Crazy how progressive this game is in terms of diversity, representation and actually having more depth to the diverse cast rather than just being npcs plastered with different shades to gesture towards diversity. It's not all perfect and the writing sometimes can come off as corny and written by a not Black perspective, but most times it's a success and it feels good to have a Black lead in a video game with so much care put into him, the cast, and the world.
Hopefully the next game this year cooled down on the copaganda because it feels especially egregious here and was bad in 2018's Spider-Man. It's jarring given this game's commitment to a Black and highly diverse setting with mentions of harm caused by the police and other institutions, yet it's still pretty defensive of the hypermilitarized (nypd) police force and handwaves this problem to villainize Phin rightfully trying to take down Krieger and Roxxon that caused the death of her brother and is actively poisoning and disposing of Miles' community. It feels like the writers didn't really want to go all the way with these very relevant and important social issues or simply sees these issues from a both sides are bad angle, which both are pretty disappointing but not surprising given most superhero media propagates these ideas too.
It would have been cool if the story centered Krieger (and the police lol) as the antagonistic forces and went more in depth on this relation between the police and corporations and also having Phin be there in taking down Roxxon since she has valid reasons to do so rather than randomly finding reasons to make her a villain for Miles to fight. I get taking that angle would piss people off more, but what they did here lacks so much bite. The spider-verse movies have more backbone than this game.
All of that said though, it's still a fun time and I prefer this to 2018 since I really like Miles and relate to him more than Peter. I really felt like Spider-ManTM as I web-slinged through all of Harlem and completed this game again in a single day. Don't buy this at full price though lol.
Hopefully the next game this year cooled down on the copaganda because it feels especially egregious here and was bad in 2018's Spider-Man. It's jarring given this game's commitment to a Black and highly diverse setting with mentions of harm caused by the police and other institutions, yet it's still pretty defensive of the hypermilitarized (nypd) police force and handwaves this problem to villainize Phin rightfully trying to take down Krieger and Roxxon that caused the death of her brother and is actively poisoning and disposing of Miles' community. It feels like the writers didn't really want to go all the way with these very relevant and important social issues or simply sees these issues from a both sides are bad angle, which both are pretty disappointing but not surprising given most superhero media propagates these ideas too.
It would have been cool if the story centered Krieger (and the police lol) as the antagonistic forces and went more in depth on this relation between the police and corporations and also having Phin be there in taking down Roxxon since she has valid reasons to do so rather than randomly finding reasons to make her a villain for Miles to fight. I get taking that angle would piss people off more, but what they did here lacks so much bite. The spider-verse movies have more backbone than this game.
All of that said though, it's still a fun time and I prefer this to 2018 since I really like Miles and relate to him more than Peter. I really felt like Spider-ManTM as I web-slinged through all of Harlem and completed this game again in a single day. Don't buy this at full price though lol.