So I was originally planning on playing this right after the new game plus update was released, but I had my hands full with FF7 Rebirth.
Even with the new mechanics and tweaks, the gameplay is still very similar to the two previous Spider-Man games. Swinging doesn't really feel all that different, though I ended up using the web wings WAY more than I expected. Combat gives you a lot more tools to deal with enemies, though I'm disappointed that the gadgets from the first game have all been replaced with new gadgets that I barely used across my whole playthrough.
I do like how the game encourages you to explore. Your entire map isn't flooded by tiny icons this time around, the map icons only appear after you swing by their location. You get the ability to fast travel to a district if make enough progress in that district.
Pretty much all of the side content is good. Nothing feels too long or tedious to do. It's a big improvement from the side content in the 2018 game.
Honestly, I have a lot of problems with the story, but I can't go into detail without mentioning any spoilers. All the pieces are in place, though the big dramatic moments don't have enough impact cause there isn't a ton of setup. The third act in particular feels especially rushed. Another draft (or two) could’ve ironed out these issues with the writing.
This next part of the review isn't really a critique (I guess it kinda is considering the pacing is severely affected), but I thought I'd bring it up regardless. This game was clearly rushed. Even if you ignore the cut content that people 'found', the game itself just feels cut kinda short. For example: look at the amount of main missions in the game. The first act has 15 main missions, the second act has 10, and the third act has 6. When almost half of the main missions are in the first act alone, that's definitely gonna mess with the pacing of the story. It wouldn't surprise me if the third act was meant to have more meat on its bones, but it had to be trimmed down for time.
The fact that stuff like the ability to replay missions and the option to change the time of day took months to be added to the game (not to mention the bugs) only make it seem more likely that Sony rushed Insomniac to get this game out before the 2023 holiday season. Obviously this is all just speculation, but this kind of crap ain't exactly new to most big gaming publishers. I lost faith in the Triple-A games industry a long time ago.
Hopefully Insomniac has learned from this experience and takes their time with Wolverine (and any unannounced games) so that it can be the best game it can be.
Also I expected nineteen inches of Venom and yet he's barely in the game. We need more Venom!
Even with the new mechanics and tweaks, the gameplay is still very similar to the two previous Spider-Man games. Swinging doesn't really feel all that different, though I ended up using the web wings WAY more than I expected. Combat gives you a lot more tools to deal with enemies, though I'm disappointed that the gadgets from the first game have all been replaced with new gadgets that I barely used across my whole playthrough.
I do like how the game encourages you to explore. Your entire map isn't flooded by tiny icons this time around, the map icons only appear after you swing by their location. You get the ability to fast travel to a district if make enough progress in that district.
Pretty much all of the side content is good. Nothing feels too long or tedious to do. It's a big improvement from the side content in the 2018 game.
Honestly, I have a lot of problems with the story, but I can't go into detail without mentioning any spoilers. All the pieces are in place, though the big dramatic moments don't have enough impact cause there isn't a ton of setup. The third act in particular feels especially rushed. Another draft (or two) could’ve ironed out these issues with the writing.
This next part of the review isn't really a critique (I guess it kinda is considering the pacing is severely affected), but I thought I'd bring it up regardless. This game was clearly rushed. Even if you ignore the cut content that people 'found', the game itself just feels cut kinda short. For example: look at the amount of main missions in the game. The first act has 15 main missions, the second act has 10, and the third act has 6. When almost half of the main missions are in the first act alone, that's definitely gonna mess with the pacing of the story. It wouldn't surprise me if the third act was meant to have more meat on its bones, but it had to be trimmed down for time.
The fact that stuff like the ability to replay missions and the option to change the time of day took months to be added to the game (not to mention the bugs) only make it seem more likely that Sony rushed Insomniac to get this game out before the 2023 holiday season. Obviously this is all just speculation, but this kind of crap ain't exactly new to most big gaming publishers. I lost faith in the Triple-A games industry a long time ago.
Hopefully Insomniac has learned from this experience and takes their time with Wolverine (and any unannounced games) so that it can be the best game it can be.
Also I expected nineteen inches of Venom and yet he's barely in the game. We need more Venom!