With the recent Spider-Man comics hitting an all time low due to a new character named Paul character assassinating a beloved fan-favorite and a controversial change in the PS5 remastered version and upcoming sequel. I felt it was time to try out Marvel’s Spider-Man by Insomniac. Been more than two decades of not playing any spidey games. The only ones I played back then were the Playstation One games. After twenty-six hours doing everything possible I must say. It is so amazing coming back to Insomniac's take on the Wall-crawler. Filled with enough uniqueness to feel fresh from the comics, TV shows and movies they garnered. First, let’s start with the good stuff.

Story actually surprised me a great deal. I expected an underwhelming one and instead received an almost spectacular and sinister plot. Keeping me interested as scenes pass by wondering what else is in store for our human arachnid. You play as none other than twenty-three year old Peter Benjamin Parker. A dude who still struggles to properly balance his workload as a lab assistant to Dr. Otto and stopping the next villain attack when the police can’t do it as his alter ego Spider-man, and helping the little guys of course. Still keeping his identity a secret to mostly everyone while spending time as a hero for the past eight years. All of this he has to juggle while internally dealing with the aftermath of breaking up with Mary Jane Watson. Close confidant, best-friend and at one time his girlfriend. Who is employed as a reporter for the Daily Bugle. Life ain't easy for the spider-menace! As one J. Jonah Jameson(JJJ) puts it. But the New Yorkers in the big apple appreciate his help, even if he’s battling a big corporate guy named Wilson Fisk with a contact in the police department named Yuri Watanabe. And oh boy do I get mixed up between the two since Yuri Lowenthal voices Peter Parker heh. You’ll see Pete struggling with his professional duties while dealing with the new villains popping up after Fisk is gone. It’s an engrossing tale I couldn’t stop playing to know what happens in the next scene. Where good o’l Parker luck strikes again leaving our webslinger hanging by the tightest of threads against past adversaries you can’t miss out on.

Gameplay is as satisfying as eating a pepperoni pizza from Eddie’s. Very tasteful. Although, best not to do Spidey tasks on a full stomach whilst swinging across the tall skyscrapers. I’ve never felt better swinging from street to street seeing iconic places like Hell’s Kitchen, Bar with no name, Avengers tower, Brooklyn bridge, Central Park and so many more. My nostalgia is getting to me from visiting the places back then in real life. Excusing the fictional areas. I had a lot of fun swinging and pushing myself to the limit in going faster, zipping across city buildings to reach my destination. So much so, I barely used fast traveling at all! And the amount of customization. Oh by the One Above all, it is freaking awesome! There’s a bunch of suits you can gain from the story and free updates the game has. A list of my favorites include: Scarlet, Raimi, Wrestler, classic, armor MK III, 2099 black, vintage comic book, last stand, spirit and cyborg. Other’s are good too, but these I spent the most of my time in. Interestingly some story suits/side activities you complete have suit powers. Think of these as ultimate abilities. Activating once you reach enough charge. You can web enemies quickly, charge focus(another bar to defeat enemies quickly and regain health), use iron tentacles, have a shield, gain massive strength, emit fire, summon holo decoys and even use an ability to quip enemies! Insulting their pride! Hah! These are not set in stone in various costumes to wear. You can assign whichever power suits your needs. Pun intended. Aside from these ultimate abilities you can also equip three passive skills. Like detecting enemies farther away using your radar. Earning more experience points from clashing with mobs, gaining more focus, not losing combo meter and I could say extra, but I’ll refrain. Sure I had to unlock them via tokens which are earned by side-activities you can do, but hey they’re pretty wicked! Speaking of experience. You can earn it by partaking in any activity, beating up goons, completing the optional content, continuing the main story etc. There is no shortage of points to earn, level up and gain skill points to spend on three skill trees. Adding new moves, passive abilities, and heck new traversal moves too. Seriously fella has a lot of tricks up his sleeve and experience under his belt. I bet he could teach new blood on the street how to be the next Web Menace! Oh boy better not to give JJJ any more fire.

Gadgets are also a nifty way to give players an edge in combat. Sticky bombs, electric bombs, gravity suspension bombs, drones etc. All help our webslinger have an ace up his sleeve and these can be replenished freely by eliminating foes. No need to constantly equip them. You have them all at your disposal during fights. Just make sure to unlock them first and upgrade them further if you constantly use them. Helps a bunch in beating countless mobs thinking they have a chance at defeating me? Honestly, after punching thug #65 to kingdom come these guys never quit huh.

Side activities I'm a bit mixed on, but I'll praise the ones worth doing. And discuss the downsides of some of them later on. First collecting backpacks throughout your playthrough is fabulous. The webhead will reminisce about the item in question upon finding backpacks of his youth. From Sandman in a vial, Lizard, Mysterio, Vulture, Shocker and even a very stinky gym t-shirt he forgot years to collect… God the smell. Suffice it to say all of these items are worth collecting, they inform the player on our protagonist's recent history and what he was doing at the time. Next, Research stations. A project conducted by Pete’s best friend Harry Osborn is a nice change of pace from protecting the citizens through science! Huh?! How?! Well, Harry’s stations all have different objectives to do. Usually related to pollution. Benjy gathers samples from contaminated air molecules, reducing pressure on pipes, finding bacteria samples, vaccinating fish etc. All these large scale labors are a disaster waiting to happen for the future ignorant citizens and my endeavors to prevent these future problems early on. Black Cat stakeouts have you finding a black cat plushie on rooftops as Felicia(who dated The P-man) gives off flirtatious “can you catch me spider” vibes. An alluring prospect to know some hidden details from Benjamin’s past during his tenure as his alter ego. Can you imagine how he would’ve reacted to meeting Felicia back when he was fifteen years old?! Bet the kid was stuttering like no tomorrow heh. Optional missions unlock as you progress through the story and most of them are worth completing. To aid citizens who ask our friendly neighborhood spider-man for assistance. One has a random upstanding citizen impersonating his hero persona to conduct helpful deeds to people in need. Another has you storming the castle, cooperating with a college fellow pinpoint missing people. There’s sixteen in total. Some of which chain together in multiple quest chains. Feels good helping out the little guy ya know? Taskmaster challenges provide an interesting challenge for those hoping to test an arachnid’s skills. Villain of the aforementioned name gives you a set of varied objectives ranging from combat, stealth, bomb, and drone. All of which you, my unlucky orphan, must try and solve each of them within a set amount of time. Do so, and you’re in for one hell of a surprise during your quest to finish them all. Really enjoyed these set of tasks mhhm.

Before I go into my final thoughts I have to talk about my mixed feelings. Not a positive or a negative, but for the sake of transparency I'll note them down below.

Conceptually I'm fine with the idea of the MJ stealth sections, but the execution seems lacking. Since it repeats a handful of times. With the same repetitive formula of evading enemies and moving forward with some changes here and there. Like more stealth variety than having to play spy. Like going in vents, investigating clues by interviewing people, assisting Peter like misdirecting a crowd so he can evade them and find a hidden spot to change into his alter-ego safely, asking questions a reporter does, she does some investigating regarding particular topics of interest near her, but I believe this was lacking. Needs lively substance not only in writing and in the gameplay design. As a character I think the writers made her out decently well. Although I would’ve liked her presence displayed beyond phone calls to Pete and vice-versa. Outside of some cutscenes Peter shares with her, MJ’s presence isn’t given enough attention to make me say she’s fantastic. Only decently above average performance in her sections of the game. Not horrible or bad, but in the good category. She’s there when he struggles and helps him out the most when he needs it. Personally I think some more scenes with her beyond stealth like healing Peter, going on dates, flashbacks of their past, aiding May. Him supporting her. All of these instances could’ve elevated her further and by extension the protagonist. And as a result make her sections more fleshed out, instead of repeating again for yet another spy section.

Repetitive open world structure akin to Ubisoft tasks. Insomniac’s other side-activities I felt were lacking and made me weary. Clearing out districts, hideouts, warehouses and outposts. They do not offer much to extend worldbuilding and lore. Take for example: More than a dozen hideouts to clear out. With six waves of enemies coming at me. As if an army has a chance of defeating me. Lacking banter from the fighting wall-crawler or many phone calls to update him on life outside of being a protector and sure. It is turbulent with barely any balance between managing his personal, job and hero duties. But I would’ve appreciated a different quest. Give me quests in F.E.A.S.T. to help Aunt May around. While sprinkling internal monologues like how collecting backpacks were done. Indirectly help Miles while he’s at school. Imagine Miles Morales slowly becoming a real friend to the person behind the mask by helping him with needing supplies, fending off some thugs by distracting or rallying his classmates to cheer him on. Slam a wrench in the combat systems by making all his gadgets inoperable or disabling his suit powers. Transforming him to become our marvel Jason Bourne/Jackie Chan/John Wick dude in a pinch using items around the environment to wack enemies. Yes he can use throwable items, but the man can’t wield any of them preferring to knock, punch and kick enemies to KO status.

Tired of beating thugs in waves? Then go on patrol and eliminate forty-plus each of thugs, demons, [redacted] & Sa%^* crimes spread throughout each district. I had to finish more than 120 of those to clear out the streets. And this was initially a nice way for patrol and having something to do when someone calls me or I listen to a JJJ podcast, yet these seem like padding. I did complete them all certainly, but comparable to my time in Ghost of Tsushima where clearing out camps and mongols felt like a tedious activity while not rewarding me the player enough with enough incentive to complete. Like better rewards, extend the worldbuilding, lore. Drop a minor villain here and there. Drop tombstone, chameleon, spot, hydro-man etc. encounters. Even worse to think about are these crimes will only pop-up if you swing a certain distance. They’re not displayed on the map at all times. You have to idly swing waiting for crimes to happen. Honestly, give me a notification from an app to let me know about crimes happening. This could be an easy fix by reducing the filler and adding plenty more unique encounters. Make me believe New York is threatened by these villains than some schmuck or goon being told to fight the resident superguy who webs enemies up on buildings. Come on man. What am I some dude with nothing better to do than fight petty burglaries with a ridiculous spider costume? Oh wait…

Might be a controversial take, but I think the relationship Peter has with Doc, while excellent throughout, perhaps avenues were feasible in regards to their segments. Implementing organic gameplay tasks than constant spectrograph and line mini-puzzles to do. Why can’t I complete some projects using artisal science? Combine their talents together with him building parts using different puzzles than resorting to the same ones again. These become egregious as I progressed further in the main story and optional content requiring Parker to once again complete these mini-games repeatedly. Sure there is an option in the settings to excuse them, a feature I never expected but came to rely on during the endgame. Yet this doesn’t alleviate the problem altogether, rather it is more of a band-aid than a proper solution. I think more unique segments had potential to bear fruit. Its why I credit Atomic Heart a lot by providing variety in the same category to keep the gameplay fresh and exciting. Not re-using the same formula again for the sake of consistency. If anything I’m more astonished that goons resort to similar practices to conduct their nefarious deeds. And while there are several outside the norm. These ultimately were outliers. I also think some more flashbacks between the two instead of me seeking dialogue points as I perused the lab for points of interest regarding their friendship/professional relationship. Bringing a more emotional weight than ever before. Adding more show, don’t tell.

Last critique I think some more time to develop villains/characters would’ve been better. We get to know plenty of a certain N$%&*%^(E Man which has interesting developments as we progress further into the game, yet others are left to the side-street in favor of giving other villains more screen time. I get it, I really do. To focus on these important characters than other adversaries lending more focus, yet I feel this could’ve been tweaked to give us more scenes perhaps to humanize them. Granted I haven’t delved deep into the comics to know their full interactions to go beyond one note villains into the complex categories, but still an attempt is possible to make them more of a threat and memorable than being used as tools then discarded. May, Miles, Harry, MJ by extension needed a bit more time in the oven to cook. Sure they have scenes in the game, but some of them perhaps needed supplementary scenes to push their characterization further.

Before I finish, I have to talk about the DLC’s. A solid return to the main game after seeing the mid-credits and post credit scene. Called the City That Never Sleeps. Taking place after the main story is done. Three episodes. For players hungry for more web-slinging and web-menacing action. The first, The Heist deals with a Black Cat’s troubles which your resident friendly neighborhood arachnid will have no choice but to assist, the second Turf Wars, occurs after the events of the Heist. Providing a decent filler, backed by the nice development of Yuri Watanabe. And third the final dlc begins Silver Lining stars none other than Silver Sable returning, giving trouble to our main character once again. Yet good guy Spidey is up for the challenge. Each DLC occurs chronologically. So best to go in release order or else you will be confused. By the end, I believe the post game content is a good conclusion to tie everything together before we depart into Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The episodes provide new enemy types, side-content and slightly new gameplay segments for fans after the ending. Worth completing to see what Peter after the base game. Seeing him assume another role and reinvigorating his friendship with one friend are a must see after learning his relationship with one female friend. The phone calls he has with a certain student provide wonderful if not humorous conversations to witness. And the side-quests, well most of them excusing Screwball because she’s pretty cringe. Have interesting lore/worldbuilding to eat up. Man my stomach was so full devouring the paintings in episode one, and the Symkaria hideouts, mystery crime investigations in episode three.

Moving on, If there are some last notable things to say before I head out. I would say Peter’s relationship with Doc. is a breathtaking fresh take on his character and their relationship with one another. I've seen other iterations in films and tv shows and I’m quite frankly shocked by how well Insomniac incorporates theirs. I enjoyed coming back to the lab and cooperating with his employer, took my sweet time scouring new points of interest to hear and have Pete reminisce on the fond memories he shared with him to create a better world. To help those in need and despite many hurdles and setbacks. The outcome of their efforts is so beautiful. It is such a joy and pleasure to witness the super bond they share. Sure it could be improved like I said earlier, but the base foundation the dev’s have created is nothing short of extraordinary. I am greatly looking forward to the potential of what’s to come. And if he does return. Oh man we're in for one hell of a superior storyline.

Sure I did experience some mixed feelings, yet this doesn’t detract much from the sheer strengths the game envisions and strides for. I am impressed by how engrossed I was by the storyline, how satisfying it was to sling and slap, kick, punch my enemies to victory. Even quipping and insulting a core part of Parker to whittle enemies pride, taunting them is a core tactic I’ll never get tired of seeing again and again. Hell JJJ’s podcast once again putting the web- warrior down, I actually can’t help but admire the sheer guts to do so. Curbing public perception against the masked menace sure takes dedication to keep going for over eight years huh Jonah. Never gets tiring hearing some trashy entertainment while defeating countless thugs. Kinda like listening to a podcast at work ya know. Except our webspinner is listening to JJJ while multitasking eh. “Dude is a masochist” - As one Brooklyn kid says.

Overall, I think I can safely say Marvel’s Spider-Man have done the impossible by reinvigorating my superhero inner childhood I’ve sorely missed ever since the Raimi trilogy ended, ever since the Webb (I just realized we had a director with Web in his name. Nice.) films were gutted and only until the Watts and Spider-verse have kept my love for the genre going instead of resorting back to cynicism as I grew older. It is heartening witnessing such an endearing videogame calling back to what I love since my childhood. The insecurity our Webhead undergoes, the sheer struggle in managing a proper life from his alter-ego, work and personal intertwining and intersecting at times when he least expects it, the sheer weight of responsibility and power he beholds to share with others in need is both incredibly admiring and awe-inspiring. Again and again he continues to become the Hero everyone needs yet does not seek the glamor or reward. He simply does. And this entry only solidifies his excellent qualities while taking adequate time to showcase he too is flawed just as the rest of us. Making him instantly relatable and personable to nearly everyone. The Amazing Spider-Man continues to be my favorite superhero of all time and while this entry is a spectacular return to form embodying all his greatest triumphs, a careful balance emerges to display his greatest hardships too. And these two in tandem create one hell of hook to watch out for in future installments. I can only expect we will dive into marvelous troubles and epic adventures. To any Spidey fan out there, this is a title that cannot be missed. And for any newcomer, I envy you greatly with one of the best stories I’ve ever seen in Spider-Man media.

8/10

Additional Material:
Marvel Spider-Man Ending thoughts - Spoiler thoughts + DLC included.