Video Game Review - Spider-Man (2018)

Nine years ago, then functioning video game publisher Eidos managed to acquire the Batman franchise license and working with Rocksteady and WB Games, they created Batman: Arkham Asylum. A superhero game that would show the world that when given to the right people, superhero games can reach the triple A quality of the hardcore market and has been taken very seriously ever since. Meanwhile Marvel have been busy with their films and while their presence in the gaming world is widely known, they have yet to give us their definitive experience game... until now. Insomniac Games who are widely known for their original IPs such as Ratchet & Clank and Sunset Overdrive among many others, were approached by Sony who in turn was approached by Marvel to make a triple A quality superhero game exclusively for the PS4. So then the question of which character to use came up and with Square Enix busy with their Avengers game, TellTale possibly working on the sequel to their Guardians of the Galaxy game and Fox's Marvel properties (X-Men, Deadpool, and Fantastic Four) being off limits during the Disney buyout, that then left Insomniac with only a certain friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man  (and possibly other Marvel properties too) and that's what they did. They made what they believe is the definitive Spider-Man game so let's get some web slingling going on and dive right in:

Before we begin, I would like to first point out that this is set in its own original universe and has no connection to the films or any other established Marvel universe. But it isn't without some fan service in the form of costumes from Spider-Man's history.

The game begins with your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) trying to put an end to Wilson Fisk (voiced by Travis Willingham) and his operations with the help of the NYPD. Things go well and Fisk is sent to prison. But not before foreshadowing events that are to occur later on which will no doubt give Spider-Man a real workout. So in this scenario, Spider-Man is about the age Toby MaGuire's one would be (minus the infrequent emotional breakdowns), he had a relationship with Mary-Jane Watson (voiced by Laura Bailey) but the relationship is currently estranged, Miles Morales (voiced by Nadji Jeter) exists and the majority of Spider-Man's rogue gallery are here and are already well established villains with some only starting out as such. Now onto the gameplay. Players can swing round an open world New York with all known abilities at your disposal (some being acquired later on) and can do a number of different tasks. Tasks include stopping crimes taking place, finding backpacks and terminals and upgrading our hero when necessary amongst other things. The combat system is pretty straight forward as it bears some inspiration from Arkham's combat system while letting Spider-Man use his webbing to gain some advantage over his enemies, but never letting anyone die. You can also web crawl up buildings and shafts and use parkour to get passed obstacles. Environment breakdowns, quick time events and stealth are also featured in the game and the game's version of New York actually has people and vehicles moving in and out unlike some superhero games I've played.

So can I say its the definitive Spider-Man experience? Yeah I think so. The game is beautifully presented with a very vibrant and colourful New York and spends a great deal on time on the Spider-Man mythos like it should do. It is a fun and well presented game, but it unfortunately brings in all the known elements used in almost every open world game to date. However that is just a few aspects from an otherwise great game that has a great story, uses the characters well, its a lot of fun and its just the best Spider-Man experience that money can buy and even manages to do stuff for the fans too. 9/10