Beautiful game, runs so smooth on PS5. Swinging around the city is fantastic.
Beyond that, I felt like the core gameplay was quite derivative of the Arkham series. The main combat is okay, but gets repetitive quickly - the enemy types are quite limited and unimaginitive, and there is not much strategy or nuance. They took a combat system that was designed for Batman, and just put some Spider-Man stuff in it instead. It doesn't fit as well and I don't think it's the gameplay system you would arrive at if you built it for Spider-Man from the ground up.
The stealth sections are extremely dull, very low stakes and easy. Again they feel like they are in here because they are in the Arkham games, but in those games the predator mode is just as important as combat - with a bunch of interesting mechanics, enemy types, environmental hazards, etc. it is actually engaging, high stakes and satisfying. In this game, you sit above the enemy and wait for the prompt to say that they're safe to take out, maybe distract them by making a noise. That's it.
The side-content is unimaginitive. Climb towers to reveal a map, collect objects dotted around. Repeat the same few variations of enemy encounters over and over. The research stations in particular were very annoying, with extremely lazy half-baked narrative justifications and laughable pseudoscience.
Don't get me wrong, the game is broadly fun and very easy to play. It's like a mainstream big budget movie or a pop album. Flashy, expects very little from the player but is ultimately not pushing any boundaries from a game design perspective. Just design-by-committee, low brow fare. Technically the game is a masterpiece, though - truly the people working at Insomniac know how to make a great looking, great performing game.
Beyond that, I felt like the core gameplay was quite derivative of the Arkham series. The main combat is okay, but gets repetitive quickly - the enemy types are quite limited and unimaginitive, and there is not much strategy or nuance. They took a combat system that was designed for Batman, and just put some Spider-Man stuff in it instead. It doesn't fit as well and I don't think it's the gameplay system you would arrive at if you built it for Spider-Man from the ground up.
The stealth sections are extremely dull, very low stakes and easy. Again they feel like they are in here because they are in the Arkham games, but in those games the predator mode is just as important as combat - with a bunch of interesting mechanics, enemy types, environmental hazards, etc. it is actually engaging, high stakes and satisfying. In this game, you sit above the enemy and wait for the prompt to say that they're safe to take out, maybe distract them by making a noise. That's it.
The side-content is unimaginitive. Climb towers to reveal a map, collect objects dotted around. Repeat the same few variations of enemy encounters over and over. The research stations in particular were very annoying, with extremely lazy half-baked narrative justifications and laughable pseudoscience.
Don't get me wrong, the game is broadly fun and very easy to play. It's like a mainstream big budget movie or a pop album. Flashy, expects very little from the player but is ultimately not pushing any boundaries from a game design perspective. Just design-by-committee, low brow fare. Technically the game is a masterpiece, though - truly the people working at Insomniac know how to make a great looking, great performing game.