Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

Replayed this after Spider-Man 2 and somehow came out appreciating it even more. The story feels way more focused, the characters are handled better, and Peter actually feels like the main character. In Spider-Man 2, Peter spends a good chunk of the game getting folded while Miles is out there doing all the actual Spider-Man work. Even the MJ sections somehow annoyed me less here, which is honestly an achievement by itself. Spider-Man 2 definitely has better movement and gameplay, but when it comes to story, characters, and writing, the first game clears it pretty easily. Turns out Peter Parker works better when the game actually lets him do things.

I want to get this out of the way. I think very POSITIVELY about this game overall. It is objectively good. I say that because the review is going to sound mostly negative. Let me explain. This game is loved, lauded, and applauded, and justifiably so. It's a very good game. HOWEVER. Not near enough people talk about the legitimate flaws it has. So I'm gonna bypass the positives we can ALL agree on. Voice performances. Traversal. Combat. Etc. The only goal I'm aiming for with this review is making sure people understand the downsides going in. There is a HARD fall off for this game. You probably won't realize it on the initial playthrough...The cracks don't start showing until the second run. NG+. Once you hit the third act...you'll realize the pacing is ATROCIOUS. Multiple instances of what amount to "walking simulator" moments that completely break the flow of the game. Too many cutscenes and inability to skip. What do I mean by that? Most cutscenes are skippable. But several aren't. And there isn't really a rhyme or reason as to why you can't skip certain ones, so you end up pausing to hit the "Skip" button, and it's just not there. Why? As for the "too many" aspect, if you ARE just trying to speed run and skip through the cutscenes, then you'll notice...there are times you'll skip through, I ♥♥♥♥ you not, FOUR cutscenes in a row before you get back to gameplay. Why the hell do we need FOUR CUTSCENES between gameplay segments? These are video games. An interactive medium. They're meant to be PLAYED. Not me hitting "pause" then "skip cinematic" 4 times in a row over the course of a minute. That's a minute I could have been playing the game rather than fiddling with the pause menu UI. One too many factions - This one is interesting. This game has EXCELLENT exploration and collect-a-thon elements. And on the first playthrough you are full of WONDER about everything you can explore. Second playthrough rolls around and...major issue in terms of repetitiveness. Act 1. You have Thug Crimes. Act 2. You have demon crimes. Act 3. You have Sable Crimes AND Prisoner crimes, as well as Prisoner Bases AND Sable bases. And the gameplay for these new factions is just so ♥♥♥♥♥♥' repetitive, while you're trying to build the the CLIMAX of the story, it just completely ruins the pacing and sense of urgency the story is trying to dictate. DLC - Now the DLC is good. I like the DLC. But all the above issues are escalated by the DLC's which are all largely the same, save for more story. When this game released on the PS4 back in the day, once you beat the story, you were done. You want more? Great. Wait for the DLC. Then DLC 1 drops. You get to go back to the game and get more Spider-Man. Awesome! You get your fix. Then DLC 2 drops. Once again, DOPE. It's been a few months, you get to go back AGAIN and get even more story. DLC 3 drops. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Here it is. The CULMINATION of this extra story we've been getting as staggard releases for months. But here's the problem...when you get all three DLC's at once in a remaster...And they're all so repetitive from a gameplay perspective, the slog that is the repetitive missions themselves outweigh the interest in the new story content. Lastly, Peter's character model. Now this one is largely subjective, but I feel it's worth mentioning. As we all know, the remaster completely changed Pete's character model...and I hate it. I hate it for two reasons. Point 1: He looks too much like Tom Holland. Whether you like Tom Holland Spider-Man or not is irrelevant. The issue I have is that by doing so, it ties the game to a more "MCU-ified" look, when I want a Spider-Man story that stands completely on its own. Not tied to any canon comics. Not tied to any movies. Not tied to any other games. I want this game to stand on its OWN. By giving us Peter that looks noticeably similar to the current film run, I think it actually harms this game from standing on its own when it comes to longevity. It dates the game in a way. Point 2 (and largely the more important point): He looks too young. The game goes out of its way MULTIPLE times to imply this is a Spider-Man who has been doing this for YEARS now. He's been waiting 8 years to put away Fisk. J. Jonah Jameson has retired from the Daily Bugle. Spidey has the support of the city and the police. He has dealt with Vulture between a dozen and two dozen times, as well as put away many of his most formidable rogues. The game tells you over and over Spider-Man has been at this for AGES at this point. The original character model reflected that. Peter looked, not OLD, but old enough to be an experienced Spider-Man. The new model? Looks like a kid. It goes against everything the story in the game has told us. All in all, I'm not giving this game a bad review. I love it. I really do. And I'm so happy to have completed it on Steam to 100% after not touching it since the original release all the way back on the PS4 8 years ago. But I never hear anyone talk about this games multitude of flaws, and they are definitely worth mentioning. All in all I think this game has earned a very respectable 7/10.

One of the best games that I have ever played. The combat is good (imo, there could be a few more moves or different types of combo possibilities, but I think that the different types of gadgets were enough), the story is great, and the stealth parts with MJ and Miles were surprisingly enjoyable. The side missions and challenges are really good, they're not too long, and they give the world more depth to it (although some Screwball challenges were really annoying >.<'). I liked that there were different kinds of suits in the game (the underwear one is my favorite), and the web swinging felt really immersive. The DLCs were great as well, although they could have been longer. I recommend this game to every Spider-Man enjoyer. 10/10, would play it again!