Marvel’s Spider-Man, an action-adventure story driven game developed by Insomniac games, truly lives up to its tag line “Be Greater.” With three film franchises, thousands of comics, and a few good video game adaptations, the developers knew that most people understand the basics of the character, so they flipped it on its head. This version of Spider-Man casts the superhero at age twenty three, unlike most stories involving the character where he is still a high school student. This gave the team at Insomniac an opportunity to create a new and immersive story that gives the player a new look at a classic character. The developers didn’t want to just make a story about Spider-Man, but one that dives into the stresses of adulthood. To achieve this, they don’t just tell the story of the web slinging hero, but also the story of the man behind the mask, Peter Parker. Combining both the lives of Spider-Man and Peter Parker allow the player to see how the story is affecting the character in both aspects of his life.

While the story is great, no video-game can “Be Greater” if the gameplay itself

isn’t up to par. Luckily, the game has very few problems but a few noticeable ones. The game has very fluid controls; whether you’re swinging around the city or stopping a robbery, you feel like you yourself are doing the actions, not just controlling a character behind a screen. The combat is simple to understand but has a lot of depth to it if you take the time to learn more about it. The game is filled to the brim with activities to do after the main story is complete, so you’ll never get bored. All of these missions have rewards which help the player get new suits for Spider-Man from the many different comics and movies the character has starred in. The city of New York really feels like a living, breathing city. It is full of citizens with different opinions on Spider-Man, cars, taxis, and more. The only major flaws in the game are that it has a big learning curve, meaning that it takes time to learn how to do certain tasks efficiently, and it has one or two too many quick time events (QTE). A QTE is a way of allowing a player to interact in a scene by having a prompt pop up on scene, and having the player press it shortly after. This could be a problem because it can take away from a scene that the player could have freely controlled.

In the end, Marvel’s Spider-Man is a testament to how great the character is. The game uses a combination of blockbuster story techniques, and basic third person action game mechanics with a little twist to create a game that truly lives up to the catchphrase, “Be Greater.”