Sights & Sounds
- Like the other PlayStation releases on PC, this game looks amazing. Crank up your settings as high as your PC will allow and enjoy the view
- Despite the ample size of the game's interpretation of Manhattan, lighting, textures, and weather effects looked great
- The score is mostly comprised of the typical orchestral music you probably imagine for every comic book adaptation. Could have used some variety
- The game's interpretation of the characters, particularly the villains and their suits, was cool
Story & Vibes
- The entirety of the story feels like a copy/paste of Arkham Asylum down to the hallucinogenic episode. The only additional wrinkles added here are romantic (MJ) and mentor/mentee (Doc Oc/Miles) relationships
- As far as vibes go, it's a super hero game. You know what you're getting, but this one is Spider-Man flavored
Playability & Replayability
- The gameplay is basic boilerplate open world fare. You go icon hunting around the map until you feel like advancing the story
- Unfortunately, most of the distractions are repetitive busy work. The crime-stopper side missions where you go around stopping gang activity are the most guilty of this criticism. If there were half the amount, it still would have been a lot
- On the plus side, traversal feels amazing in this game. Web-slinging and parkour feel good. You can really hit a fun "flow state" when getting from place to place, but fast travel eventually replaces most of your rooftop hopping fun
- Combat doesn't evolve the open-world standard by much. You'll mostly be pulling off aerial combos, webbing to the next guy, and repeating. Fortunately, Spider-Man's web shooters spice up fights a bit by giving you greater mobility and combo-building potential
- The stealth sections are actually where the game shines. It's fun to drop web grenades from rooftops to plaster enemies to vans or occasionally dart in with a dive kick takedown to pick off the rear guard in a group of patrolling enemies
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I'm beginning to think less might be more for open world games. I usually like things like side missions and collectibles, but I don't want to have to stop over 100 random crimes that come in 4-5 different varieties
- That said, I still enjoyed my time in the game quite a bit. Most of the time, it's fun. It's just that sometimes you look up from having your fun and realize that you have to do the same thing again and again and again. The moment-to-moment gameplay was largely enjoyable, but I still felt more like your Friendly Neighborhood Checklist Completer than Spider-Man
- Though largely well-optimized, there were plenty of geometry clipping bugs, enemy AI freak-outs, and instances of audio lag. The first mission of the third act also lagged badly despite the game running quite well the rest of the time
- I haven't dug into the DLC, but after reading that there aren't any new abilities or skills, I think I may skip it
Final Verdict
- 7.5/10. Well worth your time and money if you're a Marvel or Spider-Man fan. Otherwise, maybe wait for the price to drop. And skip the side content unless you're grinding levels
- Like the other PlayStation releases on PC, this game looks amazing. Crank up your settings as high as your PC will allow and enjoy the view
- Despite the ample size of the game's interpretation of Manhattan, lighting, textures, and weather effects looked great
- The score is mostly comprised of the typical orchestral music you probably imagine for every comic book adaptation. Could have used some variety
- The game's interpretation of the characters, particularly the villains and their suits, was cool
Story & Vibes
- The entirety of the story feels like a copy/paste of Arkham Asylum down to the hallucinogenic episode. The only additional wrinkles added here are romantic (MJ) and mentor/mentee (Doc Oc/Miles) relationships
- As far as vibes go, it's a super hero game. You know what you're getting, but this one is Spider-Man flavored
Playability & Replayability
- The gameplay is basic boilerplate open world fare. You go icon hunting around the map until you feel like advancing the story
- Unfortunately, most of the distractions are repetitive busy work. The crime-stopper side missions where you go around stopping gang activity are the most guilty of this criticism. If there were half the amount, it still would have been a lot
- On the plus side, traversal feels amazing in this game. Web-slinging and parkour feel good. You can really hit a fun "flow state" when getting from place to place, but fast travel eventually replaces most of your rooftop hopping fun
- Combat doesn't evolve the open-world standard by much. You'll mostly be pulling off aerial combos, webbing to the next guy, and repeating. Fortunately, Spider-Man's web shooters spice up fights a bit by giving you greater mobility and combo-building potential
- The stealth sections are actually where the game shines. It's fun to drop web grenades from rooftops to plaster enemies to vans or occasionally dart in with a dive kick takedown to pick off the rear guard in a group of patrolling enemies
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I'm beginning to think less might be more for open world games. I usually like things like side missions and collectibles, but I don't want to have to stop over 100 random crimes that come in 4-5 different varieties
- That said, I still enjoyed my time in the game quite a bit. Most of the time, it's fun. It's just that sometimes you look up from having your fun and realize that you have to do the same thing again and again and again. The moment-to-moment gameplay was largely enjoyable, but I still felt more like your Friendly Neighborhood Checklist Completer than Spider-Man
- Though largely well-optimized, there were plenty of geometry clipping bugs, enemy AI freak-outs, and instances of audio lag. The first mission of the third act also lagged badly despite the game running quite well the rest of the time
- I haven't dug into the DLC, but after reading that there aren't any new abilities or skills, I think I may skip it
Final Verdict
- 7.5/10. Well worth your time and money if you're a Marvel or Spider-Man fan. Otherwise, maybe wait for the price to drop. And skip the side content unless you're grinding levels