Spider-Man Looks Great and I Can’t Wait to Play it
With a day until release, review scores paint a bright picture
When Super Mario Odyssey released, I wrote a few paragraphs about its remarkable critical reception. It garnered massively positive scores from numerous publications and finished the year in a virtual tie with Nintendo’s other big game from the year: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. As Sony’s newest big game comes out tomorrow, I think it’s worth recording my observations of the reception for Spider-Man as well.
While the critical reception for Spider-Man can’t quite match the applause that reviewers gave Mario, the reviews that released on Tuesday were still overwhelmingly positive. IGN’s Jonathon Dornbush wrote, “At its core, Insomniac Games’ new adventure strives to make you feel like Spider-Man. And, thankfully, Marvel’s Spider-Man on PS4 succeeds at nearly every swing across Manhattan’s rooftops.” Reviews that I read from other publications — like Kotaku or Polygon — were similarly generous. From all accounts, PlayStation has another top-tier exclusive releasing on Friday.
Perhaps what I’m most impressed by right now is Sony’s incredible run of published games. Anyone even casually familiar with video games knows that 2018’s God of War did incredibly well from both a critical and monetary perspective, prompting reviews so positive that they left the game’s director in tears. This game’s success comes on the heels of 2017’s Horizion Zero Dawn and 2016’s Uncharted 4. If you want to go even further back, Sony also released games like the Ratchet and Clank series, The Last of Us, three other Uncharted games, and many others. Spider-Man comes from a rich tradition of quality exclusive games.
Here’s the reaction video from God of War’s director:
Spider-Man encapsulates a great deal of Sony’s approach toward first-party games this console generation, specifically. It’s primarily single-player, has a strong focus on world building and narrative, and was developed by a studio with an incredibly-strong track record. Compared to games like Uncharted or God of War, these similarities are easy to spot. It’s remarkable that PlayStation has stitched together this level of consistency from its diverse group of developers. Indeed, these studios deserve an enormous amount of credit.
From everything I’ve read, Spider-Man also carves its own unique space in both Sony’s lineup and the broader industry. Developer Insomniac’s focus on creating a bright, interesting version of New York — coupled with the impressive movement mechanics that every Spider-Man game should have — make this a unique experience. Insomniac has always created games with interesting gameplay and unique things for players to do, and in may ways their talent is a perfect fit for this franchise.
I’ve said about as much as I can without actually playing the game (something I hope to remedy shortly). I had high hopes for this title, expectations that I think many others shared given both Sony’s and Insomniac’s reputations. I’ll get my hands on this game as soon as I can, but until then I’m glad to see the reception it has garnered.
