Parvusimperator Reviews: Marvel’s Spider-Man

I am sick to the back teeth of giant ensemble cast superhero movies, and I’ve played a ton of bad superhero games in my youth. For a game to stand out, it needs to be amazing. Spectacular, even. Insomniac Games has stepped up with their take on everyone’s favorite web-slinging hero in Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Things the game does right: damn near everything. First, pitfalls avoided. It’s not a rehash of the origin story, thank God and Stan Lee. We’ve got a somewhat-experienced Peter Parker here who doesn’t have to “learn how to be Spider-Man” for the millionth time. It’s not a redo of any other story either. They’ve gone and made their own story for you to enjoy.

Let’s talk about that story some more. It is brand new, but it checks all of the boxes that you would expect from a Spider-Man story. We’ve got complications. We’ve got good characters who are going to TURN BAD. We’ve got touching moments with MJ. We’ve got financial woes. We’ve got perpetual tardiness. We’ve got Spidey Quips. We’ve got famous villains that you know and love to hate. We’ve got J. Jonah Jameson (now with a radio show) calling you a MENACE and accusing you of being in cahoots with various evildoers. We even have a cameo appearance from the late Stan Lee himself. And there’s a brassy, awesome soundtrack that feels very ‘comic book movie’.

Being a Spider-Man game, this is set in New York City, and the devs at Insomniac did a great job of giving you a lovingly recreated Manhattan to play in. Thanks to modern processing power, you can web swing from Harlem to Wall Street without any loading screens. There are tons of recognizable New York City landmarks for you to see, plus a whole bunch of appropriate Marvel landmarks, like Avengers Tower. And you get around via web-swinging, which is the right mix of simple controls, dynamism, and just a bit of imprecision to be tremendous fun. It’s very easy to get the hang of, and it looks right out of a good Spider-Man movie.

On to combat! Combat feels like a somewhat more refined version of what we see in the Arkham games. More refined in the sense that Spidey’s gadgets are a lot better integrated into the fighting. It’s a lot easier to select gadgets, and they fit into your other attack and evasion work really nicely. Another nice feature is the combo bar. Fill it, and you get a finishing move, but you can also use it to replenish your health.

I would also like to praise the randomized minor crime mechanic. In each section of Manhattan, there are various factions who might do some crimes like try to hijack an armored truck. And, of course, you can go stop them. The timers are such that I never felt that I was overwhelmed by crime, or had somehow gone back to pre-Giuliani New York. Plus, after you stop a set number of crimes (five per faction, usually) those stop. Which is nice, because I get really sick when those become never-ending like the dragon encounters in Skyrim.

And now, things I don’t like. Happily, it’s a short list. First, there are sidequests that seem to require more precision in the web-swinging than the system is capable of delivering, which makes them a giant pain. Those quests were both frustrating and verisimilitude-breaking, as I felt like some sort of useless tetherball, not an amazing superhero. Happily, those quests are both few and number and entirely optional. The other annoying bits are the parts where you’re playing as Peter Parker (i.e. not costumed) and you have to walk around between cutscenes. With the exception of the bits in the lab, where there are plenty of things to mess around with, these felt entirely superfluous. Just work it into one cutscene, guys. It’s ok.

Overall though, it’s a great game. Highly recommended.

7 thoughts on “Parvusimperator Reviews: Marvel’s Spider-Man

  1. Chris Bradshaw

    WIth the number of random criminals/terrorists standing on rooftops with rocket launchers, Spider Man’s NYC felt more like Mogadishu than the NYC I know. How does life even go on with that much firepower in the hands of maniacs? Great game though.

    What else do you guys play at the moment? With all the AFV, helo, and jet discussion here, would it be a stretch to think you might be into War Thunder?

    Reply
    1. parvusimperator Post author

      That’s Bill De Blasio’s doing, the RAVING MANIAC!! He’s in league with FISK! /Jameson_voice

      I bounced hard off of War Thunder, mostly because I can’t shake the feeling of it being distinctly pay-to-win, and also being not quite arcadey enough nor sim-y enough for my tastes. I just got done with Metal Gear Solid V, and play more than a bit of Steel Beasts of late. I’m always looking for recommendations though. 🙂

  2. Chris Bradshaw

    In a universe where NYC is the site of multiple large scale alien invasions, I’d imagine we’d get some ex-military hardliner elected as mayor instead of De Blasio. The political implications are crazy.

    War Thunder has become more pay-2-grind than pay-2-win with very few premium vehicles that I would consider to be overpowered, but after I unlocked the vehicles I want to play, the grind stopped mattering to me. Those vehicles just happen to have names that all begin with C, they all shoot HESH, and they all have lower front plates made out of cardboard.

    Steel Beasts for true realism is appealing, but also kinda intimidating for someone who doesn’t know anyone else that plays it IRL.

    Other than War Thunder, Paradox games are always solid. CK2, heavily modded HOI4, and Stellaris eat far too much of my time. Post Scriptum and Hell Let Loose are very exciting as well for the near future for an attempt at combined arms WW2 realism.

    Reply
  3. Fishbreath

    I’ve been on a huge (huge) Factorio binge of late, but summertime is approaching, which is traditionally my season for bursts of more real-world creativity, so that’ll change soon to some of my electronics and home landscaping projects.

    I play a good bit of DCS, although at this stage I’m waiting for it to become an actual game. Paradox games, as you mention in another comment, are big draws, but my most recent WW2 grand strategy endeavor was the excellent Supreme Commander: World War 2: World at War, which, despite its clunky title, is an excellent (and quick-playing, surprisingly!) way to play out that conflict.

    I bounced off of War Thunder too, but mainly because I’ve already invested the grind time to get interesting platforms in World of Tanks and World of Warships.

    On my list for the near future is Return of the Obra Dinn, which comes highly recommended to me by several people.

    Reply
    1. Chris Bradshaw

      Yeah, factorio is the definition of addiction. I’ve never tried (but might check out) SC: WW2:WaW, although that title reminds me of Supreme Commander Forged Alliance, which has to be one of the best RTS titles of all time.

      I never would have pegged you guys as WoT and WoWs players due to how ludicrously arcadey they are, despite having the finest Irish spokestanker around. Tanks having HP, the spotting mechanics, lack of combined arms, and painful inaccuracy scared me off.

    2. parvusimperator Post author

      WoT and WoWs are Fishbreath’s games, not mine. As is Factorio, really.

      (yes we disagree sometimes. Sometimes frequently even)

    3. Fishbreath

      Only we never did on the podcast, because we usually talked about our topics ahead of time and got all the disagreements at least talked out and justified such that they no longer required argument by the time we got to recording.

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