Marvel's Spider-Man was one of the swan songs of the PS4 generation, alongside TLOUp2 and Ghost of Tsushima. It was the first of these three to drop, and while the PS5 would not be released until a few years later, this was the beginning of the end so to speak.

It came about via a special partnership between Sony Interactive Entertainment and Insomniac Studios -- the kind of business deal that is not at all alien/bizarre in the realm of console exclusives. By the time of Spider-Man PS4, the team at insomniac studios were at a bit of a rough spot in terms of recent video game releases.

Ratchet and Clank petered out at the tail-end of the PS3 generation, and the recent reboot tie-in game to the film for Ratchet and Clank 1 was also met with middling reception. Sunset Overdrive, their game before that, was met with good reviews but released to an underwhelming sales performance.

Needless to say, in comparison to their roots as a PS2/3 powerhouse, releasing Ratchet and Clank and Resistance games like nobody's business, Insomniac was somewhat of a shell of their former selves. But! They were not left in the dust.

Sony Entertainment was aware of the extreme technical prowess of the team at Insomniac. Ratchet and Clank's remastered game might have been the same as its early-2000s counterpart, but the physics engine and graphical presentation of the game was simply astonishing. It laid the groundwork for eventual games like R+C: Rift Apart, and of course, Spider-Man PS4.

So, out of a bevy of candidates, Sony finally decided to give the task of developing a brand-new Spider-Man game to Insomniac. Prior to this game's release, the videogame side of Spidey's collection of media products was seriously lacking. I know that there's hundreds of thousands of people online who have an undying (and frankly nostalgia-blinded) love for games like Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and even Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions... but c'mon yall. Most of those games are tie-in slop that could've been bundled with a happy meal. Spider-Man, until 2018, never had a Batman: Arkham-CIty-Esque experience where a dev team created an entirely new and CLASSIC universe for one of comic book's most beloved superheroes.

So, when the game released in 2018, practically everybody loved this thing. It was the first step Insomniac took towards developing this Spider-Man PS4 universe, and what a first step it was. Featuring a basic, predictable, but CLASSIC narrative, a beautiful rendition of Manhattan, and graphics that were jaw-dropping, Spider-Man PS4 embodied the fantasy of swinging through New York as Spidey better than any game before it... and in my opinion after it too.

This game is great. The combat is fun, punchy, and responsive, and the gadget system is perhaps a little overpowered but fun as hell to use. Mission design is similarly hit or miss at certain points in the game, with the MJ stealth sections being unfortunately quite boring.

Also, the pacing of certain missions even as Spider-Man himself were boring. Parts of the game where you had to "investigate" were long and uneventful, whereas the missions where you get to kick villain ass were comparatively 10x more fun and interesting.

So what content did it offer other than a classic Spider-Man story? Well, perhaps due to it being an open-world game, it's overworld content. Collectibles, crime encounters, enemy bases, and different types of trials make up this game's side content, alongside one (kinda lame) side quest featuring Tombstone of all villains.

While this side content might get repetitive once you reach the last few enemy bases and crime encounters, the path to 100%ing Spider-Man PS4 is very, VERY easy. This allows for the broader video game experience to be very fun. Overall, this game seeks to provide players with just that. Fun. Not an amazing story, not a depressing narrative that makes you rethink everything you know in life, not the most hardcore technical gameplay mechanics in the world... it's just sheer, accessible, fun. And considering this game's lack of disappointing elements (since it was the very first game in this series, expecting perfection is a little ridiculous), it ends up being just a great time all around.

If only the follow-up games to this one were as good. I don't even remotely think SMPS4 is amazing, but it is great, and that's something SM2 and SMMM cannot say about themselves.

Broken Steel marks the endgame for me in the Fo3 part of my TTW runs... and as such, I LOVE this DLC for its challenge.

When it released though, not as many people were singing this DLC for its rewarding gameplay as much as they were DECRYING IT for featuring a new ending to the base game of Fo3 that allowed gamers to continue playing after the credits.

And yeah, I agree... paywalling a better ending than the terrible one we got with Fo3 is kinda lame. But at least nowadays you can find this thing bundled with the maingame of Fo3 for dirt-cheap prices.

So what exactly is the meat and potatoes of Broken Steel? Well, the post-main-story draw of it all. Broken Steel picks up where the main story left off, and sees players taking on the very last bit of Enclave forces left in the capital wasteland. Featuring several new locations, like the Adams AFB, the mobile base crawler, and my favorite location, the presidential subway, Broken Steel offers even the toughest lone wanderers serious challenge.

This is brought about via several new enemy types, the most prominent of which being Enclave Hellfire Troopers (who wear the best armor in the game), Feral Ghoul Reavers (who are bullet-spongey, massively-high DPS monsters), and Super Mutant Overlords (with the highest HP of any non-behemoth super mutant, equipped most commonly with the new tri-beam laser rifle).

These enemies, on top of seriously challenging gauntlets of combat like Old Olney Powerworks, make Broken Steel feel like the hardest part of Fo3. While it lacks any significant gameplay additions such as a choice-based story like The Pitt, or an entirely new explorable location like Point Lookout, Broken Steel makes up for these shortcomings by being just FUN.

But that kind of substance can only last so long before you start to realize the cracks underneath. Broken Steel is fun, yes, but those aforementioned enemy types spawn WAY TOO OFTEN even if you haven't started the DLC/are the recommended level for it. On top of this, Broken Steel's scummy handling of adding a post-game isn't the best look. Also, the convenience of this DLC does not last long. The combat encounters are, to tell the truth, samey across the entire time you play this thing. But being able to test out Vengeance (the gatling laser) in brand-new power armor in an all-out war against the Enclave in the Adams AFB is an experience I won't soon forget.

The Pitt isn't necessarily an underrated gem of the Bethesda DLC canon, as tons of people sing praises towards this add-on's excellent handling of atmosphere and location-crafting.

So I caution myself before I tell people that this thing is an overlooked gem. In truth, The Pitt is a good DLC. Almost bordering on great even, but after multiple playthroughs I am starting to get just a LIIIITTLE exhausted with this thing lol.

But first, I have to clarify that I am absolutely in love with post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh as a location and the lore behind the slaver boss Asher. Locations such as the steelyard, the main factory, the bridge leading into The Pitt, and Haven are unforgettable. Seriously, I believe that the best part of this DLC is simply walking through it all.

The actual gameplay side of things is where this thing tends to fall apart. If you look at the narrative's sequence of events from a bird's-eye-view, you can start to realize just how... bare-bones this DLC's plot really is. In an attempt to pad-out the runtime of this DLC, BGS introduced the aforementioned location of the Steelyard.

The Steelyard is a point of contention for Fallout fans. Some love the rewards it gives players for dilligently collecting all steel ingots, while others find it boring and a slog to get through.

I tended to fall into the camp of the former. But after playing this DLC for like... the seventh time? I am SICK and TIRED OF IT! lol

The gear is cool to have, and in every TTW playthrough I make it a point to collect as much unique pieces of gear as possible, but I have rarely, if ever, used the weapons from The Pitt back in the maingame. Maybe besides the auto-axe that ignores DT and DR. But the armor, and the guns? Kinda useless.

But when you're in this DLC, it's so much fun. The location of The Pitt is second to Point Lookout as my favorite in-game location within Fo3, and its strides in creating atmosphere cannot be ignored. But as for a very, VERY basic sequence-of-events in the narrative and an annoying steelyard to scour, The Pitt ends up just as a good DLC.