SirLord Best on 22/9/2018 at 16:19
I'm playing Spidey too, nearly at the end and want to get the Platinum for it but those crime side quest's are a bit too much but apart from that I'm really enjoying it a lot!
Just think Saint's Row 4 was a lot better...
Thirith on 23/9/2018 at 07:43
I'm about halfway through the plot and I'm still enjoying it a lot. The plot is engaging, the characters less black-and-white than you'd expect, and getting around New York never gets old. More than a bunch of open-world games, it's constantly playable and at least for me has never felt like a string of chores with the occasional high point.
It's also got a photo mode that, if you're into those things, is pretty damn cool, I'd think. I'm not really a photo mode guy, but it seems to be one of the better example of its kind.
icemann on 23/9/2018 at 12:06
That looks awesome :).
Thirith on 8/10/2018 at 08:10
I'm approaching the end now, and I'm still enjoying
Spider-Man a lot. There are things that are frustrating, in particular some of the later enemies, but on the whole the game is challenging but fair. Web-swinging never gets old and IMO the game is tremendously well polished and balanced so that the difficulty ramps up at the same rate as the new toys you get, so you end up with more different ways to tackle escalating challenges. I'm also enjoying the story and storytelling; the characters are engaging and the story balances the inherent over-the-top cartoon stakes and the more human element well. Peter Parker comes across as a genuinely nice guy that you enjoy hanging out with, and his quips are well judged, so he doesn't end up feeling smug or smarmy. While the game isn't linked to the MCU, I would say it has a similar sensitivity as the best MCU films in how it presents its hero as both heroic and human, and the main villains are better than your average MCU villain.
Also, there is a Spidey suit in the game that is so perfectly done it makes me go squee! even after I've been playing with it for hours - and I'm saying that as someone who's not all that invested in Spider-Man in his various incarnations. ((
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBfuodlfMJg) You can check out what I mean here, but some might consider this a spoiler, albeit not a plot spoiler.)
Thirith on 12/10/2018 at 08:24
Just finished the game this morning and I have to say I really, really liked it. On the one hand, it's a pretty conventional open-world superhero game, on the other I think it handles all its individual aspects well and some it does brilliantly. The storytelling is very good - if you have any affinity for superhero narratives (you need to accept that there are certain tropes, obviously) - and the characters engaging.
There are games that are rough around the edges but they get one or two things so right they become classics. That's not what Spider-Man is. If anything, it comes at being a great game from the other side, but IMO it succeeds beautifully in doing so.
Sulphur on 12/10/2018 at 08:34
That's pretty high praise. I wasn't expecting you to be that taken with a (*snort*) superhero game, so I'm definitely swinging a little harder towards adding it to my library when I get a PS4.
N'Al on 12/10/2018 at 11:30
I presume you've played some of the Arkham games, Thirith? How does this one compare, ultimately? Would you say it's the Marvel equivalent?
Thirith on 13/10/2018 at 10:04
@Sulphur: Hey, I'm one of those culture snobs who include pop culture in their snobism. I'm actually a pretty big fan of the MCU - not uncritically so, but I find a lot to like about the genre if it's done in a way that does the characters justice. I've also enjoyed quite a few superhero games, which leads me to...
@N'Al: I've enjoyed all the Arkham games, more or less. I even didn't mind the Batmobile sections in Arkham Knight. There are definitely similarities, in particular in the combat, but Spider-Man's combat is less on rails, more mobile and more of a challenge. In Arkham Knight I'd die because the combat is so mechanical I'd lose concentration; in Spider-Man I'd die because I wasn't good enough. Also, I found Arkham City and Arkham Knight's side activities to become much more of a chore than Spider-Man's; now that I've finished the story, I want to go back and finish things, whereas with the Arkham games I lost interest after the storyline was done.
There's definitely the DC vs Marvel thing that'll play into whether people will prefer the Arkham games or Spider-Man. I like the lightness of touch that Marvel often has - which ironically makes me care more about the stakes than the brooding Grand Guignol of the Batman stories. If someone generally prefers the DC style, I'm not sure Spider-Man would win them over, but as a game I'd consider this one more cohesive than the more "everything including the Batkitchen Batsink" approach of the Arkham games. Mind you, I quite like the neo-gothic aesthetics of the latter (even if I could do without the rather teenagey visual depiction of female characters), but in either case I'd say that the aesthetics of either game fits that particular universe.
henke on 13/10/2018 at 10:50
Mark Brown's recent video on Spiderman is good stuff (as usual).
[video=youtube;DKSpE2PGJjI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKSpE2PGJjI[/video]
(spoilers for missions start at around 6:00, if you're worried about that)
He also brings up how it compares to the Batman games. I don't have a problem with combat in Batman being so easy though, mainly because if anything it only makes me feel more like Batman. Batman would have an easy time beating the snot out of a bunch of random goons, so it's appropriate that the gameplay conveys that. The fights in it still get properly challenging by the end of the game though, so it felt well-enough balanced.