‘Spider-Man’ (PS4) (Game)

‘SPIDER-MAN’ (PS4)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Spider-Man and the Devil’s Breath

‘Spider-Man’ (PS4) the video game is the best ‘Spider-Man’ movie ever made! 😀

After two months between January to March 2020, I’ve finished seeing the 100% Longplay of the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game on YouTube – thanks to Youtuber Spazbo4. I’ve enjoyed watching ‘Spider-Man’ (PS4) on YouTube with the story scenes; character development and how the gameplay worked.

And yes, I know. I should’ve played the video game in order to review it rather than cheat my way to reviewing it with watching it on YouTube. But like I said in my ‘Hostile Takeover’ book review, unless I can afford a PS4 game console and find the time to play it, I can’t actually play the game itself sadly. 😦

What interested me about the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game was the story and the characters. I wanted to find out how good the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game story was and how well-developed the characters were. After hearing many good things about the game from other people, it’s only fair I check it out on YouTube.

After all, I enjoyed the ‘Hostile Takeover’ book so much. I didn’t want to miss out on how the story continued and what would happen to characters like Peter, MJ, Yuri Watanabe and such. I’ve seen quite a number of interpretations of Spider-Man over the years in terms of films and various TV shows.

I’m of the Tobey Maguire/Sam Raimi generation of ‘Spider-Man’ storytelling and character development whilst many prefer the latest ‘MCU Spider-Man’ movies as well as ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’. Meaning no disrespect to those fans, but I find the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game far better. 🙂

I really like the storytelling featured in the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 universe. It’s believable and relatable. It also isn’t too zany and comedic as the recent versions of ‘Spider-Man’ have become. I know the Tobey Maguire/Sam Raimi era had comedic moments but at least the movies were well-balanced with drama.

The ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game is so encapsulating even in YouTube mode. I’m sure for many who played the video game, they’ve found the story and the characters pretty engaging and invigorating. There are plenty of other aspects that make the video game very appealing, but we’ll get to that later on. 😀

I’m going to do my best to explain what makes this ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game great and a much better movie compared to other ‘Spider-Man’ movies I’ve seen. I’ll be doing this by making comparisons to other ‘Spider-Man’ movies in connection with this game, sometimes focusing upon certain characters.

This is how the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game begins here:

From that opening scene of the game, I knew this was going to be awesome! Even Warbly Jets’ song ‘Alive’ made it feel extra-special. From the quiet build-up of Peter’s apartment to when he dons the Spidey suit on, we go right into the action. I’m sure many gamers were exhilarated in getting into this. 🙂

The story takes place six months after the events of ‘Hostile Takeover’. For those needing to be in the know, Peter Parker is now 23 years old; a scientist and in his eight year as Spider-Man. In the game’s first mission, Spidey has to apprehend and arrest Wilson Fisk/the Kingpin following ‘Hostile Takeover’.

Let’s side-track for a bit and talk about the game’s animation. Now, it’s clear it’s CGI animation as you’d expect in video games. It’s also pretty believable when its motion-capture that’s being used for character animation. I really like this animation compared to the animation for the ‘Spider-Verse’ film.

I kept wondering why this ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game wasn’t an actual movie to be seen on the big screen. I would’ve loved to have seen this kind of ‘Spider-Man’ story presented on the big screen as a movie rather than as a video game. The animation does help with getting into the story and its characters. 🙂

It’s not at all cartoony and zany like ‘Spider-Verse’ is. The drama is well-played out between characters, especially with emotional-felt moments that need to be portrayed succinctly. It almost makes me forget that the animation is animation at all. The motion capture assists well to make it feel live-action.

Take the scene below between Peter and MJ in a cafe. I love this scene in the video game. Not only does the animation help to make the scene believable when having the characters interacting with each other, but you do feel the emotion of the conversation between Peter and MJ by the voice actors.

And yes! Stan Lee makes a cameo in this ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game. And it’s wonderful! I’m pleased Stan did a cameo in this video game before he passed away in October 2018. In many ways, this video game does honour what was great about Spider-Man and it pays an incredible tribute to Stan in that regard.

Going back to the story, after Peter/Spidey attends to Fisk in getting him arrested, he’s soon onto sorting out another menace in New York City concerning a deadly virus called Death’s Breath. This is something that’s been arranged by a new villain called Mister Negative and the Inner Demon minions.

I should talk about how the gameplay works in ‘Spider-Man’ (PS4). I can’t judge from experience having not played the game myself. But from what I’ve observed in the 100% Longplay on YouTube, it looks impressive and easy to use, especially with the in-built map and the upgrades for weapons/skills.

Spidey’s suit does feel tech-given, but it feels more convincing than the tech given to Spidey by Tony Stark in the ‘MCU’ movies. I’m sure Peter built the tech himself in the PS4 universe. The game also gives you the option of switching around suits whether it’d be the 2099 suit or the ‘Homecoming’ suit.

Yeah! It’s interesting that the game allows you to do that when you upgrade points or skills after certain missions. There’s even the option to switch into the Spidey suit from the Maguire/Raimi movies, though I think that’s for the DLC stuff. Spidey did not switch suits in that 100% Longplay I saw.

And I suppose for story terms, it makes sense for Spidey to stay in suits like the traditional one or the one given to him by Dr. Octavius that has the white spider on it. Yeah, that white-spider Spidey suit shown on the game’s cover and for the majority of the game was provided by Dr. Octavius. More later!

Some of the Spidey suits are also armoured like the Iron Spidey suit from ‘Avengers: Infinity War’. There is one suit in story terms where Spidey has to go and fight Doc Ock in metallic armour, but that happens for the story’s climax. If I were playing this game, I’d stick to the white spider Spidey suit. 😀

Throughout the game, there are also side quests given to you as Spider-Man away from the main story. This includes quests to beat up and stop some criminals like Fisk’s thugs; the Demons; Silver Sable’s guards; escaped prisoners; etc. There are also the mini-quests to save New York City for Harry Osborn.

From watching the 100% Longplay, it did seem to take a while to do the side quests as it dragged away from the main story. But I suppose if I were playing the game, it’d help in getting you practice to beat up villains with the PS4 game console. It would also help in fighting the ‘boss’ villains towards the end.

The navigation points are very good in the game. I like there are yellow indicators to provide you on where you want to go in the main story as well as green and blue indicators for side quests and such. There’s also an option to catch a tube to get you to a place fast enough and avoid the long swing there.

The webslinging looks pretty good in the game as well as the fight moves. You’re given plenty of options in how you use webs to tackle your opponents such as web bombs; electric webs and such. You get these upgrades and points as you go through the game and gain the chance to practice them.

Let’s talk about the characters featured in this video game. Peter Parker/Spider-Man (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) is a very easily relatable character in the PS4 game. He has the combination of being like Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland at the same time. He also has this relatable journey.

Through the ‘Spider-Man’ game, Peter interacts with people whom he has faith in and believes to be good before they turn bad like Martin Li and Dr. Octavius. He also forms many friendships and relationship with people like Aunt May, MJ and Miles Morales, which are really engaging and relatable.

Mary Jane Watson – MJ (voiced by Laura Bailey) is a wonderful character in the PS4 game. As I stated in my ‘Hostile Takeover’ review, MJ is a ‘Lois Jane’ character, being a reporter for the Daily Bugle. It’s been six months since MJ and Peter broke up their relationship, but there’s still a spark between them.

Throughout the story, MJ and Peter kindle their relationship by trusting each other and working together as a team. Beforehand, Peter had been overprotective towards MJ. In this story, Peter must learn to let MJ help him with sorting out the bad guys. The Peter/MJ romance scenes are my favourite.

Incidentally, as well as playing Peter/Spidey in the video game, you also get to play MJ and Miles Morales in certain parts of the story. This is when they have to go through stealth and avoiding getting caught by bad guys. It permits the story not to be just from Peter’s point of view throughout the game.

I like Miles Morales (voiced by Nadji Jeter) as a character compared to how I saw him in the ‘Spider-Verse’ film. In the video game, Miles gets introduced to Peter following the death of his father who gets killed by Demons in the story. Miles helps out to work at F.E.A.S.T. where Aunt May is working. 🙂

I like how Miles’ character develops gradually in the story. He doesn’t become Spider-Man like he did in the ‘Spider-Verse’ film, but he gradually becomes him by the end once he gets bitten by a radioactive spider from OsCorp. Peter/Spidey also becomes Miles’ mentor figure. This I think is well-handled here.

In terms of villains, there’s Dr. Otto Octavius (voiced by William Salyers) before he becomes Doc Ock. I like Octavius’ character in the video game. He starts off being a genuinely mild-mannered man who is good friends with Peter, working at Octavius Industries. Peter assists Octavius with his science work.

Peter considers Octavius to be his hero like it was in ‘Spider-Man 2’. It’s saddening therefore when Peter/Spidey gets betrayed by Octavius once he becomes a monster as Doc Ock and goes after Norman Osborn. That scene where Peter lets out his anger and upset to Octavius by the end is moving.

One issue I have with Doc Ock. It came as a surprise to Peter during the final battle with Doc Ock that he knew he was Spider-Man. I wonder why that should’ve been a surprise considering Octavius saw Peter with his suit earlier. Maybe Octavius hid it well, not wishing to worry Peter at the time he saw the suit.

Incidentally, the game does feature some puzzle-solving activities. This is especially when Peter is trying to fix a system failure to one of Octavius’ equipment as well as finding an antigen for some disease or something. This is where the gamer has to put his/her puzzle-solving skills to pretty good use.

The game also features police officer Yuri Watanabe (voiced by Tara Platt), who becomes a good ally to Spider-Man. There’s also Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (voiced by Travius Willingham), who appears briefly early on in the story. And there’s J. Jonah Jameson (voiced by Darin de Paul), who appears in podcasts.

Aunt May (voiced by Nancy Linari) is a wonderful character in the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game. She’s caring and kind-hearted, especially when she helps out at F.E.A.S.T. May has some lovely scenes with Peter, which show how deep their relationship is. It’s emotionally-moving when it becomes tragic at the end.

As well as Doc Ock, there are villains like Martin Li/Mister Negative (voiced by Stephen Oyoung) as well as Electro (voiced by Josh Keaton); Rhino (voiced by Fred Tatasciore); Scorpion (Jason Spisak) and Vulture (voiced by Dwight Schultz – you mean Barclay from ‘Star Trek’?! WHAT?!!!) Sinister Six here!!!

Speaking of Martin Li, he was introduced in ‘Hostile Takeover’ but I didn’t consider him important at the time. Here he becomes important and it’s intriguing how, like Doc Ock, he becomes a villain in Mister Negative and wants to get his revenge on Norman Osborn for something that happened to him.

Norman Osborn (voiced by Mark Rolston) is an intriguing, complex character in the PS4 game who is Mayor of New York and doesn’t become the Green Goblin yet. The video game also features the Shocker (voiced by Dave B. Mitchell) who doesn’t become a member of the Sinister Six in the story. 😐

The video game also features Jefferson Davis, Miles’ father (voiced by Russell Richardson), who becomes a good friend and ally to Spidey before he gets killed compared to the ‘Spider-Verse’ movie. There’s also Rio Morales, Miles mother (voiced by Jacqueline Pinol). Miles’ family are so likeable here.

There’s also Silver Sable (voiced by Nichole Elise), who doesn’t like and trust Spider-Man very much early on in the game. There are also villains like Tombstone (voiced by Corey Jones) and Taskmaster (voiced by Brian Bloom). Harry Osborn (voiced by Scott Porter) appears for the video game side quests.

Felicia Hardy/Black Cat (voiced by Erica Lindbeck) appears in the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game for a certain side quest. She doesn’t appear in the main story but does appear in the DLC content apparently. There’s also Dr. Morgan Michaels (voiced by Phil Morris) who gets captured a fair bit for this PS4 game.

I like how the video game concludes with Peter and MJ getting back together as a couple. There are also post-credits sequences where Miles reveals to Peter he has spider-powers as well as Norman Osborn checking up on his son Harry, kept inside a green container within OsCorp. What will happen next?!

Even though I haven’t played the game myself, I can definitely say…‘Spider-Man’ (PS4) is amazing! I love the story and the characters featured in this game. ‘Spider-Man’ (PS4) feels like a proper ‘Spider-Man’ movie compared to the latest ones we’ve been having. The emotion and the action are excellent.

The people behind the making of this video game put so much passion and effort into it and it’s clearly shown. The story of Peter Parker and his relationships with characters like MJ; Aunt May; Yuri Watanabe; Miles Morales and even Dr. Octavius are truly believable and relatable in a PS4 game universe.

If you were to ask me whether I would recommend this video game having not played it myself, then I would say a 100% “Yes”. ‘Spider-Man’ (PS4) combines everything that I love about my favourite Marvel superhero. It combines nostalgia and contemporary elements of Spidey throughout the game.

I hope a sequel to this video game will be made soon and I’m sure for many ‘Spider-Man’ fans and PS4 gamers in general, they would welcome it. ‘Spider-Man’ (PS4), despite being exclusive only to PS4, is a well-made game, featuring superb gameplay, superb characters, superb story and overall…superb passion.

And if my word isn’t good enough for you…well, I know someone who has played the game and he would say the same things as I have on what I make of it. Hang on a minute…

Tim presses the Starfleet call button. On his screen, comes up Timelord007 playing a video game. Timelord looks to see Tim on his viewscreen.

Timelord007: Ah, Mr. Bradley! Good to see you, sir.

Timelord! You’ve played the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game, right?

Timelord007: I have, yes!

Did you like it?

Timelord007: Did I like it? I adored it!!! Awesomeness! Sheer brilliance!

So, the gameplay was pretty good then, was it?

Timelord007: Yep! Easy pick up and play controls with solid combat! Never has webslinging through the Big Apple been so enjoyable!

What about the story and the characters? Did you find them both echoing what was great about ‘Spider-Man’ in the comics, TV shows, movies and such?

Timelord007: Yes! The story sees Peter Parker in his twenties and he’s been Spider-Man for over 10 years. A new threat emerges and Peter will face his greatest threat, making the ultimate sacrifice!

And would you recommend the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game to anybody who is a ‘Spider-Man’ fan or just a casual PS4 gamer?

Timelord007: I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys gaming! However, if you’re a Spider-Man fan, there’s a ton of Easter eggs throughout the game and various suits to wear from the movies!

Well, that’s good to hear! Thank you, Timelord. I’m glad the ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game gave you so much joy when you played it.

Timelord007: Very rare I’m moved to tears, but I admit I cried at the end of the game! Oh and there’s also a three-part DLC which gives another emotional arc to a specific character.

(surprised) Really? There’s an extra downloadable content story featured with the game?! Even though I’ve hinted at it a few times in my review already?

Timelord007: Yes, it’s called ‘The City That Never Sleeps’! The story isn’t quite on par with the game’s main story, but it’s definitely worth playing nevertheless.

Wow, that sounds pretty exciting! I’m glad there’s more ‘Spider-Man’ PS4 game to enjoy after the main game. I’m quite excited by it. Hey, you know what? I’m going to check out ‘The City That Never Sleeps’ right now on YouTube. It does sound pretty interesting. I’m really looking forward to enjoying that!

Tim heads off to go and watch ‘The City That Never Sleeps’ on YouTube. Timelord watches him go.

Timelord007: (muses) Hmm! Funny. You never see Billy Walker and Spider-Man together. I wonder if…. (Pause) Nah, that’s a ridiculous idea.

‘Spider-Man’ (PS4) rating – 10/10

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