Did you know Spider-Man sells way more toys than any other superhero? More than gritty Batman, more than wholesome Superman and even more than super squad-goals, The Avengers.
So it stands to reason that Insomniac's PlayStation 4 exclusive interpretation of Marvel's Spider-Man will sell by the web-load, regardless of how good it is. Thankfully, the studio has crafted a true homage to your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man that swings through the hero's past and present gracefully, while lining up a very exciting future.
The world Peter Parker and Spider-Man inhabit in this game will be familiar to comic book, cartoon and movie fans alike, but there's been just enough tweaks on the tale-as-old-as-time story of Uncle Ben and Great Power Coming With Great Long Speeches to keep things fresh.
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Peter has been swinging through New York in his lycra for eight years, he's been on-and-off with Mary Jane, who's now suitably modernised from aspiring starlet to feisty investigative journalist at The Daily Bugle.
J Jonah Jameson has retired, but now hosts his own obnoxious radio talk show, which excellently rattles anti-arachnid propaganda through your ears every time something significant happens. Peter quits snapping Spider-Man for The Daily Bugle and now works in a laboratory with an exciting partner – who we can't yet reveal. Soz.
The game has certainly taken cues from the MCU strapping Spider-Man with Stark's techy gadgets, as Peter's new 9 to 5 means you're getting new equipment, along with logical explanations for simple things like the minimap, new missions and weapons.
The other big change from previous Spider-Man games is the chance to play as Peter doing his day-to-day lab work and Mary Jane taking on super-sleuth stealth sections, along with another character revealed later on.
These sections mainly consist of small puzzle games that earn experience points or serviceable stealth sections, and while it's great Insomniac tried to balance different aspects of Peter's life, they're not all that thrilling to actually play, and you'll find the story that unfolds through completing them much more interesting.
Overall Marvel's Spider-Man story is awesome and makes some very bold steps, which pack the sort of real emotional weight last delivered by Thanos' snap in Infinity War. This is aided by some phenomenal voice acting, which really sells every single story beat. Sadly Spider-Man's constant quips miss more often than they land, but they're very true to the character and exactly what the game needed.
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The key thing Insomniac needed to nail for Marvel's Spider-Man was the web-swinging and thankfully they've done a solid job. Spider-Man feels graceful and ridiculously acrobatic, although he can seem slightly slow at first, his ability to dive, parkour run up any building and web zip soon allows for rapid traversal, which really provides some of the game's greatest moments.
The only drawback is that landing Spidey in specific places is tricky, whether that's to grab one of his old collectible school backpacks or activate keypads for side missions. But when you're going fast – which you will be 90% of the time – it's sublime.
Webbing up villains in Marvel's Spider-Man is So. Much. Fun. Gadgets such as Impact Webbing and Web Bombs instantly glue hulking hoodlums to just about anything. Meanwhile grabbing and swinging random car doors, trash cans and junk like a mace never gets old.
It's easy to compare Marvel's Spider-Man to Batman's Arkham series, there's certainly great cues they've taken from DC's smash-hit superhero series on collectibles, side-missions and exciting traversal. But sadly the game hasn't found its own thumping and addictive combat-style.
This is partly a side-effect of Spider-Man's agility, as he's constantly leaping around to dodge gunshots and energy attacks. There's some really fun upgradable gadgets and the combat is undeniably stylish, but feels lacking in terms of options.
Elsewhere the game will see you earn tokens for side missions, including unlocking Assassin's Creed-style map towers, beating simple mini-games for scientific research, chasing down escaped pigeons, defusing bombs, snapping landmarks with the camera, along with solving random street crimes, which get more dangerous over time.
The tokens allow you to unlock new costumes, weapons and upgrades and the game even throws in some extra challenges, which allow you to multiply your awards by pulling off certain attacks.
Marvel's Spider-Man creates a beautiful iteration of New York, which looks its best basked in the glow of golden hour as the sun sets. The weather flits from glorious sun to heavy storms and seeps in neon nights, which will all undoubtedly be harnessed by fans for the dedicated photo mode.
There's also plenty of interesting landmarks to discover, both real and fake, including The Avengers' Tower, Jessica Jones' Alias Investigations and even Black Panther's Wakanda Embassy.
Spider-Man's huge wardrobe of alternate costumes are dished out gladly as the player levels up and come with some interesting interchangeable power ups, although we found ourselves relying on the same solid few. Another great touch is that all of Spidey's highly-detailed costume changes are represented in cutscenes and loading screens.
This New York is bustling and full of people, although you'll often see the same few re-appear across the huge map a fair bit. It's less like Grand Theft Auto 5's rich open world, and more like Just Cause 3 or Ghost Recon: Wildlands. It's just a shame there aren't more opportunities to interact with them or the city itself, aside from collectibles.
Verdict
This is probably the greatest tribute and iteration of Spider-Man ever created, computer game or otherwise. This is an essential play for any fan of the wall-crawler, however a few niggles and issues prevent it from being an all-time classic title.
There's a great story, beautiful graphics, excellent voice acting and simply lots of fun to play. There's lots of DLC on the way and potential for sequels, so we'll definitely get caught in this spider's web again.
Spider-Man release date: September 7, 2018
Available on: PS4
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
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