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Games
7 things Marvel's Spider-Man has got just right
Insomniac's new PS4 exclusive could be the start of something special for Spider-Man.
Insomniac have nailed it with Marvel's Spider-Man, creating a new video game franchise (announce Spidey 2 already!) that has been made by super-fans for super-fans.
Here are seven things they got absolutely right with this amazing PS4 exclusive – seven reasons why donning old Web-Head’s mask should be your priority this month.
1. New York looks amazing
Developers Insomniac have been busy. Busy with cameras, busy with tours and tour guides, and busy with New York, New York. Well, Manhattan, specifically. They’ve also been busy boning up on Marvel’s version of New York and Manhattan.
And the hard referential work has paid off -- Spider-Man’s stomping ground in the game is nothing short of amazing. Whether you're perched on the Empire State Building’s tallest spire, wall-running up Avengers Tower or riding the Subway, Marvel’s Spider-Man’s game-world is a detailed, bustling hot-bed of webslinging, crime-fighting, sight-seeing fun.
Add day and night, and a dynamic weather system to all of this – which gives the city different moods – and it’s not hard to want to be a part of it.
I look like a spider to them, but from up here, they're just ANTS!
© SCE
2. Fighting is fun
The initial thought on the combat in this Spidey was that it would mimic the combat of the Batman: Arkham games. While it sort of does in foundation, Insomniac have opened up the arena space, factored in Spider-Man’s Spidey Sense, his web-slinging, web-shooting, and general agility and strength, and added various environmental tools for you to use in each conflict.
They also use a combo counter system, but it’s more forgiving because of the size of the arena space and because it’s actually more challenging stringing together complete Spidey-stylised attack combinations. However, once you get the hang of it, and upgrade him to be the full Spider-Man we know he’s capable of, combat is both visceral and fun, and very rewarding.
3. Web-shooting has never been better
What’s great about Marvel’s Spider-Man is that the web shooter plays a major part in almost everything you do. It’s all believably handled -- whether for web-slinging, in combat or as a means for stealth, or just generally stopping trains, trucks, cars and even missiles,
Add to this the ability to upgrade his web shooters while also gaining other web-related gadgets, such as a web grenade that explodes enemy-stopping webs in a broad radius, and you have a game that wholly embraces the Spider-Man experience and the genius of Peter Parker.
Play in your favourite Spidey outfit
© SCE
4. Playing as Peter Parker
Another way in which the game elevates itself among other superhero games is in its embrace of his true identity as the hapless, broke and often heartbroken Peter Parker. You’ll work as a lab assistant to Dr Octavius, help Aunt May in her role as a manager at F.E.A.S.T. (a shelter for the homeless), and generally just try to manage the disparate parts of his life. Even while you’re Spider-Man.
Insomniac also gives players the chance to take on the roles of Mary-Jane Watson as a nosey reporter, and as Miles Morales as he comes to terms with tragedy. It’s all handled with pacing and confidence, though, and these breaks in gameplay as regular, non-radioactive-bitten Spider people also help us reflect on just how spectacular Spider-Man is.
Play as Peter Parker
© SCE
5. The start of a great story
One of the game’s main antagonists -- Mister Negative -- has been promoted as the poster baddy in the lead up to the game's release, but with this being a standalone title and with Insomniac carving out their own Spider-Man arc, he’s not the only villain you’ll face. Familiar faces will eventually enter your Spider periphery while others are given new origins as told through the Insomniac lens, helping craft a unique spin on Spider-Man’s storied history. Make no mistake, this is an actual beginning to a (hopefully) long-running PlayStation franchise.
6. The Token reward system is ingenious
While the game has a leveling and XP system alongside upgradeable skills, abilities and gadgets, you don’t just gain a skill point to progress your Spider-Man. Instead, Insomniac has ingeniously created a Token System where activities not tied to the main story such as basic crime-fighting, infiltrating enemy strongholds, time-trials (of sorts) and more serve the player with different token awards based on meeting tiered parameters.
These are then used as currency for unlocking skills, gadgets and even new suits, of which there are many. And often new suits come with new suit powers, meaning the player is encouraged to explore all the game has to offer outside of chasing the next incredible cutscene. And they are incredible.
The voice acting is brilliant in Marvel's Spider-Man
© SCE
7. It takes its time
Finally, Marvel’s Spider-Man takes its time. Events don’t happen in the space of 12 hours, or on a single night -- this is a measured game that knows it needs to build on cadence, on freedom and on believable baddy machinations in order to cohesively tell what is a compelling and ever-expanding narrative.
Some of it is predictable, but this is comic-book gaming – we’re not playing War and Peace, so that’s okay. But how the studio has managed to craft so many different layers to what is largely an action movie with interactivity is to be applauded, and the performances, all round, are genuinely incredible. However, our hats go off to Spider-Parker voice wactor, Yuri Lowenthal, for giving us one of the best performances in a video game this side of Kevin Conroy, Doug Cockle, Nolan North and Troy Baker. Truly remarkable.
This is must own gaming, at its best.
