It’s not often I play a big all-the-graphics modern games these days. In fact, even Spider-Man 2 is now a few years old. It does look amazing but the important thing is how it plays.

Very few games are this much fun to just get from A to B. Batman: Arkham Knight was, and the first Sony Spider-Man was, but most other games don’t give you the freedom and the tools and the verticality that just make it a joy to get around. This adds gliding and air-streams to the original, making long distance travel even faster – which is just as well as the map now covers more of New York. Or you can just be boring and fast travel, which actually looks all fancy because there’s no loading thanks to The Power of the PS5 SSD. Which, as I said before, is only fast in-game, not when doing file management. Tch.

So actually being the Spider-Man, or Spider-Men, or Spider-Mans (it is debated in the game as to the correct term) is a lot of fun, but the story needs to be good in order to take you through. And it is, if not quite as good as the previous instalments. You’ve got Pete still dealing with the death of Aunt May, and trying to mentor Miles while getting fired from a teaching job and generally not having any time or money, and you’ve got Miles who has college applications to sort and his dead dad to get over and him feeling increasingly concerned about Pete when, well, spoiler if you’ve not already heard about it, Venom makes an appearance. Plus all the Spider-Stuff they’ve both got going on, Harry Osborn on the brink of death for most of the game, and a number of Spiderfoes all being broken out of jail so that Kraven The Hunter can take them down meaning, weirdly, the Spider-Men have to save them.

It’s a lot.

And that’s before you get all the random side quests and street crimes and Sandman B-plot and photos you have to take and everything. I think this might be partly why the story just doesn’t hit like it did in the previous games – there’s too much distraction. That said, Kraven really isn’t a top tier Spider-Man villain like Doctor Octopus was, so it’s not the only reason. Sure, there’s Venom, but, I was expecting the Green Goblin. Maybe in Spider-Man 3? If they ever make it.

In conclusion (written like an AI, I know), it’s an excellent game, with lots to do and some amazing combat and traversal mechanics. Please don’t make me buy a PS6 for the next one.

It’s not often I play a big all-the-graphics modern games these days. In fact, even Spider-Man 2 is now a few years old. It does look amazing but the important thing is how it plays.

Very few games are this much fun to just get from A to B. Batman: Arkham Knight was, and the first Sony Spider-Man was, but most other games don’t give you the freedom and the tools and the verticality that just make it a joy to get around. This adds gliding and air-streams to the original, making long distance travel even faster – which is just as well as the map now covers more of New York. Or you can just be boring and fast travel, which actually looks all fancy because there’s no loading thanks to The Power of the PS5 SSD. Which, as I said before, is only fast in-game, not when doing file management. Tch.

So actually being the Spider-Man, or Spider-Men, or Spider-Mans (it is debated in the game as to the correct term) is a lot of fun, but the story needs to be good in order to take you through. And it is, if not quite as good as the previous instalments. You’ve got Pete still dealing with the death of Aunt May, and trying to mentor Miles while getting fired from a teaching job and generally not having any time or money, and you’ve got Miles who has college applications to sort and his dead dad to get over and him feeling increasingly concerned about Pete when, well, spoiler if you’ve not already heard about it, Venom makes an appearance. Plus all the Spider-Stuff they’ve both got going on, Harry Osborn on the brink of death for most of the game, and a number of Spiderfoes all being broken out of jail so that Kraven The Hunter can take them down meaning, weirdly, the Spider-Men have to save them.

It’s a lot.

And that’s before you get all the random side quests and street crimes and Sandman B-plot and photos you have to take and everything. I think this might be partly why the story just doesn’t hit like it did in the previous games – there’s too much distraction. That said, Kraven really isn’t a top tier Spider-Man villain like Doctor Octopus was, so it’s not the only reason. Sure, there’s Venom, but, I was expecting the Green Goblin. Maybe in Spider-Man 3? If they ever make it.

In conclusion (written like an AI, I know), it’s an excellent game, with lots to do and some amazing combat and traversal mechanics. Please don’t make me buy a PS6 for the next one.

New Spider-Man, same game. Well, that’s a little unfair. Miles is a bit different to Peter in a few ways. Notably, he has a “venom” power which lets him do smash attacks, and he also has far fewer gadgets, but actually the only bit difference is the plot.

Set soon after Spider-Man, it opens with a fight with Rhino (with the help of Peter), before you take over New York patrols while Peter leaves the country for reasons related to the previous game. Miles’ story involves the personal aftermath of the death of his father, his mum running for office, and the twin reveals about his uncle and his best friend from high school, but the plot of the game is about a company developing a clean near-unlimited power source which isn’t as safe as they say – and Miles needs to stop it going live.

Ultimately, it’s played out in the same way as before, on the same map of Manhattan (albeit now in winter), with similar fighting, challenges, crimes, and so on. That isn’t really a bad thing, as it’s great, but from the continuation of the last game’s events to the asset reuse and the much, much shorter playtime (it’s about 1/4 the length), it’s very clear that this is intended DLC repackaged as a standalone game. Thankfully, it’s thoroughly enjoyable for the same reasons as before, and Miles Morales has a much more interesting personal story and characterisation that Peter Parker ever did.

And yes, I 100%ed this one too. And now I’m out of Spider-Men to play.

New Spider-Man, same game. Well, that’s a little unfair. Miles is a bit different to Peter in a few ways. Notably, he has a “venom” power which lets him do smash attacks, and he also has far fewer gadgets, but actually the only bit difference is the plot.

Set soon after Spider-Man, it opens with a fight with Rhino (with the help of Peter), before you take over New York patrols while Peter leaves the country for reasons related to the previous game. Miles’ story involves the personal aftermath of the death of his father, his mum running for office, and the twin reveals about his uncle and his best friend from high school, but the plot of the game is about a company developing a clean near-unlimited power source which isn’t as safe as they say – and Miles needs to stop it going live.

Ultimately, it’s played out in the same way as before, on the same map of Manhattan (albeit now in winter), with similar fighting, challenges, crimes, and so on. That isn’t really a bad thing, as it’s great, but from the continuation of the last game’s events to the asset reuse and the much, much shorter playtime (it’s about 1/4 the length), it’s very clear that this is intended DLC repackaged as a standalone game. Thankfully, it’s thoroughly enjoyable for the same reasons as before, and Miles Morales has a much more interesting personal story and characterisation that Peter Parker ever did.

And yes, I 100%ed this one too. And now I’m out of Spider-Men to play.