[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Spiderman PS4 isn’t just a great Spiderman game, It’s a great Comic book game and throughout the whole experience, it truly felt like I was living through a comic book. The game has received so much hype and praise recently and rightly so because it’s absolutely bloody amazing. No pun intended. Now, I could sit here and fanboy over Spidey all day long but instead let’s take a bit of a deeper look into why Marvel’s Spider-Man is so good.
Story
The story is heartfelt and emotional throughout with various twists and turns, some more surprising than others but all of them made Spiderman PS4 an emotional rollercoaster. Act 1 serves as a nice introduction into the universe but Act 2 and 3 really kick it up a gear and once the pace does increase I found it hard to do side missions because I was so enthralled with the main story.
At the heart of this story, and the reason it’s so enjoyable is the cast of characters. This isn’t only Spider Man’s Story. Peter, Mary Jane, Miles Morales, all the various villains, and hell even Aunt May they all blend really well together even if they aren’t 100% accurate to their comic book counterparts.
Peter is extremely likable and funny and by the end of the main story you really end up feeling for him. It never occurred to me that Peter needed to be as strong as Spidey himself but it was vital and Insomniac nailed it here. MJ feels strong and capable rather than the cliche Damsel in distress, and playing has her was a nice change of pace from swinging around the city all the time. Same goes for miles who even though he had an unnecessary change of origin which made him more like peter parker he still had an incredible end credits scene which has got me very excited for future DLC’s or even a second game.
As for the villains, there’s plenty to choose from but Doc Ock is the clear standout. He has by far the greatest arc and out of all of them, and he’s the one I found empathizing with the most. Even though I knew he would eventually become Doc Ock his ultimate trip over the edge still shocked me and it gave that epic final confrontation so much more depth. Mr. Negative was also an interesting villain who surprised me quite a bit, plus he looked absolutely insane. Like seriously he was the best looking villain in this entire game. He too had an understandable motive but personally, Doc Ock took the cake for me. As for the other members of the sinister six I enjoyed every single one of them. They all looked a little cartoonish but hey it’s a comic book game so it was pretty perfect for me. Some were definitely better than others, and shocker’s and vulture’s fight was definitely better than scorpion’s and Rhino’s but at least Scorpion and rhino had their own unique cool moments.
Wilson Fisk wasn’t used as much as he possibly could be, mainly due to his early trip to the raft but he was a great introduction to the game and I’d definitely like to see him return in the future. Norman Osborn was a pretty big driving force for the story and I honestly like what they did with him. They aged him well and he really was the rich asshole you love to hate and it worked beautifully.
As for the setups to future games or DLC’s, I’m extremely excited for Miles Morales and the twist with Harry Osborn that hinted to a future green goblin appearance really got me excited. Got me all nostalgic for the Tobey Maguire days. Not like Spider-Man 3 but like original Spider-Man (2002) which was great and you’ll never change my mind… Anyway back to Spider-Man PS4, the Black Cat DLC is looking to be excellent if it’s half as good as the base game and that’s out October 23rd so we’ve already got something to get excited about there.
GAMEPLAY
Traversal: Swinging around NYC never gets old. It feels exciting and exhilarating every single time. It feels so good that whilst playing Spider-Man I very rarely fast traveled. If an objective was 500M or 3000M away I’d still make my way there the old-fashioned way because it was so fun. Combine that with an absolutely gorgeous New York which feels Completely alive and is brimming with people to interact with and things to do and Spiderman PS4 is a blast to play even when you’re not taking on any supervillains. Apart from the odd miss step swinging is seamless and cinematic and looks incredible and when it did go slightly wrong it was probably down to me being crap and it certainly wasn’t enough to take away from my enjoyment.
Stealth/Combat: It no secret that this game probably wouldn’t exist without the Arkham series, or at least would be vastly different and whilst this game does borrow from the Dark Knight it makes it its own with great style. It feels different enough due to Spider Man’s unique powers to not feel like a ripoff and is truly fun to experience. Stealth feels satisfying and fleshed out and as you progress and unlock more combat upgrades and skills you genuinely feel more powerful and kicking truckloads of armed goons in the face gets even more fun. A big part of that fun is again just how beautiful this game is and how fantastic Spider-Man’s animations are. He looks great all the time and I’m running this on a regular Ps4, not even a pro. Downgrade my ass.
New York City: I know I’ve already mentioned NYC but I want to talk a little bit more about the sheer amount of stuff there is to do in Spider-Man PS4. The fairly large map is absolutely chock full of side objectives, collectibles, crimes to stop, mercenaries to take down and everything in between. Seriously you can be taking down armored trucks full of escaped convicts one minute and then collecting backpacks and pigeons the next. Yes, I said pigeons. The point is nothing feels pointless because of the progression system which I’ll get onto in a minute and because the core elements of combat and traversal have been nailed all of this extra stuff is a joy to run around and complete rather than feeling like a chore. Plenty to keep you coming back long after you’ve finished the story.
Progression: The progression system in Spider-Man is pretty damn good at utilizing all the game has to offer. Each side objective has its own dedicated tokens such as base tokens for Demon or Fisk strongholds, or backpack and locations tokens for, you guessed it backpacks and locations. Everything in the game other than skills, makes use of these tokens from new suits, to suit modifiers, to gadget unlocks and upgrades and so you find yourself actually wanting to do a wide range of different activities in order to go for that next upgrade. And of course, all of these side objectives give you various amounts of XP which earns you skill points to spend in 1 of 3 trees: Innovator, Defender, and Webslinger and these unlock various different abilities and skills which each feel impactful and at times even vital to progress through the game. Especially the combat-related Defender skills, they help you out a lot once Sable show up.
Overall, Spider-Man PS4 is an absolute blast to play and the feeling of knowing they actually got a Spiderman game right feels like a love letter to us fans. There’s absolutely tonnes to do, plenty of nods and hints for hardcore fans but still, loads of fun for even the most casual of Spider-Man fans and at its center is an incredibly emotional and enjoyable story.
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