Ryan Smith, Brian Horton, Bryan Intihar, Marcus Smith
2018
Grade: B
This is a truly immersive and entertaining experience. I have not been this successfully transported into the role of Spider-Man since Spider-Man 2 for the Playstation 2. It certainly takes a lot of the best lessons from 2009’s classic Arkham Asylum with the addition of a fully realized open world New York city and a bevy of side quests.
The game does a superb job of immediately grabbing the attention of the player by front-loading the confrontation with and capture of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. It is the kind of high-octane opening that is worthy of the best sort of action movie, and that is exactly the kind of experience this game lends itself to.
The story, rather than giving its audience an origin, picks up eight years into Peter’s(Yuri Lowenthal) tenure as Spider-Man. His relationship with Mary Jane(Laura Bailey) has ended, his Aunt May(Nancy Linari) is working for a community outreach program called F.E.A.S.T, and he is working as a research assistant to Otto Octavius(William Salyers). There is so much plot in the game that springs from this foundation that any attempt at summary would demand substantial time investment, so I’ll just say that the main thrust of the story involves Octavius and Martin Li(Stephen Oyoung), a philanthropist who lost his parents and gained powers after being involved in an experiment, getting revenge on Norman Osborn(Mark Rolston) and the collateral damage that attempt has on the city at large. The characters are fully realized and well rendered both by performers and designers. Peter’s struggle to balance his heroic and personal life is again present, but with the added twist that he’s using his scientific talents to assist the more humanitarian(at the outset at least) Octavius despite the fact that a more lucrative opportunity with Osborn has presented itself. The story also gives a wonderful and well placed origin to the Miles Morales iteration of Spider-Man and allows him a small character arc of his own. The story does rely on the tried and true hero-game tactic of unlocking the prison so the player can face off against a whole bevy of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, but the narrative doesn’t fall over itself engineering this situation, so it’s hardly a distraction.
The game is not just overflowing with story, it’s overflowing with all things else. Those with a tendency toward obsessive collector behavior should be warned that between the backpacks, photo-ops, Fisk hideouts, thug missions, research stations, devil missions, Sable missions, Black Cat missions, side quests, and Taskmaster tasks there is no shortage of things to do, unlock, upgrade to distract you from your goal of protecting the city from its most pressing threats. And speaking of the city, it deserves special attention because it feels incredibly real and fully realized for every moment that you’re swinging through. The buildings and cityscape never feel repetitive or mass produced, and the longer you play the more you begin to recognize where you are in the city simply by the iconic New York imagery around you. Beyond being expansive and drawn in detail, the city is also beautiful to look at. The lighting and the colors are vibrant and warm during the day and sharp and dynamic at night. Everything from graffiti to street lights and traffic are done in painstaking detail contributing to the realism of an inhabited and thriving city.
The gameplay is astonishingly fluid with tight controls and the player becomes more and more skilled as the game progresses. There are some finicky moments with the game being a hair two particular with zip-line points, and, though finishers are amazingly cinematic moments, it would be extremely helpful if the player could control the camera during those slow motion moments to better prepare to engage the next enemy. Quick time events usually come with mild grumblings, but in this instance they are rare and well utilized. Luckily, this is the extent of the complaints that can be levied against the gameplay.
The game is fun and exciting throughout and really places the player in the shoes of Spider-Man. A well acted and well told story make this a must play for any would-be-hero.
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