Marvel’s Spider-Man — Swinging in New York

Several open world action games released in the last decade owe a lot to the Batman: Arkham games, thanks to the, let’s say, inspiration they’ve taken for their combat systems and overall structure. But superhero games will take the most inspiration from the formula they established, for reasons I think are clear. This has been shown in several games, but Marvel’s Spider-Man for PlayStation 4 is the biggest example thus far.

It wasn’t until I finished the game that I realized it fully wears the inspirations on its sleeve. The combat system has several similarities in terms of how attacking, dodging, and defending work, though with usage of Spider-Man’s unique powers in the mix. It also mimics the Arkham games in how the story is one of the darker Spider-Man stories around, fitting in with what the gaming audience tends to desire out of their mature (though sometimes “mature”) tales. Hell, even some encounters are remarkably similar to those from the Batman games. But I was also late in the game when I realized something else: I didn’t care.

Developer Insomniac Games undoubtedly borrowed several gameplay elements from the Batman games while also taking some inspiration from their previous open world game: Sunset Overdrive. This is fine when those gameplay aspects actually work for a Spider-Man game. The result is one of the best Spider-Man games around, and one of the best superhero games.

Insomniac made key changes to mostly-established Spider-Man stories to distinguish it from the others, but none of them are ill-fitting for a Spider-Man tale. Peter Parker has been Spider-Man in this game for eight years, so he’s plenty experienced with stopping crimes and web swinging. He also works in Dr. Otto Octavius’ lab instead of being a photographer for the Daily Bugle, though the condition of his apartment suggests his paycheck isn’t much bigger. Several characters from the Spider-Man universe also appear, some in adjusted roles compared to the comics and other adaptations, like with Mary Jane being a Lois Lane-inspired Daily Bugle reporter instead of a model or actress.

Despite several changes that I won’t delve into any further, the story still feels familiar to other recent Spider-Man tales, including all the movies released in the last two decades. But it’s tough to complain when it does such a good job illustrating the differences between good and evil, and even highlights some struggles millennials face through Peter’s troubles.

This is an open world game where a sizable portion of New York, New York is available for players to run and swing through. It’s nice to go from one quest or side quest to another when Spider-Man can travel through quickly and fluidly, even before the fast travel option is unlocked. Insomniac did a good job creating a mostly-realistic version of NYC, and some of my favorite moments in exploring the open world involved going from one landmark to another, including those included in the game to replace locations they either didn’t want to use or couldn’t obtain the rights for.

The Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building are here, but Marvel-centric locations were inserted in the place of others like Avengers tower and the Damage Control building in the screenshot above. No, it’s not promoting this blog, though that would be nice.

There are some aspects of progression that I’m not a fan of. Spider-Man has to travel to NYPD towers and restore their functionalities to unlock the rest of the map, a feature that’s been a staple of open world games for a decade — especially in Ubisoft games. That’s more than enough time for the feature to wear out its welcome in several games, and the game never makes this feel necessary. It also has disturbing implications, as it amounts to Spider-Man helping law enforcement expand the surveillance state, which has eerie parallels with real life. It’s not a requirement for the main story, but the map will be a garbled mess if they aren’t repaired.

While the main quest is fun and briskly paced, the side quests are more mixed in quality. The quests that involve characters from the Spider-Man universe that couldn’t be part of the main story are fun. But others are either essentially collectathons and challenge rooms, the structures of which can get repetitive if the player does too many. Fortunately, none of these are required to finish the game, but they do provide experience points for Spider-Man to unlock more techniques, which can make him more formidable for the main game’s quests.

Spider-Man fights remarkably similar to Batman in several hand-to-hand battles, though with expected adjustments to make him feel unique. It’s easy to attack groups of multiple enemies without the need for a lock-on system, while the Spider Sense can be used to know when an incoming attack is coming. Instead of countering like Batman, though, Spider-Man will dodge thanks to being more agile.

Spider-Man has several attacks that utilize his webbing abilities, which make it easier to throw opponents and toss objects at them. He also has more air combo attacks, which seem inspired by Japanese action games like the Devil May Cry titles instead of other western games. The variety of attacks makes encounters fun, especially when they can be mixed up with powers unlocked through Spider-Man’s dizzying array of outfit choices.

The game likes its battle system a little too much, as several encounters will throw waves upon waves of enemies at Spider-Man, which gets old in later skirmishes. This is especially the case with side missions that involve taking down enemy bases, where enemy groups contain so many reinforcements that you have to wonder if there’s an untouched human cloning subplot here. This could have been alleviated by dialing them back a bit, or by giving Spider-Man more techniques where he could easily knock out groups of enemies. They could also replace them with more boss battles, which the game is lacking outside the first and final quarters.

The game has several stealth sections, which are reminiscent of — surprise — the Batman Arkham games, where Spider-Man himself can jump from one perch like structure to another to remain undetected while taking out enemies. The penalty for getting caught isn’t as severe, though, as it’s not too hard to deal with a group of enemies upon being spotted. The stealth sections involving Mary Jane and Miles Morales are a little different, since neither of them have too many ways to take out enemies, and being spotted equals a Game Over. But they don’t last too long, and make for a nice change of pace.

Despite the age gap between voice actor Yuri Lowenthal and Peter Parker, who are 47 and 23 years old, respectively, he does a good job sounding like a convincing young adult. The same goes for Laura Bailey as Mary Jane. The voice performances are all very good, something especially evident in the more emotional scenes that become the norm as the plot develops further. In fact, the game has good voice direction all around, even for unnamed incidental characters and NPCs on the street, all of which adds to the experience.

It would be a mistake to go into Marvel’s Spider-Man expecting originality, as the game happily — and almost shamelessly — cribs elements from several other games and Spider-Man story adaptations. The trick is to create an experience that ensures this isn’t a problem, and this game is such an enjoyable thrill that I wasn’t concerned about any of this. It’s a good time, and given how it ends with the kind of tease that wouldn’t be out of place in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film, I’m looking forward to the sequel.