Gaming Insomniac Games - Spider-Man (PS5) With Great Power comes Great Spoilers Warnings for 1 Month.

When I start above, I try to be as sneaky as possible. The upgrade to grab 2 enemies instead of 1 is awesome. Then I make a mistake and whoops it's 1 vs 100.

 

I love that upgrade, but the even better one is where you see the enemy line of sight links.

 

Got to the end bit, those two final missions were... I can't recall a game where story and gameplay were so opposed. The story execution was brilliant, the gameplay was dire.

I did not enjoy the fights in either mission. The idea of fighting in an environment where the lights switch off is better in theory than practice. The final boss fight was particularly bad in just about all respects - systems, concepts, choice of additional enemies. The story was excellent but it was a pain to play.

It is testimony, however, to the Story setting. Insomniac clearly wanted people to be able to get to the end no matter what. The Story setting enabled that for me.

There are some accessibility gaps, which is strange given how good Insomniac have been on this. But there are additional accessibility features being added in December.

Next? I could see them doing a multi-chapter DLC set to address the hanging side quest plot strands, while setting up Spider-Man 3.

 

My friend said there is a bullet time setting where you can map a button to slow down time. He said there's 30% and 50% slow down. It helped him out a lot in the Mysteriums. So if there's a paticular boss or enemey that's "too fast" then maybe the bullet time effect may help you, Ben.

 

Insomniac have come out and said that Miles is now Spider-Man and that Peter will be a bit part player

I don't think this is common knowledge yet but I assume that when it gets out, the usual stupids will lose their collective minds

 

I would vote for keeping the number of Spider-People swapping compared to the number of the game. So I vote for:

Spider-Man 3: Peter, Miles and Spider-Gwen

Spider-Man 4: Peter, Miles, Spider-Gwen and Scarlet Spider

Spider-Man 5: Peter, Miles, Spider-Gwen, Scarlet Spider and Spider-Ham

Anyway the last FNSM app mission is a real tearjerker, awesome flight feelings and the ending is powerful

Spoiler

I do quibble that Peter says he's going to miss chasing down the pigeons. I certainly didn't. When the mission started and i saw it was pigeon guy i thought I'd have to do it all over again after not doing it all game!

It should be noted that the last Sandman mission (which I had to restart a few times because I couldn't web sling into the final fight properly) and the last FNSM mission do share a similarity that you have to lug it fly swing all across the map to Queens. At least the next time I finished off a Symbiote Nest (and I had to protect two bombs!)

 

Yeah, I did consider turning that on but I wasn't sure about it as I've found bullet time modes not great for me. There's still those enemies hanging around I could try it on.

Oh it is, as it was splashed everywhere on YouTube, social media and gaming / Internet sites.

I like the decision but I don't like Insomniac spoiling the literal ending of their biggest game to date within a month of release for those who hadn't finished it, i.e. like me.

 

That's a great tip, which is also useful for anybody looking to take perfectly-timed action shots in Photo Mode.

My two shortcut buttons are 'Slow 30%' and 'Photo Mode'.

 

I think I'll add slowdown for the last few missions, can just say it's spider-sense ala Tobey. Where is it in the options?

 

Accessibility section - and you might find it's a good decision.

 

I loved all the accessibility options for this game. My one complaint in general was that I wish there was more content and that the map was bigger. Maybe the same size and length as Ghost of Tsushima. But I still enjoyed this one, it's my fourth favorite game of '23.

 

Spider-Man 2

This is a tricky game to assess. It is both the first PS5 only title but also the third in a series. It is, in story terms, definitely a continuation of those two games. Like those, its upgrade system mean it gets better as it goes on.

Webswinging, and the addition of the webwings and air tunnels, along with the expanded world are clear winners. The same is true for the story, which is superb. Stealth for Miles and Peter improves with upgrades. Stealth for MJ does not work at all.

Combat is where the game is most variable, where it can go from fantastic to terrible and back again in seconds. The problems are it is a bit too fast for the camera and the auto-targeting to keep up with. The enemies tend to have one strategy - swarm.

The bigger problems are the new additions. The parry system is more akin to Arkham's counter but is far more patchy. The colour indicators don't really work - there's a reason red = unblockable attack as a design convention, it works. Here, red can mean perfect dodge and parry, it's not distinct enough. Blur = unblockable is a variation that isn't great. And all these colours can be indicated from off-camera too.

This is also a game where I can see a baleful influence of the Souls subgenre. The level of health lost to some attacks, even on Story setting, is high, with only the immortality taking the edge off. In its combat difficulty it feels like Insomniac were only listening to those players who said the earlier games were too easy, even on the hardest difficulty.

It is fair to say that the Story setting enabled me to complete it. Without it there are numerous sections I would not have got past. The combat is too chaotic, there's too many button combinations to remember and, while we're at it, the useless and unreliable triangle-circle double can go too. It does, however, have the best rage mode going, with an inspired combination of graphics, sound and haptic feedback.

The game is also highly variable on its side content. The final Flame and Hunter missions were rubbish, as were the nests, the Sandman, FNSM and EMF ones were often very good. Prowler and Hunter blinds / bases tended to be both good and bad.

The way the story balanced between Miles and Peter, along with the near-instant switching, is one of the game's big successes. MJ's levels are not. The stealth is imprecisely explained, they go on too long, with poor signposting and too many enemies.

Talking of enemies, these felt less varied, with some endgame ones being very cheap. Boss fights also suffered from this variability. Some were superb, with madly ambitious, extended sequences, while others were a total drag.

Puzzles were variable, but there is a skip option I used on a couple of the more irritating ones.

In audio-visual terms, the game is superb. The night time is especially impressive. Haptic and use of the Dualsense speaker is smartly done. There are sequences here that absolutely need the PS5's capabilities.

Whatever else it did or didn't do, it kept me coming back across 30 hours. I got to the end of the story and 100% completion. I have no inclination to platinum it.

Should you play this? If you have played the first two yes. If not, then nab the PS5 copy of Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition, download Spider-Man, and start there, play those two, with the DLC, then start this one.

For me, it's a very good game, with some fantastic and excellent elements, but self-inflicted wounds and flaws prevent it being as great as it could be.

 

I used the In Game hints once when I couldn't find the right angle to pull a lever at a Prowler hideout. I didn't get it either.

 

argh I just had the Spider-Bot completion basically ruined by a Youtube thumbnail (what I thought where it was going). That's probably because google reading my searches and views and I've tried to avoid Spider-Man 2 clips but I had to watch this one over and over because it's so good

 

No more twitter shares from PS so last one, apparently. I rarely ever mess with photo mode but tried here

 

That bench is full on cursed, i had Pete get stuck and unable to move as Harry MJ and Peter had full conversations, even though the other two were nowhere near it. This one is freaky though, maybe the symbiote was getting angry

 

The bench was out to get him, doesn't appreciate him and takes him for granted.

Cue 15-min whinge monologue from Symbi-pete.

 

So I hit 100% district completion, took me about 43 hours over a bit of a month. Which for me is a landspeed record, I just really love the game and especially the story. Didn't notch down the difficulty level but I did play with game speed levels for a bit (only at 70%) although only used it once in awhile. I hit all Max levels and did all the sidequests except for like 3 Symbiote nests at the end. I think narratively it makes more sense to do kinda everything before the finale battle blast (just make sure you clear it out before the last 2 or 3 missions when symbiotes take over NYC. When you get a panicked call from Doctor Connors just let him stew because it blows up afterwards). I think you really need to be max level'd out for the finale. The whole last stretch of the game is a boss fight grind, it can be a lot, but rewarding.

Only narrative/gameplay bit I quibble is having Miles do the final final battle against Venom because the story is more about Peter vs. Venom (Miles' narrative wraps up when he takes on Martin Li), and Peter is the one who blasts Venom off of Harry in the cutscene. And the boss fight banter between Miles and Venom doesn't cut that deep. But Miles' powers (maxed out) really help against Venom. I think MJ symbiote battle is decent, although Peter spends a lot of it crying at her, in public. Hopefully the neighbours weren't listening.

I will say going through the Hunter bases and digging up dirt on Kraven's family had me waiting for Chameleon to show up, and it's in the other side quest following the Hunter birds when you get Chameleon. But there's a whole lot of cliffhangers in the side quests (freakin Carnage) which I hope get a DLC followup and not waiting for another game.

I didn't run into too many glitches, but there was a weird one when fighting Kraven as Venom and Venom got caught in flaming, collapsing scaffolding and I burned to death. One glitch I didn't mind was as MJ when the giant symbiote shows up and she has a ray gun, it ran into a wall and got stuck there running in place so I shot it in the back. Symbiotes are dumb, I can accept that. here's something they should patch out


You know, Norman doesn't come off as a bad guy at all, really. He seems to genuinely love his son. Usually Norman is more manipulative. The mid-credits teaser implies more nasty on the way though.

I took a few more pics with photo mode, would love to share them, just have to figure out how to get it off. Good video about all the Easter Eggs and references.


Anyway, here's my repost from the Spider-Man thread:

You run around collecting Spider-Bots, Ganke says the signal isn't from around here, the bots look like 2099, Spider-Gwen, JJJ and more, very Spider-Verse variants. Then this happens



You can see the Spider-Verse portal and the animation has the lower frame rate of Spider-Verse. And she mentions Miguel and Insomniac Spider-Man doesn't know who he is, and he's part of Spider-Society in AtV so that would place this before Across.



The thing is the character is Delilah from The Bar With No Name, where all the villains hang out, like Spot. At least he did until the scene got cut from the movie (she is in the art book), so it doesn't entirely land in the game, you're about as confused as Peter is. Still it's a neat connection with the portal and maybe she'll be in Beyond the Spider-Verse for this to make more sense. It'd be awesome if at the Bar With No Name is crawling with Spider-Bots too as a reference to this.

Despite teasing Silk in the final post-credit scene, I would love if they went with Spider-Society and AtSV thread and go with Spider-Gwen as the 3rd Spider-Person, it can be how they recruit Peter to Spider-Society and set it during the months when Gwen is working for Miguel. (maybe her meeting Insomniac Miles inspires her to go find "her" Miles) Get Hallie Stienfeld to voice her! Or at least a DLC, c'mon.

 

Even Paul Atreides thinks that the Spider-Man 2 must flow!


(Here's our Harry Osborn in the MCU eventually, hopefully)

 

New Game + and time of day changing coming in early 2024. I'm not really a NG+ fan so hopefully whatever else they add will be worth a spin. And for real DLC to come, hopefully eventually.

 

The MJ actress is being harassed and stalked

https://www.gamesradar.com/in-a-let...confirms-shes-no-longer-actively-auditioning/

 

And it is incredibly sad and pathetic from wastes of sperm.

 

New Game Plus update coming March 7th.

 

Perfect timing! Should hopefully have one of the Tomb Raider remasters under my belt by then, and can blast through the Dark Forces remaster for a change of pace in between stop-start Spidey sessions. Can't wait to jump back in!