Forums

Topic: Marvel's Spider-Man - OT

Posts 41 to 60 of 88

RogerRoger

@TheFrenchiestFry Yeah, and the explicit MCU references in the LEGO games (outside of LEGO Marvel's Avengers, of course) were semi-obscure and often kinda oblique. Although there was some Spidey DLC for that game, and not just for Homecoming. It had a playable Miles. Those games, no matter the source material, are definitely in the greyest of legal areas.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in Insomniac's full-fat sequel because, you're right, the conversation has to have been had at some point. I don't for a second think we'll ever get another Wolverine boss battle or Human Torch time trial, but a few cameos or indirect nods wouldn't go amiss. I think everybody's waiting to see how Spidey is integrated into the Avengers game (another interesting situation, given that he's exclusive to the PS4 version) as that might give us some clues about how interconnected they want all of this to be. My money's on "not very" but I could be wrong.

Also, part of me is reminded of how there was that voicemail from Kate Kane in Arkham Knight, and everybody theorised that it meant we'd be getting a Batwoman game next. I just thought it was a neat little secret for fans to discover, and wouldn't go any further. Some of Spidey's stuff, like the reminder note to give Tony Stark a return call, falls into the same category.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

TheFrenchiestFry

@RogerRoger Yeah I'm definitely not expecting Ultimate Spider-Man or Web of Shadows where you had people like Luke Cage and Moon Knight as basically main characters, or another scene where Wolverine gets his ass handed to him inside a bar by Norman Osborn Venom or anything like that in the next game. It's clear Insomniac likely has way more limitations than Activision does since they're basically making a Spider-Man-centric universe that happens to have other Marvel characters in them unlike how Activision approached things with their games

I do think that there's clearly some super grey area involved however with the amount of stuff they put in. I was going into this game just expecting to see Spider-Man specific stuff like the Bugle building or the Oscorp Tower, but I got way more from other characters than I anticipated. I don't think it has anything to do with how they're handling it in Square's Avengers game though. I think it's already known that their Spider-Man is unique to their game (which makes it even more puzzling they made it PS4 exclusive; I would've almost accepted it more if they were using Insomniac Spidey since that's a Sony-published game), so whatever he references is probably going to be specific to their universe without any overlap with what Insomniac's doing. I don't expect him to name drop stuff like Devil's Breath or the Demons, or Osborn running for mayor or anything

Edited on by TheFrenchiestFry

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

RogerRoger

@TheFrenchiestFry Those moments really threw me at first, considering I kinda walked backwards through Spidey's gaming history, although the PSone original (and its sequel) are packed with so many wider Marvel references, as well. Activision really did just use anything that wasn't bolted down!

It's a shame, but the only time we'll ever find out the limitations will be when there's some kind of legal challenge or outcry which forces Insomniac to patch out a reference (and the internet subsequently has a field day with it, naturally). It's interesting how many people swore that line about the Avengers had been cut from the remaster, because it really hasn't been... or it's been patched back in since, given that I'm a couple months late to the game. You're right about the Squeenix game, though. Whilst I think it's highly unlikely, there might be some loose threads which point to original intent.

Does make me wonder how long Insomniac are gonna take to develop the sequel, though. It'll definitely be within the PS5's lifespan, but I can't see it landing anytime soon.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Kidfried

I finished the base game, platinum as well. I'm now off to play the DLC. Overall my early impressions of the game haven't really changed after finishing it.

I'll go and award the game some stars, or research tokens whatever!

***** Movement. The movement of Spider-Man is so darn good and definitely raises the bar for superhero games and movement in games in general. Until the end of the game I was drooling over how Spidey moves, and how fun it was to BE (caps for emphasise) him.
Movement feels limitless. I feel like I can do whatever I want. And that's such a far cry from games like Breath of the Wild for instance, in which you feel constantly limited by stamina and such.
Oh, and how that movement translates into combat as well... Can I get a chef's kiss?

**** Love for the source material, from easter eggs to the suits. The game also really captures the tone of the comics, which I was really happy about. So many games just go "the gritty way", but it's way more difficult to capture the spirit of those comics. Especially because it doesn't do cheap stuff like comic panels or POWs in the air.

*** Peter Parker/Spidey. Controversial, but I love the new look. Just play the game and you'll be a convert too. He looks very nice, especially in motion, and the performance both actors give is just amazing. Even though the writing in this game is somewhat lacking, especially Peter's dialogue sometimes, the performance makes up for that.

** Pacing. This could be so much better, this game went from exciting build up, to slow middle to an over-way-to-soon ending. Especially everything surrounding the masked men.

  • Copy paste. This game has way too much copy paste. The crimes are the worst among them. Also, I remember getting excited when I found a collectible that wasn't put on the side of a skyscraper, that's how bad it is sometimes. You're actually surprised when the next thing you encounter is not exactly the same as the previous.

(Zero stars) Women. I don't recall even having fought a woman. All baddies are boys. Come on, Insomniac.

Concluding: I liked the game, especially some faders of it, will definitely be playing the DLC, but I don't think it's an all time classic.

@Th3solution too

Kidfried

nessisonett

@Kidfried Don’t you know? Women exist only in poorly paced stealth missions 😉

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

RogerRoger

@Kidfried Can't wait to see what you make of the DLC. There's a comment I really wanna make, but am gonna sit on my hands, so as not to spoil anything!

Real glad you enjoyed it as much as you did, despite your understandable and fair criticisms!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

TheFrenchiestFry

@RogerRoger I think the Spider-Man sequel is likely their next game after Ratchet & Clank. It's clear they were pulling a Majora's Mask doing Miles Morales first since it meant they could reuse assets from the PS4 game while also developing the PS5 remaster as a foundation for how their engine is going to improve for the Spider-Man games going forward. I wouldn't expect it any sooner than maybe 2023 at the earliest but Miles Morales was clearly meant to hold us over until then in that regard

The Avengers reference was actually always in both versions of the game but I think the specific call back to the West Coast is only triggered under certain conditions or can be triggered at random times. A lot of people read into that as being a direct reference to how the Square game starts on the West Coast during A-Day but retroactively speaking it's likely just a joke about the West Coast Avengers team. It's obvious they aren't really shy about at least alluding to individual members because I think one of Spider-Man's battle quips is "I know a guy who has a cooler shield than that", and obviously there are database entries in the game for people like Steve Rogers. It's clear that Insomniac wants to let us know that they exist at least, but what would be interesting to see is if Marvel is either only allowing them to use them in easter eggs or verbal gags, or if they are actually given the ok to have something happen like Matt Murdock being Fisk's prosecutor in court or something along those lines

I was actually a little disappointed to find out that despite Miles Morales clearly being set in Harlem there doesn't seem to be a single Luke Cage reference despite the fact that he's basically an urban legend there

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

Th3solution

@Kidfried Thanks for the tag and congrats! Pretty well agree on your assessment, although the female deficiency didn’t occur to me at the time, but I can agree with that too.

I think I tolerated the copy and paste things a little more than you might have but it is a true weakness. The overall length of the game was limited enough that it stopped shy of reaching a point of high dissatisfaction with me. But I do recall feeling the mundane nature of the repetitive crimes toward the end. Also the fun traversal and combat kept it more tolerable. The sameness of the side content is a plague upon most open world games, and so I didn’t feel it any more acutely than in other games with similar map icon chasing mechanics. It’s part of the reason why I haven’t rushed out to get Miles Morales. Firstly, I want to play it on PS5, but as now that obstacle is gone — secondly, I fear it will be more of the same as far as missions and side activities and I need to give myself some time between the entries.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

RogerRoger

@TheFrenchiestFry That'd be smart of them. I'm quite excited to see whether I notice any major differences in the technology behind Miles Morales. As superb as the remaster of the first game is, there are moments where you can tell it's being held back slightly (Silver Sable's hair, for example, being very nicely detailed but still as rigid as a LEGO piece).

You're right about the quip, and about how it's intentionally vague and open to interpretation. I think (big emphasis on "think" there) that I've also heard him say "You won't like me when I'm angry!" during combat, which is such a ubiquitous phrase regardless of its origins. They're obviously picking and choosing their references carefully, though. Wasn't there a whole dispute over Luke Cage in the past couple years, something to do with a Netflix show or something? Maybe uncertainty over the show's future meant that Insomniac were warned not to put anything in Miles' game.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

TheFrenchiestFry

@RogerRoger There wasn't really a dispute over Luke Cage specifically in games, it was mostly movie related because Netflix had for a time, the character rights to the characters who appeared in the MCU-Netflix series like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, so when those shows were cancelled, that basically gave them about 2 years after the shows' cancellations for those character rights to revert back to Marvel Studios, but that's just for films and TV. That doesn't really affect where they can show up game wise. A lot of people thought similarly when Spider-Man was announced to be published by Sony, that it was some sort of extension of the deal Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios had over sharing the Spider-Man film rights but SIE obviously doesn't have much in the way of interference over what the other divisions of Sony do unless it's specific to them like their new film branch they have for PlayStation IP-based films

The fact that the Nelson/Murdock Law Firm and the ALIAS Investigations building both show up in Spider-Man despite the fact the Netflix series were still ongoing at that time should pretty much indicate their game rights are completely adjunct from film/television

Ultimately now it doesn't matter since I believe all the former Netflix characters are now back with Marvel Studios so they have way more leverage there. They really only lack Spider-Man and his related characters in terms of IPs they have complete control over (since Universal only has distribution rights over Hulk movies and not creative control or character rights)

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

TheFrenchiestFry

@Th3solution The traversal and narrative definitely holds Spider-Man up. Most of those games suffered from repetitive side missions and filler content in between the plot beats. There's only so many times you can have fun taking out those Fisk communication towers or fight off a gang in secret hideout outposts or stop a car in a QTE but Insomniac nailed the movement and the feel of the game so much I almost start to forget how repetitive things are

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

RogerRoger

@TheFrenchiestFry Ah, that's interesting. I'd always figured that Spidey was a PlayStation exclusive because of the movie rights. And thanks for the education about the Netflix shows, as I'd never really paid much attention to them, and only really realised their importance when they all got cancelled, and people seemed really upset. Marvel Studios do seem to be slowly clawing everybody back (Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox and subsequent re-acquisition of the X-Men being the latest example) but it's interesting to see how Spidey's remained separate in both Hollywood and the gaming sphere. I guess he's the most recognisable and popular Marvel superhero, so was always gonna be a special case.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

TheFrenchiestFry

@RogerRoger I remember there was this infographic of all the characters Marvel or other studios had control over and it was structured like a venn diagram to denote which were exclusive to studios like 20th Century Fox and Sony, which were shared between Marvel and another studio like the Hulk and Spider-Man rights and which were completely owned by Marvel Studios

Now that the Netflix characters have come back and now that Marvel has regained the rights to the mutants and Fantastic Four, literally all they need now are the Spider-Man characters to themselves, and this wasn't at all the case this time 10 years ago which is pretty surreal to think about. They practically have the entire Marvel Universe to themselves now even if they're sharing Spider-Man with Sony, and this time about a decade ago they were solely relying on the B listers and the Hulk to carry their independent film productions

Edited on by TheFrenchiestFry

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

Kidfried

I haven't hated anything as much for a while as I hate Screwball.

Kidfried

TheFrenchiestFry

@Kidfried Screwball is so goddamn annoying lol

I get that's her character since she's basically like a supervillain mixed with an internet influencer but still

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

nessisonett

@Kidfried I just didn’t do the Screwball things cause she annoyed me so much.

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

Kidfried

@TheFrenchiestFry I can hate a character without the writing being this lousy. It's just... so bad it makes my PS5 coil's whine. There is not one single thing she says, not one single joke, that I haven't heard a hundred times before. And worst thing: everything Screwball says is repeated five different times.

And it comes across so much as "hey fellow kids, is this what you do on your cellphones these days?"

Remember the 90s, when every gamer was shown in popular media as some nerd in their mom's basement? A joke that got old really fast, and you have no doubt cringed just thinking about it now. Screwball is just as "funny".

Kidfried

Kidfried

Screwball wouldn't be this bad if her dialogue was at least correct, but instead she constantly mixes words up and uses them wrong.

Example, ever thought about her most used word: PHOTOBOMB. There is nothing "photobomb" about them. They are basically just take an action shot in a certain spot. Don't call it a photo bomb them.

Kidfried

RogerRoger

@Kidfried @TheFrenchiestFry @nessisonett Sometimes I feel like the only person on the planet who didn't mind Screwball. She's hardly my favourite character, and everything she says is indeed annoying, but I think it's supposed to be. I always took her as satirical criticism of false popularity, and the dangers of going too far to generate meaningless, fleeing "relevance" in the modern age. Which is why she's a villain, and why we (as Spidey) work hard to put her behind bars.

That, and the gameplay in her challenges was kinda fun. It's one thing to say "beat up these guys as quickly as possible" but the whole photobomb mechanic (whether named correctly or not) added a welcome wrinkle to the proceedings. This coming from me, somebody who doesn't like a challenge!

But each to their own, and I do acknowledge that she's an incredibly Marmite addition to the game.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Kidfried

@RogerRoger I'm really disappointed I didn't get a single chance to actually hit Screwball. Devs should really let you fight a character this annoying. But hey, they didn't. And it highlighted two of my main gripes against this game again: it won't let you fight women, and it is far too light on fighting super villains. For shame! (As Screwball would say)

Kidfried

Sorry, this topic has been locked.