It’s now nearly 20 years you can play Spider-Man-Games on different systems which been developed by Activision. The latest game is not only a PlayStation 4 exclusive. With Insomniac Games this game been developed by a studio that knows how to give classic concepts a new face. But is it really something new and how great is this game. Let’s find out.

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You notice quickly that Insomniac do not want to tell us the story how Peter Parker get his power and become Spider-Man for one more time. Instead of this we get directly into the game after watching a cutscene. In this video we get to know, that Spider-Man already fights for the right since 8 years. After this video you have to swinging to the first gangster very intuitively through Marvel’s Manhattan. The first big enemy is Wilson „Willy“ Fisk, better known as the Kingpin and your  mission is to catch him. We like it that they through us directly into the story without telling us once again the genesis of Spider-Man. The reason is not only that everybody who knows Spider-Man knows that he get his power of a genetically modified spider and that because of the tragic death of his oncel, Peter Parker become a fighter against the crime. We like it especially, that you can directly get into the action with helps also the dramaturgy. And this speed stay through 3 acts and a total of 28 up to 35 hours until you get to the fantastic and exciting finale. You can notice how great it was, that Insomniac worked closely together with Marvel especially by a closer look at the games characters and how they are made. This game is cinematically great staged and supported by a really good script and convincing virtual protagonist. The story is such well done, it would not be a problem to sort itself into the current “Cinematic Universe”.

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The game switches between quiet moments and dramatic parts and is totally filled with a lot of action which is from time to time captured magnificently. It is great how the developers get the connection between relevant story elements or cutscenes and the first action you get with the hunt of the Kingpin. Great is also, that Insomniac gives Spider-Man and a lot of his friends like Mary Jane Watson (MJ), Harry Osborne or Tante May new facets that also huge Spider-Man fans will be surprised. Please understand, that we do not want to spoiler too much. This is the reason we want to talk much more about. We also could notice very quickly, that Insomniac get the full freedom from Marvel for the design of their “own” Spider-Man-Suit. Spider-Man wears on that fans have never seen before, even when they all looks very identically. There are also some connections to the cinematic world. The eyes of the Spider-Mask can change their size like the eyes of the mask that Tom Holland wears in the Spider-Man Homecoming or Avengers: Infinity War movies. Players who listen more accurate to the background music will also notice a connection to the Homecoming movie.

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Great are also the game’s mechanics that accompanied the player from the beginning to the end. Here we could notice that Insomniac uses the experience they could win by developing the Xbox-One-Exclusive game Sunset Overdrive. If you swing with Spider-Man through the Jungle of building, which is accurately imitated New York City, the game becomes a pleasant dynamic. It is not possible to swing higher than the highest building next to you. Because of this the game become a little bit more realistic. In addition you get some special moves which helping you to get more speed and let you get faster through the Skyscraper-Course of the Big Apple. We could also notice, that especially dynamic and transitions between the exploring the city the fighting or secondary tasks remind us on the adventures of Batman made by Rocksteady. But Insomniac do not only have take a look on other games and what has been done very well.

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The fighting-system has the power of the Dark Knight, but it is also very dynamic with the well done counter system. With only a few buttons you can do some fantastic combos which also through your enemies in the air. You can use additionally the spider threads and modificate them to have a lot of different attacks. What we also like is the higher focus on the integration of the surroundings. You can use for example your spider threads to throw something heavy against your enemies or let Scaffolding collapse on the them. Together with the possibilities of upgrades, which you can get for you gadgets or extensions, there a lot different options to beat your enemies very effectively and are also visually impressive. And there are also finishing moves that can be activated if your focus bar is full. Unfortunately, the fights become a little bit of a routine after a time. There are everytime the same types of enemies you have to fight. Insomniac tries to put some variation into it by switching the types of enemies together, but we wished there would be more types in this game.

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From time to time it is very useful to fight in the darkness. We know this method from the Batman games, too. Unfortunately, compared to the batman games, in Spider-Man they only implemented a Stealth-Light-Variants. For example, it is not possible to activate a mode in which you sneak. Players should use Spider-Man’s ability to climb on walls to get over the heads of the enemies. With the help of Spider-Man’s swings you can get to positions, where it is possible to take down your enemies by only one hit. But pay attention. If other enemies see a one of his team-mates cocooned, they will activate the alarm. End of it could be, that they kill the hostages which equals a failed mission. Great is that you can use different gadgets like in the Batman games, too.

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Yes, this parts of the game are not so good like in other stealth-adventures, but it provides a great variety. This missions give the player the freedom, how they want to beat the enemies. It looks very different in mission in which one you play for example as MJ. This missions are also made as stealth one. They also are using the vulnerability of the characters. Here you have to hide yourself most of the time, because they have no opportunity to protect themself. In this missions we could notice, how great and fair the auto-save-points been set by the developer. We thing that this missions are implemented at the right place in the game and a especially as a great variation to the game’s action and tempo.

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Let’s now take a look at the open world. We can not say anything bad about the visual work: The city is very busy with its full streets and its civilians. And we can say the same for the vertical life.  If you take a pause while you are running a building up, you will see that not only the surroundings beautifully reflects on the glass. You can also see great modeled rooms through the windows. You can also find for example some people partying on roofs of the high skyscrapers. People are going for a walk in the well known Central Park and there a lot busy people walking on the Times Square. We also recommend to you to visit the Avengers Tower. What we also love are the changes of the day-light and weather. We wished, the people that are running through the city would be made with much more details. They look a little bit strange especially if you take a closer look.

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But there are other things that are more important. An Open-World-Games has to have enough missions and there should be enough stimuli to explore the world. In addition, it should not look like the developers had fly with a plain over the map and indiscriminately dropped packages with missions and goodies. Thanks good, the developers didn’t it like that. They placed every side quests, activities and missions in which you can collect some loot are very well placed in the whole open world. But there are differences in the qualities of the missions. The side quests are not connected with the main story but tell additional some nice anecdotes. Unfortunately, the side missions in other games like for example in Arkham City are more varied. Unfortunately we have also to say, that the great story was one of the big reasons we keep playing this game over 30 years. The side quests have a nice feature. Only by playing them it is possible to get more than 25 different Spidey-Suits and to develop or increase the gadgets.

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Players can have a lot of fun with the new Spider-Man game. The main story of the game is fantastic. It includes a cinematically staged main story that includes drama, action and intensity and interesting surprises. The game offers a gameplay-time from 25 up to 30 hours. The dynamic of the fights remembers us on the Batman games made by Rocksteady. But with Spider-Man’s web skills and the interaction with the surroundings the fights are very intuitive and believable as the swing between the buildings. The stealth parts are a great change of pace, but we wished they would be so great like in the Batman games. The city looks very busy because of the many people that are walking around. The attractions are looking great. The combination of the open world, the great story, the fantastic presentation with this fantastic mechanics result together in a fantastic super hero game. Well done Insomniac. A game every PS4 owner should play.

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