Marvel's Spider-Man Review

Insomniac solved the only problem that matters in a Spider-Man game, which is what your thumbs feel like between fights. The web swinging is momentum-accurate, attaches to actual building geometry, and rewards timed jumps and wall runs with speed you can lose by being careless, so traversing Manhattan never decays into autopilot. Combat borrows the Arkham rhythm but adds verticality and gadgets, and web-based crowd control keeps the air busy rather than the ground.

Writing Peter as an experienced twenty-three-year-old instead of a teenager is the smart call, and Doc Ock's arc is built patiently through Otto's lab scenes long before the turn arrives. The city is dense and beautifully lit, with a photo mode that flatters it constantly. The costs are familiar open-world ones: too many towers and radio-tower crimes, and the Mary Jane and Miles stealth sections stop the game dead every single time they appear. The swinging alone would carry a lesser game, and this one has a real story around it.