I see why this is one of the all-time classics, but a lot of really weird ass level design kinda plagues this one. The "pick a room and guess" bullshit from the castles is frustrating, blatantly unfun and unfair, there's just...blocks placed in random locations to where i thought my game was genuinely bugging out in some places, like 4-4. But, it's a product of its time and, like I said, I totally get why this one was such a massive hit, even if it's blown way out of the water by future games even on the same console. I like how speedrunning this game is literally just a best of compilation, too. Very funny.

Fun time! Characters are great (and Alphys, lol), combat is fun and great to see yourself get better at, the music is obviously great and the game is allinall quite good! Only a few issues--the whole morality aspect of the game is a little overstated at times to the point where it felt somewhat forced. Hotland as an area is just...not fun? Like, I see the vision, but the puzzles are either snoozefests or just frustratingly obtuse, the Mettaton bits are funny the first time but get somewhat tedious on repeat playthroughs, and Alphys calling you constantly to talk about literally nothing makes me want to slam my head into a wall. Besides Hotland, though, the game soars--it's genuinely very good and a must-play RPG even for those who don't typically like the genre.

PLAYED FOR NEW GAME PLUS.
I'm conflicted.
On the one hand, I do not have any idea how web-swinging gets any better than this. The gameplay is incredibly fun, especially anything with the symbiote, MJ missions are fun as hell, Kraven as a villain is suave and intimidating, and the boss fights are all incredible. HOWEVER. I have some big issues with this game, especially narratively. Miles is infantilized for, like, most of the game. He has to write his paper for the entire thing, he's so scared anyone could be mad at him for even the tiniest thing, even some of his voice lines make him sound like an eleven year old for some reason. Venom and the 'symbiote army' or whatever are barely even in this--to the point where I would almost have preferred this just be a Kraven game and maybe we can get venom in the next one or something. It's all just crammed into the last two hours of the story for some reason and it does not have nearly enough room to breathe and feel really impactful. Having Harry randomly go missing is such a stupid idea when he could've had much more impact if he wasn't just hiding in some dank sewer somewhere. Why does Rio Morales have almost as much screentime as Venom does? Why does MARTIN FUCKING LI have more screentime than Venom in a game where Venom is obviously supposed to be portrayed as the main villain based on all the marketing?? Why does Martin Li need to be here at all? So Miles can "grow into his own" as Spider-Man? THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF MILES MORALES??? Why are there huge gaps of almost nothing happening in between major story beats? The way the story is paced out is so schizophrenic and weirdly done that it legitimately dampens the experience of what could be a great story if given so much more time to breathe. I like it a lot, especially gameplay wise and mechanically, but the story kind of falls apart--not because of "the woke agenda" or whatever because that is even fucking stupider, it's just not written well.

"Really makes you FEEL like Batman"
No, but actually. I played this after a few playthroughs of the Spider-Man games, and I was still in that kind of headspace, which I really needed to get out of. As soon as I started playing the game slowly and methodically instead of just throwing myself at shit over and over again the game became way more fun. There's a lot of really solid stuff in here--the Killer Croc section is especially great. The final boss is not good, though--every other Titan enemy is this big intimidating beast and Joker just goes down with some Bat-Claw attacks is a huge missed opportunity. Also, I think the fact that this is a remake that keeps the frame rate at 30 and sometimes actually looks WORSE than the original holds it back a bit for me, personally. Besides all that, though, it's great!