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Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man strives to be the best of the best when it comes to superhero-based games, which is why its No. 1 focus is to make the player really feel like Spider-Man in every way possible. Luckily for us, Insomniac Games absolutely nailed its goal, bringing us one of the best superhero video games of all time.
This game brings both amazing action and storytelling together with the player experiencing both Peter Parker and his alter ego, Spider-Man. The fluidity with the game’s web-swinging mechanics, combined with plenty of gadgets, makes for a thrilling action-adventure title that anyone could enjoy.
There are quite a few gameplay topics to cover. Let’s start with the most basic, web swinging. The web swinging in this game is spectacular and very fluid. After five minutes of the tutorial, the player already has a tight grip with the web-swinging mechanics. Easy to learn and fun to use, I found myself spending a lot of time just swinging around New York City, sightseeing and engaging in stopping small crimes rather than continuing with the main storyline. The game offers a fast travel system but I haven’t used it once in my near 20 hours of gameplay. I would rather swing through the whole city myself than take a subway. Of course, you can not only swing, but you can also crawl. Spider-Man can crawl and run on the side of any building and it really helps with taking out enemies and when you need to be sneaky.
Of course, one of the more exciting aspects of the game is the combat. Fighting enemies in this game perfectly 
highlight the hero’s talents and it was surprisingly fun to fight villains. You can still get beat up pretty easily if you let your guard down but Spider-Man is equipped with a unique set of abilities to aid you in combat. Whenever an enemy tries to strike you, Spider-Man’s “spider sense” is triggered and you will be indicated, making it easier to know when you have to dodge. There is also a wide range of upgrades for your abilities, such as triggering slow motion when you perfectly time a dodge or being able to do a finishing move twice in one go.
Not only that but there are gadgets to mess with your enemies. Gadgets such as electrical webs or stun grenades can be very useful to you, especially if you’re up against a large number of criminals. Insomniac’s version of Spider-Man is true to the comics and movies in every way, although we don’t get to see the origin of it all, rather, the game takes place when Peter Parker is in his early 20s. There are a lot of references to his early life when he first became Spider-Man but is not included, assuming we have knowledge of his past. We all know the origin story of Spider-Man. It’s in a dozen comic series and a couple of movies as well. What Insomniac Games wanted us to experience was a more grown Spider-Man, a Spider-Man who struggles more as Peter Parker, a Spider-Man who can’t keep a job or his girlfriend. This gave lots of freedom to the developers in making a story for Spider-Man that didn’t need to be true to the comics because it hasn’t happened yet in most Spider-Man comic series.
I only have one complaint and that is the DLC (downloadable content) for the game. Before the game even came out, there were around four paid DLC chapters planned for the game, which means that some of it was most likely cut from the game and sold separately. That’s like if you wanted to buy a cake for $20 and a piece was taken away and you were told that if you wanted that piece back, you’d need to pay $5 more. This may not seem like a huge problem for some people but it’s annoying nonetheless. Overall, Marvel’s Spider-Man for the PS4 is a great game that really puts you in the life of Peter Parker with amazing action and storytelling to keep you interested for months. Any casual or competitive video game player can pick this up and enjoy it, as long as they have a PlayStation 4, that is.
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