bouncing between this and Batman: Arkham Knight, for whatever bizarre torturous reason. watched my friend play a good chunk of it so i know the ending and some of the bigger story beats.
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having only played the intro (2 hours), i'm already fatigued by this game from the outset. this is going to sound like one of those insane VGDunkey screenshots from metacritic where people REEEEEE against nonsense, but this game just doesn't grab me. having played so many open-world action games with skill trees, with endless side quests and gating, i am too burned out to pick up another 25-hour version of the Ubisoft-esque formula.
the good: the swinging mechanics are excellent, the decision to make this more like SM2 with physics is the best decision. traversal feels excellent, is compelling in its own right, and has a high skill ceiling. compared to Batman AK, it's hard to go back to grapple and~AAAA~ to glide quickly.
story is probably good, i'm just fatigued by the quippy dialogue 24/7, even if moment to moment writing is excellent. this is part of larger Marvel-fatigue personally, and probably why i am gravitating towards Batman's cynicism/urban-decay compared to "everything will be alright if you go to therapy and talk openly about your feelings" of Marvel's Spider-Man. it's very healthy instead of Bruce Wayne's "men will x instead of therapy" approach, but as a character study, there isn't a lot of tension within Peter Parker, although Miles does have some nice internal conflict.
graphically, game looks great, pushes PS5 to its limit, and is occasionally movie-like in its presentation. fun for people around to stop and watch large set pieces.
the bad: the combat, while the intro is comically easy even on "Spectacular" difficulty, is just too many systems layered on-top that feel disparate. a forced parry system that doesn't allow other options? while you are already dodging every bullet red icon around you? doesn't make any sense. its a video game system forced upon a character within a universe, because of existing metatextual experience from recent blockbusters (Elden Ring, Zelda). But in both of those games, you could dodge every attack, or you could dodge and it would put you in a position not as strong as a parry, but you could experiment and learn. here, it's just another MMO icon telling you to click a button. no learning, no thought process, just "move your thumb gamer." i would occasionally pick up the controller from my friend during a late-game fight and just felt like mashing jump/dodge/air juggle could protect you from getting hit and just waiting for skills to recharge to finish larger enemies, who still follow the same "sniper/heavy/trash mob" archetypes. i should probably adjust custom health to 50% because they take wayyyy to many punches when they just keep clown car-ing out of vans that show up later in the fight.
in batman AK, i find myself dying a lot more. especially on hard. your hits feel like they have more weight, but you are more of a glass cannon. and the stealth sections have way more dynamism to your style of play, compared to spider-man which does not feel good in the caves. spider-man is free flowing at its best, batman is best as a precision instrument.
(minor spoiler of character involvement below)
is this game worse than a 2015 game? no absolute not. this to me is probably a nice 3-3.5/5 game that you turn your mind off and enjoy. the comparison is more of a meme than anything and interesting thought experiment. what is compelling for me in comparing them is that Batman AK is reaching for the sky in presentation, ideas, etc.... while Spider-Man 2 is doing the slow Venom-esque/Kraven-esque consumption/iteration of ideas. slow and steady wins the race in selling AAA console-exclusives to move hardware. Sony is laughing themselves to the bank with this and Final Fantasy 16 compared to Microsoft's laughable laundry list of exclusives that fail to make a strong impact (until Hollow Knight Silksong releases).
i just can't justify spending the time when I still need to finish TOTK, BG3 (multiple campaigns), have a life outside gaming, and a job.
============
having only played the intro (2 hours), i'm already fatigued by this game from the outset. this is going to sound like one of those insane VGDunkey screenshots from metacritic where people REEEEEE against nonsense, but this game just doesn't grab me. having played so many open-world action games with skill trees, with endless side quests and gating, i am too burned out to pick up another 25-hour version of the Ubisoft-esque formula.
the good: the swinging mechanics are excellent, the decision to make this more like SM2 with physics is the best decision. traversal feels excellent, is compelling in its own right, and has a high skill ceiling. compared to Batman AK, it's hard to go back to grapple and
story is probably good, i'm just fatigued by the quippy dialogue 24/7, even if moment to moment writing is excellent. this is part of larger Marvel-fatigue personally, and probably why i am gravitating towards Batman's cynicism/urban-decay compared to "everything will be alright if you go to therapy and talk openly about your feelings" of Marvel's Spider-Man. it's very healthy instead of Bruce Wayne's "men will x instead of therapy" approach, but as a character study, there isn't a lot of tension within Peter Parker, although Miles does have some nice internal conflict.
graphically, game looks great, pushes PS5 to its limit, and is occasionally movie-like in its presentation. fun for people around to stop and watch large set pieces.
the bad: the combat, while the intro is comically easy even on "Spectacular" difficulty, is just too many systems layered on-top that feel disparate. a forced parry system that doesn't allow other options? while you are already dodging every bullet red icon around you? doesn't make any sense. its a video game system forced upon a character within a universe, because of existing metatextual experience from recent blockbusters (Elden Ring, Zelda). But in both of those games, you could dodge every attack, or you could dodge and it would put you in a position not as strong as a parry, but you could experiment and learn. here, it's just another MMO icon telling you to click a button. no learning, no thought process, just "move your thumb gamer." i would occasionally pick up the controller from my friend during a late-game fight and just felt like mashing jump/dodge/air juggle could protect you from getting hit and just waiting for skills to recharge to finish larger enemies, who still follow the same "sniper/heavy/trash mob" archetypes. i should probably adjust custom health to 50% because they take wayyyy to many punches when they just keep clown car-ing out of vans that show up later in the fight.
in batman AK, i find myself dying a lot more. especially on hard. your hits feel like they have more weight, but you are more of a glass cannon. and the stealth sections have way more dynamism to your style of play, compared to spider-man which does not feel good in the caves. spider-man is free flowing at its best, batman is best as a precision instrument.
(minor spoiler of character involvement below)
is this game worse than a 2015 game? no absolute not. this to me is probably a nice 3-3.5/5 game that you turn your mind off and enjoy. the comparison is more of a meme than anything and interesting thought experiment. what is compelling for me in comparing them is that Batman AK is reaching for the sky in presentation, ideas, etc.... while Spider-Man 2 is doing the slow Venom-esque/Kraven-esque consumption/iteration of ideas. slow and steady wins the race in selling AAA console-exclusives to move hardware. Sony is laughing themselves to the bank with this and Final Fantasy 16 compared to Microsoft's laughable laundry list of exclusives that fail to make a strong impact (until Hollow Knight Silksong releases).
i just can't justify spending the time when I still need to finish TOTK, BG3 (multiple campaigns), have a life outside gaming, and a job.