Probably the new high mark for open world superhero games?
Insomniac took everything that worked about Arkham City, brought it forward technically by two console generations, and swapped out the moody gloom of Batman for Spider-Man’s earnest idealism. Newly borrowed bits from Batman include wing gliding (resulting in maybe the most satisfying traversal ever), prowling from a high tightline, and a version of the Scarecrow missions. Notably, they’ve also curated the open-world side activities down into a smartly honed list that avoids ever becoming repetitive and nearly every map icon has some unique twist to distinguish it. The main story is a neat remix of a couple of late 80s comic storylines and a late 2010s storyline, with plenty of charming character moments and thrilling action spectacle throughout.
As enjoyable as this was overall, I was surprised to run into 5-6 level geometry glitches (including one deflating one late in a long boss fight); it wasn’t a ton but was notably more than other great games with this sort of budget. I’d also love to see a game that borrows Arkham’s general combat figure out a better late game than “what if we throw a ton of projectile and shielded enemies at you all at once?” It’s not bad after getting all the player upgrades and abilities, but a few of the arena fights before then can be frustrating.
Insomniac took everything that worked about Arkham City, brought it forward technically by two console generations, and swapped out the moody gloom of Batman for Spider-Man’s earnest idealism. Newly borrowed bits from Batman include wing gliding (resulting in maybe the most satisfying traversal ever), prowling from a high tightline, and a version of the Scarecrow missions. Notably, they’ve also curated the open-world side activities down into a smartly honed list that avoids ever becoming repetitive and nearly every map icon has some unique twist to distinguish it. The main story is a neat remix of a couple of late 80s comic storylines and a late 2010s storyline, with plenty of charming character moments and thrilling action spectacle throughout.
As enjoyable as this was overall, I was surprised to run into 5-6 level geometry glitches (including one deflating one late in a long boss fight); it wasn’t a ton but was notably more than other great games with this sort of budget. I’d also love to see a game that borrows Arkham’s general combat figure out a better late game than “what if we throw a ton of projectile and shielded enemies at you all at once?” It’s not bad after getting all the player upgrades and abilities, but a few of the arena fights before then can be frustrating.