Now that we’ve all had enough time to download about six patches, get the hang of swinging and knock off a few bosses, let’s have a chat about Spider-Man.
The easiest comment to make about Spider-Man is that it’s a good looking game. That’s been the case for a lot of Sony exclusives this year — Detroit and God of War were stunning too. The animations are what’s particularly spectacular though, which is to be expected given how much Spidey’s acrobatics are front and centre.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/09/spider-man-the-kotaku-review/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–SV6JiGoi–/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_1600/cd8mclsb9clq9rsr46u4.png” title=”Spider-Man: The Kotaku Review” excerpt=”Insomniac Game’s new Spider-Man adventure on the PS4 is a fun comic book brawler with some good story beats. It’s elevated by a system of acrobatics that features some of the most intuitive and exhilarating movement I’ve ever experienced in a game.”]
But as a general open world game?
I’m still working my way through, so I can’t answer that yet. I got a code early, but Telstra’s shovel-inspired intervention into my home internet meant I had to sit on the game for longer than I would have liked. The first few hours of the game are certainly very busy, but it’s busy with all the same kinds of stuff you’ve seen in every other open-world adventure.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Ambition comes in many forms — but when you’ve got the likes of The Witcher 3, what CD Projekt are doing with Cyberpunk 2077 as well, and games that iterate in new environments like Horizon: Zero Dawn, I can understand why some would have been left wanting more.
The biggest quirk has been the amount of crashes and game-breaking bugs people have encountered. It’s natural for any open-world game to have more bugs than can be reasonably discovered — Jason’s book has a great chapter on Dragon Age: Inquisition and the problems Frostbite caused for Bioware — but some of Spidey’s quirks are genuinely really funny.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/09/spider-man-has-some-quality-bugs/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/09/spidey-roll-2-410×231.gif” title=”Spider-Man Has Some Quality Bugs” excerpt=”A fact of life for any open world game is bugs. Spider-Man has some good ones.”]
But for fans of the comics, fans of the PS2 Spider-Man, what do you think? Have you been satisfied with Insomniac’s take on web-slinging? What do you want to see in future story content — and what expectations did you have going in?
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