Topic: Insomniac's Spiderman

@KratosMD I haven't played much myself yet so unless the story is absolutely amazing, I would have to say that 7 out of 10 isn't unreasonable at the moment. There is a lot of 'filler' in this and a lot borrowed from Ubisoft as well as other open world games - towers, bases, inane activities - a lot that you can't avoid either if you want to upgrade gadgets - like taking photo's of landmarks or collecting backpacks. The controls are average too and not as responsive as I would like. I've had a number of 'frustrating' moments just collecting backpacks - Spider-Man can run up walls but cant climb towers that a normal human could - I tried to get one on a satellite dish on a metal tower that was more like a four sided ladder but Spider-Man can't climb it - I ended up having to try and run up the building, jump in the air and try to land on the dish which I did after 5mins of repeated trying.

Its not bad but its not 'amazing'....

I have a 'spare' pre-order bonus code that I am willing to give to anyone who missed out on those. Also have a new/sealed standard version of the game with pre-order bonuses to sell/trade if anyone is interested....

Holy eff. Just finished this game. WOW!!!!! Game of the damn year!!!!!! I'm blown away!!!!

Arkham City? What's that?

Sorry guys I'm so excited WOOO!!!

How do you view the photos you've taken using the in-game camera?

@KratosMD I haven't played tat far into the game myself due to GAME being a big let down on ensuring it arrived on Day of release - it only arrived on Monday for me. I had watched Jim Sterlings 'Jimpressions' of the game and he too talked about the 'lack' of boss fights and some other aspects - such as the arrival of the 5/6 villains we saw at E3 and how late into the game that actually occurs. We have seen the Kingpin and Shocker fight - at least if you kept up with the pre-release game-play video's and if they were indicative of the rest of the boss fights, I am not overly excited to play these - other than for the story but from a game-play perspective, they are far too scripted for my liking. Dodge until a button prompt to web up and/or pull heavy objects to slam into someone or something, repeat until you move into the next phase. Its quite 'scripted' instead of being free to tackle it in your own way. OK so its not quite as 'fixed' as a complete QTE boss battle is but its still very scripted. Its so scripted that you could write down exactly what to do and how it basically plays out for everyone - My Kingpin fight basically went exactly as I expected after watching the video. I do find the controller response really quite 'sluggish' if it responds at all sometimes - especially in combat when you need to press buttons fast and in quick succession - it seems it can't keep up with the inputs especially if its in an animation like mid punch/kick and then press circle to dodge but then doesn't dodge even after completing the animation. I guess it takes time to get into the rhythm of each animation and when to press but it feels unresponsive and somewhat annoying at times. The 'extra' challenges can be annoying too - dodge through the legs 3 times but every time you press to dodge, Spidey jumps over instead - that's assuming the challenges stay up long enough to read and not lose a lot of health by trying to get them back on screen to read. I could go on but my initial impression was more style over quality substance. It looks great with some wonderful little details in the animations, the world etc but their is lot of mundane filler, a lack of innovation and not the most responsive either.

The cynic in me feels that its been given bonus points just because its 'Spider-Man' and that its also being judged on how it compares to 'older'(much older in some cases) Spider-Man games rather than against the contemporary open world games of today. The map and way it opens up is incredibly outdated now - considering Spider-Man isn't a Kid yet doesn't know New York until he unlocks the towers in the districts for example. I have mentioned the stick Ubisoft get for 'towers', bases etc as being 'formulaic' and lacking innovation yet this feels like it could easily of been a PS3 era game with PS4 visuals - not that is a 'bad' thing as the PS3 had great games but if a 'new' IP had towers, bases, mundane activities etc - especially if it was an Ubisoft game, they would be heavily critical - almost certainly wouldn't score a 9 or 10. Admittedly, Ubisoft games are not usually the best story tellers so that maybe one area that this could be better. It just feels 'old' despite looking 'new' with quite a lot of things that modern open world games generally get criticised for. 10yrs ago, it was OK for towers to reveal the map and locations, 10yrs ago it was ok to have mundane side quests and activities as 'filler' - especially as these were 'optional' to spend more time in the world if you wanted but now these seem tied to upgrading (how a photo can be used to upgrade a gadget/suit I don't know - no logic in that). Side quests, especially after the Witcher 3 made these as good, if not better than some main quests/stories that can impact on the main quest, are expected now - not some fetch quest, combat/time trial or chasing 'pigeons'...

I know this sounds 'negative' but its not a 'bad' game - just not a Game of the Year contender. I know I have been 'critical' of some aspects of God of War but that is far more a GotY contender because its much more creative and innovative within its genre. It also took an existing franchise and basically rebooted the format even if from a story perspective its a sequel. I think Treyarch, if they were still able to make Spider-Man would have been a lot more innovative and more contemporary with the franchise. The one thing that I really think helps this though is the Spider-Man licence and that will really help sell this but as a game, its quite average in my opinion - at least thus far...

I would agree with many of the comments here. I'm about 8-9 hours into the game and I've been doing a lot of the grinding and exploration so not far into the story. I think the game is really solid, looks great, has a good story but is quite generic in a lot of ways. Spiderman 2 on PS2/GC was one of my favourite games of that generation and this really feels like a remaster of that game. Looks better, controls better, better acting etc. but very familiar in a lot of ways. Even down to the civilians shouting encouragement to Spidey.

Very solid and I'll probably go for the 100% but I must say at the moment, it is a best of the bunch of typical open world, filler type games. It does everything well but doesn't innovate.

I'm nearing 100% completion and, even though almost none of the open world activities are new, I haven't found myself dreading any of it. Everything is so accessible and fast to do that I haven't found any of it to be a burden, or whatever. It's derivative, yes, but the web slinging is wonderfully fluid and the combat is great fun, so I've never taken issue with any of it. It's all fun! I even enjoyed finding the backpacks because a) there weren't too many, b) they weren't difficult to find, and c) each item had a nice snippet of history.

It's all stuff we've seen and done before, I agree, but it's all executed really well. There's a reason enemy bases are in every game ever these days — it's because they're fun to take down.

I tend to agree with what @KratosMD said about the bosses. A lot of them are saved for late in the game, and it would've been nice for them to be more spread out across the story.

@KratosMD The point about the fact my post was sounding 'negative' was more to point out that I was focusing only on the negatives rather than trying to provide a balanced review. I know that some people will jump on my post as if I have personally attacked them and criticise my opinion/view point and if that doesn't work, call me a an Xbox fanboy or that I haven't finished the game to come to any 'valid' conclusion. You know that happens a lot...

Apart from the story arc, you know basically what every area offers, what you can expect to and will be doing over and over and over again. Whether you can be bothered to respond to yet another burglary attempt, store hold up etc that was just like the other ones will really depend on whether you need more crime tokens to upgrade your gadgets or craft a new suit more than because they are fun and it feels great.

With Tomb Raider, RDR2 and Assassins Creed coming out in the next month or two, I really can't see myself going for the Platinum, trying to beat all the time/combat trials, completing enough crime situations to get every suit etc. Not even sure the Story is going to grab me enough to make me want to complete it until I literally have 'little' else to play at the moment. I do know that IF this does get a 'remastered' PS5 complete edition, at the moment it won't be on my wanted list. I don't regret buying the Special Edition version, the artbook is quite nice and I prefer Steelbooks - even 'boring' plain Red with just a white spider on it but I don't think it will be worth playing again...

@KALofKrypton Have you played the new Spider-Man yet? How how would you compare the web-swinging to TASM2? I haven't played either yet. but after our discussion I'm rather curious to see what you think.

@Jaz007 Yes, not for long though.

MSM is smoother for the most part. The game really does want you to keep moving, the traversal system is very similar to TASM2 with the first person slow mo bit (which you didn't have to use) removed. Having not played TASM2 for a while, I'd say MSM is a smoother ride, if quite a bit less involved than TASM2. In that regard at least, TASM2 is a lot closer to SM2.

MSM wants you to feel like Spider-Man and does most of that for you. TASM2 gave you the tools to head out and feel like Spider-Man but was happy enough if you slammed in to a wall.

I know this game is really derivative, but the gameplay is just so fun that I don't even mind it. I think this is what was missing from Breath of the Wild for me. It too was filled with a bunch of generic open world activities, but simply playing the game wasn't nearly as much fun to me as this is, not to mention the world was quite boring and the story was really lackluster and whatnot.

The only side activities I've really dreaded in this game are the research stations, I don't like them from a gameplay or story standpoint.

But anyone who thinks the story is not that great needs to keep playing...

Maybe it's because I'm used to the 2002 films, but Peter looks like Harry, and Harry looks like a complete dork.

Gameplay is very fun so far. It takes little effort to pull off some neat looking tricks in combat and while traversing the city, but there's also depth to it. It's going to take a while to fully master the controls.

I'm not really far into the story right now, but it's fine so far. Side quests are a bit dull, very generic open world stuff. It reminds me a lot of Infamous Second Son a lot, except that game was a PS4 launch title.

@Octane have to admit that I'm not a big fan of Harry's portrayal in the game. James Franco set the standard for me.

I’ve been keeping up with the comments on this game and seeing some of the evolution from initial positivity and anticipation ...to relative disappointment and genre fatigue ...to thinly veiled commendation ...to then more excitement and accolades. I was planning to play my release copy but real life got in the way and I wanted to complete my playthrough of Horizon Zero Dawn first and I have misjudged how long I was from the ending there (and honestly, I’m having trouble leaving behind HZD’s wonderfully realized and totally unique setting, combat, and protagonist). So I think I might finish HZD tomorrow or Friday, but will be picking up my pre-order of Shadow of the Tomb Raider on Friday and I think I’m actually going to prioritize SotTR to play first instead of Spider-Man. Reading people’s experiences with it has dulled my excitement a teeny bit. It sounds good, but now I’m more curious to see what TR has to offer and Mr. Parker may have to be relegated to sit beside Bayek and Geralt in my backlog.

@AdamantiumClaws

Now that is a game that did not live up to the hype for me. I was so disappointed with it.

@Tasuki leave Spiderman 3 out of this lol.

@AdamantiumClaws You gotta admit that gif is the best thing to come out of that movie.

@AdamantiumClaws Which game? Horizon Zero Dawn? Actually, to be honest, I also was a little disappointed at first with HZD too and after playing through about half of the game at launch, I abandoned it and became side tracked with other games. For some reason a couple weeks ago I decided to go back and actually play it some more and finish it and I have liked it much more on this second go. I didn’t realize how diverse the combat could be when you add more weapons and uncover more enemies, and also how good the story became later on. What an absolutely unique and creative world and history they created! And to avoid derailing the Spider-Man thread, if I bring it around full circle, Spider-Man looks to possibly follow a similar enjoyment pattern — fun at first, then a little too derivative to keep one’s interest in the middle, but then with a great story and better gameplay toward the end which rewards the player who sticks with it. And that’s fine, but if that’s what Spider-Man is, an inverted bell curve of enjoyment, then I don’t think I want to prioritize it to the top of my queue right now.

That good huh ? I'm gonna have to dedicate this upcoming weekend to me beating the game then !

Arkham City might have better side missions and easter eggs, maybe even combat. But the story in this game was so damn good T_T better than any movie of Spiderman ever made.

And I loved the boss fights, most of them were really fun, and I think the combat shined there.