Now that I have upgraded my PS4 Pro Hard Drive I have been able to install some games I've been waiting to play without uninstalling my son and my games that we haven't finished yet.
Marvel Spider-Man is one of the games I wanted to play as the reviews have said it is outstanding.
Introduction
Both my son and I have finished the game on our own saves. This is the first single player story based game I can remember my son playing all the way through. It's also the first I have finished in a long time.
Mine son played on the default difficulty which is one from the hardest and I played on hardest. I typically only play these types of games once and I like to experience them with the most pressure.
The game reminds me a lot of the Batman Arkham series. Combat is fast and exciting, it isn't as combo driven as Batman but has a similar combat system. Both games offer a lot of gadgets to make your fights a lot easier but I didn't use them nearly as much as I should have.
Playing on hard was difficult but not as much as I expected. Some of the larger fights got a bit hairy but for the most part, I was able to beat it without heavily depending on insanely high combos or constant use of gadgets.
Graphics
The graphics are great for a console that has been showing it's age. Photo mode is really cool but I didn't spend a lot of time using it. I found it annoying you had to zoom in before you could take a picture but if you spent time on it you can take some amazing screenshots.
PS4 Pro
Playing on the PS4 Pro offers very little improvement on the graphics but does increase the frame rate of the game.
Combat
Combat isn't as hard as Batman Arkham series on hard. Many of the fights were difficult but I rarely had to replay an area. Some of my favorite fights were on the side missions where you clear out enemy bases.
When in combat, it is best to knock enemies to the ground or against the walls and then web them rather than just beating them until they get knocked out. This will make fights considerably easier than punching everyone 20+ times.
Although I didn't use a lot of gadgets, I heavily depended on my web and perfect dodge. A perfect dodge is when you see you are about to be attacked and dodge it within the small time window. These opportunities are presented with squiggly lines representing spidey sense. Some of the best character upgrades enhance this feature allowing you to stun the enemy briefly and quickly shoot a web to their face.
Interacting with the environment and throwing stuff at your enemies is very effective in giving you an edge in most fights.
Outfits and gear
While there are around 25 or so outfits, I wore the above outfit for the first half of the game and a black suit for the 2nd half once I finished a set of missions. As you progress through the story suits will become unlocked and purchasable. Most suits unlocked a special suit power that can then be used with any suit you want. I used the same suit power (web everything in the area) for the entire game once I got it fairly early on.
Some of the suits were weird and I didn't want to run around New York wearing. Many of the comic book classic suits were available if not all of them. I was never into the comics but I recognized some from the movies. Most of them were very well done visually and looked really good in the game. Some just looked way too silly to use.
You can use one suit power and three suit mods that provided some sort of boost. I didn't feel the boosts were all that critical to the game as I didn't use any of the more powerful ones at all. The suit power is a game changer though and will dramatically alter your playstyle.
Story
The story follows the same path as most Spider-man movies and has the main characters MJ, Mr. Osborne, Aunt May, and Harry. Although Harry isn't in the game directly, he is brought up a lot. What you know from most of the movies is true in the game for the most part with these characters.
One thing I did notice is the focus on Miles, a character from the new Into the Spidey-Verse Cartoon Movie. I found this a bit strange as I have watched the movie and it is almost as if they were introducing a new Spider-man. Tom Holland (current Spider-Man) does not play the character in the game and I know he isn't stepping down from the role anytime soon. Into the Spidey-Verse is a good movie but very weird and nothing like what you see in typical Spider-Man movies.
At some point in the game, you control both Miles & MJ in different scenes. While the scenes are good (one is especially fun with MJ) I would have rather just played Spider-Man the entire time.
The story is fun and engaging with a few twists and intriguing characters, nothing was really unpredictable though.
Rating
I really liked the game, so did my son. I would say it is an 8.5 out of 10. Swinging around New York is a lot of fun and very intuitive. Stopping to fight crime is a lot of fun and exciting. The story will keep you interested and wanting to know how it ends.
The game will take you around 20 hours to finish according to reviews, I think it took me a bit less (14-16?) as I only did some of the side missions but I did do a lot of the city events.
All images are from the game Marvel Spider-Man for the PS4
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag
@themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag
@themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag
@themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark
^flag @themarkymark