Spider-Man

Voices of: Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Darin De Paul, Nancy Linari, Stephen Oyoung, Dave B. Mitchell, Mark Rolston, Russell Richardson, Nadji Jeter, Brian Bloom, Phil Morris, Josh Keaton, Nichole Elise, Corey Jones, Fred Tatasciore, Jason Spisak, Dwight Schultz, Scott Porter, Erica Lindbeck, Stan Lee, Stephanie Lemelin, Keith Silverstein, Ike Amadi,
Developer: Insomniac Games
Directed by: Ryan Smith
Rating: T
Genre: Action-adventure
System: Playstation 4
2018

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: When destructive forces threaten New York City, Spider-Man (Yuri Lowenthal) swings into action, partnered with MJ (Laura Bailey) and a gritty police detective (Tara Platt).

Review:
Tim: Insomniac Games' Spider-Man does something that I can still barely believe is possible- it delivers a top-notch, comics accurate video game that is more fun than any video game I've played in multiple years. The amount of joy I had playing this game is off-the-charts. It's one of the best video game experiences I have ever had- and I did not expect that going in.

There's so much to love here, but I want to start with the location. NYC has always been home to Spider-Man, and it's depicted here in stunningly glorious detail. This is powered by the impressive PS4, but Insomniac really outdid themselves- it's basically an open world (open city) game- you can go anywhere in Manhattan, and the locations are beautifully rendered. I've been to New York many times, and it's one of the great video game achievements I've ever seen to have it depicted so wonderfully here. This is the great surprise of the game- web-swinging is an absolute blast. I experienced so much true joy, just swinging around the city, doing leaps between swings, climbing on top of buildings, running alongside building faces. For anyone who grew up loving Spider-Man (and he was always my favorite superhero), this feels almost like a dream come true. To be in command of Spider-Man, to be able to swing anywhere you want in the city, it's a pure delight. The game gives you a TON to do, and it involves traveling around the city, which you never really mind. My 6 year-old daughter LOVED this game and when I had to travel to a different location, I'd let her play. The game is so beautifully designed that she was able to do this- not as flawlessly as I eventually became, but web-swinging is so accessible that she was easily able to do it. I love that this game created that shared experience- she swung us where we needed to do, and I took over for the combat. I adored playing this game with her.

I've said all this and I haven't even mentioned the narrative. Wow, it truly feels like you're playing a comic book here. It was brilliantly decided not to set this game in any established universe- this isn't the MCU, or Sony's Spider-Man movie universe mess. That allows this game free reign to tell its own story. And, what a story it is. The game starts out with Spidey vs. Kingpin. Once you defeat the crime boss, the crime vacuum his absence creates allows the intrusion of these mysterious Demon gang members. They are led by Mister Negative, a man with ties to Peter Parker. While working on this case, Peter's mentor, Doctor Octavius begins obsessing over his project and the interference by Norman Osborn. I won't go further for risk of spoilers, but all these storylines intersect perfectly, into this overwhelming tapestry that puts Peter right in the middle. Along the way, he gets immense help from Mary Jane Watson, meets and befriends Miles Morales, leans on his Aunt May for support, and works with Yuri Watanabe at the police force. There's a ton of villains in the game- I've mentioned Mister Negative and Kingpin, but we (SPOILERS, I Guess) also see Electro, Rhino, Scorpion, Vulture, Shocker, Dr. Octopus, we get a subplot involving Taskmaster, Screwball, and there's DLC involving Black Cat and Hammerhead. And, there's more. The story is intense, exciting, original, and surprising. I connected deeply with these characters and the emotionally-charged story. Same with my daughter (my 9 year-old son loved watching, too). She (and he) were so interested in seeing the story progress. It's a remarkable narrative and I was powerfully pulled into it. It felt like the story was ripped from the pages of a comic book series.

One other thing I appreciated about this game was all the little connections to the broader Marvel universe. This truly feels like a love letter to the Marvel world. You can visit Avengers Tower, the Wakandan embassy, Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Nelson and Murdock's law office, Damage Control headquarters, and more. Each little detail might not have mattered to the overall plot, but it helped in the worldbuilding. You truly felt like this character was living in the middle of the world depicted in comic books, and that was insanely fun.

The game gives you so much to do, it's incredible. I started the game exploring New York and obtaining all of Peter's backpacks- each one gives you a chance to see an object that matters to Peter. This builds out the history of his character and encourages you to explore the city. While exploring, you also have to take pictures of noteworthy buildings around the city. In each district of Manhattan, there's a host of activities- you have to stop crimes, do side-quests, take down criminal bases, and a lot more. I did all these things, getting 100% complete in every area. It's not just checking the box, though- I loved doing this. I 100%'d the main game on the Amazing difficulty level.

If this wasn't all enough, there's a DLC- The City That Never Sleeps, told in three chapters. It starts out incorporating Black Cat, before moving into a compelling story about Hammerhead. I played through these, and while I loved the narrative, the difficulty spike was so annoying. Now, I've never claimed to be the best at video games. I play mostly for the narrative. I'm decent, but not the best. I handled the main game on Amazing fairly well, and I 100%'d the first chapter of the DLC with Black Cat with little difficulty, even though the battles got much more challenging. Where I ran into trouble was the second DLC with Hammerhead.

A quick note on combat- it's impeccably designed. I'm still stunned by how incredible it is. Peter faces waves of powerful enemies and you have a lot of options- you can fire webs at them, punch & kick them, do swinging kicks, powerful uppercuts that lift villains into the air, there's a host of gadgets you can use, special powers depending on your suit, and more. It's all incredibly complicated, but it becomes second nature as you progress through the game. I got pretty good at combat. Now, to be fair, I never used gadgets during the main game. I honestly forgot how to use them. This was fine, until Hammerhead's DLC and those godawful bases. The challenge level spikes incredibly and I simply could not finish them. I'd often get to the last wave of bad guys, but with the aggravating jetpack bad guys, the huge thugs, and the constant rocket launchers, I'd get slaughtered before I could finish. This would restart you at the beginning and you'd have to play through the whole thing again. I became livid at how difficult this was. It did force me to master gadgets, but even that didn't allow me to break through. I gave up and finished the narrative. I would have not 100%'d the second DLC, but there were narrative components locked behind those bases. And, I played primarily for the story. So, I made the difficult decision to lower the difficulty to Friendly. And guess what? Those damn bases were still a challenge- although I did finish them. I also had to lower to Friendly to do the last Screwball stealth challenge- which, as many have commented online, is awful and I hated it. So, yes, maybe I "cheated" a bit, but I don't care- those were still hard and I wanted to see the full story. I moved back to Amazing for the third DLC, but those Bases were equally as terrible. I again considered not completing everything, but the last side mission was locked behind them. In the third DLC, I did do all of Screwball's challenges on Amazing and I did finish 1 of the bases on Amazing. For the others, I admit I had to go to Friendly. Annoying, and like so many games, the DLC borderline ruined the experience for me. It stopped being fun because of the absurd spike in difficulty. Still, I did manage to finish everything.

So, I got 100% on the main game with Amazing, 100% on the Black Cat on Amazing, and did all the story and most of the other missions for DLC 2 & 3 on Amazing, but I did need to go to Friendly for some of the bases. I finished the whole game on Level 50 +10 Superior Levels (which only give you a stupid +1 health and +1% melee strength). I collected 97% of the suits (I needed several more base tokens, and...no thank you), 100% of the suit powers, 100% of the skills, and there were multiple gadgets I didn't fully upgrade. That is still a lot.

So, despite some serious aggravation at the difficulty spike in the DLC, Spider-Man is still one of my all-time favorite games. It's the best superhero game I've ever played. The narrative is incredible, the worldbuilding details are stunning, and the game achieves the hardest thing- to create a joyful experience that replicates what you read in the comics. I adored this game and had more fun playing it than nearly anything else in the last few years. It's one of my all-time favorite games. Insomniac created something truly amazing here.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Marvel Ultimate Alliance