Marvel's Spider-Man (PlayStation 4) review "Might be the best super-hero game I've played. I mean, I haven't played a lot, but this one's still really good!"

When playing Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man one night, I was hit by the realization that, in one specific way, it was different from any other sandbox game I had personally played. Usually when playing a game of this sort, I become intimately familiar with my surroundings, often where I don’t even really need the map to find my way around because I’ve traveled those roads enough to have buildings and other landmarks memorized to the degree that wandering the worlds of those games is as intuitive for me as it is to go from place to place in the area I’ve lived in for a few decades.

Spider-Man is different because Peter Parker’s alter-ego doesn’t drive a car, ride a horse or walk. Instead, he uses his web-slinging abilities to soar far above the streets, using buildings and whatever else is available as anchors for his web-vines. As a result, I never had to learn the terrain, as I could simply “fly” above it all. Sure, in order to complete various optional objectives, I had to descend long enough to get pictures of a large number of landmarks and I did have to explore a number of city blocks to find all sorts of collectibles, but I couldn’t tell you what roads are the best to take you from one place to another because I never had to find out and there was no reason to do so. That was weird.

On the other hand, I did get very familiar with the crunch of Spider-Man’s fist into the faces of one criminal after another and that never felt weird. Or got old. Spider-Man is a game that’s all about amassing all sorts of gadgets and combat skills and putting them to work on a vast number of criminals — both ordinary and super-powered. And that was intoxicating. So, so intoxicating. It might have felt different from the average sandbox game, but the thrill was the same.

Since it’s been a long, long time since I’ve picked up a comic book and I’m more into horror than superhero movies, I can’t tell you if this game is based on any of the stories told in those forms of media. I can tell you that it does tell a good tale that does set Spider-Man against a large number of his classic foes, as well as a few people I’d never heard of before. Maybe in the case of over-the-top Internet influencer Screwball and her series of really annoying challenges scattered through the game’s three DLC expansions, I wish I still was lucky enough to be ignorant of her existence, but for the most part, everything hit the right way.



You start out the game helping cops bring down Kingpin and send him off to jail. Now, a person might think that going after the mobster who essentially runs the show as far as New York City’s crime goes would be the climax of a game, but here, it’s your tutorial to learn how to fight and move around with Spider-Man. And there’s a good reason for that. Sure, Kingpin’s not remotely a good guy, but he does have a strong and commanding presence that keeps everyone else in their place. With him out of the picture…well, there’s going to be a lot of other guys deciding its their time to ascend to the top of the pecking order.

And sure enough, that starts happening. A new gang, the Demons, shows up and those guys are pretty organized and powerful. Powerful enough to have regular adversary Shocker working for them in one of those “too scared to not do their bidding” ways. They also seem to have a well-coordinated plan behind their actions that Spider-Man will have to figure out if he hopes to stop them.

Of course, he has his own problems to deal with as Peter Parker. He’s constantly broke and gets evicted from his apartment, leading to him moving into the shelter where Aunt May works. His relationship with Mary Jane is in an “it’s complicated” phase because she feels she’s a resourceful person who could be helping him get information and he’s more of the opinion that she should stay far away from any potential danger. And, last but certainly not least, his employment under Dr. Otto Octavius is a bit precarious, as Otto has a long-standing feud with Norman Osborn, Norm’s the mayor of the city and he’s all-too-willing to find any reason possible to shut down Otto’s lab. And if you’re remotely familiar with the subject matter, you’re probably already tossing red flags simply because you know that any partnership between Spider-Man and the guy also known as Dr. Octopus isn’t going to end well.

Dealing with these issues probably makes it a relief for Peter to put on the Spider-Man costume and pound on some criminals. Combat’s a lot of fun in this game, which is good, as you’ll be seeing a lot of it. Outside of the main story, there are crimes being committed all over the city, various criminal factions have set up bases throughout its districts and the occasional adversary will offer challenges via side quests.

Early on, things can be pretty tough simply because Spider-Man isn’t the most durable hero out there and lacks combat options beyond punching guys and using his webs to temporarily blind or restrain them. However, by completing missions and beating up bad guys, he’ll gain experience that leads to increasing his level. Doing this gradually increases his health and power, as well as providing him with a number of gadgets and additional suits — each with its own beneficial power — that make battles a bit easier to get through.



These confrontations tend to be fast-paced, with many thugs swarming Spider-Man, while cohorts hang back and take shots at him with pistols and rocket launchers. Occasionally, bulky foes enter the fray, usually requiring you to use your webbing to either restrain them or fling an object into their bodies in order to actually cause damage. As you progress farther into the game, tougher adversaries start appearing. You have guys using jetpacks to provide an aerial assault, as well shielded foes against whom you must use your speed in order to whack them from behind. By the time you reach the game’s DLC chapters, some of those big guys will start wielding mini-guns, making being in their line of sight risky.

With Spider-Man, you will have a nimble guy to control, though, making those large fights a lot of fun, at least when you’ve gotten into a groove and are bounding from one enemy to the next smoothly and efficiently. It can get a bit annoying at times, though, as the camera will occasionally move on its own to show you a distant enemy about to do something, causing you to lose sight of whatever foe you were about to attack.

The other flaws I found with this game at least were “my opinion” stuff other than annoying gameplay elements. I already mentioned how I disliked Screwball’s DLC challenges, which were basically tougher versions of optional stuff handed to you by some guy named Taskmaster in the base game. Also, four of Spider-Man’s more iconic enemies get broken out of jail about two-thirds of the way through the game, only to make a scant couple of appearances before the web-slinger takes them all down in a pair of two-on-one battles. Which felt like a somewhat wasted use of those villains. And finally, you do occasionally get to control both Mary Jane and youngster Miles Morales in stealth sections that felt like tacked-on filler because I’m not the biggest fan of random stealth missions being tossed into my beat-em-up brawling.

But those issues didn’t come close to ruining my enjoyment of Marvel’s Spider-Man. I’ve played a few video games featuring him and this one was easily the most immersive. Being able to swing my way through a large city and fight crime was a lot of fun, I had a blast beating up various thugs and the story was enjoyable in the same way that I recall liking some of those bigger comic book plot-lines that lasted several issues back in the day. All in all, I had a great time with this game and thought it did a commendable job of capturing the vibe of being in control of one of our time’s most famous and enduring superheroes.

Staff review by Rob Hamilton (May 08, 2026) Rob Hamilton is the official drunken master of review writing for Honestgamers.