a classic hero gets the game he deserves

I wanted Marvel's on PS4 to make me feel like Spider-Man: To sail between the highrises of New York City, to nimbly web up hordes of enemies, and tussle with familiar, animal-themed villains. Insomniac Games' first foray into the world of Marvel handily delivers on all of that.

The simply titled Marvel's Spider-Man allows Peter Parker to freely swing around an open-world New York as his alter ego-to intervene in street crimes, seek out collectibles, and gradually progress through a larger plot that features multiple villains.

I'll make this blunt. Marvel's Spider-Man is the best video game you will play this year. That sentence is said with no added qualifiers. I don't care if this is normally not your kind of game, if you think the premise of a man swinging through Manhattan on spider webs is dumb, or that comics are...

King of swing

Gorgeous visuals; Excellent gameplay; Well-written story and characters; Lots of nods to Marvel and Spider-Man's history; Surprises galore; Side quests and activities are lots of fun

Some bugs that temporarily hindered progress

If you were to sit people down and ask them what their favourite Spider-Man game is, chances are you'd get the answer of either Neversoft's game on the original PlayStation or Treyarch's Spider-Man 2 from 2004.

Spider-Man games have a long history of being disappointing on some level, but Insomniac has crafted a game worthy of the name. They've managed to capture the essence of what controlling Spider-Man should feel like and surrounded this core idea with an incredible presentation and level of depth that...

Every so often, a piece of media becomes the gold standard for a genre; the benchmark which all subsequent efforts attempt to surpass. Super Mario Bros. was one of those games, Grand Theft Auto 3 another.

Absolutely gorgeous; Tight and effective storytelling; Feels so f***ing good

Limited variety of crimes to stop; Some stupid AI

Did you know Spider-Man sells way more toys than any other superhero More than gritty Batman, more than wholesome Superman and even more than super squad-goals, The Avengers.

Marvel's Spider-Man boasts a memorable story that does justice to a classic character. The setpieces are awesome, the story regularly put a smile on my face, and the swinging is satisfying, but everything outside of the main story suffers from feeling a little by-the-numbers and repetitive, yet when...