By TJ Gibson
Staff Writer
Only a few times each console generation does a game grace us that is not just good, not even just great, but damn near perfect. There’s good reason for this, too. So many different factors go into the making of a modern video game — perhaps more so than in any other medium — that the idea that all the stars could align just right so that everything falls exactly into place and results in a product that fires on all cylinders from every conceivable angle, is simply ludicrous. But it does happen, as classic titles of generations past and present such as Infinity Ward’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us,” Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto V,” or Rocksteady Studios’ “Batman: Arkham” series will tell us. And, without a single doubt, one more game that can now proudly stake its claim among these accolade-drenched masterpieces is the newest outing from veteran video game developer Insomniac Games, “Marvel’s Spider-Man.”
“Marvel’s Spider-Man” is truly a wonder to behold in so many different ways. Not only is it undoubtedly the single greatest game ever made involving the wall-crawler (which is no small feat considering that there’s been literally dozens), but it’s easily one of the best games of its generation by a longshot. Whether we’re referring to its exhilirating gameplay, its complex-yet-intuitive controls, its breathtakingly photorealistic graphics, its creative and captivating story, its thrillingly cinematic soundtrack, or even its absolutely undying reverence for the source material, “Marvel’s Spider-Man” has it all and has it in spades.
One potential reason for this is that Insomniac Games was not only more than ready to take on the web-head (as well-proven by their previous effort, “Sunset Overdrive”) when publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment gave them a crack at the IP, but the developer was given a completely blank slate upon which to craft their own unique vision of the character and his world — untethered from any previous film, TV show, comic, or game. This has worked immensely to Insomniac’s benefit, as it has meant that the developer could alter, enhance, or completely transform any part of Spider-Man’s lore without worry of going against any tie-in licensing deal (or angering purists too much since every choice — even those more drastic than others — is clearly made out of such a deep respect for the character). Indeed, for this reason among others, Insomniac Games has created a thrilling gaming experience that feels refreshlingly new and inspired while still ringing deeply and intrinsically true to the character upon which it is based.
Right off the bat, for example, Insomniac has completely done away with some of the trappings of previous non-comic tellings of Spider-Man/Peter Parker’s story (such as showing his origins as an awkward high schooler grappling with his new powers) and have instead skipped right to his mid-twenties, shortly after he has
graduated college and eight long years after he was first bitten by that damned radioactive arachnid. As a result, the Spider-Man we play here is long-established in his city, deeply confident in his abilities, and fully capable as a crime fighter, thus granting us the ability to feel completely like we really are Spider-Man right from the very first press of a button — no awkward learning phase required. This immediate and total transportation into the mind, body, and life of Spider-Man is one of the biggest areas in which Insomiac’s work is exemplary, but it is far from the only one.
Another example — impossible as it may be to pick just one — is the insane variety that the game boasts. Not only is there a massive, truly alive-feeling open world full of thousands of NPCs, dozens of different activities, and a motherload of collectables, but there’s also three sizable upgrade tiers to use your various gameplay- collected currencies to advance through and 28 entirely different suits to wear which each boast their very own unique power (and which, thankfully, do indeed show up in cutscenes). So even when things occasionally feel somewhat been-there-done-that after the first several hours of play, all of this variety consistently offers enough of an opportunity to change things up at will that every moment still feels ever-so fresh, exciting, and — no matter how much you’ve already done it — new.
It also helps, of course, that there’s more than a few gameplay shifts throughout to break up the “Spider-Maniness” and continue to keep things fresh. In fact, I would consider it yet another substantial achievement for Insomniac that they somehow manage to throw in a pretty hefty amount of non-Spider-Man gameplay (mainly as Peter doing science and other “normal” stuff or as his now-a-badass-reporter ex- girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson) without missing a single beat in the process. Not only that, but the change-ups actually serve to enhance the overall experience rather than detract from it in any way. I mean, sure, are Peter’s “science” mini-games or Mary Jane’s crawling-in-the-shadows stealth missions quite as exhilarating as juggling a guy thirty in the air with your fists or swinging through Manhattan at 100mph? No, of course not, but they’re still on par with the best parts of many other contemporary titles and, honestly, that web slinging alone is pretty much impossible to beat in sheer fun factor anyway.
And that’s ultimately what this game really boils down to: pure, unadulterated fun factor. Every single moment — in and out of costume, inside buildings and on top of them, in boss fights and in regular street brawls, and, yes, even in cutscenes (seriously, the story is amazing — just impossible to talk about without spoilers) — feels so damn fun, so damn right, and just so Spider-Man that the only other example I can even think of that even comes close to striking the same chords throughout is (of course) the example that everyone has been comparing this to: the “Batman: Arkham” series. But then again, even the outstanding “Arkham” titles can’t claim remotely the same variety, map size, or level of photorealism, so still a slight win for ol’ Spidey in my book.
Thus, if you have a PlayStation 4 and have been even slightly considering playing “Marvel’s Spider-Man,” stop considering and get it now. And if you haven’t, well, my point still stands, because I truly believe that everyone with the ability to do so should try this game out at least once. Or, you know, a hundred times. It doesn’t really matter because, as I can personally attest, this incredible work of digital art is every bit as fun and engrossing after a couple dozen hours of play as it is in the first few. So play it, and play it as much as you like. After all, with great power comes great replayability. And I, for one, am far from done playing.
