The day Paul died.

 

Peter Parker. What a trainwreck. I mean honestly- just an L of a human. My man get's all the powers he could ever want- I'm talking unbelievable, reality shaping, abilities. I'm not even on his super strength or the ability to stick to walls- I just mean that Spider-Sense stuff. That is literally the power of precognition derived form a horrendously shaky assumption on how arachnids avoid getting squished. Man can sense the actual future before it happens and the sense can even, on occasion, reason out potential harmful outcomes of seemingly mundane activities and ward Peter off it. That is a god tear ability. And still my man can't balance his check book, can't keep a relationship straight and can't be anything more than a disappointment to Aunt May. I mean seriously.

I'm not saying that Peter has to go around robbing banks, but maybe browse the stock market a bit? I'm pretty sure Spidey Sense can figure out stock options. Maybe with a bit more sustainability around his life the man would be able to keep a single romantic partner down whether that be Gwen Stacy, (who he accidentally killed) Felica Hardy, (who's dialogue options he regularly flubs) Kitty Pryde (Can't believe they ever were together, literally have no idea what that relationship was about) Kamala Khan (Okay that was Miles, I'm cheating now.) Michelle Jones (He annoyed a wizard until he erased his existence from her mind) And of course Mary Jane. Although I think what happened to Mary Jane might have been the absolute worst flub Spidey ever did. 

You probably know the story if you know literally the first thing about modern Spiderman, but I love to tell a story so bare with me. Imagine this- the Devil pops up and asks you for a deal. Why? Because your ancient aunt was shot by a bullet that was meant for you and was going to die. Spiderman, who apparently was not coming to terms with the fact that even sans-bullet the old girl was probably going to sunset in a winter or so anyway, decides screw it and erases his marriage with Mary Jane from existence including their unborn child who I can only assume was going to Spidergirl, Mayday Parker. Why? Because one conservative-ass Spiderman writer was getting scared at the prospect of having to come up with new situations for a sixty year old character and just wanted to hit the old reset switch and go back to the good old days where Peter was a bachelor struggling to pay rent out of his two-bit apartment. I dunno, maybe that's more relatable. Sure.

But here's the thing- that's stupid. And though the Marvel comics team at the time were very adamant that this hilarious regressive stab at Spiderman's comic line was absolutely not going to be walked-back: come on. Didn't the Marvel Comics team insist the exact same when they took one of their most famous brands, a character created by two Jewish artists, Captain America- and made him a racist Nazi canonically, no alternate universe, no brainwash, absolutely zero cap? Only to then go "actually it was brainwashing" hardly a few issues later? They didn't need to stick with their guns on the whole 'erased Marriage' thing. That was never going to go anywhere good. But they did and what resulted is one of the funniest eras of fictional storytelling I've ever witnessed from a distance.

So I haven't been up to date with Spiderman comics since I was a kid, too expensive, too little time. But when I hear someone tell me that Spiderman hasn't been good ever since they turned Peter into a cuck- you can bet I'm going to start doing a little research. As it turns out that is kind of exactly what happened thanks to another story designed directly to take a shot at Spiderman which saw the webhead whisked away to an alternative dimension from Mary Jane for a couple of years only to come back and find her married with kids to perhaps the most annoying human of all time. I truly do think that Paul's design is part of what ticks people off- he seems like a genuine background sketch character that has been promoted to the main cast in a manner that boggles the mind to compute.

Pencil strap beard, thin moustache, glasses- there's something aggressively specific yet generic about Paul- he feels like a conjuration of some exact personage despite that person's apparent plain-ness. To be fair his original appearance, in the midst of some sort of apocalyptic scenario as I vaguely recall, is more predictable for a newer Marvel character- muscles, man bun, the like. The follow up comic series is where the character was 'sanitised' into this odd OC amalgamation of the very stereotype of millennialism. I'd call him a Self Insert but unlike with some other recent controversial characters that doesn't appear to be the case. He just appears to be designed to be as annoying as possible, even from a design level. And I respect that in a way- they knew what they were doing.

What gets Spiderman fans riled up, I think, is simply the way that Paul feels inserted specifically to heighten the 'torture of spiderman' that Marvel seems to delight in. Even as life returned to normal Paul was kept around as a barrier between Mary Jane and Peter's potential rebudding relationship. Not as a hurdle to be overcome like in a Romcom- but a permanent fixture barring the two. And note- I'm not a Mary Jane purist myself. I always thought that Spiderman always had much more in common with Felcia Hardy and no writer was brave enough to develop their relationship towards what would be a much more compatible finale. But I'll take MJ over this misery party that the Spiderman writers seem to be forever throwing over Peter and his personal life. I mean, damn!

Still- nothing lasts forever. And that counts double for Paul. Despite haunting the latest run of Spiderman with his stink, Paul and his controversial run has come to an end following months of first irate, then increasingly disinterest fandom from the already niche comic reading crowd. Zeb Wells' contentious reign is reaching it's conclusion and what follows next will likely be a spring in the exact opposite direction to a universe where Peter Parker isn't being nearly killed by the Vulture whilst Norman Osbourne berates him over the phone. Maybe they'll even go the high road and give him his relationship with MJ back. (But Felicia would be better.)

About that 'Great Web'

 

So to my absolute surprise it would seem that Insomniac had more stuff to leak pertaining to the many efforts their company worked on. Despite the blow-out leak which pretty much detailed every waking thought the company plans to have for the next decade, with everything from perspective release dates to expected Employee toilet breaks plastered across the internet for the perusal of all. Yet somehow in all of that no one bothered bringing up a supposed Multiplayer Spider-Man game that was conceived of, made it to the development of marketing materials, and then subsequently cancelled in short order. So unbelievable of a prospect that is that I honestly thought it to be an outright lie, but now I've see the actual trailer I'm only maybe 5% sure it's still a lie, just one put together by an extremely talented amateur filmographer.

But assuming what we saw was true, I guess that means Spider-Man 2 was originally conceived of to be the basis of a multiversal Spider-Man game called 'The Great Web', pitting Spider-Man against the threats of the multiplayer connectivity and enemy scaling complications. (I know how multiplayer superhero games work by now!) Spider-Man 2 lightly dabbled with some Spider-Verse adjacent side activities throughout it's story, but The Great Web was going to drag us kicking and screaming there to bask in the chaos of the multiverse split wide open. Or at least, that's what we're led to believe, but in practice it just kind of looked like a semi-competent multiplayer mod across the exact same New York map they've had for two games now. Although to be fair, the marketing material we've seen would appear to be excessively unfinished. Wherin lies a bit of my continued scepticism.  

How common is it for entire trailers for games to be constructed and voice acted, before you've finished the visuals? Because there is no way that these 'The Great Web' trailers were designed to be the final look, not with the animation quirks, the general lack of visual charm and the odd weird juttering. I mean- sure, throw a mock-up together so that the marketing team knows roughly what they're looking for when shipping off the trailer to dedicated third party studios- but to put this much effort into the mock-up? I can't help but wonder who exactly this was made to please. Was this supposed to sell the game to investors in lieu of a traditional pitch document? Or in addition to? There's too many unanswered questions for my liking.

Well as it appears this trailer was leaked as part of a Powerpoint pitch- not unlike one I've made myself when pitching ideas, but even when speaking to games industry professionals no one ever mentioned trailer mock-ups were a thing. Perhaps that's just one of those concepts everyone assumes you already know and so no one brings it up. My world is personally rocked, I want to see the trailer conceptual to all my favourite games now. What do you think the Baldur's Gate 3 one looks like? Do you think they just recycled Divinity 2 gameplay? (Actually, BG3 was an independent game so I guess they didn't need to pitch it to anyone apart from Wizards of the Coast- who probably didn't need a visual reference to remind them what games are. Shame.) 

Now if there's one thing which immediately struck me weird about the concept of The Great Web, beyond the fact it was cancelled despite being exactly what fans initially thought they were getting out of Spider-Man 2, it's the way they proposed to use the Multiverse. We actually see some special vorpal portals conjured in the air, teasing multiple earths, in a manner I find disconcertingly familiar. Yes... multiplayer superhero game where the progression is fuelled by dimension jumping? Why- that's just The Suicide Squad game, is it not? Wait- was this supposed to be one of those several dozen live Services that Sony was working on before the crumbling state of the genre scared off their investors? Is that what this is?

Yes, according to the PowerPoint from which the leak originates- this was very much meant to be Insomniac's live Service fuelled Spider-Man game resplendent with Seasons and battle passes and all those other hundreds of little things that Insomniac's series was initially praised for lacking. Which is why all those campaigning for the game to be put back into development are missing the point-  the reason this was cancelled is because the team looked at the writing on the wall and realised exactly where they would end up if the project entered serious development- which is exactly where most every other Live Service game ended up- squeezing out the development team between multiple projects- sucking creativity and resources until the live service dries up dead in less than a year.

It's galling to think of just how many Live Services the industry is hiding under it's skirt that are slowly being brushed under the rug and/or blamed on the guilty looking dog in the corner. Even the super-player darlings at Insomniac were briefly seduced by the apparent 'easy money' of a Live Service Spider-Man, and seriously pursued the possibility of sacrificing their reputation for some Whale Farming instruments. It's going to become a rite of passage for every company to at least plan out a Live Service before they're allowed to enter the 'big boys league' of the AAA space at this point. And I can't say I like the lack of integrity this field is synonymous with.

There's so many people out there that just see 'Online Spider-Man' and immediately start pining for what could have been, before realising the reality of the industry we're in and the obvious road to ruin which is the cost for doing business around these styles of games. Just a fun online title can't be considered anymore, now it has to be your new lifestyle that one's entire growth as a human is based around. Their children's births, their vacations, their funeral- all life events now have to be slotted around the Daily Great Web grind in order to get enough premi-bucks to shell out on that cool outfit which will only be around for the rest of this season. Does that sound like Spider-Man to you? Because to me, that sounds like abject hell.

The Spiderverse

 It's a canon event.

After putting it off for way too long I finally made the effort to go out and see the both of the 'Spider Verse' movies that have painted the animated version of the on-going Spiderman renaissance that so far remains the only aspect of modern Superhero content that hasn't fallen the way of 'stale'. (Okay, I hear good things about Guardian's of the Galaxy 3, but for the sake of this arguement let's pretend that Spiderverse and the 'Home' series are lone islands of 'quality' amidst a sea of inequity.) And in that light one might wonder why I put it off for so long... and I don't know. Haven't a clue. Guess I'm just stupid like that. Because much as how I've heard from everyone and been affirmed time and time again- Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse and Across the Spiderverse are two of the greatest works of collaborative visual art ever put to film.

As the case is with a lot of people out there, Spiderman was really the first 'superhero' I had any form of knowledge of. It seems that DC fans are either introduced to Superman first (although that's something of an older generation origin hero) or Batman (through sheer abundance of content related to the dark crusader) whereas Marvel-heads seems to almost always start with Spiderman. And why not? He's homely. Terrestrial, young, ambitious- all the things that the world expects out of you in your youth, on a silver platter in the early years, and in chain-linked silver cuffs for those latter years. So much about Spiderman's life and person is about hope and perseverance in the face of a very human darkness, the kind of personal darkness that doesn't always seem from the robes of ancient evil or invading monsters, but sometimes from everyday life and human interaction. Whereas other heroes tended to yield their limiting humanity as a gimmick, flaunting loud and tacky character flaws as one-note facets of their entire building, Peter Parker has always felt more rounded than that, more dimensional, as a kid or a man just trying to navigate who he needs to be with who he wants to be.

As you can likely imagine, I've become something of a stickler for Spiderman and the way he's portrayed in media, which might have attributed somewhat to my reticence in recent years to engage with anything that might shatter that human image I have of the Spider Mythos in my heart. Just look at my recent review of 'Spiderman PC', one of my reoccurring points of praise was for the characterisation of Peter Parker and how they didn't lose the human in the hero. Coming to Spiderverse I knew this was going to be a story about Miles Morales and though the brain in me knew better than to think that of all places would be a time to let the heart of the hero drop, I guess my brain isn't always making the decisions, now is it? But enough pre-amble; the point is that I few days ago I sat down and watched 'Into the Spiderverse' and quickly followed that up by rushing out to the cinema to watch the only movie that made money this year: 'Across the Spiderverse'. (I jest. The new Insidious movie probably took 20 bucks and a pack of smokes to make: I assume that will break even too.)

Of course the first thing that anyone talks about when it comes to Spiderverse is the visual diversity; a collage of different animation styles, more than it's possible to count, with so many on-screen techniques and quirks all joining in tandem it boggles the mind to even try and recount them. With both movies it affronts me just how visually unsafe the whole thing is, switching fluidly from style to style to blended style to visual storytelling methods. Computer animation with bubble-gum pop-art with hand-drawn 2D with cell-shaded bursts, emotional colour seeped universes and varying frame-rates of characters to convey their quality of movement. It's like a tapestry made of a thousand pulling threads of different material, hewn from different animal hairs, all threatening to rub together poorly and ruin the texture of the finished piece but somehow, increadibly, brought together with such mastery as to compliment one another and create something better than the sum of it's parts. Spiderverse would have made a spectacular static art piece; but these lunatics made it a full fledged movie instead.

Animation in movies have been in something of a path towards homogenisation ever since the 3D era of Disney fell upon us. When computer generation started to get good enough to render entire films and Disney established itself as a shining example of the highest echelon of CG, it seems every other quality animation studio has been edging to make their products look more and more indistinguishable from the Disney style. Dreamworks, WB, Universal and Sony Pictures at some points, all wanted their movies to mimic the Disney big eyes, round faces, rich colours- I'd argue that Blue Sky Animation would be the only outliers purely for the fact that their movies looked hideous. That was, until Spiderverse reminded everyone just how diverse animation can be.

That pursuit of close-to-life-but-animated really rubbed against the heart of what visual entertainment can achieve once you shake off those traditional chains, and no one was really taking advantage of the freedom of animation on a big budget scale anymore. Spiderverse reminded us of experimental visual art theory, indirect methods of narrative progression and the unreserved excitement of imperfect genre-blending fusion. It actually reminds me of some of the more unique and memorable styles of Anime out there, which will mix and match concepts to create more of a unique visual identity. Heck, I'm even pretty sure that Across the Spiderverse borrowed a bit from Jojo's style for Gwen's Universe in the use of abstract shape backgrounds during important foreground-focus events. I love those techniques that make you look at the whole canvas and just go wow.

And, of course, the actual movement of the choreography is simply insane. Dealing with various Spidermen it was obvious the movie was going to have to convey agility, but the amount of different ways that the team figured out how to express that agility is just mind boggling. There's Gwen and the way she spins through the air like a top at the apex of her swings, sometimes not even bending her legs from one arc to the other- the strange spinning top yo-yo powers of Pavtir Spiderman that seems to pull him as much as he sends it- every Spiderman has a unique way of moving, and webbing and swinging- Miles hasn't even got his glide suit wings in this iteration and he still manages to stand out simply due to the intent of the storyboarding. Across The Spiderverse in particular really does an extra fantastic job in the cohesion of heavy action scenes too, where I longer found myself getting lost in big expressive action sequences with how they visualised and spaced every location intuitively.

I don't go to the Cinema often and when I do I'm very careful about the films that I watch so that I don't come away disappointed. Most times, I'll only commit to the cinema experience if I think the product is something worthy of nothing less than the full cinematic treatment. The Spiderverse movies have proven themselves to be pure cinematic excellence in their every step and I stand in genuine wonderment trying to figure out how the artists are even going to attempt to top themselves for the next outing. There's so much more that I'm just not clever enough to talk about, such as the clever hidden nodes and musical theory hidden in the soundtrack and various themes, the effect of 2099's stabbing riff almost being akin the the spine-tingling effect of the Wolf's Whistle from The Last Wish. I'm a freshly born Spiderverse fanatic, now newly in love with a brand that has been close to me ever since I was a kid. Of course, now I have to wait six years for the next one... bugger.

Making a villain (Part 1?)

 I'm the bad guy.

I've had villains on the mind recently. I can't really nail the reason down to one recent experience in media because, truth be told, the very concept of villainous characters is just utterly ubiquitous with storytelling in general. Particularly in video games. We yearn to have some sort of foil to overcome, typically a humanoid one with sharp teeth and a scowl, But what are the ingredients that go into making the kinds of villains that we remember and harken back to time and time again, and what are the sorts of villains that end up as duds? Well, it's a topic that stretches back as far back as stories, to and likely beyond that famous Mesopotamian poem: the epic of Gilgamesh, and as such I doubt I'll be able to nail down the exacts in a single introspective blog here and now. But taking some baby steps, I want to talk about recent villainous character that I've experienced to ruminate over the things that work and things that don't. (I'll put spoiler tags at the beginning of each relevant paragraph.)

(Puss in Boots: The Last Wish spoilers) So The Bounty Hunter in Puss in Boots is a great example of a supremely effective villain, even as he shares that role with two others. Though he's not the most present bad guy on screen, he's the instigator, the motivation and ultimately- the closer. All this is achieved very clearly despite the fact his true intentions are cleverly concealed until the third act- and that's because of a very clever framing device. You see, spoilers, The Bounty Hunter is not actually a simple hunter gunning for the price on Puss' head who just happens to be more skilled than him in every way, he's literally Death. Hunting after Puss to to snuff out his last life because, as classical depictions attest, he hates little more than being cheated out of his prize and cats cheat death more than most. (And Puss does it so disrespectfully too.) This isn't a simple bait and switch, it's a switch up and escalation where the magnitude of the trouble the main character is in blossoms exponentially- skyrocketing the stakes. Death is also a fantastically rounded antagonist, making the most of his scenes to spur on the plot, drive at Puss' fear, and then symbolise his overcoming of the narratives conceit with his, particularly poignant, 'stalemate'. He only retreats because Puss has discovered a respect for the one life he has left, thus satisfying Death's clearly stated ethos, as disgruntled as the Wolf is to admit it. As far as villain writing goes, Death must be one of the most efficiently complex in modern storytelling.

(Also, Puss in Boots) Jack Horner, on the otherhand, is delightfully one-note and proud of it. An heir to a pie business he would turn into a empire, 'The Last Wish' is very clear to establish that Jack has absolutely no excuse baked into his backstory to explain his homicidal and utterly loyalty-free being. The man callously chases the last wish for an utterly selfish, and beautifully narrow minded goal- (literally just "I want to control all magic in the world") he spends the entire movie accidentally, but gleefully, murdering his own staff; and by the time his comeuppance comes even he seems unsure as to which one of his laundry list of crimes he should be getting punished for. Jack embodies all the ways that writers are traditionally conditioned not to write a villain, but these writers commit fully to the see-through villain concept in celebration of his utmost transparency. What results is a villain utterly pure in his intention and thus able to be enjoyably villainous- which makes a stark contrast to all recent Disney movies and their running theme villains of "My generation sees the world differently to how your generation does!"  

(Hogwarts Spoilers) If you want an idea of what happens when the Horner route isn't committed to fully, look no further than Hogwarts Legacy's Ranrok. Everything about that goblin is villainous, from his South-end gangster voice to his pointy teeth and evil eyes- but Hogwarts Legacy can't decide on whether they want to make him cartoonishily evil or darkly sympathetic. On one hand, he seems driven by nothing but a vague desire to be more powerful than wizards- which sounds mostly indistinct as far as plans go. On the otherhand, he's lionized a movement based on generations of perceived wizarding oppression, which itself feeds into the natural sympathy of the underdog. Neither angle is delved into significantly, which makes the entire characterisation feel very wafer thin. And wafer thin villains tend to verge towards the forgettable before long.

(FromSoft Soulslike spoilers) Every FromSoftware Souls-Like game pretty much has the same final villain who, naturally, serves as a microcosm of the narrative and/or game world. The biggest commonality in all of the Souls games is that they almost always depict a once grand kingdom that has fallen past it's prime and is, or has, collapsed(ing)- with Dark Souls specifically revolving around the idea of perpetuating the dying kingdom or letting it pass with grace. Which is probably why almost every Souls Games ends with a battle against a frail old man who was, at once, the stately king of that world. Even as his power and skill surges up to be that final game challenge, they always wear on their design the embodiment of their disrepair. Gwyn wears his charred robes and desiccated skin, such that he looks more a walking corpse or hollow than a once proud king. Ishin is reborn young, but we can see it's just a shadow of the broken body which had just a while ago passed on. In the Shura ending, you do fight that old body with it's boney limbs and brittle white hair. Even Nashandra from Dark Souls 2 sheds her healthy body in favour of puppeteering her marionette of bones- a personification of decay itself. In this way, FromSoft turns the tackling of the boss into a higher confrontation against the core conceit of the narrative itself. Higher conceptual ideas indeed.

(Spiderman PS4) Which brings we around to one of my favourite villains in a game I recently played, Otto Octavius from Spiderman. Now anyone with a passing knowledge of the Spiderman mythos knew exactly who Dr Octavius was within the lore; but the Spiderman PS4 reimaging of Peter Parker's world recontextualized the doctor as a brilliant confidant and mentor for the scientist and researcher inside of Peter. The writers devoted quite a lot of attention not just to establishing how indebted to the doctor Peter is, giving him a job when he had nothing, but also how much Peter looks up to the good doctor, as a personification of the underdog who rejects the easy sell-out route in favour of striving to the betterment of mankind. All this backdrop and contextualisation makes the inevitable moment where the doctor goes mad, from pushing too fast on his own experiments, all the more tragic- like a Greek play: you know what's coming and the only question is how high the play will raise the characters before their fall. But there's actually one moment which I think cuts deeper than all else. From the moment things start going wrong, the developers offer a softening olive branch to ease the pain of the doctor's betrayal. "It's his neural chip frying with his brain: this isn't the same man that Peter looked up to!" 

Whilst simultaneously playing both sides by hinting this darker side was always part of Otto, all the chip did was override his reservation and ability to self-mediate. This is that balance between committal and backtracking which I think a lot of writers get stuck within in modern storytelling; presenting ambiguity and confusing it with complexity. Not that there's anything wrong with such a set-up, indeed some of the best confrontations in fiction are the one's where you still can't decide who was in the right 10 hours after you put the book down; (Like with Huey from MGSV) but the greatest hit to the gut will always come from full committal. That's why I rate so much that moment, in the very last encounter of the game, where Spiderman is stopped just a few seconds before the seemingly inevitable 'rip off my mask to show you who I am and appeal to the human inside' trope scene which almost every major Spiderman story attempts at least once. He is stopped by the reveal that, Doc Ock already knew he was Peter. He always knew. And everything he did, brutalising and victimising Spiderman, he was knowingly committing on Peter as well. What a simply fantastic way to crash the worlds of Spiderman and Peter into one, which is again one of the running themes of that game's entire narrative. And a cold break from the expected into the cold truth of the stark and haunting. That moment, in print and in performance, might be one of the most powerful scenes I've personally experienced in Superhero media- all because the writers knew where to commit to really dig the dagger deep and twist the handle!

From this brief glance at some of the most interesting badguys of the past year (at least for me- I know Sekiro and Spiderman reach back quite a bit further) I think one general consensus we can draw is that the most effective villains marry the core conceit and theming of the story into themselves and commit to one extreme or the other. Whilst realism would demand the more mediated two-sided approach, our simple dopamine-craving minds respond much more to that clearly defined, cut between the lines, villain. (With a full stop) There is nuance, of course, for mediums, genres, themes and styles; but the talent of the storyteller is to recognise what works and figure out how to brew that same dish with different, sometimes wacky and bizarre, ingredients. Maybe unravelling these concepts will help enrich us, both in how we consume and conjure stories in the future. And maybe I'll try some similar investigations in the future, depending on how I feel about the topic.

Spiderman Remastered on PC Review

 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...

Marvel's Spiderman 2

 Talk about getting busy

I'm swinging through the streets of New York, dangling nearly a thousand feet from the ground, swapping web for web  at speeds so rapid that the screen has that blurry effect on the character that we wouldn't all collective realise looks awful until several years from now. This is it, the greatest possible realisation of the webslinging dream, unbound by mission constraints, unafflicted with a non-existent street level, boasting webs that accurately pretend to stick to buildings- the only way this could feasibly be any better would be, oh wait: there it is! The voice of Bruce Campbell admonishing me for what I don't know, but gracing me with his presence all the same. See the many virtues that will forever make the 2004 Spiderman 2 game the greatest Peter Parker simulator known to man. (Although from everything I'm told I guess Marvel's Spiderman is a close second.)

And yet Insomniac games have the gall to try and dethrone my ageless king with their very own Spiderman 2! Such to the extent where, now if I type in 'Spiderman 2 game' into Google, theirs has already clogged up search results. (It won't even be done for another two years, guys, calm down!) I will not hide my utter repugnance at the very suggestion that Spiderman 2 can be bested, but perhaps that throne may be shared and if anyone could whittle away a comfy seat there, it would have to be Insomniac. (Unless they manage to finagle Bruce Campbell to show up in their game as well. Then I'd actually be having a crisis of faith) And they better live up the name they've built for themselves and put something out that's fantastic, because seeing two AAA Marvel games apparently be under development by them at the same time, I have to wonder if everyone knows what they're doing over there.

Marvel's Wolverine and Marvel Spiderman 2? So what- we talking simultaneous development here? My observations have always seen that companies who conflate their development schedules usually do so to the detriment of every single project that they're working on. Heck, look at Assassin's Creed back when they were still deadset on doing yearly releases, forcing them to overlap every game with the next one coming out. Every title started to become monotonous and samey, serious player feedback was so outdated that it became irrelevant when it was addressed and the heart of these games just felt absent, probably due to a lack of passion from overworking, alongside other big issues. Call of Duty slipped into the same pattern, although they were at least smart enough to try and rectify this with various different studios who would attack each game in rotation. But it only worked a little, the yearly schedule still did the series no wonders. So is that what we can expect from Insomniac in the near future?

I seriously hope not, because as I recently said in another blog about The Wolverine game; few companies have risen to the legendary status that Insomniac have managed over pretty much a single console generation. That's the sort of legacy that needs to be protected, the kind of legacy that demands everyone of their AAA games be treated like kings, and given the care, attention (and development space) they need to thrive as the best they can be. Spiderman Miles Morales was already a disappointment due to it's size and scope not really justifying the stupid full price on the tag. (Yes, I know Sony are deadset on convincing us that £70 is the new 'full price', but they can choke on that crap for all I care.) Insomniac have stated how that won't be the case again, but I look at this schedule and I worry. (What's the catch then? There's gotta be a catch!)

As for the game itself; sure I'm crazy excited for it. For all my jests, Marvel's Spiderman for the PS4 did the impossible and took a character who has enough games to choke a whale on and still managed to put out a definitive competitor to the entire subgenre. I mean sure, old hats like me will always rate the classics, Spiderman 2 (original), Web of Shadows and Ultimate Spiderman; but there's no denying the impact that Marvel's Spiderman had. The game looked beautiful, explored an original narrative, went in interesting directions with the character of Peter Parker and revitalised some old villains. And that was just the story stuff it did. The combat, which I actually do have experience with, is Batman Arkham levels of tight and the detail and design of the world is simply flawless. Although that final point would be a lot more impressive if New York wasn't one of those skylines that have been in more games than Nolan North.

Spiderman Miles Morales, on the otherhand, managed to dupe people into buying a half a game at full price, but also succeeded in bringing a hugely successful alternate Spiderman to life with his very own style and life to him. It also inspired a cringe game reviewer to utter a sentence commenting on how his unique animation quirks were "full of the exaggerated swagger of a black teen"; so this game granted us all kinds of entertainment. Spiderman 2 is going to bring both of these protagonists together in a confirmed co-op space which is, and I'm using effortless hyperboles here but I can't help myself, just incredible. Playing with the precision of Spiderman but stretched across two spidermen at the same time? Both with their different levelling trees and stuff? Man- Insomniac must have cancelled all of their holidays if they think they can got the time and space to meet their schedule. But heck, I'm rooting for them!

And none of what I've said so far is to even touch on the most exciting part of the game was saw teased. I mean sure, Kraven the Hunter was obviously narrating the thing; he's a character that a lot of fans simply love but I never really saw the appeal so that's 'whatever news' to me. No, I wanna talk about the big slobbery dude at the end, ducked in the shadows there; because Venom is my spiderman villain/sometimes Anti-hero of choice. He's literally just Spiderman reimagined as a monster with teeth, and who doesn't love an idea like that? He's miles better than ManSpider who- urgh, I hate that I had to google him to remind myself that was definitely his name. (Seriously, if you've never seen ManSpider before: he's a deformed human sized spider in a suit; there, now you don't need to look it up.) The Venom chapters were my favourite parts of Ultimate Spiderman, (both the proper version and the crappy gameboy advanced version which only I in the whole world played) now I get pumped for everyone of best-boi-symbiote's gaming appearances. (And doubly so when my man is being voiced by the legendary Tony Todd- Way to bring the talent, Insomniac!)

Spiderman has never been in better hands (in terms of videogames) than it is today, and given the number of hands that the franchise has gone through that really is a testament to it's current arbiters. Were this calibre of spiderman game coming out back when I was still a kid, I wouldn't have ever looked at another Superhero. However the concerns I have about the project, and Insomniac overworking themselves, still looms over the whole thing like a vulture, and I know just how easily everything can fall apart even from the height of near perfection, and so I can't just put those worries to the side. Still, Insomniac believe in themselves, and maybe that'll be enough to carry them through what's looking to be the most hectic two years of development in the company's history. (I'm excited for the results)

Spider man: Miles Morales

Where is Peni's game?

Yeah, there was another video gaming event last week, only this one was on the Playstation 5. Yay. This time they spent a little more time showing off gameplay next to the trailers and did it make all the difference? Kinda, not really. People's outrage was pretty dumb in the first place, to be honest. (But I can't wait for all the videos of people saying "This is how it's done! I felt the games, woah!") But my biggest take-away from the event was thus; the PS5 looks like a modem, and I still don't like their controller's layout. (But I guess that's more of a trademark issue, so I can't fault Sony too hard.) To their credit, the digital version of the PS5 doesn't look quiet as awkward, but without seeing any price points it's hard to get overly excited. (Also, I do miss the idea of holding a real disc in my hands. Even though, I'll readily admit, the vast majority of current gen games I own are digital.)

But that's neither here nor there for the moment because it's time to talk about the vast array of new titles that Playstation saw fit to showcase at us during their bloated conference. (I know that word has inherently negative connotations, but given the games that Playstation had to show I mean that as an absolute compliment.) One such game, the first they showed in fact, was the sequel to game that had many sceptics when it was first announced (including me) but which turned out to be one of the biggest games that PS4 put out in it's entire lifespan. Of course I'm talking about the exciting 'Spider Man: Miles Morales' which takes the popular spider-verse character (Yes, I know he existed before that movie, I'm merely citing his most popular point of reference) and finally brings him to the digital forefront in his first video game appearance ev- oh wait, he was in 'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3'. (Does this mean we're getting a Spider-Gwen game next? I am so freakin' down for that prospect it might eclipse my excitement for the game that were actually getting.)

For those who never had the pleasure, Spiderman PS4 was a free-roaming Spiderman adventure that finally broke the curse of substandard web slinging titles ever since 'Spiderman 2'. (Which seems insane to me. This concept lends itself to video games so well and yet there was so many Spider-duds that missed the mark. 'Amazing Spiderman 2', anybody?) The game brought fans a beautiful city, brilliant webslinging, dynamic action and controls, with a heartfelt narrative that ticked just about ever Peter Parker fan's boxes for the ideal Spider-game. (These spider-puns are getting out of hand. I need to stop.) What Insomniac achieved with Spiderman PS4 was much more than just a solid game, they created a baseline foundation for what a superhero game could be, and those foundations were so solid that even at the prospect of a new title built with those same tools people are fit to lose their damn minds.

The trailer itself isn't actually dripping in the way of details, but that's not really the point either. The world was so sold on the strength of the original that they could have just tweeted out a picture of speculative box art and they'd have achieved similar levels of hype that they have now. What we've seen so far, however, to really sell this title and the console behind it is hero-shots. Lots of hero-shots. Seems that both Microsoft and Sony have a point to prove when it comes to ensuring that their consoles are capable of rending materials and surfaces as accurately close-up as they look faraway, something that is largely unnecessary in most gameplay situations but if you insist on pushing that envelope your going to get there eventually! Something related I noted from this event is the way in which Sony's own marketing has pimped this as 'the biggest evolution between generations ever', but after the PS2 to PS3 jump I'm having a hard time picking up on that particular point. (Maybe graphical fidelity is the wrong thing to look for in that comparison.)

From a pure design standpoint there is one aspect that I can commend 'Spiderman: Miles Morales' on, over 'Spiderman PS4' and that's the team's decision to actually reign in their creativity. Admittedly, I don't read a great many comics anymore as the medium is practically dead to me, (So I actually missed Miles' comic debut) but as far as I can tell the video game rendering of his Spider suit is exactly the same as it is in the comics. (That is to say; sleek and slick as heck.) This is in stark contrast to 'Spiderman PS4' where the team took it upon themselves to make their own spider suit and the results were... a white spider? Yeah, I didn't like it. (Each to their own.) Of course, that game featured a plethora of extra suits with abilities and unlock conditions in it so that wasn't a problem, but I'll pat Insomniac on the back anyway, they did good with this one.

I'm less sold on the design of Miles himself, but they may come from my own attraction to the world of Spiderman and my closeness to it. None of the none-costumed faces in the first game ever looked quite right to me, and that's a mental hurdle that has appeared to have been carried on to this newer title. Miles looks fine, but I don't see him as an older version of the Miles we saw in 'Enter the Spiderverse', and as far as I'm concerned that's the definitive animated rendition of the character that we've seen so far. But am I nitpicking? Hell yeah I am. The game looks simply sublime from ever other part of the small gameplay snippet we saw and I'm struggling to find any foothold for critique. I will say, however, that I'm encouraged at the way the team have tried to shake up NYC by setting this game during the winter. (Not sure if that's going to be a perpetual winter 'Cold, Cold Heart' style, but I won't gripe if that's the case. Wintry New York is actually pretty iconic all on it's own.)

What more is there to really say considering how little we saw? The gameplay looks just as explosive as the first game's, I love the acrobatic movement- just like in the first game? Every expectation that has been raised for this game has been coloured by the example set from 'Spiderman PS4' and that is both a blessing and a curse. For the marketing team it's a blessing as it means they can get away with that 1 minute teaser reel, but for the developers it means that a lot of weight is landing on their shoulders to top what they did last time. Personally, I'm not sure how iconic Miles villains are, or how strong his unique powers are, to match up to the last game's offerings. But at the end of the day this may fall down to a question of strength of character through writing, and if that's the case then we can all breathe easy as insomniac have proven themselves adept in that field quite often of late.

Ultimately, I would say that this was a strong opening for Sony's little PS5 showcase round-up, although it did leave me the slightest bit dubious as to why this game needed to be a nextgen exclusive. (As I do believe that Sony, unlike Microsoft, are committing all first-party games to be next-gen exclusive, citing not wanting to hold back their developer's ambitions.) Honestly, 'Spiderman PS4' look about as good as anything we just saw, and the gameplay ran fine, so I suppose I'm left with the nagging question about whether this is a title that's being used as a carrot on a stick to lure people into that nextgen purpose unnecessarily. (I think there might be a fire to all that smoke.) But I'm digging where perhaps I shouldn't, for the time being I see a damn fine looking game and I want it right now please, thank you.

Sony vs Marvel

Battle of the licensing agreements

There have been some interesting developments in this recent week regarding the relationship between Sony and Spiderman. On the video game side (the excuse I have for writing this article) we have the recent acquisition of Insomniac games by Sony. Real shocker, that one. Insomniac games have been playing exclusively in Sony's backyard for so many years that I literally haven't played one of their games since Crash Bandicoot, because I can't. The signing of this deal just seems like formality at this point, like being adopted by people who are already your guardians, your response is just "Oh, surprised that hasn't already happened yet." I guess this means for people who lack the disposable income to buy a new console, (A la moi) we never will get to see an Insomniac game. (Great. I love exclusivity. Don't you?) Guess this means we're getting a Spiderman 2. (Which will again be PlayStation exclusive.) But hey, I'm happy for them or whatever...

But that was the real big Spiderman news of the week I think. Nothing else happened that is noteworthy in the slightest, or at least, nothing in the world of gaming. Look, I mentioned games, okay, I made my link; so I have free reign to delve into the recent MCU news and no one can complain. (That's the rule.) So there was a little bit of a development between Disney and Spiderman when Sony haphazardly cut Tom Holland's wall-crawler from the rest of the cinematic universe in spectacular fashion, that's something noteworthy, right?

I may not be the biggest movie buff around (Or even a movie buff at all for that matter.) but I do branch out and watch a few things here and there. One series I try to keep on top of is the Marvel Cinematic Universe for no more reason than the fact that I used to be a huge fan of comics back when I was a kid. (Oh god, did I say "Back when I was a kid" unironically? Existential dread time.) I have been surprised how most of the movies have managed to be rather good (The less said about Thor: The Dark World, the better) and the Spiderman Movies have been no exception. I've enjoyed every Spiderman film to some degree, but these recent ones genuinely have me interested to see where the character can be taken next; They managed to portray Peter Parker in a wholly unique light that no other adaptation had touched on before. I wanted to see where that would go.

Then along comes the money men to have a little dust-up in the boardroom and tear down everything that people were excited for. Artistic integrity be damned, this thing is going down because of some asinine dispute about 'cuts'. Go online and you'll find a bevy of articles and YouTube videos trying to figure just what the heck happened and picking a side between Marvel's greedy demands and Sony's pigheaded refusals. It is no great insight on my part to affirm that everyone is an idiot in this scenario and unfit to be running the most profitable endeavour in Hollywood. Now here we are, with our MCU family torn apart, supposedly irrevocably, and there is nothing we can do except wait for cooler heads to try and prevail. (Fingers crossed.)

"But how can Sony have the right to take a Marvel character away from Marvel?" you may ask, well it all goes back to the 90's. (Like all stupid things in this world do.) Marvel had just finished dragging themselves out of bankruptcy in 1998 and managed to liquidate some it's movie license by throwing them around to interested studios. This is how the Fantastic 4 and the X-men ended up with FOX, how Spiderman and his kin ended up with Sony and how Prince Namor ended up with... Paramount? Really? Since then Sony have capitalized on Spiderman's popularity to bring us 2 origin stories, 2 Gwen Stacy's, 3 green goblin's, 3 Aunt May's and 7 Spiderman starring movies.

After the flop of 'The Amazing Spiderman 2', during which Sony had hoped to set up their own Spiderman cinematic universe, Amy Pascal (Chairperson at Sony Entertainment) brokered a deal with Disney to share their products. Disney was on top of the world with Superhero movies at this point and everyone wanted to jump into bed with them, but Sony knew that Marvel would be willing to share the mattress if Spiderman was in discussion. And so a 'transaction' was made, in the words of Bob Iger during his earnings call for that year; Disney would be granted use of the character with rights to merchandising, and in return Sony would be permitted to make their own movies with that same character and keep a majority of the box office. If Spiderman were to appear as supporting cast in an Avengers movie, then the money would go to Disney, but if Spiderman is in top billing, then Sony pockets most of it whilst Marvel simply lends their creative talent, marketing, and name recognition. A good deal if you ask me.

During this time, Disney and Sony made 'super-villain' amounts of money together. Tom Holland's take on Spiderman seemed to resonate with almost everyone in 'Civil War', and 'Spiderman: Homecoming' proved to be grounded enough for viewers to relate with the hero; signalling him out in a lineup that can seem impenetrable. The joy didn't just spread to fan reception either, like I said, these movies made a mark in the box office. Homecoming earned just short of a billion, and Far From Home sailed past the billion-mark and quickly became Sony's most profitable movie of all time. (And the first Sony movie to cross into the billion-realm since 2012's Skyfall. Sony haven't been doing so good in the film department lately.)

Everything seemed good for a time. Too good. Hence it was inevitable that someone had to rock up and ruin it all on purpose. (Okay, maybe not on purpose, but greed always begets misery.) Marvel showed up at Sony's door months after 'Far From Home's success with an unwelcome revision to the original plan. Instead of Disney being granted a take of first-dollar gross (A percentage payday that isn't effected by the movies' lifetime performance), they wanted a 50/50 co-financing split with Sony. Marvel and Sony would pay for the movies together and take home equal splits. (Although some reports claim that this figure was actually 30/70. Bare in mind we're working with several of-hand account so nothing is plain fact.) Sony were happy with the way things were (Making a ludicrous amount of money with cursory effort on their part) and so turned that deal down. Discussions were had, threats were made and, ultimately, Sony took their toys and went home.

This is when the Internet proceeded to explode. Days away from Disney's D23 convention, Spiderman is gone from the vastly successful MCU. Fans were enraged with all this nonsense and just wanted Spiderman back with his superhero family. Sony were the first one's to respond, detailing their sadness at being able to come to terms with Marvel and their willingness to negotiate. Everyone saw through the powerplay of pulling Spiderman and they certainly saw through the sympathy plea on Twitter. Public discourse turned even further against them and Sony found themselves in a PR nightmare.

I should say, however, that I do understand and appreciate where Sony are coming from in their decision. They are, at the end of the day, a business; one that is hyper focused in making as much money as humanly possible now, rather than securing their future down the line. When Marvel seeks to take away their potential profits in return for helping to ensure that their company remains financially viable, the stupid part of me can understand the desire to lash out and jump into the abyss. Afterall, Spiderman may have been their biggest hit ever but Sony Pictures still has a plethora of viable franchises at their beck and call like... 'No Time to Die' the new Bond movie coming out hot-on-the-heels of the disappointing 'Spectre'. Or... 'Jumanji 2: The next level'... Yeah, Sony aren't really in a strong position with their movie slate right now.

There are no good sides in this debate. I've mentioned in passing how Disney are being incredibly greedy with this move; in fact, it almost looks like the first step towards a takeover (Especially how the deal would have left Disney open to demand a cut from Sony's other stand alone films.) Yet Sony are insane if they think that Spiderman can still be just as popular outside of the MCU. DC have proven time and time again how people don't want standalone super hero movies anymore, and Solo proved that the power of fan backlash is strong enough to sink a multi-million dollar movie. Unfortunately, it's Tom Holland and Spiderman that are caught in the resulting crossfire.

Things have mostly died down after D23 and it is starting to look dire for Spiderman fans. Kevin Feige finally came out with a statement that seemed to confirm that everything had been said-and-done and the deal was dead in the water. Amateur body language-analysts, on the otherhand, claim that Tom Holland's response seems to indicate that not all hope may be lost. (Based on his previous reputation as being bad at keeping secrets.) I find it hard to say definitively how things will end up but I think it's ridiculous how, once again, licensing rights are getting in the way of telling great stories. This is just another one of the many reasons why I prefer to stick to the world of games. A world where licensing never gets in the way of- What do you mean there are rumors that Disney want to renew their Star Wars exclusivity with EA for another 10 years!? SON OF A-