OK, this is the game I bought the PS4 for, since it's an exclusive, and I have to say I am not disappoint. It's a tough game - you need to rely heavily on combos and mobility even against normal thugs (haven't faced any supervillains yet, only Kingpin but he ain't super) and I'm still on a learning curve with the PS4 controller after years of Xbox, but I'm getting there. The combat system is very similar to the Batman Arkham games and has the same mix of annoying "special move" bad guys i.e. guy with riot shield, guy with stun baton, heavy, etc. Some of these don't really make sense - a riot shield shouldn't take a blow from Spidey - guess he's too used to pulling his punches? And Spidey should be able to take punches from normal level dudes all day, but he's actually pretty fragile here - at least starting out, there are suit and level upgrades to health and resilience. Even the basic combos and dodges give you a feel of being Spidey though, flipping around and kicking bad guys, firing a webline that launches you at 'em for a punch. The city free-roam is excellent - took a moment to get the hang of webswinging but now I'm parkouring (Parker-ing?) about with awesome music reminding me that YES I'm the Amazing Spider-Man! You get crime alerts and can choose to drop in on some muggers or burglars. There was a car pursuit but I was on my way to one of Kingpin's hidden bases at the time so dunno how those play out. Not too far in to the storyline yet but it's a good new take. Peter has been Spidey for 8 years, so he's not going through the angst of his older years and isn't lumbered with the "just learning the webs" angle of Homecoming. He's a university graduate working with Otto Octavius who is a pretty cool guy here - Peter misses a grant review prep and their experiment in prosthetics blows up, which Peter blames himself for as he could have spotted the problem, but Otto is cool about it. Peter gets some side puzzle missions to analyze materials and circuit configurations for the prosthetics that grant XP. It's heartbreaking seeing how enthusiastic Peter is about improving the tech that you just KNOW Otto is gonna end up having grafted onto him as tentacles... and how proud Otto is of Peter. At one early point, Otto catches Peter patching up the Spidey suit, but only thinks Peter is Spider-Man's tech support... and promptly starts sending him suggestions for new suit upgrades and gadgets! This is gonna be a tearjerker. As seen above, the origins and backgrounds of some characters are changed. Haven't run into her yet but MJ is supposedly a journalist and JJJ is a radio shock jock. Peter mentions having worked at the Bugle briefly as a photographer but quit to work with Otto. They've gone with some of the more modern Spidey storylines in having Aunt May volunteering at a homeless shelter called FEAST, run by Martin Li (looks pretty much based on John Cho, though dunno if he's voicing him). First act of the game has Spidey help the cops (led by his friend on the force Lt. Yuri Watanabe) take down Kingpin. Whether they will also go with the comics and have Yuri be the Wraith and Martin Li be Mister Negative is yet to be seen. Possible shout-out: one of the materials you can analyse in Otto's lab is substance X-23...
Goddamn Stan Lee cameo! Excelsior! I saved MJ from some gang dudes (she'd bluffed her way into his estate art sale pretending to be there to write the cover piece for it, then snuck in the back offices and found some hidden files about Oscorp, but the gang dudes broke in looking for it as well) and took her out to a diner to make up for losing the file whilst saving her. The meal is interrupted by police sirens so she tells Spidey to go Spider and, when she gets up to leave Stan Lee is "Mick" the owner who tells her "great to see you two back together, you always were my favourites!". They're not actually back together, having broken up six months ago, but the discussion is friendly enough and there's acceptance. You get to play as MJ in flashback sneaking into the office and some of her internal dialogue hints that she just got fed up with "boys playing dress-up and fighting" and having to play "Nurse MJ" after Peter gets himself worked over (she sees one of Fisk's antique katanas and remembers Fisk "cut Peter open like a pork sausage with it in their first fight"). I did one of the car chases - they're pretty cool - swing close enough to the car and you can web-grapple onto the roof, then use Spidey-sense to dodge each side of the vehicle to avoid the passengers shooting out at you or oncoming walls/debris. As each passenger pops out you can web 'em out of the window, eventually webbing the driver and then using dual weblines to pull the car to a halt. Fought my first supervillain - Shocker - but was a bit anticlimactic... he just legs it using his shockwaves as propulsion and you need to get close enough (twice) to web-grapple him, like the Batmobile vs Firefly chases in Arkham Knight. If he gets too far away you lose him. I'm still not good enough at the fight combos for some battles - tried another Fisk construction yard (you find these about the city and have to take on X waves of thugs) but kept getting killed on Wave 3... too many guys with shields and stun sticks. I've since taken suit mods that boost damage resistance so will try again... can't seem to get my "use a webline to wrench the gun/crowbar/stun baton off them" move to work... but I never had much luck with the similar grapple move in the Arkham games either. Usually too busy dodging to try it...
I'm loving the game, just swinging around the city is great fun. Agree that the Octavius stuff is heartbreaking. I'm hoping that he doesn't actually turn in the game (maybe a post-credits scene leading to a sequel?)
Jeezus fuck that was brutal. There's a pretty cool beat cop you can work with to stop the Demons gang on one of their heists. He holds his own - tasering dudes to lock 'em down while you take out the rest. Then he saves you from being run down by a truck (you're occupied saving civvies) by ramming it with his patrol car and beating down the driver when he gets out with a rifle. Said cop is honored by the Mayor and Peter goes to the parade. Bad guys launch suicide bombs. Peter is knocked out (though his Spidey-Sense lets him shove a few folk out of the way). Hero cop does the same but is... more than knocked out. The kicker? His kid's name is Miles. Who gets a pretty kickass section where you guide him through the rubble to save his mom (Rio, so the surname change is valid, Morales is her maiden name) and past gang thugs in order to try to find his dad, but... Fuck you game, fuck you.
I've been playing this since Saturday and the game is fucking awesome. Great open world, great combat, great movement, great story, and great variety of side missions. I've found myself playing as Punk Spider Man the most because he looks the coolest, but Web Blossom is the coolest focus move. I'm already 60% through and I'm bummed that it's kinda short but I don't remember having this much fun with a game since GTA V. I'm looking forward to the DLC.
I wouldn't ever buy a console just for one game, but Spiderman is fantastic and the PS4 library has a ton of gems. Nope, Sony funded development.
Well, considering I bought a console just for this... yep. IF you love Spider-Man. It's a great game with a lot of heart, fun, heartbreak and excellent writing, but gameplay-wise it probably isn't anything you haven't seen in the Arkham stuff. I so want the Spider-Plushie! Even Spidey squees at it! You find it as part of a collectibles quest. These aren't just for fun, they help unlock new gadgets and upgrades (which makes sense for some of them because you find things like old prototype ideas or test models).
I will say that it is pretty lame this game isn't going to be released on other platforms. But my understanding is that this is the first in a series of Marvel video games with which they are basically hoping to restart the Marvel video game universe like they did with the movies. So even though this game is for PS4-only, there will definitely be a sequel, it will probably be cross-platform, but even if it isn't, the other Marvel games will definitely be cross-platform. Sony just has a weird thing for Spider Man (even the PS3 font was the same font as the Tobey Maguire Spider Man movies).
Sony owns most of the spider-man rights, not surprising they would have a spider-man game as an exclusive. Oddly enough it looks like they have lost control of the character for film purposes (Giving spider-man to the MCU was the proper move), as the new Venom movie coming out will be divorced from Spider-Man, and it looks like they are setting up a sinister six film, with Venom possibly being spider-man in all but name only.
J. Jonah Jameson is right. This version of NYC has spidey, dare devil, and sometimes stark, and do you know what your typical bodega robery consists of? 8-10 thugs armed with automatic weapons with another 4-8 in SUVs around the corner as backup.
I know the question of where other superheroes are comes up a lot in solo stories, but I had to laugh at the couple of times in Spiderman where you are fighting a major battle with a superpowered villain right next door to the Avengers Tower and none of those assholes can be bothered coming out to help you.
Spidey does have a bit of dialog where he says the Avengers are over on the West Coast (another in-joke) at the moment. Anyhoo... DLC has a release date of 23rd October, with two more bits dropping Nov and Dec. Can be purchased as a bundle under the title "The City That Never Sleeps". First installment is "The Heist" and features Black Cat, presumably up to whatever she needed her gear back for following her Collection chain in the main game. More Spidey outfits to unlock (three!).
So I think I downloaded The Heist DLC but nothing is popping up. Do you need to start a new game? I know the content can be played without having beaten the main game (I'm on a second run) because there's mention of Spidey's relationship with Black Cat by one character who doesn't make it past the main story.
Haven't managed to access it yet but from what I hear there's a new questline helping Black Cat with some problems she has with Hammerhead. There's also a bunch of new challenges (from Screwball this time). Edit, apparently once purchased and downloaded, you'll need to select the DLC in the main menu and reboot the game, then the extra stuff is added to your ongoing game.
So, got it up and running. Still two steps behind Felicia although she's already dropped a bombshell on Spidey as to why she's doing this. The DLC also challenges in terms of fights - I was getting pretty good (on Friendly) at clearing Fisk and Demon warehouses, but this ups the ante with more complex interior maps and the introduction of chaingun heavies - like the regular heavies, you need to web 'em up first to stand a chance of getting a hit in, but they have more range and are usually surrounded by lesser goons who will act as interference for your web shooters. The more advanced gadgets might help but I tend to stick to the webs and move combos. Spider-bot gets a bit more action in missions to defuse mob carbombs, too.
Max out your launcher gadget and use it on them. Fun DLC, but pretty short yet still worth it at the price point of $9.99. The only bad thing I can say about it is that the Screwball Challenges suck hard. The two things I hated from the base game - Screwball and Drone Challenges - have come together in the form of the Screwball EMP Challenge. Fuck that.
Yeah the story missions were a bit short. I haven't finished the Mackey stuff yet (but know the spoiler). Of course, this is all meant to be part of a DLC pack, just released over three parts, so the full pack (I paid for the bundle) should be better value. Not doing the Screwball challenges - I'm only now going back to the Taskmaster ones in the main game and yeah the drones are a pain in the ass. The only good thing with the TM ones is you get to beat the crap outta him at the end, whereas Screwball just goes to jail - and presumably gets released - AGAIN.
