WEB SLINGERIS JUST MARVEL-LOUS

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN PS4 EXCLUSIVE

IF THERE was a bar set at a height for superhero games, Marvel’s Spider-Man has just raised it 10 fold. Up until now, the Batman Arkham series by Rocksteady has been the superhero game to beat but after playing this Marvel masterpiece, Spider-Man now sits firmly on top of the Empire State Building, proudly surveying all below it. We all know the story of Peter Parker and how he was bitten by a radioactive spider but Insomniac games have pushed the story on by seven or eight years, seeing Peter in his early 20s working as a lab assistant. Long term love interest Mary Jane Watson is a reporter for the Daily Bugle and Aunt May is a volunteer at a homeless shelter after the death of Peter’s Uncle Ben. As you can imagine, Spider-man gets about by swinging through the streets of New York and this will be your only mode of transport. It’s so much fun though, that you will have explored the full city of New York in one night and, if like me you’re a Marvel geek, you will come across some “easter eggs” that bring extra excitement.

The story rattles along at a decent pace, until the last 6-7 hours where everything comes at you so thick and fast that even the wise-cracking Spidey has trouble dealing with it all. But at no point does it feel too much.

It’s fair to say that Spidey fans will be happy with the game’s storyline and depiction of the Marvel Universe and firsttime Spider-man fans (wait, what?) will take to the story immediately as it kicks off with a boss fight in the first 20 minutes or so.

The city has plenty of collectables to be found and its fair share of side missions to keep the avid gamer happy after the main story is finished. That took me about 20-25 hours while doing some side missions and dealing with crime on the streets of NY.

With the addition of stealth missions throughout, it keeps it fresh and all the missions – some laborious – all feel part of something bigger. It builds towards a great finishing setpiece as well as two interesting post-credit sequences in true Marvel style.

This is another must-have game from Sony as an exclusive on their console and I can’t wait to see where Insomniac go next.

STEPHEN McKEOWN