Well Worth Going for a Swing
Spider-Man - whether in comic book, TV show, or cinematic form - has been in my life for as long as I can remember. The dualities and parallels between Spidey and Peter Parker always created uniquely humorous and darkly dramatic aspects to the wall-crawler. Sure, there were moments of Spidey-fatigue, but in recent years he has crawled his way back into my heart (I'm not sorry). Marvel's Spider-Man for PS4 is as much a loving tribute to the lineage and representation of Spider-Man as it is an attempt to make the best playing, looking and immersive Spidey experience possible. The result is a thrilling open-world action game that does so much right, that the small things that they miss sorely stand out.
The tale is an intriguing one, and arguably the freshest video game super hero tale in recent memory. Peter Parker has been moonlighting as Spidey for a few years and still struggles with actually being Peter Parker, while thriving as being Spider-Man. After the introductory mission of taking down the Kingpin, villainous Mister Negative comes into town with his own magically endowed set of goons. What follows is a complicated web of revenge, friendship and redemption worthy of the best Spidey comic story-arches.
Swinging around New York City feels so good and frenetic. Launch points on rooftops or street lamps as well as using webbing to keep up your momentum provides the closest thing to video game flying with it actually being flying. Webbing must connect to a building or object - in the case of Central Park, trees - in order for you to swing and the result is a beautiful, thrilling and fun traversal experience that is among the best in recent memories. Where traversal fails, however, is wall crawling and traversing up buildings. The game pushes you always up when moving along a building, to the point where moving the camera to face down to street level is a struggle - unless there are enemies to take out. The developers want you to use webbing as much as possible, making crawling down walls to face enemies a non-option, relying on web-zipping (I don't know why I didn't think of that earlier) as traversal if you choose to take out enemies sneaky-stealthy.
Combat itself is a familiar ballet, if you have played the Batman Arkham games, but it works. Spidey fights with more agility and athleticism than the dark knight, but gadgets and combat flow often feels very similar. The few bosses that there are often require additional quick time events, but it doesn't take away from the fun or flow of combat.
New York City itself is massive and chock-full of side missions and things to do. Each different type of activity benefits with leveling up (yes, there's a light-RPG system) and rewarding you with a token. From capturing tech-stealing pigeons, to emptying out bad guy strong holds, there are plenty of activities to do outside of swinging from story mission to story mission.
Performances are fantastic and Yuri Lowenthal makes a hard argument for being the best Spidey - along the lines of Kevin Conroy's Bruce Wayne/ Batman. His comedic and dramatic performances hit and it's completely possible to buy him as Spider-Man. Likewise, Stephen Oyoung as Mister Negative and William Salyers as Doctor Otto Octavius (you know where that goes) bring A-game performances as both well-known and lesser-known villains. The performance captures look amazing, consistent with the look of the game overall, and the quality of performances also impress.
My roughly thirty hours of time with the game feel like hours very-well spent. Marvel's Spider-Man is a fantastic looking and well playing game that's hard to put down. Being a fan of the series and at least somewhat familiar with the comic material helps, especially with the collectables and much of the side content, but there's plenty here for those even slightly curious about what is all the hub-bub around Spidey. It's a mammoth accomplishment that looks great and plays amazing, even if there are minor snags that can frustratingly stop momentum.
The good:
- beautiful and well playing representation of the web-crawler
- well written and epic story that is not an origin tale
- plenty to do
- Combat flows and gadgets add fun variants
The not so good:
- Camera can be problematic
- Traversal, while arguably best in the franchise, has its snags
My grade: A -
