“Marvel’s Spider-Man” will wow longtime fans

Friendly neighborhood superhero, Spider-Man, is here to save the day yet again in a brand new adventure. One of the greatest of its kind that has been released in a long time.

Insomniac Games’ newest PlayStation 4 exclusive “Marvel’s Spider-Man” has been much anticipated since its reveal back at E3 2016. Gamers and fans of the web-slinger were hyped to get their hands on a new Spider-Man that delivered a great story and amazing gameplay. Insomniac has delivered just that.

In the past, Spider-Man has so often been the center focus of these games that we tend to forget about his secret identity, Peter Parker. Here, you dive deep into Peter’s life as you see him try to juggle his job, relationships, and trying to do something as simple as pay rent, all while fighting the big bad Mister Negative.

With a combination of great facial animation and even greater voice acting, those cutscenes felt like I was watching a feature-length movie. Spidey’s supporting cast also gets time to shine as his famous other half Mary Jane and fan favorite Miles Morales are also playable during the main story, albeit for brief stints. The story itself is solid, though the middle does get a bit lengthy. The climax left a little to be desired gameplay-wise as you felt restricted about what you could do. Story-wise, however, it was a real tear-jerker.

Web swinging is a big mechanic in the game as you would expect. As many fans know the movie the game is based on, “Spider-Man 2,” is regarded as having the definitive web swinging experience. I believe that Insomniacs’ web-swing could give “Spider-Man 2” a run for its money. In fact, at the start of the game, you’re thrust right into it, though the web swing does have a bit of a learning curve with a lot of trial and error.

However, with some practice, anyone can become an expert. The web-slinging is so immersive that there were times where I was on my way to a certain objective and I passed by it completely because I had gotten into a good rhythm I didn’t want to stop. I will say that the controls can be very touchy as it’s quite easy to mistakenly web-zip somewhere you didn’t mean to.

“Marvel’s Spider-man” borrows a lot from previous games. For example, the combat is very similar to the system found in the Batman Arkham series. At this point, many other games have been guilty of this but it’s such a good combat system that I don’t fault insomniac for using it. It’s not a carbon copy of the system, with different upgrades that can be unlocked and different moves combinations and the use of the environment, Insomniac has really found a way to make the combat system their own. You really have to keep on your toes and keep a good rhythm because one mistake could mean a fast Game Over.

Aside from the combat, there are also various different gadgets that can be used during combat. These gadgets can be upgraded as well. While helpful, I didn’t feel any urgency to use any of these gadgets aside from the web-shooters. The game forces you use them once or twice but otherwise, I went my entire playthrough only using them once if at all.

Insomniac managed to find a way to implement the different costume changes Spidey has gone through over the years. Throughout the game, as you level up you reveal new suits that can be unlocked by doing a specific task. Most of the time it’s collecting tokens from different side activities. Once unlocked, aside from getting a new look, the suit comes with a unique suit-ability that can help you during combat. Suit-abilities can come real handy when you’re in a bit of a jam. The best part is that the suit-abilities aren’t locked to a specific suit. If you like the ability but think the suit is ugly you can unlock it and stick the ability on to a suit you think is more your style. The suit themselves are very detailed with almost all having the same shutter lenses as the original.

This game offers about 20 hours of gameplay with an additional 20-plus hours of side missions, collectible hunting, and other various activities. DLC is also planned with the first coming out Oct. 23. I would highly recommend this title to anyone who is a Spider-Man fan and also to anyone who is just an action game fan in general. This game has something for everyone.