Topic: Insomniac's Spiderman

@KALofKRYPTON It’s amazing how similar in structure, style, and content that Second Son and Spider-Man are, despite being 2 different developers.

@Th3solution
It is. When you factor in the gameplay loop of previous Spider-Man games, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 specifically (the majority of the traversal, combat, street crimes and side activities are the same/similar) - it's easy to see Spider-Man as a bit 'paint-by-numbers'. It's a testament to the polish of the package and aggressive marketing that it isn't.

@KALofKRYPTON It’s a testament to Sony as a publisher that for every iterative “comfort food” type of game they produce like Marvel’s Spider-Man and Days Gone, there is a non-conformist Concrete Genie, Dreams, or Death Stranding.
Then there are the in between games like Horizon and GoW that don’t necessarily break new ground, but they have unique and innovative concepts baked in just enough to make them unique for the hardcore like us, but approachable for the more casual market.

The story really does pick up in the final third. I really like the boss fights in the third act, although they did feel a bit samey in how you tackle them. The Electro & Vulture[ fight was a particular highlight, swooping round a construction site at night with electricity zapping everywhere. A spectacular sequence and it was a joy to play.

Another mention must be paid to the voice acting which is excellent, they bring real emotion an depth to some of the scenes.

Finally was able to site down this weekend and play Miles Morales, which I enjoyed alot. It felt like the perfect companion piece to Spider-man. I played it on a PS4 slim which I use now that my launch day PS4 has been retired. Anyway it looked just as good as Spider-man did on my launch PS4.

As.for the story I thought it was just as good as Spider-man but just a bit short IMO. Honestly I think this should have been more DLC for Spider-man but I understand why Sony went the route they did. When I do eventually get a PS5 I will be getting this game again for that to see all the improvements.

But yeah it was a worthy successor to Spider-man.

@Tasuki Yeah, I think Sony definitely let this be its own thing because A: it worked for Uncharted: The Lost Legacy but, perhaps more importantly, B: they needed a standalone launch title for the PS5.

Did you ever play the DLC to the first Spidey game, by the way?

@RogerRoger Yes I did but it was awhile ago. I moved a few years ago and my PS4 went into my son's room because his friends have PS4 while most of mine play on Xbox. That's mainly why it took me till this weekend to play Miles that and I wanted to finish up a few games on Xbox before jumping into it.

@RogerRoger B is a good point. Opening that June showcase with a Miles Morales trailer definitely generated TONS of hype for the PS5's launch.

@RogerRoger @Voltan Right which is why I said that it made sense selling Miles separate rather then as DLC. They may have been able to get away with it on PS4 selling it as DLC but then it just would have confused people.

I think going the Lost Legacy route on Miles was definitely a better option

I think there's enough game there and definitely a different enough story where it doesn't feel like it could be part of the original game without it being relegated to something like an epilogue chapter, which would still feel pretty out of place given its actual length as a game

Miles Morales is different enough in terms of story alone that it can stand on its own. The Christmas aesthetic and Miles' differentiated power set with his venom sting powers and bioelectricity stuff are even more reason it can feel mechanically different but built on a familiar foundation

@Tasuki Cool, was just curious. I know some people skipped it, but I'm playing through it (again) at the moment and it's got some interesting and important story material in it. There's no denying, however, that it most definitely feels like DLC, and if I get the same vibe from Miles Morales next week, I'll be ever-so-slightly disappointed. The bar for these kinds of games was set so high by Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (although I'm heartened by what @TheFrenchiestFry just added up there, as well).

@Voltan Heck, it was certainly my highlight from the PS5's reveal showcase! And that's saying something, given that we saw Horizon: Forbidden West and Hitman III at the same time!

@RogerRoger it does feel like it's own story most of the time, it's the length that made it feel more like DLC to me but again as I said before I can see why they did what they did.

@Tasuki Hey, I'm good with short-and-sweet. I'm hoping to wrap it all up within the week.

@RogerRoger Lol yep that how I was able to wrap it up in a weekend.