Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018)- Game Retrospective/Review

If there is one thing that I’ve come to realize when getting older, it’s that time tends to go by faster than you can say “with great power comes great responsibility”! In the case of the game we are about to talk about, it’s mind blowing how five years have already passed since Marvel’s Spider-Man made it’s way onto consoles, most notably the PlayStation 4 back in 2018 and eventually ported/remastered to the PlayStation 5 and PC a few years later. I remember being there on the first night at my GameStop to pick this game up. I met with some old friends, recorded a video of myself unboxing the game, and then waited with absolute urgency for the game to download on my PS4 so I can play the game ASAP!

Marvel’s Spider-Man was developed by Insomniac Games, a company mostly known for designing fast-paced platformers and action-adventure style games such as Spyro the Dragon and Ratchet & Clank! This acted as Insomniac’s very first license game, which saw a four-year development cycle that started in 2014 and finished in 2018. Insomniac was approached by Marvel and given the choice to use any character they wanted from their rose gallery; they chose Spider-Man due to the character’s appeal towards the employees at Insomniac and the similarities in traversal gameplay to their previous game, Sunset Overdrive.

The game came out on September 7th 2018 on the PlayStation 4. The game received strong reviews from critics, with high praise in regards to it’s narrative, characterization, combat, and web-swinging traversal mechanics. It was immediately regarded as the best Spider-Man game ever made, with many comparing the game favorably to the Batman: Arkham series. Despite being strictly a console exclusive at the time of it’s release, it was extremely successful commercially, with over 20 million copies sold from the PlayStation 4, making it the best selling game on that console. It would receive a follow-up two years later with the spin-off sequel, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, that put the spotlight on Miles Morales as Spider-Man alongside a remastered version strictly for the PlayStation 5, both which would include a more updated character model for Peter Parker, which caused a bit of controversy when it was first shown.

With the next installment, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, just around the corner, let’s take a look back at the original game to see how it holds up a half decade later! Does it still offer a fun and fresh experience that makes you feel like the web-swinger or is this just a game to get easily burned out by?! Let’s take a look back at Marvel’s Spider-Man!

Plot:

Peter Parker has been Spider-Man for seven years now! Despite becoming an experienced and masterful crime fighter during his career as a web swinger, he has struggled with maintaining a proper superhero and personal life balance. He’s way behind on his rent, struggling to make time with his loved ones, looking to repair broken relationships with previous loved ones, and trying to find the next big step for his future as Peter Parker and Spider-Man.

At the start of the game, we see Spider-Man teaming up with the police force, led by Captain Yuri Watanabe, to stop Wilson Fisk, A.K.A. Kingpin, and his criminal rule on New York City. Despite the capture of Fisk being successful, a masked gang known as the Inner Demons, lead by the superhuman crime lord Mister Negative, emerges and begins seizing Fisk’s illicit assets in hopes of gaining control over the criminal underworld of New York City.

It’s then we see Peter tackle many different roles at the same time as himself and Spider-Man. He has to be the reliable cocky vigilante that assists Yuri and the police force with stopping crime all throughout New York City. He has to be the ex-boyfriend who now wants to remove that ex from the title with Mary Jane Watson, who is a reporter for the Daily Bugle, by having her assist in his crime fighting duties. He has to be the supportive nephew for Aunt May, who works for a special charity/shelter home known as F.E.A.S.T. He has to play the mentor role for Dr. Otto Octavius, as the two research on advanced prosthetic limbs to create four mechanical tenacles that can be of great assistance to anybody. And for the first time, he has to be a teacher towards a younger and more diverse superhero in the making, Miles Morales.

As the game goes on, Peter starts to see how his personal dilemmas collides with his duties as Spider-Man. This all comes to fruition when Mister Negative threatens to release a deadly virus, with the help of Spider-Man most well-known foes along with a few new ones who happen to have similar grudges when it comes to New York’s own major, Norman Osborn. Spider-Man must find a way to stop this sinister plan from commencing with the help of his allies in Yuri, MJ, and Miles before New York City is corrupted as a result, along with his loved ones.

The story for this game was written by a handful of writers from Insomniac Games which include Jon Paquette, Benjamin Arfmann, Kelsey Beachum, and Christos Gage. The group made it a goal to craft an original story from the long-running comic book mythology of Spider-Man that felt new but also truthful to the character. And if you were to ask me, they succeeded spectacularly.

Even with all of the films and television shows that we’ve gotten about Spider-Man over the years, I don’t think I’ve seen a medium that perfectly captures the meaning of the character, the purpose of the source material, and why Spider-Man is as beloved of a superhero as anybody. You really get a great dive into the conflict that Peter as with juggling his superhero life and personal life while also showcasing the impact that Spider-Man has on New York City throughout his past seven years as a hero. The characterization of Peter Parker as Spider-Man throughout the game never comes across as one-note or two-dimensional but fully three. There’s more to Spider-Man here than being a jokester and there’s more to Peter Parker than just being sad and depressed all the time! (Take a f*cking hint, Gavin J. Konop!)

While not every blank is filled or every single character throughout Spidey’s rose gallery is presented here, there’s more than enough players here that serve their purposes well. We get some familiar faces with most Spider-Man media such as MJ, Aunt May, and Norman Osborn, along with others that haven’t been explored as much such as Miles Morales, Yuri Watanabe, and Silver Sable. The main villains of the game include Mister Negative, Doc Ock, and Kingpin while others such as Rhino, Electro, Scorpion, Vulture, Taskmaster, Screwball, and Tombstone act as supporting players. Even if not all of them are introduced strictly for this game, you definitely get the sense of history with these characters and the connection with Peter Parker and Spider-Man that feel fluent and organic.

Even the versions of well-known characters in the game that feel akin to versions portrayed in movie or tv form are done in a way that not only does those versions better but acts more as an expansion of other versions that feel more fleshed out than they originally were. For example, we get to see Peter and Otto’s relationship from Spider-Man 2 but with more history and connection between the two that makes it all of the more emotionally engaging, especially when we get to see how it wraps up by the end. And if the marketing for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is any indication, I wouldn’t be surprised if Insomniac does the Peter and Harry relationship better than The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It’s a wonderful way of paying tribute of the history of Spider-Man without being lazy, derivative, or manipulative.

In terms of flaws with the story, there is the addition of the Sinister Six late in the game that feels a tad rushed and tacked on, arguably the one story element that felt thrown in at the last second. There’s also the relationship dynamics between Peter and MJ. Despite coming off as a better version of their relationship in the Sam Raimi trilogy, the path the game goes with it is quite predictable and comes across as rather redundant. It honestly quite baffling that Spider-Man always has plenty of great women in his life to chose from (Black Cat, Yuri, Silver Sable, etc..) and yet he ALWAYS feels obligated to stick with MJ. I sure hopes there are ladies out there that get a man that is committed to you as Peter is to MJ.

Even so, the storytelling in Marvel’s Spider-Man is wonderful and compelling all around. There’s hardly a character that is wasted, a plot element that is half-assed, a section where the pacing drags, or an emotional beat that doesn’t feel earned. Even the payoffs to certain plot points that you can see coming from a mile away are paid off so well that it feels less predictable and more just being truthful. It’s a story so good that it could easily carry it’s own film or tv series. Heck, if we are comparing it to other Spider-Man medium in film and tv form, this is at least on par if not better than Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, the two Spider-Verse films, and The Spectacular Spider-Man series. And considering the quality of those properties along with the overall history of Spider-Man, that is saying a lot!

Gameplay:

Marvel’s Spider-Man is an open-world action-adventure game that takes place in the city of Manhattan in New York City. The primary playable character of the game is no other than your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. As Spider-Man out in the open world, you are able to web swinging and roam freely exactly the way you please.

You can navigate the world by jumping, using the webs shooters to fire webs that will allow you to swing between buildings, run up walls, and being able to vault over upcoming obstacles automatically. Of course, the webs must be attached to physical objects to make the web swinging even remotely possible (We’ve come a long way since being able to dive the laws of gravity in the first Spider-Man movie game) while speed and momentum can be build up by webbing onto something at the right time to either gain heights or move more quickly. And even for those who would rather just take a bus to get from one destination to the next (If you do, then shame on you!), the game does offer an optional fast travel system where Spider-Man uses the Subway system to get to where ever he needs to go.

The combat mostly consists of three different buttons. There’s one button for dodging, one for physical strikes, and one for attacks using your webbing. Webbing can be used to incapacitate enemies, disarm them of any weaponry, and stick them to any nearby wall or object that they can stick to, which can immediately beat them in battle. Spidey can use the whole environment that he is in to fight, jump off walls, and throw any sort of objects he finds laying around or in the hands of the enemy. And just in case anyone is worried about any bad guy getting knocked off of a building and in favor of Spider-Man unwritten “no kill” policy, anytime any one of the enemies flies off a building, a web attached to them immediately sticks to the walls, preventing them from their death. I guess Spidey got a little Batman in him, after all.

Successful attacks and combos performed during combat can build towards “Focus”, a set that can be used to heal Spider-Man, while full focus mode allows for special finishing attacks that can take down enemies instantly. We also can’t forget the “spider-sense”, which shows up as a white icon around the character’s head, alerting them of an upcoming attack that can be dodged by pressing the dodge button. As if it would be a Spider-Man game where you didn’t have your own spider-sense, at least when Venom is not around. Some enemies must be overcome using different methods. There’s melee-weapon-wielding enemies that have to be knocked in the air right and the shielded enemies must be attacked from behind before performing the finishing blow. Enemies armed with whips will drag Spider-Man out of the air and require a counterattack to fight effectively. Other types of enemy include heavily armored agents who can take more damage, brutes, and jetpack-wearing enemies who remain airborne. Like with most Spider-Man and superhero games, there a wide variety of enemies that will require you to find different ways to beat as you progress through the game.

Spidey also has a wide variety of gadgets to use throughout the whole game. These include electric webbing, concussive blasts, and impact webbing that launches enemies backwards and can stick them to a nearby surface. Gadgets are unlocked by progressing through the game and can help you greatly during combat. There plenty of unlockable suits, many of which are based off of existing versions of the character from other forms of media while others are completely original suits. Many of these suits offer special abilities that can aid in combat, such as increasing focus gain, reducing gravity, enhancing stealth, and unleashing an electromagnetic pulse that will stun the enemies and disable their weapons. Once these special suits are unlocked, the suits and powers provided for it can be freely combined. Stealth combat involves Spider-Man moving around raised locations using gadgets or webbing to neutralize enemies that are unaware of the web head’s presence. The level up system allows the layer to unlock skills from three different specialties: the ground combat, aerial combat, and traversal. The more you level up, the stronger Spider-Man will be.

The way to perform any kinds of upgrades with the suits, mods, and gadgets are with tokens. Tokens are resources you use to purchase these associated upgrades, which are awarded for completion of specific tasks. Each unlockable item requires different kinds of tokens. The challenge tokens for completing Taskmaster’s time-and-skill missions based on combat, stealth, and traversal. The backpack tokens for locating Peter’s old backpacks scattered across the city, containing mementos from his past. The research tokens for completing research station missions, science minigames, and the collection of pigeons of all things. The crime tokens are for stopping ambient crimes. The base tokens are for clearing out enemy bases. Lastly, the Landmark tokens are for taking pictures of specific locations around the city. There’s also minigames that are rewarded with experience points and research tokens including circuit puzzles that require the arrangement of an electric grid and pattern puzzles that require the recreation of a specific pattern using composite parts.

Of course, there’s also the elephant in the room that are the sections involving Mary Jane and Miles Morales. While the sections where you are just in control of Peter include strictly puzzle-solving missions, MJ’s and Miles’ segments put focus on stealth to avoid enemies. These sections come around during portions of the story where MJ and Miles decide to take matters into their own hands without the assistance of Peter as Spider-Man. All it really amounts to is sneaking past enemies while being detected and collecting info that either one needs to push the story forward.

The game features four modes of difficulty; Friendly (Easy), Amazing (Normal), Spectacular (Hard), and Ultimate (Super Hard). And like most big games nowadays, there is a new game plus mode that allows the player to start a new game using all of the suits, powers, gadgets, and suit mods unlocked in a previous playthrough. These modes are more than welcome for those that are looking for a good challenge or just want to go for that platinum (I always aim for the latter!).

And, you can even take pictures! What’s more than being a crime fighter and taking picks of yourself while doing it?!

While Marvel’s Spider-Man is far from the first game ever made to include these different kinds of play styles, there’s not many games that was able to perfect it the way this game does. Many people have compared this game to that of the Batman: Arkham games, claiming this game is like the equivalent of that. While that’s more than understandable, most folks tend to forget of the Spider-Man games that came before that which this game likely also took cues from, most notably the Spider-Man 2 movie game. In plenty of ways, Marvel’s Spider-Man plays like a spiritual sequel to that.

Being in control of Spider-Man has never felt more right than in this game. Regardless if you are web swinging, running and climbing up the walls, fighting crime, or performing stealth, Marvel’s Spider-Man is able to play the best and most polished versions of a Spider-Man game to date. It’s never been more satisfying swinging across New York city and beating up random thugs or even Spidey’s greatest enemies. There’s not a gameplay element that feels restricted or put to waste. You will always find yourself busy throughout the game no matter if it involves to the main story, side story, or completing side missions. Regardless of what order you play this game in, you will constantly feel eager to perform every single take you can to take back New York City from criminal scum.

It’s like Insomniac took everything that work greatly about prior Spider-Man games and decided to enhance it in a way that it feels like the best possible version of a Spider-Man game. This is game that basically earns the title of being strictly called Marvel’s Spider-Man. For everything that previous Spider-Man game does well, Marvel’s Spider-Man is able to do them all even better.

The one gameplay element that has remain the most controversial are the MJ and Miles’s side missions. While I respect Insomniac’s attempt to have other characters play more or a role to the story than being people to save or motivate Spider-Man, this gameplay style tends to really break the follow of the game. It mostly amounts to five or ten minutes of sneaking around enemies in the most contrived ways and are only done because these characters can’t just bother to wait for Spider-Man to do it all himself in less that time. These sections aren’t unplayable by any means and are all fairly easy but I always feel the urge to finishing it as fast as I can so I can get back to controlling Spidey. I can definitely go without these missions next time around, Insomniac!

Aside from that one slight blemish, the gameplay in Marvel’s Spider-Man is about as fun, polished, and enjoyable to play as you would hope for a Spider-Man game. The web swinging and combat work like wonders and even the boss fights all around are much better then most superhero licensed games out there (Looking at you Arkham Asylum and Knight!) It’s so good that I hope that Insomniac have plans to include other characters with this gameplay style in the future. Black Cat and Spider-Gwen would certainly be nice! (*Hinty hint hint*)

Graphics:

The graphics are incredibly impressive overall! Everything looks bright and colorful while looking exactly the way New York is suppose to look in real life with a very steady framerate throughout the entire game. There has clearly been so much effort put into every single little detail and the overall presentation without a single thing feeling lazy, phoned in, or filled with numerous distracting bugs and pop ups. It’s able to feel real in a way that it never goes bleak and grim in ways of say, The Last of Us or Red Dead Redemption 2! Not that there’s anything wrong with that but for a game that’s clearly meant to be fun and lighthearted while also being dramatic and emotionally impactful, it feels just right and didn’t need dark colors to go along with it!

The characters themselves look proper for the world that this game is inhabited in, even if there’s a few models that has somewhat resemblance to other versions of said characters. Like how Peter’s original design resembled Andrew Garfield and the newer design resembles Tom Holland or how MJ’s design resembles Kirsten Dunst. Even so, I wouldn’t be surprised if these models for the majority of the characters in the game are considered by many to be the “definite” models of their favorite characters. And as for the newer design for Peter, while I hated it at first, it has grown on me now that I’ve played through the whole campaign with it, even if I still feel like it was unnecessary.

While it may not technically be the most impressive looking game ever made nor the most technically advance, Marvel’s Spider-Man is still an absolute treat for the eyes, no matter which system you are playing it on.

Sound:

Another big standout for the game is it’s sound overall! First, there’s the excellent soundtrack done by John Paesano! This is the kind of music that would perfectly in any Marvel movie and even stands out great than the majority of the soundtracks in the MCU. The score just feels like it’s own unique character and perfectly captures the spirit of what the Spider-Man character stands for. Nearly every single track is a stand out and fits perfectly with any screen or mission that it’s included in. My personal favorite tracks are the ones that play during the lab puzzle sections, the score that plays during the final showdown of the game, and who can forget the WONDERFUL music that plays at the starting menu screen. Who doesn’t want to play the whole game after listening to that? At it’s core, the soundtrack of Marvel’s Spider-Man feels as human and layered as it’s central protagonist.

We also can’t forget the strong voice work that is done throughout the game. Yuri Lowenthal might just be the definite Spider-Man voice to date, or at least joins the main tro of definite Spidey voices, alongside Christopher Daniel Barnes and Josh Keaton. He is able to perfectly convey every ounce and trait of the character of Peter Parker and Spider-Man without any of it coming across as forced. When he has to be jokey and wise-cracking, he nails it hard! When he has to be serious, vulnerable, and emotional, he nails that hard too! It’s like when you listen to Kevin Conroy as Batman for the very first time. You immediately buy that voice, never question it, and it just feels right for this iconic character!

While the rest of the cast doesn’t quite measure as much as Lowenthal, they all do fine work! Tara Platt (A.K.A. Yuri Lowenthal’s wife in real life) is great as Yuri Watanabe and has just as much perfect chemistry with Lowenthal’s Spidey as I imagine the two do in real life as a married couple. Laura Bailey is able to make MJ stand out as another addition to her impressive rose gallery of well-known characters she has voiced, playing this new Lois Lane-like MJ as well as she can. Nancy Linari makes for a very good Aunt May and helps makes the character stand out as one of the most engaging versions of that character, (the final moments with her brings me to tears every time). Darin De Paul may be no J.K. Simmons but is still good as J. Jonah Jameson (even if I did get slightly tired of hearing his podcasts towards the end of the game). Nadji Jeter makes for a strong first impressions as this compelling version of Miles Morales, who would later be given plenty of more room to grow in the following game. Stephen Oyoung fits perfectly in the villain role of Martin Li/Mister Negative, even if the character’s villain turn is clearly obvious. Arguably the strongest voice work done in the supporting cast goes to William Slayers as Otto Octavius/Doc Ock, delivering a performance that manages to be menacing but also incredibly sympathetic at the same time.

While I’m not able to go over every single voice actor present for each character, just about every single one of them first their role like a glove and clearly very well picked for their roles. You can just as tell the entire cast was just as invested in their roles as I imagine Insomniac Games was when developing this game.

Downloadable Content:

One last feature that is worth mentioning has to do with the amount of DLC that was added shortly after the release of the game, collectively known as The City that Never Sleeps. This mostly consisted of three DLC packs that acts are story-based and take place shortly after the events of the game. Episode 1 is “The Heist”, Episode 2 is “Turf Wars” and Episode 3 is “Silver Lining”. Each one of these episodes include new story missions, challenges hosted by Screwball, secret criminal hangouts, and trophies.

Story wise, they all are basically a logical progressions of events for the characters, feeling like a proper bridge between the original game and Part Two coming out next month. The first episode, “The Heist” see the return of Spider-Man ex-girlfriend Felicia Hardy, A.K.A. Black Cat to New York for a heist, with introduces the Maggia crime families and gives a hint at a potential new role Peter may or may not have to take in the future. The second episode, “Turf Wars” sees Spider-Man and his ally Yuri Watanabe being pushed beyond their limits to stop Hammerhead and his army from seizing control of crime in New York. The third and last episode, “Silver Lining”, sees Silver Sable returning to New York to reclaim her technology that was stolen from Hammerhead and his army. These all cost money at the time of their releases, except for those that pre-ordered the game, and certainly gives more an impression than being tacked-on content to squeeze a few more dollar signs.

For the most part, I did enjoy all of these DLC packs and felt I got my money’s worth out of it. They definitely aren’t the longest to complete or even to 100% but it’s always entertaining and engaging when playing through it, feeling like a nice way to cap off a nice work day. I’ll admit the way a certain plot thread between Spidey and Cat wrapped up did feel underwhelming, so much so I hope it’s just another “misdirection” and it’s actually for real in the future. And I certainly feel bad for those that didn’t play the DLC and went to next game completely caught off guard with what has happened with Yuri in between games. Unless they are able to watch some cutscenes before the end of October rolls around, they are likely going to be lost when it comes to that character and plot thread.

It’s also worth mentioning that this DLC did too come with new unlockable costumes. These mostly included suits from other various versions of Spider-Man throughout his history along with newly added ones from other Spider-Man content that came out around that time such as Into the Spider-Verse and Far From Home. The one I always find myself wearing is the Raimi costume, I just always love to imagine that the game is some sort of alternate’s version of a Spider-Man 4 that never got made.

If you were underwhelmed of the kind of DLC like Batman: Arkham City, where it felt like a last minute addition and doesn’t really move the plot and characters forward for the next game, then you will certainly find the DLC for Marvel’s Spider-Man much more satisfying.

Conclusion:

Marvel’s Spider-Man is more than deserving of being as loved and celebrated as it was back in 2018. It still stands strongly as the best Spider-Man game to date and arguably the best licensed superhero game out there that doesn’t involve Batman. It’s able to take the kind of Spider-Man gameplay that has been a template from past Spider-Man games while modifying and perfecting it in every way, giving you the most perfect feeling Spidey experience you can possibly imagine. While I definitely could have done without the MJ/Miles sections, almost everything else is done so well that it doesn’t even come close to bringing down the rest of the game.

The web swinging is fun, the combat is a blast, the story is engaging, the characters are well-defined and characterized, the sound is stellar, and it’s able to feel like a complete Spider-Man package in a way that no other Spider-Man game has yet. It’s very rare for a game to come out that feels like it gives you your complete money’s worth, one that you can just pick up and play almost instantly and and overall, just puts you in a good mood every time you play it. Marvel’s Spider-Man is able to do all of that and even more. Even if Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 turns out to be a disappointment, I will never forget the fond memories and enjoyment I was able to gain from Marvel’s Spider-Man. If there is one game out there that I could describe as my “comfort” game, this would likely be the one! Go Spidey go!

And yes, I will be tackling Spider-Man: Miles Morales very soon, hopefully before the next game comes out!