As the famous Stan Lee would say, “Web-heads, it’s time to listen up.” Spider-Man for the PS4 has finally graced us and with it comes a new Spider-Man adventure that is perfect for fans and newcomers alike. Those who love open world games with free flow combat similar to Batman: Arkham titles will love Spider-Man’s gameplay and themes. Ultimately though, we know you readers out there want to hear more about this new Spider-Man title and to do that, you’ll have to do just one thing true believers. Continue downwards and read more about what to expect from Spider-Man’s newest outing.

Spider-Man takes the young hero Peter Parker and throws him into a new challenge. Players will get to enjoy a large recreation of Manhattan, New York as they swing around as the famous webbed warrior and defeat baddies in beautiful 3rd person combat. With tons of collectibles to find hidden in the city as well as old and new enemies to face, Pete will have a grand old time in this new journey he’s been thrust in. Can Peter rekindle his long-lost love with MJ all while saving his job and the city from its biggest threat yet? Find out in Spider-Man developed by the great team at Insomniac Games!

Peter Parker continues dealing with his dual lives. Trying to balance his life of poverty and work for Doctor Otto Octavius with his hero role as Spider-Man continues to bring Peter a set of highs in life and lows as well. However, Peter will be tested in new ways when after taking down Fisk and having a new group rise up in his place. Can Spider-Man—aka Peter Parker—survive this new threat all while rekindling a lost love in his now ex Mary Jane? It’s time to swing into Peter’s newest battle in Spider-Man for the PS4.

Spider-Man has been one franchise that has spiraled a web of content since its inception decades ago with the comic book series and continues to shine even now in 2018. In terms of the movies, the Spider-Man series has had its flops and successes which is seen also in the gaming world that the famous web-head can’t seem to get enough of. Spider-Man 2—which released back in 2004—has been one of the fan favorites giving players a true feeling of being Spidey in a way no other game has captured quite as well. However, this might have changed in the most recent Spider-Man game released by developer Insomniac Games—known for Ratchet and Clank and Sunset Overdrive—which could be the solution to giving fans the feeling of being a radioactive Spider-Man all over again. Let’s find out as we dive headlong into our review of Spider-Man for the PS4.

Spider-Man for the PS4 re-enters the world of Peter Parker who has found himself—as always—struggling to make ends meet and deal with the balance in life. With love problems due to the red-headed Mary Jane Watson and a new gang rising after Wilson Fisk is taken down, Peter is finding life once more getting tangled up in his responsibilities. Right off the bat though the beauty of this set up is that Spider-Man doesn’t play with origin story repeats or the need to recertify Spidey as a hero. Players already are thrown into Peter/Spider-Man’s world without feeling like they need to regain his skills mastered over his lifetime as a vigilante and instead focus on gaining more skills and dealing with their lives in the now. One thing we’re noticing most reviewers commenting on is that the dual lives of both Peter and his masked alter ego are interesting to see unfold, which we also agree with. Right off the bat, Spider-Man is a great story that will keep you invested from the moment you deal with taking down Fisk to the conclusion of dealing with a rather interesting villain.

Gameplay wise is where Spider-Man truly shines stronger than any other title in the franchise. Spider-Man feels great to play from pinpoint accurate web swinging around the city—which once fully learned makes for some almost Zen-like relaxation—to the actual combat. Spider-Man plays it safe gameplay wise by mirroring the Batman: Arkham series in having a simple button fighting system but with a spidey twist. Combat allows for numerous skills to be learned and utilized as you level up and gain more suits—more on the suits briefly—which only create a stronger Spider-Man as you progress through the 10-15-hour story. If Spider-Man had a weakness gameplay wise, it would be that boss battles tend to be very formulaic resulting in the usual do this and then that several times affairs. It doesn’t make for lack luster boss encounters, but it does make you care more for gang hideout fights—which have you fighting dozens of enemies in waves—or random police pursuits more than the story set battles against familiar enemies like Shocker or Rhino.

We mentioned suits by the way, but we wanted to elaborate on this gameplay mechanic a bit more in detail. Suits in Spider-Man are a form of both fangasiming glory and upgrades to your spider hero. In game, players will unlock dozens of different missions that range from collecting backpacks to doing research for Harry Osborn—Peter’s longtime friend—and with the completion of these missions/sub stories, you’ll unlock tokens and various suits. Suits can gain powers that once unlocked can be utilized with any suit of your choice—only one per suit though so you won’t be rocking iron legs and electro fists together, sadly—and makes scouring the city for events more worth your time. Just be prepared to feel almost insanely overpowered once you begin to unlock some upgrades and begin to realize which ones will always make for a quick skirmish.

Finally, we’re going to wrap up this gameplay section with the visuals and sound for Spider-Man. Visually, Spider-Man is second to none, folks…Quite literally, this is the best-looking Spider-Man title to ever hit any console ever. The amount of detail in Manhattan—even though some elements are removed to keep more in tune with the Marvel world—is incredible. Many of the hundreds of buildings have windows that you can legit peer into and see furniture and detail in them or even see pedestrians just living their lives even if they are run on specific codes. As someone who frequents Manhattan, Spider-Man does an incredible job of keeping the feeling of the “city that never sleeps” and it shows in every faucet of design. Though you will tend to notice some strange glitches here and there, but it’s understandable as most open-world games have a plethora of strange bugs.

Sound wise, Spider-Man is a treat to hear in both the OST—that feels like an epic Avengers movie—and voice acting wise. Those who know anime dubs will recognize Peter Parker as Yuri Lowenthal and he is joined by other famous voice actors such as Travis Willingham, Tara Platt and Laura Bailey to name a few. These voice actors/actresses do a terrific job with their characters making each line of narration feel truly immersive. The OST also keeps things moving with epic scores that never get tiring to hear and make everything from casual roaming the city moments to epic fights awesome to hear from a nice speaker set up.

Spider-Man for the PS4 is easily the best Spider-Man game ever crafted and will probably stay that way for some time. Everything from swinging around Manhattan to taking down baddies feels like you’re literally in the body of the famous web head. If we had any complaints it would be that occasionally the boss battles can be a bit underwhelming and we did notice some glitches here and there, but that’s to be expected in such a huge game. Even with those minor—and we mean minor—hiccups, Spider-Man is the game you need to buy if you loved the Batman: Arkham series and or just love Spider-Man. Do we recommend buying Spider-Man? You better believe it, folks, you NEED to buy Spider-Man as this will be a great game for some time to come.

Spider-Man 2 on the PS2 was—as we mentioned—one of the best Spidey games until now. Spider-Man by Insomniac Games truly is going to go down in history as the best game from the franchise and it deserve such praise without a doubt in our heart. Have you picked up Spider-Man yet or plan on doing so soon? Let us know in the comments below and if we somehow influenced you into picking it up. For all your gaming related needs such as reviews and news, be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime.