Spider-Man’s Best Part is the Characters
Specifically, the kind you’d want to spend time around
This story is spoiler-free for the most part, with only a few minor details from early on in the game.
When I boot up Insomniac’s Spider-Man every night (which has been my routine for the last two weeks), I almost immediately jump off a building and start swinging through the streets. I’ll build up speed, hurtle through the air after reaching the apex of a swing, and then use my momentum to go even faster on the next one. I may get distracted by one of Spider-Man’s backpacks or side missions, but I’ll inevitably make my way to the next story mission before too long while enjoying every second of the character’s movement.
The best part of Spider-Man isn’t the swinging, though, or the excellent combat system, or even the beautiful re-creation of Manhattan: it’s the people. It’s a cliche to say that a video game world feels ‘real’ at this point, so I’ll say something else. Insomniac’s world of New York isn’t just somewhere that feels like a lived-in place: it’s somewhere that I would want to live, if I could. The case of main and side characters are well-written and built out, and they’re the kind of people I want to cheer for as the plot develops. There’s also real tragedy in this story, and the ways that Insomniac’s writers have handled the story beats and moment-to-moment dialog are fantastic. The end result is that these are some of the best characters I’ve ever seen in a game.
Early on in the game, Peter Parker stops by Aunt May’s workplace, F.E.A.S.T. It’s a homeless shelter with an emphasis on helping people get back on their feet, and it’s immediately clear that Peter feels at home the instant he steps in the door. This is where technical prowess helps with storytelling — Peter looks calm and relaxed, and this demeanor and easygoing dialog with the people who live at F.E.A.S.T implies that he comes by on a regular basis. The story quickly demands that Peter leave again for his Spider-Man duties, but several other missions have him go back to F.E.A.S.T, and this location is important for several other main story missions later on.
F.E.A.S.T is an example of how well the game handles its characters. I already mentioned that some of the inhabitants will talk back to Peter, but these pieces of dialog fit with his character outside of the location, too. He’s smart, funny, and a little awkward, but perhaps the most crucial part is that he always tries to help people and seems genuinely concerned about their safety. In one scene, Spider-Man rescues a woman from some criminals, and tells her to go to F.E.A.S.T if she needs a place to stay. A few scenes later, that same woman meets Peter in F.E.A.S.T and has some encouraging words after he hits some bad luck in his personal life.
One of Spider-Man’s hallmarks as a character is that he can never handle the competing stresses of being a superhero and being a person trying to get through life. That plays out in Insomniac’s offering as well, largely because Peter can never say no to helping someone out. At his research job, he works without pay for a while because of his relationship with Dr. Octavius, and his relationships with Miles Morales and Mary Jane Watson show a similar commitment to helping people. Peter isn’t perfect — there are some moments when he makes real mistakes that become their own part of the story — but he is so well-written, well-acted, and genuinely kind that he is a perfect emotional core for the story Insomniac tells. When he gets in trouble, it’s usually because he was trying to help literally everyone.
The supporting cast is similarly excellent. Aunt May works tirelessly at F.E.A.S.T, pulling long hours to keep the shelter running. Mary Jane and Miles are also interesting, helpful, and emotionally complex. As side characters, they’re in the story mainly to be part of Peter’s life, but the writing makes it clear that they have lives and stories of their own as well. Their depth adds to the overarching narrative.
All of these points bring me back to my main one — the world of Insomniac’s Spider-Man is one I’d want to live in because of these characters. It’s not perfect by any means (there are some moments of pain and sorrow that I won’t spoil here), but the main characters are all genuinely trying to do the right thing and help each other out. There are so many games, books, movies, and tv shows where that isn’t the case that seeing a world full of good-hearted people is heartwarming. Shows like Stranger Things rely on a similar framework to create good characters, and it’s an effective technique.
The narrative and emotional depth of Spider-Man is built on the framework of one of the best action games in recent memory. Multiple reviewers have praised the traversal mechanics, the combat system that gradually builds in both difficulty and complexity, and the vivid portrait of New York that provides the backdrop to every encounter. Spider-Man is more than just a technical marvel, though: it has fantastic characters and amazing writing. It’s these attributes, perhaps more than anything else, that I can’t wait to see in a sequel.
