With great powers comes great responsibilities. And the power that Insomniac Games has found itself in its hands is certainly not unimportant. The software house of titles such as Spyro, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance had to create a game that would please Spider-Man fans, make Marvel Cinematic Universe fans happy, and at the same time try not to fall into the vortex of cloning. Because from many points of view it is clear how this Marvel's Spider-Man exists thanks to the road traveled by Rocksteady Studios, but if there is one thing that the Insomniac guys know how to do, it is to give their own imprint to their games. The load of expectations is a lot: we are talking about the first tie-in that tries to structure itself not as a simple inspired game, but as a real chapter dedicated to the players; furthermore, this is very likely Marvel's Spider-Man will lay the foundation for a Marvel Games Universe, thus taking on the burden of being the initial sprint of something that could accompany us over the years to come. But let's continue in order, and let's find out how the spider pinched the universe of video games.
The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man
In Marvel's Spider-Man, you take on the role of Spider-Man through and through. This means that the game will take you to flutter around New York, to find yourself faced with problems to solve of various kinds and sizes, and also to carry on the life of Peter Parker, civil identity of a scientist. Here comes the first great merit of the Insomniac game: against all the films and modern depictions of Spider-Man, in this game the hero is above all a scientist. He solves puzzles, finds solutions by exploiting his intellectual skills and only then leads his hands in thunderous choreographic fights. In the meantime, this allows us to contextualize many of the choices that will change the course of the plot, but above all it manages to pay homage to a character who is often only remembered for the twirl among the skyscrapers.
Speaking of vaulting, Marvel's Spider-Man is the best title in terms of depicting Spider-Man and his way of moving, fighting and talking: every single throw of the canvas will be almost instinctive to do, yet it will allow you to create devastating combos, fantastic acrobatic scenes and above all fun adrenaline actions. Also as regards the continuation of the story, the title manages to make the player identify with the character, remembering once and for all the Stan Lee paradigm, superheroes with super problems.
The spider has pinched the video game universe
The game features a storyline of about 20 hours, set in a world where Spider-Man has been operating for 8 years already, has already made itself known throughout New York, is appreciated by most citizens and collaborates with Yuriko Watanabe, police captain, sending super-villains known as Rhino, the Scorpio and many others. Just Spider-Man's first fight with Kingpin, and his subsequent arrest, will leave a wandering space in the New York underworld, triggering a series of events related to each other, while Norman Osborn, mayor of the city, will try to win the upcoming elections. From what you can see, the game world skips the origins of the hero, now known to the majority of users, and also dares to create a complex imaginary with focal points taken from the original stories, and details (more or less small) modified to refresh Spider-Man for gamers.
The second great merit to do at Insomniac Games is the study they have done to bring a similar game world to life: from FEAST to Aunt May, from every single supporting actor who will help our hero (like Miles Morales or the same MJ) to the villains of the game, the DNA of Marvel's Spider-Man is contaminated by cross-media references between comics and cinema, with quotes of various kinds and limited but important authorial freedoms. For complete the game 100% it will take about another 10 hours: the title looks like a sandbox with secondary missions to complete that will take us from a rescue of students to real battles with second level bosses, not so important to be included in the main story, but still fun to fight.
There are many collectibles, challenges of various kinds that will test both your fighting skills and those of perception, and exploratory moments that will require the shooting of well-known locations both for the real world (Times Square, Central Park) and for the Marvel world (Alias Investigation, Rand Industries).
As for the fights with the various minions positioned throughout New York, they very much reflect the style of Batman Arkham, but inserting something new: it will not be easy to juggle between one enemy and another, but you will have to learn to calculate the spaces. , use the triangle button to launch towards them via the web and chain the combos to avoid assaults by other enemies. Different types of minions are able to make up for the feeble AI who will try to attack you in the most standard way possible: the difficulty will not lie in defeating the mobs individually, but in facing them together, especially in the more advanced stages. In support, a non-mandatory stealth mode enters, but which will allow you to solve the issue with less blows and more gadgets and traps.
Speaking of the various gadgets, Spider-Man can make use of standard webs, but the real fun part will be to take advantage of the various different webs for different occasions: shoot the bomb-web to hit more enemies, and then launch them with a shock wave generated by the web launcher towards the wall so as to block them will surely be satisfying. There will be dozens of solutions, and it will be up to you to build your own style.
Le Boss Fight do not shine with originality, but allow the game to flex its muscles as regards the technical and design side: the moves of each boss will be few but different from each other and will require a use of the brain by the player, but to defeating them will be enough to understand the pattern of that couple of techniques available, learn how to counter them and then reduce everything to fist fights mixed with dodges. Also great is the use of the environment, which will often serve you to understand where and how to swing, what to throw or move and how to exploit the walls to give yourself the impetus for a bursting attack on enemies.
The dynamics of the concentration, bar that will charge up by fighting or making combos, and that will allow you to use it in two ways: by consuming a full bar, you can make a final attack on the enemy, which will knock down a single target instantly. The interesting gameplay mechanics, however, comes when, with the same bar, you can heal yourself by pressing a button: it will be up to you to decide whether to use this bar to avoid dying or to quickly end the fight.
To wrap up the gameplay, there will also be scenes in civilian dress both by Peter Parker (heavily based on dialogue) and stealth phases with Mary Jane Watson, here a reporter for the Daily Bugle.
The dress makes the monk
Marvel's Spider-Man will allow Spider-Man to grow by gaining experience: with it, you can unlock some ability that will allow you to add moves and dynamics to your game, choosing whether to bet everything on the use of cobwebs, on the counterattack or on the direct attack. At the end of the leveling you will surely have all the skills unlocked, but as the game progresses, it will be vital to understand in what order to do it.
Even the gadgets we talked about earlier will be upgradeable through gods Tokens: these, unlockable by completing various activities (such as cleaning enemy bases, completing challenges, completing some research to be done around the city and foiling crimes), will allow you to upgrade gadgets by adding ammunition, increasing damage and values . All these activities will be detectable on the map only after unlocking the police antennas, beacons that you will have to find around some buildings.
Going into detail, the various activities such as crimes and base cleaning will also make the waiting phases fun, moments between missions where the game will force you to flutter around New York and fulfill the tasks of friendly Spider-Man of neighborhood: in crimes, Spider-Man will be able to pick up police signals and intercept criminals while carrying out robberies, assaults or car escapes. Each of these events will have different mechanics, consisting of simple fist fights or spectacular Quick Time Event. As regards the basiInstead, Spider-Man will have to clean areas conquered by some gangs, which will appear in the form of waves, offering great challenges, a nice loot of experience points and some tokens.
The best superhero game ever
I Tokens they won't do just that: the game features 27 Spider-Man costumes, all with a particular skill that you can use by pressing the L3 + R3 keys. The white spider suit, for example, will allow you to charge your concentration for a period of time, making every single final move lethal. Once the costume is unlocked, you can still choose what to be able to equip, thus separating the aesthetic side from the functional one. Also in the costume you can put three upgrades that you will unlock by leveling up: these, adding small variations to some dynamics, will be vital to understand what type of Spider-Man you want to play. The combination of these features will make the choice of Spider-Man outfit something thoughtful, since depending on what you equip you can have different combos. We will then analyze the various possible combinations separately.
New York, New York
Technically speaking, the game comes in one graphic design of excellent workmanship: some things have been filed down in the course of construction, but otherwise seeing New York while it flutters between one skyscraper and another remains one of the best experiences of this 2018. The graphic effects are well made, and the models faces of the faces are detailed to the maximum. Some small problems are present in terms of texture loading, but nothing that cannot be solved in the short term. For the rest, every single aesthetic detail has been taken care of as far as possible, making New York a living and thriving city, with wonderful colors, and with citizens who will interact through small beats and responses to the passage of Spider-Man. The game is also totally voiced in Spanish, and the level of voice acting is of high quality, both for the main characters and for the secondary ones. There are some voiceovers missing for some citizens, but doing them would certainly have stolen too much time for a minor detail. As for the camera, a cross and delight of titles of the genre, it manages to keep up with the agile superhero, moving in a graceful and light way, which is vital given the speed with which you will have to interact both in the exploratory and in the combat phases.
Dubbing plays a fundamental role especially for the nature of the character: if with Batman we had a dark avenger who preferred to solve the problem quickly and disappear, here with Spider-Man we have a guy who will try in every way to come up with the right joke at the right time. This notable addition will make much of the fighting sessions fun, especially due to Spider-Man's now known comedy. Continuing in the game many of these lines could become repetitive, but their light side prevails over the rest, becoming a nice addition for those unfamiliar with the comic, but a trademark for those who are regular readers of its books.
The Marvel Games Universe
The risks that Insomniac Games has taken in this game are many: we are faced with a Marvel world that is not connected to the comic - due to the diverse origins of some characters - nor to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are references, but it's like they are easter eggs for fans rather than real connections. For this reason the game manages to stand out as il best superhero game ever: I don't want to spoil the experience with spoilers, but the courageous choices taken on the creative side are really many, they range on various sides and make the game something more elevated than previous Spider-Man titles.
The New York where you will spend your time will also be studded with references to New Yorker heroes, and often Spider-Man will comment on some facts by linking to the Avengers, Black Panther or other known Marvel heroes. In addition, for fans of the films, there will be two trademarks characteristic of Marvel films, which you will recognize immediately upon seeing them. All these details denote the consistency and the minutiae that the guys at Insomniac Games have used to build Marvel's Spider-Man, and which makes this title a must buy both for those who love wall climbing comics and for those looking for a fun and adrenaline-pumping gaming experience.
Marvel's Spider-Man is the beginning of something truly spectacular, which continues the licensed superhero titles and takes them to another level, where everything is improved to make the experience one of the best ever. Sure there is a lot of room for growth, and future games will likely be able to build on this to take the experience to the next stage, but for now, the new Spider-Man adventure combines a well-written story, varied and dynamic gameplay. a technical sector that pushes the PlayStation 4 to the maximum and authorial choices that will make purists and non-purists get along.
