Quality Time: Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4)

Spider-Man has been Marvel’s golden boy ever since he first hit the scene in the 1960s, Peter Parker’s conflicted life relatable to many comic book readers and his set of spider-based powers set him apart from the rest of the superheroes. There are certainly times he’s not the biggest name in Marvel, such as when X-Men surged in popularity and when the Marvel Cinematic Universe began to make names like Iron Man and Captain America huge through the wildly successful movies, but Spider-Man, even when he’s slogging through a Clone Saga or getting his origin retold in the latest movie reboot, is still the face of Marvel Comics and one of the most popular superheroes ever created.

 

Despite fading from the spotlight during the MCU’s rise and Sony’s floundering attempt to build a cinematic universe off of him, Spider-Man would see a return to form that spread across many forms of media with his appearance in Marvel movies like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, he’d get an amazing animated movie with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and the most relevant new role for this particular website is headlining a spectacular PlayStation 4 video game known as… something. Some call it simply Spider-Man, others Spider-Man PS4, the most popular name seems to be Marvel’s Spider-Man, but then there are even people who call it Marvel Spider-Man so that it sounds like a poorly translated bootleg game. The consensus swings to Marvel’s Spider-Man to set it apart from the other generically named Spider-Man games of the past like Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man, and Spider-Man, those being an Atari game, PlayStation game, Xbox game, and a Commodore 64 text adventure game respectively, all of these being completely different games from each other.

 

Whatever you choose to call this particular game though, it definitely deserves to be called Fantastic, and that’s what brings us here today for an in-depth look at why this is not only just one of the best Spider-Man games ever made, but also an excellent open-world game, an excellent action game, an excellent superhero story, and one of the best games you can play on the PlayStation 4.

 

DOES WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN

Whenever a video game chooses to adapt the webbed wall-crawler, his powers will be the first thing under scrutiny. Ever since Spider-Man 2 for the PlayStation 2 managed to nail an utterly satisfying and fluid system for swinging through the cityscape of New York, every Spider-Man game since will inevitably have its web-swinging compared to it, and usually unfavorably.

 

Web-swinging is an oddly precise science to make satisfying. Sure, it’s easy to make a functional version of it. Just have him be able to swing anywhere he likes regardless of there being a point he can connect his web logically, and make it useful for moving fast and boom. Bare minimum achieved. It will play its role and few will really complain if they didn’t know it could be done better. Swinging from a web needs a proper feeling of weight though, the player able to build momentum by releasing the web and shooting off a new one to build up greater and greater speed. Releasing it early should lead to a quick fall, releasing it late a high launch into the air, and there should always be some sort of anchor point for that web even if the designers get a little generous with flagpoles or overhangs to make it happen. The tight streets of Manhattan usually feed this ability well but when the buildings are spread out, Spider-Man needs to swing smart by sticking close to buildings but also not pulling himself into them. It needs to be quick to activate and perhaps most importantly, just fun to do on its own, navigating quickly being its own reward.

Insomniac Games doesn’t just nail these core principles though, they go beyond it in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Swinging between the buildings is simple enough for a young player to pull off but has the complex physics under the hood so that a player who understands it can build up ridiculous speeds or execute flashy maneuvers. This is the kind of Spider-Man you would see in a movie or comic where special effects or static panels can pose him well when swinging around the city, and this is all while he’s a physics object in a video game that needs to interact with tons of other models in a seamless way or else the fluidity would immediately crumble.  The basics aren’t the only things to help you out with moving around the city either, and they all can supplement the web-swinging to not only make that more satisfying, but also more varied. Zip points allow Spider-Man to quickly pull himself to a new spot, after which he can perch on it to rest or launch himself up to keep the momentum flowing. Aerial pull lines can give Spider-Man a quick burst forward to give you a good initial speed. The wall-crawler can run up or across the sides of buildings and pull himself up to the roof with a web to get a new swinging sessions going, and you can even speed up his dives to build up momentum before you shoot out your swinging web. There are so many different animations related to this as well, Spider-Man throwing himself into the faster swings, releasing them with a flourish if you go for height, and even able to pull himself through small openings in a corkscrew maneuver that makes the few times you can find a spot for it in the city a nice little change of pace.

 

This is definitely how Spider-Man is meant to swing, the athletic super-hero showing his mastery of a tool he’s been using for decades of fictional history and many years within the game’s story. Funnily enough though, the spider webs aren’t actually a power but a device he uses to augment the one’s he gained from the spider-bite, but if you’re wondering about his true powers like super strength and spider sense, you can find these play into the game’s combat.

People familiar with DC’s superhero Batman and the Arkham series of games will immediately recognize the basics of Marvel’s Spider-Man’s fighting system. However, while the body-armor wearing muscly Batman has been criticized for gracefully moving from criminal to criminal in a fistfight like a ballerina in black, the dexterous and agile Spider-Man can justify quickly switching from one foe to another with speed. There is a point where Spider-Man won’t be able to reach nearby criminals with an attack, but when you’re surrounded you usually can tell who is in range of your fists, and if they aren’t you can always use a web to zip over and lay the hurt on them. Your basic attacks deal decent damage to even the tougher street thugs, but you can also launch them into the air and continue pounding them to prevent yourself from getting surrounded on the ground.

 

Surrounding you really is the biggest edge criminals have against Spider-Man, the thugs trying to get all around him and lay down attacks to keep him at bay. Managing groups is what makes the normal combat dynamic and enjoyable, and there are more than just punks throwing punches to deal with. Guns are an expected worry, criminals usually hanging back from the crowd to pepper you from afar, but later there will be new concerns like grenades, special weapons, and enemies who can dodge Spider-Man or have defenses you need to break through. The game usually has a large group of regular criminals that are supplemented with these specialized opponents, both trying to keep you from effectively handling the other, but no matter what kind of attack is coming for you, Spider-Man’s spider sense gives him an inherent edge. From the start of an incoming attack to its completion, Spider-Man will have a symbol appear above his head that gets more intense in design and color as the move gets closer to hitting. If you press the dodge button though, you will avoid the hit and can even transition it into a counterattack, but the dodge isn’t too lenient. You need to time it right and consider other nearby factors, because dodging a grenade and then standing near it isn’t going to protect you from its blast. Still, this can keep battles fast-paced and full of enemy attacks without overtaxing the player’s reaction times, so on a basic level, the combat is satisfying and effective.

And it’s got more options than those as well! Over the course of the game you can level up and unlock upgrades that can either feed into the web swinging or the combat, many useful abilities joining your repertoire over the course of the game. You can learn to yank weapons from enemy hands with your webs, do a web-swinging kick, and more as you go down the upgrade paths, but you will also have some assistance from your gradually increasing gadget set. Spider-Man can of course shoot balls of webs at his enemies, the Web Blaster the quickest and simplest gadget and one that recharges automatically so it can remain useful in a fight. Tying up enemies incapacitates them, and if they’re near a wall or laying on the floor, you can even web them up to instantly defeat them. You do have many other options to help in a fight though, such as a more powerful web blaster that will punch enemies far off and instantly web them to any walls they hit, an electric web that can stun groups of enemies, a drone that is good for distracting criminals in a crowded fight, and of course, more. Many are certainly situational and require time to charge, but by earning combos in a fight they can charge up quicker.

 

Combos and the Focus meter they fill are an important part of the battles that reward you for not getting hit in many different ways. To heal damage you need to build up a combo and then bank it for a quick health boost. If you deal enough consecutive hits you can instantly take down a weaker enemy or two with a finishing move. Building up certain size combos will reward you with more experience points and can even complete side-objectives in some missions. The game allows itself to be more violent in its treatment of you since you can heal with your Focus meter to recover but it still gives you the tools to avoid getting hit so you can chase the benefits of fighting fluidly and expertly.

 

However, while getting into fights can be appropriately intense and skill-focused, there are many times in the game where the player can choose to be stealthy instead. While crawling on walls isn’t the most utilized mechanic in action segments, Spider-Man is perfect at getting away from his ground-bound foes by sticking to the high areas. Rafters, shelves, roof-tops… anywhere he can be but guys on foot can’t, Spider-Man can perch above them and try to take them out without being noticed. There are web takedowns were you wind them up like a spider catching prey to hide them from detection and ground-based versions where you knock them out, with excellent stealth rewarded with plenty of instant enemy defeat opportunities. If you are spotted though it can be hard to shake enemies so being smart about it is key if you want to pick off as many criminals as possible before the fighting starts, and in some areas detection is inevitable, but when you do have an option to be stealthy, taking it can lead to an enjoyable change of pace. While you are avoiding detection and trying to be quiet during these, you don’t have to be too slow to be successful, a few moments of waiting necessary but many enemies near enough to perches or easy to lure away so you can wrap up an area without too much downtime, strategy usually a part of it despite some enemies being set-up as the gimmes of that section.

Spider-Man’s powers are definitely expressed well here, with the web-swinging always fun to participate in even when fast travel options are unlocked and the combat gradually growing to have new tougher foes so it can keep expanding as your skills do. However, just as important to the enjoyment of these abilities is where they take place, and Insomniac Games has constructed a marvelous playground in the form of Manhattan.

 

YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD

New York City has always been a key component of the Spider-Man mythos, the young man from Queens finding a city both with enough crime to fuel his antics and the kind of skyline he needs to always have a place to swing from. Manhattan is really brought to life in Marvel’s Spider-Man, the entire island adapted into your virtual open world for exploration. While you won’t be entering many of its buildings outside of story moments, Manhattan itself is a huge place with many locations to ensure its a diverse city with a plethora of activities.

 

For people familiar with the real life city, you can expect to see many of the familiar sights as you swing around. The Statue of Liberty is visible far off in the bay, the Empire State Building towers above everything, and the bright lights and billboards of Times Square give that portion of the city its own unique charm. Central Park is present, Spider-Man still able to swing through it thanks to the trees so that neither navigability nor the park’s appearance are sacrificed in adapting it to the game. You can head to the docks or walk around the city streets, and even when you’re swinging around you can see buildings with balconies our outdoor areas for people to loiter in. The city is always alive with people walking around and cars driving about, many of them reacting appropriately when a man in spandex starts walking next to them. Of course, some new buildings are added to the mix to match the fictional world of Spider-Man, with comic fans able to find recognizable locations like Avengers Tower and Daredevil’s law offices, the game even having side objectives where it wants you to take photos of the many landmarks one of the world’s most famous cities has, the map even marked so you can give yourself a little tour of them all later if you so wish.

Speaking of side objectives, these are really what make Manhattan more than just a hub for a story. Over the course of the game you’ll gradually find more and more little things you can do around the city, with each of them justifying their presence by the tokens they give for completing them, these bonus mission rewards going into things like upgrading your gadgets or buying new costumes. Some are simple and expected, Spider-Man sometimes hearing about a new crime he can go stop like a robbery or assault in progress, these playing into the combat mechanics that also see play in the later warehouse raids that take place in indoors areas. Crimes and warehouses are the most common style to watch out for, but the game makes sure to get creative with how it can test the player in these side-activities so they don’t get bored. There small things like finding the hidden backpacks around the city that have neat callbacks to Spider-Man’s past and chasing down the lost pigeons of a homeless man that you need to swing after and catch when you spot one. Entirely new skills will be tested for some though, like when you’re on the trail of the thief Black Cat and need to use your camera to spot her clues amidst the busy world of New York City and the speed and score focused challenges Taskmaster leaves about to test your mettle.

 

The most interesting ones have to be the research stations though, these being small missions focused on seemingly simple environmental research studies that manage to get creatively reimagined again and again. Some like swinging through patches of smog in the city skyline get reused admittedly, but they test your mastery of web-swinging movement in a way not much else in the game does. Research stations with things like swinging through the air during a lightning storm add a unique pressure to city navigation, as does one that involves the city’s mobile phone grid potentially interfering with your suit’s systems if you enter its frequency ranges. Sealing up breaking water lines, destroying faulty air conditioning units all around towering apartment complexes, using drones to investigate the park stealthily, and many other little tasks make these meatier side objectives one of the best to engage with as they all find new ways to use the city landscape for interesting play.

 

There are proper full-on story focused side quests as well in Marvel’s Spider-Man that help to add color to the city. Some can be as simple as a lady asking Spider-Man to help when her husband’s been acting suspicious lately or responding to a call from a bird-watcher who spotted some unusual activity, but then there are ones with a fun concept like investigating the claims of a second Spider-Man helping people around the city, tracking down the near-invincible villain Tombstone, and dealing with the kooky costumed villain Screwball who uses social media and streaming to set up crimes so she can broadcast Spider-Man trying to stop them. These often mix together combat, quick movement around the city, and investigations into enjoyable little diversions from the main story, not that the game would need them to be spectacular since its plot carries the action incredibly well on its own.

 

LIFE’S A GREAT BIG BANG UP

Marvel’s Spider-Man takes place in its own continuity despite carrying over many familiar parts of the character’s long legacy. Here he’s a grown man who has been the costumed superhero since his teens, the wall-crawler already having conflicts with many of his famous villains like Vulture, Rhino, and Electro. The game does pick which parts of his history aren’t complete, all of them to better the narrative as we get to explore them within the context of this new adventure rather than just having them spring up with a “REMEMBER ME?” sort of moment.

 

The game begins, oddly enough, with the takedown of one of Spider-Man’s most powerful foes… or at least, most powerful when it comes to social influence. The Kingpin is the biggest crime boss in Manhattan, so when Spider-Man finally puts him in jail, there is a huge power vacuum left to stir up trouble in a city he can usually keep pretty safe. Criminals become more bold or less organized without a smart leader pulling the strings, but the most dangerous result of this all would be the people vying to control the lucrative turf Kingpin has left behind. The Demon gang is the biggest problem Spider-Man will face as an aftershock of his momentous Kingpin arrest, these seemingly normal criminals all wielding strange guns and weapons that are enhanced to be even more deadly than they should be.

This all comes down to the early game’s focus on one villain in particular: Mister Negative. If that isn’t ringing a bell for you, don’t worry, he’s not even a big deal among fans of the comics or Spider-Man in general, but since the first chunk of the game is focused on him, it really gets to play with that unfamiliarity to make a villain unique to this game and one with a lot of room to be explored. The basics are that he looks like a photo negative of a man and his power is to draw out the negative emotions of people to turn even regular kind people into raging and wild enemies Spider-Man will have to deal with, but his negative touch can also empower weapons and he even packs some basic destructive blasts so fighting him can be more explosive and action-packed. Spider-Man spends the opening parts of the game learning about this new villain, what he’s after, and how he can be taken down, the gradual unraveling packing many interesting setpieces that make these missions stand out from the norm… although some of the flashier moments do come down to timed button presses rather than active participation. These definitely look impressive, but the game still makes sure there is a lot of action you do control. Mister Negative stays in the spotlight during this portion but you do fight other villains like the shockwave firing Shocker and mission structures can involve things like trying to tip a battle between Kingpin’s remaining forces and Negative’s new enhanced Demons in the way that most favors your goals, so a few moments of button presses over cutscenes is hardly going to take away the fun.

 

There are more stories going on in the background while you try to track down and stop Mister Negative to flesh out the game world and set up for some of the late game story moments. Peter Paker tries to balance his personal life with his responsibility as a superhero, visiting his aunt as she works at a homeless shelter that he even helps out with. His job outside of the spandex is important too, Peter working with Otto Octavius on cybernetic prosthesis for the good of mankind. Many people will immediately recognize Otto Octavius as the man who will be one of Spider-Man’s most prolific villains, but here he has yet to have his fall from grace, so any moment of anger or unhinged behavior adds some tension to an interaction that is otherwise almost like that between a father and son. Norman Osborn is the billionaire mayor of New York who has rightfully earned the ire of many super-villains with his unethical behavior, Spider-Man seeing his influence all around the city, especially when Otto and Peter both lose their jobs because of him. At different points in the plot Peter will find himself speaking with his old flame Mary Jane as their romance has a chance of reigniting, but on the other hand he has to find time to ensure a teenager named Miles Morales goes down the right path after an earth-shattering loss in his life. Peter even has a personal connection to Mister Negative’s true identity to add more weight to that part of the story, the human side of our hero really getting its chances to shine both in the scenes between missions and in more mundane story objectives like trying to retrieve your gear from the garbage after Peter’s landlord evicts him.

The game tries to space these apart well so that you never go too long without action or without an update on these personal stories, but they do lead to the biggest divergences from that action of Marvel’s Spider-Man as well. Your time with Otto Octavious will involve little science minigames that are simple puzzles that, while not bad at all, aren’t huge additions to the game’s enjoyability either. At some points in the story you will take control of Mary Jane and Miles as well, neither packing superpowers and this taking on the form of stealth segments where you need to move through an area undetected. You do get some tools like a lure and the scenarios can having interesting twists like trying to sneak around an enraged supervillain, but despite their small size, they are probably the weakest moments of the game. Thankfully, their weakness makes them just passable and easy to complete rather than an annoying interruption to play, the real worst thing that can be said about them being that it means slightly less time as the capable and incredibly enjoyable web-slinger.

 

Eventually, things do come to a head and you’ll finally take down Mister Negative, sending him off to The Raft, a supermax prison meant to contain powerful supervillains. However, in the background other plotlines were beginning to come to a head, and for the later portions of the game, things are kicked up a notch with the introduction of…

 

THE SINISTER SIX

The Raft is busted open, and all the criminals inside it are loose. The worst criminals of New York are now out on the streets again in numbers, and the city calls in Silver Sable and her ruthless mercenaries to handle them by any means necessary, even if it means oppressive and aggressive treatment of the civilians beyond what law enforcers should ever consider. But the worst part has to be six superpowered individuals who have banded together to tear down the city in their vendetta against Norman Osborn and Spider-Man.

 

Many of the villains are first seen here despite the many references to them that crop up in the story, some even being seen earlier as part of a cute Halloween segment where people are dressed up as the villains and try to do budget performances as them. Among these Sinister Six are the master of electricity Electro, the high-flying Vulture, the huge powerhouse Rhino, the sadistic Scorpion, your old friend Mister Negative back for round two, and leading them all is…

Otto Octavious as Doctor Octopus. Yes, the betrayal you were waiting to see finally happens in glorious fashion as the city becomes a warzone between criminals, cops, Sable mercs, and these six incredibly strong supervillains, Spider-Man trying to salvage it all as his world collapses around him. His family and friends are in harm’s way as the streets are filled with violence, Spider-Man lucky if he can go swinging around without ending up in someone’s crosshairs… although thankfully you can still get side stuff done if you want to. Most important to this final segment of the game though are the big boss battles with these characters, and while the Sinister Six could have been six separate yet interesting boss battles, the game makes them far more interesting by having them work together to take you on.

 

Admittedly, you do usually get at least one encounter with each member before their boss fight with another team member, but these are less boss fights and more interesting interactions with their power. Electro is first to break out of The Raft so Spider-Man tries to chase him down, needing to avoid the unpredictability of electricity while trying to catch up with him. The Miles Morales sneaking section with a supervillain mentioned earlier involves the fragile teenager trying to sneak around the juggernaut that is Rhino, and the Scorpion gets a segment that, while admittedly obvious in its inspiration since it shares so many similarities to the Batman: Arkham games’ use of the Scarecrow, makes good use of what it’s borrowing when Spider-Man is injected with a hallucinogenic toxin. Besides the striking imagery of Manhattan submerged in a sea of poison, this segment includes Spider-Man imagining conversations with Otto Octavius about the heartbreak of the betrayal, fitting in some of the conversations that could be had and should be covered but might be hard to organically include in a fight between the two.

The boss battles where they join up are just as interesting as these non-combat moments. Electro and Vulture complement each other well in their fight as Spider-Man spends most of the fight in the air trying to avoid the coordinated strikes of the two, and Rhino and Scorpion are paired up for a ground battle where the charging big guy and hit-and-run tactics of the quick guy make that an interesting mirror to the aerial battle while still remaining distinct. Mister Negative and Doctor Octopus get their moments on their own though since they have the personal stories to wrap up during their battle, but Doctor Octopus’s fight balances the danger and the drama especially well, and while the emotions are cranked up for many endgame moments, this one really turns up the dials after a game that’s worked up to this moment and has the acting and visual elements to really sell both intense and sad moments well. The final scene with the two together can be downright heartbreaking, both characters pushed to their breaking points and having one last conversation where the emotional connection the two built-up now conflicts with how far Otto fell in his quest to get revenge on Norman Osborn.

While Marvel’s Spider-Man does leave a few balls in the air for a potential sequel, its story covers a lot of interesting ground that feeds the gameplay and makes the plot enjoyable to follow. It’s got plenty of humor from its main hero to balance out the moments of serious emotion as well as the flashy action moments that make this a tale with a lot to enjoy. There are still a few more little commendable things worth mentioning before we wrap up though.

 

THE ITSY BITSY DETAILS

Whether you’re a fan of the webbed wall-crawler or not, Marvel’s Spider-Man has a lot of small details that can be appreciated either on their own, for the legacy they represent, or even as pure gameplay elements.

 

Spider-Man’s packing a huge array of different suits from different points in the character’s history, some silly like the punk rock Spider-Man and some sleek like the Stealth Suit. The cool blue web designs of the Fear Itself suit, the retro style of the Noir Spider-Man look, the many references like costumes meant to make him look like he has in different films and even ones that make him look like other Spider-Men such as the Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man 2099. Despite being a nice visual treat and a way of rewarding you throughout the game for completing tasks and sidequests, these all pack special abilities too.

There are a lot of different suit abilities you can use, such as one that makes you incredibly quiet, a few bulletproof options, and one that will electrify your enemies… but the balancing here isn’t the best. Many of these could be useful and might have a mission or two where you want to switch to that suit power, but since you only need to unlock a suit to set its power for any other suit, and you’ll probably realize how ridiculously effective Web Blossom is and stick with it. Web Blossom has Spider-Man leap into the air and fire webs all around him in a way that can sometimes instantly end an enemy skirmish, all the criminals webbed to the walls and ground after a single press of the control stick. Suit powers do need to charge and the side objectives try to encourage less abuse of this option, but it is still such a useful tool it’s hard to pick a power like extra knockback on your attacks or even seemingly cool ones like having four mechanical arms to help out your attacks. This is definitely a case of useless options rather than something that hurts play though, Web Blossom still satisfying despite its centralization of your suit power options.

 

There are a lot of cute touches to Manhattan, especially when you just want to take things easy. Walking around the streets can lead to people approaching Spider-Man for a high-five to show appreciation. On the map screen that shows you all the different side objectives, you can also pull up Spider-Man’s Twitter feed to see what people are saying about him and the latest missions you’ve completed in New York. As you play the game, J. Jonah Jameson’s radio show might reach your ears, the famously angry Spider-Man hater reimagined from his role as head of the Daily Bugle into a babbling conspiracy theorist that is a humorous parody of the Alex Jones types online. Insomniac Games adds a lot of character to the world with the little touches, such as Spider-Man taking the subway when you choose to fast travel, and even outside of the big landmarks, New York is teeming with gorgeous graffiti to photograph and other small interesting sights to stumble across while traversing this wondrously realized location.

 

CONCLUSION: THERE GOES THE SPIDER-MAN!

Marvel’s Spider-Man is a spectacular realization of everything the character is about. His web-swinging is easy to use but rewards mastery with satisfying speed and flair, the combat mixes his many tools with his spider-sense to make things challenging and dangerous while still being enjoyable to overcome, and his home turf has been realized in glorious detail with Manhattan teeming with fun side activities and lovely little touches. The story brings in familiar characters and uses them in fresh ways while building up relative unknowns like Mister Negative into legitimate threats. Action setpieces with crazy mayhem and incredible supervillains are balanced out with Peter Parker’s well-written struggles with his personal life. The few slow or simple moments are completely buried when the game is looked at as a whole, with the plethora of content and attention to detail making Spider-Man’s PS4 adventure truly spectacular.

 

Whether or not you’re a fan of the superhero, Marvel’s Spider-Man strives to give you a game with tons to enjoy. It’s its own interpretation of all the things that make Spider-Man great, every aspect of his powers considered carefully so their integration into the gameplay feels natural and feeds into the enjoyability of even the simplest things like getting from one area of the city to another. Spider-Man dishes out the quips and one-liners he’s become famous for while also having heartfelt moments with his family, friends, and even his biggest enemies, as time is taken to give these characters room to grow and develop even when a boss battle waits as the end to their story. Even when it’s not working on something serious, we’ve still got inspired moments like mixing together Sinister Six members for more action-packed boss battles, and with so much side content to enjoy delving into on the side, Marvel’s Spider-Man has definitely realized the character in a video game far better than most of his outings, with that “most of” just me being cautious since I haven’t played them all yet. Besides, this could even become dated when a Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 comes out when that could supplant it at the top of the pile, and even with the many amazing ideas Insomniac Games explored here, it still seems like they have much more they want to explore, an idea made all the more exciting when you see how they handled their first batch of inspiration.

 

Marvel’s Spider-Man isn’t just amazing. It’s spectacular, sensational, and a superior example of how the incredible powers superheroes delight with on screen or between the pages can be realized in video game form, both with how satisfying the action can be to participate in and with how enjoyable the story can be to see unfold. Marvel’s Spider-Man definitely embodies everything that makes this character and his stories some of Marvel’s best.