Spiderman is one of the biggest brand names in today's world. He is arguably the most popular comic book hero ever. What came out as a simple comics issue and a character penned by Mr. Stan Lee (RIP) has gone on to become a billion dollar brand within a span of 58 years. The character first appeared in August, 1962.
Eventually, the character was adapted for a number of movies, and notably, video games. They have seen success to various extent. Today I want to specifically write about Spiderman based video games.
Most of the games could not get it right. There are several reasons as to why the comic book/movie to video games transition does not work too well for a character like Spiderman.
I am sure the developers spent a significant time pondering over questions like "What skills and abilities do we give Spiderman? Yes, he has super human strength, he can crawl walls and shoot webs--but what else? He doesn't use firearms or any other weapons. Sometimes he uses gadgets, but what kind? Do we let Spiderman in the video game zap away for hours, without taking any rest? Who do we team him up with? What villains will he fight against? Should we stick to the comic book canon, pick up the story from a movie or go for an original one?"
Answering all that and still coming up with an enjoyable game is no easy task. Thus we saw a bunch of mediocre, uninspired and simply "not fun" Spidey games getting released over the last couple of decades.
I remember playing a few Spiderman titles on PC, where navigating Spiderman was so complicated that it seemed to me that I was learning to play a flight simulator game. So after all that hullabaloo, when I could finally take Spiderman zooming through the New York skyline, I got held back by "stamina". Yes, you read it write--one had to clear missions, perform tricks or continue doing mundane stuff to just keep Spidey on the air. That felt restrictive and boring. The fights were not fun, either. A few simple combos, counters and throws, and a lot of quick time events, and that's it. Thankfully, this game has very few QTE's, and they don't even feel like QTE's.
So eventually I lost interest and gave up on Spiderman games, until recently.
In 2018, a brand new Spidey game for the PS4 console got released. The reviews were staggering and the game seemed to get it all right. But I waited till the price dropped and only got it recently, and I must say, the waiting was worthwhile. I could grab the game of the year edition at a decent price.
In my opinion, this is a brilliant game; a breakthrough achievement for super hero based video games. There's too many things that can be done in this game, and most of them are fun. For the first time, zapping across New York as Spiderman is totally unrestricted, and fun.
The next portion of this article contains very minor spoilers for the game. If you don't want to get spoiled about the general tone of the game or get very minimal ideas about the gameplay and plot, you should stop reading now.
The New York that has been portrayed in this game looks surreal; an urban utopia. Or at least, at the beginning of the game. We see pedestrians moving about, lots of traffic, people trying to hail a taxi cab, and whenever Spidey decides to descend to the ground levels, people all around cheers him and some of them also wants to take a selfie or to shake hands with him. There's even an achievement for doing so. There are all kinds of shops, stores, and important Marvel universe landmark locations like Fogwel's gym (where Daredevil Matt Murdock's dad used to train), Wakandian embassy, Sanctum Sanctoriam and many more.
As a quick way to gain some XP, you can swing about the entire city and take photographs of these landmark locations. You will also see "backpacks" spread across the map. Each one contains a Spiderman memorabilia, which is a great fan service for fans of the comic book hero. It rewards the player with a little bit of XP, but for each item, Peter describes what the specific items means to him through a well made audio clip.
But as Spidey keeps on meeting some familiar, and some obscure foes, things change. At one point, the game's tone turns very dark. There's fire, gunshots, snipers, chaos all across the city. You can't swing two blocks without confronting an ambush or two. This drastic shift in the visuals creates a great sense of urgency to reach the end game.
As an exception, this game totally ignores the Spiderman origin story, and jumps right ahead to a point where Peter is working as an understudy to Dr. Octavius, which resembles the story line of the second movie of the Sam Raimi trilogy. He is already quite good at being Spiderman, and is working closely with the law enforcement agencies.
All the characters in the game looks authentic, and there is some level of character development, too. The story, albeit linear, is quite interesting, and has a sizable amount of interest to keep players hooked.
As for the gameplay, it is like the most liberating experience with a super hero game, ever. While it takes inspirations from a few other games, it still feels fresh and unique.
To mix things up, you assume the role of some other characters in a few missions. The tone of the game changes drastically when these stages start. Although the game emphasizes the need for being stealthy, it doesn't become a must for most Spiderman missions. But the missions were you have to use other characters like MJ, you cannot move one feet without being stealthy. But then again, this is not stealth like Metal Gear Solid; you can go through a lot of trial and errors, and still the missions are quite easy to beat.
I am not a big fan of stealth, but I, too, enjoyed the change of pace. '
It's a third person brawler/shooter action game, but it often acts like an RPG, as you get to earn things like challenge points, crime points, etc. which you can use to buy new outfits and to get new gadgets, and also, to upgrade them.
The usage of additional suits has been managed brilliantly in this game--perhaps, all games that use suits should follow suit; no pun intended.
Once you get a new suit, you unlock a new "ability", but you don't need to keep wearing that suit to be able to use the ability. Also, you have three slots for each suit where you can add some additional perks. Suit abilities range from crowd control moves, buffs to other, subtle things like enemies losing the ability to call in reinforcements.
And perks include enhancements and modifications on the skills that spiderman unlocks.
So why this is so great? It's because you can combine any sets of abilities and perks with any suits. Yes, you can be the goofy fantastic four shopping bag wearing spiderman, but you can still bring out the tentacles seen in Avengers: End Game.
Along with suit abilities, Spiderman also has an extensive skills tree. With each level up, you get skill points, which can be used to unlock devastating new moves and things that make webbing around a lot more easier than before.
Now let's talk about variety. You will meet many cool enemies from the comic books and movies, and some familiar story lines, too. Things never get boring in Queens, New York, and if you need a break from the fighting, you can always go sightseeing; which also gets rewarded in the form of XP.
I must say, there is a perfect mix of varied content within the game to keep gamers interested for hours.
The sounds of beating up the foes are quite satisfying, and they are filled with Spidey quips and funny one liners. The soundtrack is nice enough to soothe the mind, but not distracting enough the hamper the experience.
Graphics is top notch, and the optimization is also brilliant. I finished the game in a couple of weeks, and it did not even crash once. There were hardly any frame rate drops, and the details are comparable with games like GTA V or Red Dead Redemption 2, if not better.
When I finished the final, emotionally charged up mission. I was hungry for more. It's a must play game for any PS4 owner; even if he or she is not a fan of the Spiderman franchise. 10/10 for me.
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