Warning: The article you are about to read contains spoilers for Marvel’s new Spider-Man game.
The game starts off in New York City, where a 23-year-old Peter Parker is rudely awoken by a message on the police scanner, who have apparently surrounded the last known location of the mafia kingpin, Wilson Fisk. Realizing he has more important places to be, he jumps into his suit and leaps out the window, headed towards danger. On arrival, Spider-Man is greeted by the lack of strength in the police who were being pinned down by Fisk’s Men. Receiving the nod from the chief of police, Spidey takes matters into his own hands and takes down Fisk’s men, making it all the way up to the tower, where we can see the kingpin, sitting at his desk, with not a care in the world for all the commotion happening below him. After a quick exchange of wits and Marvel’s infamous one-liners, an epic battle ensues, following which Fisk is seen arrested by the cops.
Just before he leaves, he warns Spidey that he has tipped the balance in the underworld. Spider-Man just ignores the comment. Now that his part-time job and hobby has ended, Peter rushes to Octavius’s lab to start his day as a research assistant to Dr. Otto Octavius where he must help him build prosthetic limbs to please their government financiers. The presentation goes south and the mayor, Mr. Osborn cuts their funding. This forces Octavius to look for other means of funding.
The absence of Fisk leads to a vacuum of power which is being tried to be filled by Demons, a masked group of men taking over Fisk’s illicit operations by force. His ex-girlfriend MJ Watson uses her investigative journalist prowess to find out that Fisk’s stuff is being moved around. On further inspection, she finds a link between Fisk and Norman Osborn, CEO of Oscorp, the largest science R&D lab ever. The link is a drug called Devil’s Breath. Spidey investigates the hide-out where the Demons are allegedly stashing their weapons along with an officer, Jefferson Davis. What follows is an intense car chase as some of the Demons were caught red-handed. It climaxes into a big finish where Spidey keeps a gasoline tanker from falling into a subway and exploding. One Demon decided to run a truck into the wall crawler. He is saved by the heroic action of Officer Davis, who also happens to be Miles Morales’ father. Now Morales is under Peter Parker’s protection as his dad is hospitalized after that heroic incident and dies later saving people from a suicide bomber at a public gathering.
Meanwhile, Octavius uses his brain to control the prosthetic limbs via a neural interface which leads the limbs to take control over the mind and not the other way around. A prison break from Ryker’s island leads to Spidey confronting his worst enemies all at once—Vulture, Electro, Scorpion, Rhino, Shocker, Taskmaster, Screwball and Tomb-stone—while defeating these villains and saving New York City and the free world. Dr. Octavius, now infamously called as Dr. Oc-topus, teams up with Martin Li, who Spidey knows by another name, Mr. Negative, in his attempt to get his revenge against Osborn and Oscorp by threatening to release the bioweapon Devil’s Breath in Times Square, unless the mayor surrenders to them. The damage is done and only one man can save the day and get the AntiSerum from Dr. Oc-topus. Spider-Man!
One enhanced black and yellow suit and a couple modifications later, Spidey takes on Dr. Octopus in an ultimate boss fight, but this time it is personal, after having realized that Aunt May is also affected by the virus. After what seems like an emotionally and physically exhausting battle between the mentor and mentee, Spidey gets the AntiSerum and has a difficult decision to make, save his aunt right away or synthesize enough samples to cure all the people affected all over the city. The right decision is taken, as the next scene shows us the funeral ceremony of his beloved aunt and free serum distribution to all those affected at a health camp run by Miles. The game ends with MJ and Peter getting back together after all the ordeals. An extra cutscene shows Osborn walking into a secret room in his house where we can see Harry Osborn, his son, floating in a vat of green liquid with some kind of black substance all over him.
This game, in a lot of ways, bridges the gap of all the six Spider-Man movies over the decades, spanning three different casts too. The highlight of this game is the animation level work done by the developers, an open world concept, easy controls and the insane number of suit selections that can be unlocked through the entire course of the game. Another thing the game does is the introduction of Miles Morales as the new Spider-Man, as he is seen getting bit by a black and red genetically modified spider, which is yet to be done in the MCU.
The suits used in the game come with their individual unique abilities like bullet-proof ones, ones that give a power surge to the enemies and a lot more like these. Some of my favorite suits include the iron spider suit from Avengers Infinity War, the Spider-Man homecoming suit from the movie, the homemade suit and the classic comic book suit with blackened edges. And Stan Lee, Spider-Man’s creator, makes a voice cameo as the server at the restaurant where Peter Parker and MJ Watson regularly meet, passing a comment about how they look good together. This game helps Marvel fans keep themselves occupied while anxiously waiting for the release of Avengers 4. Ultimately, this game was very well received by the Marvel audience and gamers alike which makes this a must try for all people out there because with great power comes great responsibility.
*Note: This article ran 11/15/2018
