The game the classic superhero always deserved
MARVEL’S Spider- Man on PS4 does exactly what every single previous Spider- Man game should have done: capture the grand cinematic pomp of the best movies featuring the friendly neighborhood web- slinger and translate it to an interactive experience. The narrative is engaging with just the right amount of Hollywood cheese dialled in, never veering too far either direction into pastiche or grandeur.
Unsurprisingly, the star of the show is the web- slinging, rooftop- swinging gameplay. There’s a knack to timing the perfect swing, but once you familiarize yourself with the basics, it becomes second nature to make Spider- Man effortlessly dance and pirouette between buildings and structures. The airborne traversal is so satisfying that you will likely spend hours of the game transfixed by the simple act of swinging Spider- Man around the skyscrapers of New York City.
Web- play pervades other areas of the game in interesting and often hilarious ways. The only thing keeping manhole covers from caving in enemy’s heads in the game is a lack of web to connect them. Similarly, guard towers can be pulled from their foundations with a simple flick of a wrist full of web.
Where web- slinging impresses, combat seeks to disappoint. The moveset is varied but you will quickly realise that a select one or two combinations of moves can carry you through pretty much the entire game. Imagine the combat from the Batman Arkham series but even less diverse.
The main campaign tells a predictable tale involving the well- flogged Peter Parker character arc. The game affords the opportunity to play as two additional characters during the course of the story, who will go unmentioned in the interest of avoiding spoilers. Suffice to say, the game would have been no worse off without them.
Marvel’s Spider- Man is the game the classic superhero always deserved. The only problem is, had this come out ten years ago we would have considered it novel. Now, much of the actual gameplay – outside of abilities exclusive to Spider- Man – feels like a mash- up of tropes from other popular gaming series such as The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed and the Batman Arkham games.