Marvel’s Spider-Man 2018

Story

In this game, a 23 Year Old Peter Parker aka Spiderman, after stopping Kingpin, a new crime lord known as Mister Negative, orchestrates a plot to seize New York City’s criminal underworld. Spider-Man must confront him and protect the city. All the while dealing with his alter ego’s problems and balancing both worlds, he has to protect New York City from criminals and supervillains.

My summarized review of Spiderman 2018

While repetitive, Spiderman is probably one of the best games I’ve played in a while. The gameplay and combat system was fun—the controls for this Spiderman game where near fluid and responsive. While many of the primary and side missions felt lacking at points and repetitive, they provided replayability that doesn’t get monotonous, for the most part. The game elevates with an excellent story and character development, making it feel more cinematic than a video game.

Full Thoughts and Reactions after playing Spiderman 2018

At this time of this article, Spiderman for the PlayStation 4 came out two years ago. There was a lot of hype leading up to the game’s release. Development started in 2014 by Insomniac Games. Spiderman games were mostly good, at least the ones I’ve played in my past, such as Spiderman: Maximum Carnage and Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions. I haven’t played many Spiderman games considered flawed, but I’ve stayed away from those titles. I looked forward to this game for a while but waited until I could get the “Game of the Year” version with all of the DLC included in this game. After Play through the main game, I feel that it was worth getting this game. 

There is a lot to do in this game. Unfortunately, it can get pretty repetitive fast. But it’s the kind of repetitiveness that makes you want to continue playing. The primary and side mission you get could vary, but generally require the player to beat up bad guys. You may be required to fight a lot, I felt. There are web-swinging side missions and photography side collectible missions that do break that up. There are collectibles in the game and completing side missions in the game that can give you different Spiderman suits from Spiderman’s past, level up, and power up your gadgets. The collectibles provide some exposition into not only this Peter Parker’s history but other Peter’s of the many Spidermen that came before him in varying media. The main game takes place in New York City, Broken down into several districts, each with the same kind of side missions you can find. It will take you a while to complete each section and get to 100% complete. It’s tedious, but doing this felt worth it.

The control of the game felt great. I got a good sense of what it would be like to swing around like Spiderman in New York City. Web-swinging around felt very responsive, web crawling, and Spider-Man doing parkour works well. You can even do some Spider tricks in the air and run on the side or up a building, which looks great. There were times I felt a loss of control, either hitting a building or the camera getting stuck while swinging. But nothing that was distracting or deterred from the gameplay. The music was fine, it wasn’t anything that stood out, but I found it funny hearing the epic music kicked in as soon as you start swinging around.

The one element that I wished there was more of was stealth. The controls of the stealth Spiderman worked great added variety to a game that needed it. While you had a stealth element, it felt like there weren’t any real consequences if you messed up and got caught, except at a few spots. Many of the stealth you did in the game would lead to fighting, but with fewer enemies. Besides Spiderman, there were moments of stealth that had you sneaking around as other characters that I like. It was a gameplay that was needed not to make it feel like you were doing the same thing over and over again.

At first impression, I felt the game’s combat was closely following the Batman Arkham game series. You have to chain attacks together and can use the environment and your webs to eat foes. There were times that I was trying not to compare the game to the Batman Arkham Series, but times I had drawn some parallels, mostly in the combat. Spiderman And Batman had the same feel of a battle system, but I liked Spiderman. Batman’s fight felt like a ballet of moves when you strung the combos right. I was slower, but beautiful to watch if you pulled it off well. Spiderman’s combat felt more like a pop/hip-hop style with parkour all mixed in. I did like Spiderman’s a bit more, as it felt more forgiving if I was trying to string a massive combo. It also felt more comfortable to pull off a variety of combo moves easier with Spiderman.

Enemies can also be repetitive. You fight mostly thugs in the game. Simple thugs as they start, but as the game progress, you armed thugs, armored thugs, Brutes, thugs that are twice as strong as thugs, and harder to take down. It’s weird because while I felt a sense of variety, there were times when I couldn’t help but feel like I was fighting the same type of enemy over and over again. Spiderman is beat ’em up gameplay. That this what the game designers intended. In a game this big, I started to lose the enjoyment of the game. I want to try to get past a mission as soon as I can. Then I can move on to the next task. Which is the same as the last mission I did because I have to complete a certain amount to 100% a district. f. I did find Spiderman fun again when I stepped away from the game and came back to it. A reminder of why breaks are necessary now and then in gaming.  

I did like the story the game told. It’s an engaging three-act story structure and leaves enough room for a sequel or more. It fits a narrative of Peter Parker that I know. Trying to balance the two lives that he lives. One as Spiderman and the other as Peter Parker. Spiderman 2018 does break this up nicely are some missions are just about Peter’s life away from Spiderman. It gives a needed break of the always fighting of being Spiderman in the game.

There is a multiverse of Peter Parker’s and Spidermen in comics, tv, and film. Going with a 23-year-old Peter Parker was right for this game. He is several years in as Spiderman already, and still can’t seem to get a work-life balance right. But, he will always do everything he can to save the city and the people that admire him. He follows the “Great Power comes Great responsibility” that his late Uncle Ben Parker bestowed upon him. He develops wonderfully in the game. You can get a sense of the struggle that Peter goes through to balance what’s right, even if it could affect him. Even if one alter ego hurts the other through the actions of Peter and Spiderman.

Most of the cast are side characters that should be very familiar to anyone who’s seen anything to do with Spiderman. Some of these characters include Mary Jane, Peter’s ex-girlfriend, and journalist is a supporting character who helps Peter and cautiously goes to danger to assist where she can. I thought that she would be a hindrance to the story, but I wrong. When he isn’t Spiderman, Peter works for Dr. Otto Octavius, a doctor trying to research and create prosthetic limbs. Octavius is a genius that Peter favorably looks up to as a mentor, and I felt like a father figure. Another character well developed, and if you are familiar with Spiderman, you may guess how Dr. Octavius arc will end, but it’s worth playing through and discovering for yourself.

Martin Li, the millionaire philanthropist that runs F.E.A.S.T. while Peter’s Aunt May Parker works, was a great character and main villain in the game. Known as Mister Negative for most of the game, is the villain. I felt that he was the most rounded in character and story terms. He does embody evil, tries to do good in the beginning. There is a reluctance to do what he chooses to do, but he embraces it. It’s a counter to Spiderman as Spiderman does for right and justice, Li fights for destruction and vengeance. The leader of the demons gang, the design looks incredible. I like the look Mr. Negative; it’s like looking at a negative of a film strip. While not the only villain in the game, he was the only one that I felt mentioning. There are other villains Spiderman fights, but this was the only one that stood out to me.

Spiderman 2018 is a great game. The game controls great and gives you a good feeling of being a Spiderman. I highly recommend this game to anyone if they have a Playstation 4 or want to get a Playstation 4. At least for the main game, you will get the value of what you paid for it. I’m looking forward to Spider-man Miles Morales and other games that come out for this platform.