Considering everyone around here besides me is knee-deep in the dreaming city, I decided to pick up the new Spider-Man PS4 game. I was initially hesitant, as I don’t have any real fandom or attachment to Spider-Man, but post-release footage won me over.

It’s very good.

Mechanics:
I lack the vocabulary to describe how much fun traversal in this game. Manhattan is big, but even when the starting point for the next mission or objective was on the other side of the map, I rarely found myself using fast-travel. At first glance you might be tempted to compare the combat to the Batman Arkham series, but once you start jumping and air-juggling enemies and strategically webbing people to the sides of buildings, it becomes harder and harder to see that as a valid comparison. The thing both games do incredibly similarly is stealth.

The thing that REALLY got me excited about the game was when I started unlocking new suits. There’s over 25 you can acquire, pulled from many different eras, and each of them come with a unique ability that can be mixed and matched with whatever suit’s appearance you like best. I was a big fan of the Mk. III Spider armour, which is what you would get if you cross-bred the standard spider-suit with Mjolnir armour. Kinda.

Level Design:
I’m pretty sure there are more renditions of New York in various open-world games than every other real-life location combined. Nonetheless, This one manages to not feel like you’re constantly swinging past the same buildings over and over, and I occasionally found myself just swinging/zipping around for minutes at a time, going nowhere in particular, just because it was so much fun.

It’s a good thing too, since after every major story beat you’re unlocking new side-missions and collectible sets around the city. This allows you to always have something different to pursue if you start to get bored of any particular activity.

There are a few brief (5-10 minute) sections where you play as Peter Parker’s somewhat-less-spectacular friends, and those are easily the least fun parts of the game.

Story/Mood:
In my opinion, Spider-Man’s greatest strength is the narrative it weaves. Threads are nurtured and grown at a perfect pace, keeping you engaged while allowing you room to breathe between major story beats. The game’s third and final act is particularly strong, and I think presents a more impactful conclusion than any of the marvel movies I’ve seen to date.

There’s also some really funny call-backs to prior Spider-Man media.

Final thoughts:
If you’re jonesing for a new open-world game with a fantastic story, pick this up as soon as you beat the raid in November. :P