With great power comes a great game, it would seem.
Like many super-fans of my age, I grew with a pretty static vision of what the 'perfect Spider Man' game should be. A vision I carried with me so very far considering the fact that, again 'back in my day' Activision seemed to be publishing a brand new Spiderman game every 6 months or so. That vision actually formed for me quite a while before I'd ever seen it brought into fruition, because even when playing the PS1 Spiderman game from the 2000's (A cherished childhood memory of mine) the dreamer in me couldn't help but wish for a game where the swinging felt more... tactile. Maybe even a game wherein the city wasn't covered in a miasma-like fog that instantly killed you whenever you left the mission bounds, where 'swinging' actually connected to passing building and didn't just clutch onto the atmosphere (Which was actually used as an in-universe reason for what the webs were doing for one game), and the player could get the sense that they were just living the daily life of the Spider-Man. You know, swinging about the city as you please, rocking up to some criminals on the street and pounding them silly whilst making silly quips and swinging off as soon as it was done. It seemed a indistinct and wild dream. Then Spiderman 2 happened.
No, not the sequel to the 2000's game. (I've actually never played that game and seriously want to get around to it some day.) I'm talking about the movie licenced adaptation of the Spiderman 2 movie which held the crown for the best movie licenced game for an obscene amount of time. (Some would argue it still holds that crown.) Spiderman 2 was the dream for so many of us; open world exploration, a dive into so many of Spiderman's most famous villains and, of course, the swinging! Through a plethora of techniques including a rudimentary momentum system, speed effect visuals on the sides of the screen when swinging fast and the oft-forgotten rule of having Spiderman's webs actually connect to the buildings he was swinging from; (Thanks to an invisible fulcrum point present in the middle of all those buildings that Spiderman would stick to) players were sold into the web slinging fantasy like never before. That would remain the gold standard of Spiderman games forever more.
Even as we rocked past great to good Spiderman games from there on, the spectre of what Spiderman 2 accomplished in what it felt like to be the web-head, lingered on. Throughout the actually very underrated 'Ultimate Spiderman' game, the surprisingly influential 'Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions' (Which incidentally lead to the Spiderverse comic, then movie) and the somewhat overly ambitious and tonally confused 'Web of Shadows'. The giant of Spiderman 2 was tested, but never toppled by any one of these games; some from over a decade into the future! Having played them all (Except for 'Amazing Spiderman 2') I considered myself the expert on this trend of games failing to top what that glittering original set-up presented. Which is why it almost shocks me to say, even after all the excitement and fervour that Spiderman PS4 got when it launched, that this new Spiderman game (Which I played on PC) is the best Spiderman game ever made. On practically all grounds.
Insomniac Games knew the assignment exactly when the went into this game, tracking every single pressure point that each Spiderman game had suffered from over the years and hyper-focusing into resolving all of them and treating the property right. They made sure webs stuck to surfaces, Spiderman had a genuine walking cycle that didn't look ridiculous, and momentum built properly and felt satisfying to accumulate. And they were proud of their creation. You can tell how proud they were, given the fact that Insomniac designed the very beginning of this game to feature an iconic cutscene-to-action set-piece that transitions the player immediately into swinging with as little instruction as how to fire a web (with a trigger) and how to let go (by letting go of that same trigger) imparting immediately the inherently intuitive action of holding the web as long as Spiderman does. Simply elegant in it's execution.
I could probably dedicate an entire review just talking about the transcendent majesty of what Insomniac Games achieved with the swinging of Spiderman PS4, but that would be at risk of forgetting the other talents the game has. Such as the combat- a fantastic system obviously owing some connective tissue with the brilliant Arkham games for the fluid jump-around strike system with dodges, flips, special take-down build up meters and differing enemy types that require you to change up your strategy mid-stream. One big deviation is the exclusion of Batman's 'counter' button, which made it feasible for a player to take fights as a kind of defensives dance where each avoided attack stunned and hurt the offending enemy in an 'answer-response' pirouette of fists. Spiderman only dodges with each close call, meaning that you have to be on the offensive or else you'll never finish anyone off.
Spiderman's combat also doesn't link every combat gadget to a mixture of face buttons, which makes combat feel less like a mastery of a physical language of button prompts you have to memorise and more free-form- particularly in what these gadgets can do and how situationally versatile they can prove. Additionally, Spiderman's most useful alternative ability is his webs: the quickest way to take down anyone is to encase them in webs and then stick them to a surface, which becomes the meta making up most every fight once you get the hang of all your gadgets and movement abilities. Fortunately, the game provides just enough enemy variety that this is never as easy as it sounds, thus those few times when you can wipe out an entire street of enemies with a single web-bomb and then a concussion blast knocking everyone to a sticky wall, quite special. 
Another aspect of this Spiderman game that totally took me for a shock for how impressive it was: how the story is handled. Like all the most ambitious stories expecting to impress, Spiderman starts at the climax of another narrative, Spiderman's final battle with Wilson Fisk: The Kingpin. It's a short bevy of missions leading up to one explosive and destructive finale to a long standing crusade only ever hinted at. As this narrative takes place on year 8 of Spiderman's time in the suit, quite a lot of the previously established world and connections are conveyed by hints of the wall-crawler's illustrious crime-fighting history; which both works to the game's advantage in speeding past tedious and well-worn introductions to character's we've met a million times over and to it's disadvantage when it can leave you a little disoriented wondering where in Spiderman's life he currently is at with each of his friends and enemies.
By starting off in such a grand and impressive fashion, Insomniac were being clear with their mission statement. They wanted to show off the spectacle of the beginning and say "You ain't seen nothing yet" which is itself a bold challenge to make if the studio fails to live up to it; but then Insomniac are never 'under-achievers', now are they? Dealing with Wilson Fisk is only half of the intro, with the other half introducing a side to this Superhero story which is so often overlooked in these sorts of games that it genuinely surprised me when they showed it off: the human underneath the mask. Peter Parker and his personal struggles in life through searching for purpose in his work, fumbling through finances and potentially getting evicted and trying to navigate his breakup from Mary Jane; all play significant roles as important framing to the rest of the Spiderman package as Peter learns to "Accept that you're human, like the rest of us", as May puts it. Making a fine contrast to the Arkham games for which Rocksteady stubbornly insisted that Bruce Wayne had no place in their Batman story because this wasn't a "Business man simulator". Well Spiderman isn't a 'science guy simulator' either, but the human side of Peter plays a very important role in some of the genuinely effective emotional heights of Spiderman at it's best.
As an open world, Spiderman is, of course, full of side activities to keep the player busy and it's here where things could have gone really wrong if the developer's failed to provide good reason why the player should explore and care about the wider world and not just dedicate themselves to the core narrative. Here the team excelled with the introduction of 'activity tokens.' Essentially, every side activity, be it taking pictures of landmarks, tracking down old backpacks or beating up criminals in the street, all award you with a certain token representative of that activity; these count towards the crafting system allowing players to craft slotable perks or, more exciting, suits! Spiderman features dozens of unlockable and craftable alternate suits from newly designed costumes to comic book inspired outfits to faithful recreations of every single costume worn in each of the live action movies. Including the 4 different outfits that Tom Holland's Spiderman has worn throughout the MCU. (And his mechanical eyes even work in cutscenes) It's incredible work that the team achieved such a level of customisation potential. Identifying real reasons that players would want to do side activities and making that the sensible reward- simple genius.
The backpack collectibles are especially clever, as the various mementos that Spiderman collects tell the piece-meal story of Peter's early years, from Winning the Wilson Fisk science competition (and moralistically turning down that prize) to leaving the Daily Bugle in order to become a researcher- with the full image becoming clearer to the player with the more you collect. Kind of similar to the way that Miyazaki designs his narrative in his Souls' games. (Yeah, I found a way to drag his name into a Spiderman review! And what?) None of the collectibles are thrown out into the wild as just a nothing objective to keep players busy, as sometimes becomes the hallmark of less lovingly crafted open world games. This is how you ensure you're players want to stick around for the long haul, and is probably the reason why I actually ended up 100%-ing the game. 
One of the most effective design decisions, and one I've seen reflected in a few games starting to pick up on what a good idea this is, would be the inclusion of dynamic objectives whenever you enter a fight. Small side objectives that challenge you to do a certain combat action for an extra token, nudging the player to try out different moves and abilities so that they end up naturally expanding their moveset outside of just what works into what is fun to work with. This comes together beautifully in one of my favourite, whilst also one of the most basic, activities; the Strongholds. Throwing 6 waves of enemies at you can easily be a recipe for disaster (See: Watch_Dogs Legion) but when you have this many combat options, with distinct enemy variations per faction, coming together to make a dynamic and fluid combat system: waves just feel like the perfect excuse to let every strategy and gadget fly freely. (Although I do think the progressive 'String X number of combo moves together' challanges got excessive. The last one was 95 hits- were they high?)
My only real gripe with this would be two fold; firstly, I genuinely can't stand the design of one of the most important suits. And yes, it's the one on the front cover. It's actually not the bright white spider logo on the chest, I actually like that spider- it's the faded out red on the rest of his suit. Why is it such a faded red? Every other outfit picks a more royal and impressive red- why cheap out for the main game suit? And secondly, out of all the activities available to the player, the Harry Osborn stations are the most annoying. It's not that they're repetitive, actually each comes with it's own mini side mission designed to give the player differing tasks- it's honestly just the concept of helping these research stations be 'useful to Oscorp' which I can't help but find ultimately dull. I didn't care enough and the missions were too involved to not be brushed past without a care, requiring cutscenes and scene transitions and all that guff.
One way in which Insomniac chose to change up their gameplay was with the inclusion of a few minigames, similar to the Arkham series; but I guess getting into the Yakuza franchise has slightly ruined by sensibilities because I found myself annoyed by how undeveloped and basic they were. The 'Pipes' minigame was so derivative I literally rolled my eyes when I first saw it (And the inclusion of 'directional' pipes is such a non factor I'm confused why the team bothered) and the spectrograph minigame just instilled me with dread everytime it came up. I think that was the dread of getting a relatively simple puzzle that my blockhead couldn't wrap itself around. (Which was often.) Overall, not the best minigames.
Another 'switch it up' gameplay idea would be when the game decides to take you out of the shoes of Spidey and put you in the powerless boots of Mary Jane Watson or Miles Morales for a stealth sneak section. As far as 'changing the pace' goes, I'll admit that these moments are conceptually good. However when the core gameplay of Spiderman is as good as it is, being ripped away for even one brief section of gameplay does start to feel like torture after a while. Especially considering how many times it happens; I counted something in the real of 5 separate 'powerless' scenes throughout the game! That being said, the team are creative with these moments, and I thought it was genuinely clever to have one scene as Mary Jane directing Spiderman through a 'Predator' stealth section; switching perspective to be the human working with the superhero- very clever.
Whilst I'm talking about them, let me cover the 'extended cast' for a little bit. Miles is great as the literal personification of a younger Peter, so we can get a mirrored origin narrative without rehashing the same beats we all know ad nauseum. Miles has such energy to him as a bright and excitable teen that he comes across as fun and easy to like. Mary Jane has actually undergone some alterations for this incarnation of her, becoming a journalist instead of a model. Now conceptually that is a little trite- she can now join the 'reporter girlfriends' club with Lois Lane and Iris West, but I understand why it's such a cliché. 'Journalism' is a sensible way to combine the super-hero activity of the hero with their crime reporting spouse. However I was a little disappointed to discover the reason why she and Pete broke up. The "You always baby me" plot point is eye-wateringly overdone in Super hero media; with the whole ''why won't you let me get myself killed going against a room full of armed gangsters?' sounding more like an exercise in jealous overcompensating at this point. But I'll admit that this Spiderman does at least frame it's writing well enough that this iteration of the idea doesn't grate too much, and the actual actress who portrays Mary Jane works wonderfully with her material to be likable despite the less-than-bountiful roots of the character sheet.
Yuri Lowenthal is the actor hired to fill the very tall boots of Spiderman throughout this narrative, and his role as Spiderman hits every single note you'd need it to and even touches on some emotional highpoints I didn't anticipate as Peter Parker. (And during the inevitable collision of those two identities.) Spiderman is quippy and juvenile in a mostly friendly way, circling on the verge of being annoying but never quite falling into that trap. (I really thought the 'Spider-cop routine would get stale quick, but it actually made me laugh near the end. And now I feel forlorn calling back to it!) And by the late act we really get to see the pain and pleading in Peter's voice as he's dragged to his limits. I seriously came away from the game wondering how on earth Insomniac is going to dig deeper into this character to justify a series they seem dead-set on following. Which is a good feeling to have, by the way, because it means I felt satisfied and happy with the extent this story alone explored!
Speaking of that third act, I was pleasantly surprised by the competency of this team to depict the rising stakes and tension of the plot through the state of the world. Act 2 being the rise of the police state looming over the freedoms of the city with Act 3 being the total break-down of every concept of 'order' that New York was clinging to. That third act was a total paradigm shift to the level of GTA San Andreas' final act world state, only I think that this game had something of a superior depiction due to Spiderman's web slinging deftness which allows him to navigate a riot-strewn hellscape without being a victim constantly in danger of it. The riots are an atmospheric complement to the heights of the plot rather than an overwhelming force deconstructing the player's ability to enjoy that atmosphere.
Spiderman seems to really understand the importance of allowing the player to be in control as much as possible, so that they can take everything in at their own pace. You're constantly being given the free reign to explore and do what you want, quests don't nag you to complete them every few seconds, you never have a timer to reach a location no matter how dire the supposed stakes are. One might suspect that such a freedom might sacrifice agency, but if you are invested enough in the plot (which a story as well written as this one should achieve with no problem) then the agency confers itself to the player without it having to hang around their neck like a noose. It's this sense of freedom that brings me back to the brilliance of the navigation, which really is the cornerstone of the entire game. The swinging being as good as it is, I honestly enjoyed going from A to B more than fighting. Which isn't to say that the combat was bad at all, because it isn't; but the navigation really is just that much fun!
If only I could extend the same gratis to the game's many boss fights. In their haste to be accessible, I think the team boxed themselves a little into a corner when it came to designing really mechanically distinct boss fights. Essentially every boss fight works like this: stun the boss and then wail on them until the stun wears off. That stun can be from throwing some debris in their face or webbing them up... and that's about it. Each fight is wreathed in so much spectacle and fantastic circumstance to fool you that this boss might be different, before devolving into that same pattern once again. It's all about just figuring out where the opportunity to stun lies, with the only fights that dares to slightly change things up being the Rhino fight and the literal last fight of the last DLC: Sliver Lining. None of these fights are challenging in the slightest. I'm not asking for anything to the level of Sekiro, I just want a boss I have to roll my sleeves up for and come away going "Phew, that was a battle!" Arkham didn't have the greatest boss encounters either, but at least they were all mechanically creative; Spiderman could learn a little something from the caped crusader.
Visually the city of New York looks incredible, even if we only get to explore one of it's islands. (No Statue of Liberty visit? I'm shocked!) The street feels populated, the sun glares gloriously, and I feel the need to take screenshots constantly. Speaking of- can I just thank the Spiderman team for including one of the best photomodes ever? Selfie options, stickers, filters, the ability to photomode in-engine cutscenes! For a 'screenshot junkie' like me this really is the dream scenario, as I'm sure you can see from the abundance of bad composition pictures I have stuck everywhere up and down this page. Graphically gorgeous without melting computer components; that is the mark of a solidly constructed game with a great art direction.
Music of course bears mentioning, as the many themes of Spiderman are often the only ambient sounds you have to accompany you through long stretches of swinging. I think the main overworld music is fittingly sweeping and orchestral, rivalling that sense of adventure and grandeur of my favourite Sam Raimi score. (I wonder if there might have been some small inspiration there.) Character themes didn't really start standing out to me until the DLC, wherein we had Hammerhead's 70's gangster movie motif and Black Cat's shrill and scene-cutting track which seems to make her the centre of attention wherever she goes. (Just like the character)
Speaking of, the 'City Never Sleeps' DLC presents a narrative much more inline with what the Spiderman games had been used to in my childhood. Traditional stakes, Spidey-centric narratives, bombast with only a touch of genuine pathos wound in there. I actually think that this slight divergence in tone helped wind down from the emotionally charged final act of Spiderman which doesn't really need to be met until a sequel. (Presumably with the Venom encounter which sounds a lot more juicy after seeing the tease at the end of the main game.) I also quite liked the small teasers for 'Spiderman: Miles Morales' that Insomniac managed to sneak in there too, edging me to play that game next as if the supremacy of the main game wasn't going to get me there anyway.
Summary
Spiderman is a well trodden character both in comics and games, such to the point I wouldn't have expected to be impressed either narratively or in gameplay by yet another 'fresh take' of the beloved franchise. But this Spiderman slapped that preconceived notion right out of my mouth. It easily trounces all previous Spiderman games in almost every metric that matters, delivers the definitive swinging experience, the best combat any Spiderman game has known and the strongest narrative interweaving the stories of the masked menace and Peter Parker, with a little of Miles' origin story sprinkled on top for a balanced meal. Insomniac have proven their mastery of the action adventure genre once again by giving a full feeling open world where the navigation mechanic alone is worthy of the price of admission and 100% completion comes naturally as a course of loving being in this game world.
Through many years of attempts and reiterations and revisits of the concept, we've finally reached a game that nails the feeling of being Spiderman, even despite the few hang-ups I encountered with some aspects such as the wanting boss design I'd go so far as to call this a simply legendary game and a standard to which future super hero games simply must be judged. As such, you can probably guess that I'm heading towards a fine 'recommend' on Spiderman Remastered for PC. Additionally, I've only just about hit on the arbitrary grade of A+, falling short only because decent Boss Fights would have been the ribbon on this package that would have secured my first S rank review. Still, this is simply a must have for everyone who grew up loving the age of Spiderman media and hoping a radioactive insect would give them a bite. You know... without causing instant cellular breakdown...
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