostly solid, diluted the experience when they expanded scope and focus, and it came with a loss of quality and over-use of mechanics/concepts. Spider-Man already matches Arkham City in scope, though it does manage to have a story of much higher quality and emotional resonance. My hope is a sequel that can expand the gameplay mechanics, while continuing to maintain the story-telling quality that I feel diminished as the Arkham series progressed.

Before Robert Downey, Jr. popularized Iron Man, the most well known of Marvel’s superheroes was Spider-Man. He stood apart from other heroes because, when he wasn’t fighting crime, he was a pretty ordinary kid with relatable problems. He’s flawed, and funny, and trying to have a normal life, despite having these awesome abilities. A Spider-Man game was released earlier this month, available only on PlayStation 4, and set when Peter Parker has been Spider-Man for eight years. His relationship with Mary Jane Watson is strained, and he’s struggling to pay the rent on his tiny Manhattan apartment while working as a research assistant - and, of course, taking out street thugs in his time off. Familiar villains, like Doctor Octopus and The Vulture appear, as well as a newer villain - Mr. Negative. You start off with a few signature abilities - being able to swing from building to building, sticking bad guys to walls, and a good ol’ one-two punch. The game gradually unlocks new abilities, letting you learn how to control Spider-Man without having to stick you in an hour-long tutorial before you get to start playing. This works out fantastically, especially since it’s rewarding just to swing through the surprisingly accurate recreation of Manhattan. When I first started playing, I just swung around for 30 minutes, admiring the city - and when I stopped, I hadn’t realized it, but I landed right next to the Guggenheim. There have been lots of Spider-Man video games, which have ranged from horrible to pretty good. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the news that there was a new Spider-Man game in development, since I figured it would be a movie tie-in and just be an average beat-em-up game. And then, when the game was released, I saw a flood of people on social media raving about it, and I’ve never been so happy to be wrong.

As with most games in this vein, there is a lot of repetition in tasks, but the storyline helps open up the side-quests necessary to fully level out and equip Spider-Man. Enough new non-story material gets introduced gradually to help prevent the repetitive nature from being so obvious. You can complete some landmark or crime events while swinging to your next story location. The unlocking of suits provides for some extra powers with the nice feature being that once unlocked you can use a suit-specific power with any of the unlocked suits. There are three equipment slots that give added bonuses, but since you can only equip three at a time you have to be picky in which ones you use (and unlock) and they don't seem to add much to the game. Gadgets are required for some parts of the storyline and once unlocked certain ones have certain advantages for completing bonus goals. All in all the game comes across like a combination of the Batman Arkham games and Assassin's Creed. Cinematic story with plenty of open world opportunities to explore. Places where the game has a deficit come with some of the odd camera angles during combat and web-swing chases - you will be blocked from all vision of what is happening, likely multiple times, during a fight as the camera gets stuck behind a van, water tower, or some other obstruction. Likewise, playing as Miles or Mary Jane you don't get the benefit of Spidey-Sense or a side-screen warning when a bad guy is on the verge of spotting you. Some of the Miles/Mary Jane sequences really slow the game down. When you're done, make sure to let the credits roll for a while....

Spider-Man for PS4 gets a LOT right: swinging, combat, story, Spidey's personality, etc. But there are a few nitpicks. For example, the Sinister Six team-up teased is really only about maybe 5% of the game - the majority of the story focuses on Mr. Negative, a relatively new character to Spider-Man's rogues gallery. That's not necessarily bad by itself, but it does feel like there was a lot of wasted potential. The story itself is also fairly predictable, even though it's held together with some really great performances. There is a lot of busywork tasks like collecting backpacks, landmark tokens, research tokens, pigeons (yes, really) that, while not BAD, never feels particularly interesting, either. I also found myself surprised at just how much aerial combat there was, particularly late game, when the combat system frankly doesn't support it very well. The last few fights are more annoying than challenging, particularly the final boss, who feels cheap and unwieldy. There are also occasional stealth segments where you play as someone other than Spider-Man and must sneak past armed enemies. These are usually pretty short and decently-constructed, but every time one popped up I wanted to rush through so I could get back to being Spider-Man already. Overall I definitely enjoyed my time with it, the photo mode is great, it looks and feels fantastic, I love the optional suits and just how satisfying it is to see them in motion, but it's definitely not without some flaws.

It is hard to make a video game. Insanely hard. It is a task so gargantuan as to terrify even seasoned developers. That makes it nothing short of a miracle when a game even makes it to market. Making a GOOD game takes the efforts of dozens, if not hundreds of people (with rare exception). Making a GREAT game might as well be one of the Trials of Hercules. And making a Superhero game worth anything at all is akin to balancing a thousand camels on the head of a pin. So when I say that Insomniac have done the impossible, have delivered on their promises, and produced a Great Superhero game, I want you to understand my full meaning. Spider-Man is a revelation, greater than the sum of its parts and yet made of so many wonderful small bits. The graphics are gorgeous, bordering on ridiculous. The action is fun and tight, easily controllable, and non-stop. While it is by no means flawless, the minor scuffs and scratches disappear when you take in the grand scope of the title. You may see some unfair comparisons to the Arkham series of games. While the combat appears that way at first, there is far more depth and strategy required in Spider-Man than in any of Batman's adventures. A wide variety of goons keep you on your toes from the beginning to the end. For me, the most important part of any game is story. Spider-Man does not disappoint, with a brand-new adventure for the friendly neighborhood web-slinger. I honestly cannot recommend this game enough.