Well this has been a long time coming. Yes, I could have bought it at any point but it was seventy paahnd or something else obscene so I didn’t. Then I got it for Christmas and it was added to the pile and in the last week, I finally got round to playing it. Just as Sony gave it away as a free rental on PS++++++++. The secret to comedy, is timing.
Let me first tell you about the install procedure. It took several hours to install the disc (remember those?) to the PS5’s internal SSD. Then, it took FOUR DAYS to download the 81GB update which presumably replaces the entire game I’d already waited impatiently to install. Then, it took TWO MORE DAYS “copying”. Exactly what it was copying, either from or where to, isn’t clear, but that was a long time for what is supposed to be the fastest storage media on any console ever. And then, when it finished copying, I had to wait another 17 minutes for “…”. Literally, that’s what it said it was doing. Just “…”. For 17 minutes. And people used to complain about Spectrum games taking two minutes to load.
Anyway. That furore overcome, I finally got into the game and oh my is it fun. I remember really enjoying the previous two games, and this is just more of the same, but it just plays so well! There’s loads to do, it looks fantastic, and – as has been the case for decades worth of Spideymens games – the web swinging never gets dull. Insomniac have even added “web wings” to let you glide, and there are paths that follow wind currents you can use so that getting around the (even bigger than before) city of New York is quick and fluid and a joy of acrobatics.
The plot this time centres on Harry Osborn’s miraculous recovery from the terminal illness he found he had in the first game, how the cure is actually, well, a spoiler, and how Kraven the Hunter has turned up in the city trying to find the ultimate prey (and finds the array of supervillains he hunts first are somewhat disappointing). The gameplay, however, is the same super athletic baddie juggling and/or Batman Arkham style sneaky takedowns as before, just for different reasons.
So far, I’ve met and nearly died at the hands of Venom, beaten the Lizard and Kraven, completed Sandman’s “mission”, and taken down (mostly) the cult that I’m pretty certain is going to return in Spider-Man 3 led by Carnage. Oh, and saved a museum from closure because I found a stolen sax-a-ma-phone.
