Fantastic gameplay when web swinging through the city, really well-made cut-scenes, great voice acting and production values. Technically, the game felt extremely polished, with some impressive graphics and very good performance for what it proposes.
Unfortunately, the game relies too much on a very unclear combat gameplay. The dynamics are very similar to the Batman Arkham series, however in that game, even though I don't think the combat is very good (it feels like a sequence of glorified quick time events), at least it was extremely clear and precise in what you are doing and the way the enemies would react. Here is just a gamble if my dodge would actually work as intended, or if an enemy on the ground would be able to punch me when I'm in the air. Also, there are some completely useless RPG mechanics where you gain 10% attack after some levels, but by the mid-point of the game the enemies needed the same amount of punches from the beginning?
In the end, the problem is that maybe 80% of missions were heavily relying on combat, which is expected in a Spider-Man game, but it was just not good enough... On top of that you have some really frequent missions where you control MJ that are not enjoyable at all, and some puzzle sequences that are not challenging nor fun to solve (I know you can skip those, but why even bother including them if you are not confident enough in them when you give the player an option to skip it).
I have some other minor complaints about the open world structure and mechanics of AAA games that are much present here, but I guess that's what most of the audience of these types of blockbuster experiences expects, so the studios feel compelled to include, and it's hard to blame them.
Unfortunately, the game relies too much on a very unclear combat gameplay. The dynamics are very similar to the Batman Arkham series, however in that game, even though I don't think the combat is very good (it feels like a sequence of glorified quick time events), at least it was extremely clear and precise in what you are doing and the way the enemies would react. Here is just a gamble if my dodge would actually work as intended, or if an enemy on the ground would be able to punch me when I'm in the air. Also, there are some completely useless RPG mechanics where you gain 10% attack after some levels, but by the mid-point of the game the enemies needed the same amount of punches from the beginning?
In the end, the problem is that maybe 80% of missions were heavily relying on combat, which is expected in a Spider-Man game, but it was just not good enough... On top of that you have some really frequent missions where you control MJ that are not enjoyable at all, and some puzzle sequences that are not challenging nor fun to solve (I know you can skip those, but why even bother including them if you are not confident enough in them when you give the player an option to skip it).
I have some other minor complaints about the open world structure and mechanics of AAA games that are much present here, but I guess that's what most of the audience of these types of blockbuster experiences expects, so the studios feel compelled to include, and it's hard to blame them.