With Great Power Comes Great Adjustability
Sony Interactive Entertainment and Insomniac Games have been taking serious heat for having mediocre upgrade paths for Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on PlayStation 5. As it stands, future PS5 owners will be able to get it by purchasing the Ultimate Edition of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (at $69.99 — not that nice), or through buying the standard edition of Miles Morales on PS4 or PS5 (at $49.99) and getting it for $20 through the game. Notably, no option exists to simply get it if you own the PS4 version of Spider-Man and the downloadable content, nor will the remaster support save files from that version. It also won’t be available as a separate purchase, and will be digital-only.
It was a fun game overall, particularly the story missions. But redoing some of the randomized crime scenarios and having “Spider Cop” fix all those police towers to let the NYPD violate the privacy of New York City’s citizens will not be that fun to repeat.
Sony and Insomniac claim this is being done for a good reason: The remaster is a bigger job than the average next-gen upgrade. Today, Insomniac aimed to prove that through showing how big of a performance upgrade this will offer. Presentation effects like reflections will have more clarity, and the backdrops and weather will receive upgrades to take advantage of the PS5’s power. It will also run at a smooth 60fps in Performance Mode, implying there will be another option to play it in 4K. From the gameplay clip and screenshots, the average person will have a tough time spotting most significant differences from the PS4 version. Well, except for one; a big and ostensibly perplexing one at that.
Peter Parker looks completely different. The PS4 version had a more (though not entirely) unique take on Parker, being a 23-year-old lab worker for Dr. Otto Octavius, which eventually leads to an event that you’ll never guess. For the remastered version, he’ll actually look less unique. The face model has been recast from John Bubniak to Ben Jordan. But, well, just take a look at him. Go ahead and tell me he doesn’t bear a resemblance to a slightly aged-up Tom Holland from recent movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a little tough to adjust to for someone entirely too used to the character from the original game.
I enjoyed how this Spider-Man game had its own unique take from the character with a unique-looking Peter Parker, despite him having a few resemblances to Andrew Garfield of the Amazing Spider-Man movies. (And wouldn’t you know it, the Amazing Suit will be a bonus outfit in this version.) This iteration of Parker stood alone from most comic book timelines and the movies. It was an unusual take, but it still felt like a solid Spider-Man tale by the end. Making this change actually robs the game of part of its identity by bringing it closer to the MCU.
I’m well aware that this sounds like me making a big deal out of nothing. Yes, his face is different, so what? Sappy as it sounds, I got very attached to the Peter Parker from the original game after playing him for so long, partly because the game itself nailed the differences between the themes of good and evil better than many superhero titles and video games as a whole. He will now no longer be that Peter Parker, even though the new model doesn’t look bad per se. The Holland semi-resemblance does make him look a bit too young, however. He almost looks like he should be schoolmates with Miles.
There’s nothing in the official word about him being made to resemble Holland, with the reason given being that they wanted someone who fit Yuri Lowenthal’s voice and motion capture performance better. But come on, this was clearly the case. There’s no way to tell whether this change was done by Insomniac, or if Marvel/Disney mandated a desire for them to find someone who more closely resembles Holland. Either way, it’s a jarring change for some of us.
The Remaster is scheduled for release on the same day as Miles Morales on November 12th, the launch day for the PS5. In the meantime, Insomniac will be further detailing why the changes justify Sony’s decision not to offer a free or slightly cheaper upgrade path for anyone who purchased the original game and its DLC, even though that version will be playable on PS5 through backwards compatibility in PS4 Pro mode. Either way, you can’t blame anyone for wanting to hold off on those purchases of The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima on PS4 for that reason. It not likely those games will need face actor switches, though.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
