When we talk about games that adapt the story of a superhero there are many from which we can choose for our enjoyment, but games that are good are not in abundance, and in this case it could be said that abundance is not synonymous with quality. I can only highlight some of them like the Arkham saga, Injustice and Spider-Man in the year 2000 and a few others that manage to save themselves from mediocrity, but in this case Insomniac turns the grill around with Marvel’s Spider-Man.
IN THE SPIDER-MAN SHOES
Marvel’s Spider-Man is an open world action and adventure game, this time we will control an experienced Peter Parker who has been a superhero in his city for 8 years. Of course, he handles this at the same time that he tries to carry out the activities of leading an ordinary life.
Thus begins the story, halfway through, with a Spider-Man who has to know how to manage his "work" and his personal life. Insomniac is committed to starting with the main course from the beginning since the vast majority of people today are familiar with the beginnings of the character, even with that point, the developer studio leaves us the necessary information for us to draw the beginning of the hero.
And this way of starting is one of the key points of the game, since from the beginning and after a few minutes of introduction we can handle Spider-Man. Insomniac has hit the mark with the way to start his game, from the beginning we can do what he provokes us; swing freely through the city taking momentum between the buildings, fight with such impossible movements worthy of a comic and place ourselves in the most unlikely places in New York.
The story is well told, it gets along well and it does not get heavy, although many of us already know the directions that superhero stories go. The development of the characters is good and seeing how Insomniac worked on placing the characteristic mark of each one is worthy of admiration, although it is true that if you are a fan of the hero you will enjoy the game much more, due to the many references about it spider hero universe; but this does not mean that a person who is not familiar with the character can enjoy the game, on the contrary, everything is designed so that both audiences can enjoy the story.
NEW YORK TO OUR MARKET
Marvel’s Spider-Man offers us the open world formula that is already well known to all of us. Control points that are distributed throughout the map that when "conquering" them unlocks a new area and more content, in the style of Assassin’s Creed, secondary missions, collectibles and to continue advancing in history.
The game has a "standard" duration, 20 hours of pure history suits this type of game well. But it is difficult to say that it is 20 hours, the game alone encourages you to try the optional objectives and if you want to complete everything, the experience can easily be extended to 30 or 35 hours. The optional missions are varied, they can range from eliminating a group of enemies without being seen or conducting aerial chases and all this, although it can become repetitive for some, is well justified. Who wouldn't like to see some of Spider-Man's most iconic works is a good game, many of them are achieved through these side missions as well as the improvements of the artifacts that our hero implements in his adventure.
Apart from the good rhythm of its history, it is necessary to emphasize the implantation of the different utilities of the gameplay; Not only will we be Spider-Man and we will swing from one place to another when the story wants it, but we also have sections of infiltration, stealth and puzzles alternating between each one so as not to make the gameplay repetitive. At certain points in the game it will be necessary to see the story from the perspective of other characters, we will alternate between Mary Jane and Miles Morales, this being both a point in favor and one against. On some occasions I see a change of character necessary but on others not, these sections do not last long either but sometimes I even questioned whether that decision was justified enough to make it, but even so the adrenaline drop is appreciated so as not to saturate us a lot of.
BATMAN WEARS RED AND BLUE ON THE STREETS OF MANHATTAN
If there is a review on this Spider-Man game, based on my opinion, I think it should have a part entirely dedicated to combat. The strong inspiration Insomniac had from the Arkham saga when creating the combat for this game is no secret to anyone. And I do not blame them, since in undeniable the influenza that the Batman Arkham saga had in the open world games. In Marvel’s Spider-Man is justified with the arachnid sense that appears on the screen just when dodging an enemy attack, Spider-Man dodges the attacks which adds dynamism and a little more mobility to the gameplay.
Insomniac exploited the formula in a different way, giving it speed and agility, where enemies attack at a distance from each other and where it is important to move quickly from one place to another. There is a great variety of enemies but nothing that has not been seen before, there are the enemies that block frontal attacks, those that repel, some are immune to the hero's artifacts, those that use rifles, they are large and it costs a little more to take them down and many others.
We can also take advantage of certain elements of the stage that we can use to our advantage as an improvised weapon or to take down enemies faster. Not always all aspects of the game can be praised, for this part the highlight is the camera; In the executions it is frequent that the camera changed position giving us an excellent view of the demolition of our opponent, but this change works against us, causing the action to stop for a moment and leaving us in the hands of our arachnid sense to resume the game. point of the fight until you finish off all opponents.
CONCLUSION
Insomniac proved to carry the weight of bringing to the world of video games a superhero whose game was a success. This is probably the best Spider-Man game that has ever seen the light of day, as we await a sequel that enhances everything seen before and adds more content to the next Spider-Man adventure. Beyond being an exclusive game for Playstation 4 and a superhero, you can see in every detail the effort and commitment that the developer studio, Insomniac Games, put into it. Marvel’s Spider-Man is a game that you can enjoy whether or not you know the character, one hundred percent recommended.