Being a gamer most of my life, I never owned a PlayStation. After finally caving and buying a PlayStation 5 towards the end of 2024, “Marvel’s Spider-Man” is easily one of my favorite games of all time.

The game starts with Peter Parker intercepting comms of the New York Police Department, the Kingpin of the city, Fisk, is finally being brought down, due to his large control and manipulation of New York City.

This opening scene and boss fight give the player a perfect introduction to the swinging mechanic, attack combos, and how to properly take fights with enemies based on their weaponry and actual size.

Shortly afterwards you learn Peter Parker works for Doctor Octavius. He is working on developing his Nanotechnology that enables people to control prosthetic arms with their minds.

At this point, the game provides you with collectibles and side quests such as activating Oscorp towers that enable you to see that district of New York City on the map: Collectible backpacks that give you tokens to upgrade your gadgets, unlock new suits, and level up to progress in the skill tree to get new abilities for Spider-Man.

As the story progresses, we are introduced to Aunt May and Martin Li. Both of them help out at a homeless shelter known as F.E.A.S.T. However, the player comes to quickly realize that Martin Li isn’t who we think he is. He ends up becoming a villain known as Mister Negative, the leader of a criminal gang known as The Demons.

This part right here is the only actual gripe I have with this masterpiece of a video game. Compared to the usual “twist” villains I have seen in other video games and even movies, Martin Li was the most obvious villain I have ever seen. From the first introduction, the player can tell that he is suspicious and has some dark secrets.

Spider-Man then goes on to further investigate the origins of The Demons. He finds out from MJ about a possible hideout they have and ends up running into Jefferson Davis, a cop. Davis just so happens to be Miles Morales’ father which will come into play shortly. After their investigation, Spider-Man ends up chasing a car full of Demons.

Here is where Martin Li officially becomes Mister Negative. At an award ceremony for Davis’ heroic acts, one of the guards is a Demon who has a bomb strapped to his chest. All of this is in an attempt to try and kill Norman Osborne. While that was unsuccessful, Jefferson Davis does end up taking the fatal blow.

Overall Chapter 1 does a great job introducing the player to the game’s mechanics, laying out basic plot points and setting up what’s in store for the rest of the game. I would rate it an 8.5/10.

Chapter 2 starts out with going more into Mister Negative’s intentions and backstory. You raid his office at the F.E.A.S.T homeless shelter and learn valuable information. Martin Li is developing a disease known as Devil’s Breath, which is strong enough to strike the entirety of New York City with illness and death.

We see this after Mister Negative and his Demons take over an Oscorp event, holding everyone hostage and the Devil’s Breath set to go off at any moment.

This mission was easily my second favorite mission in the entire game. You play as MJ, but when the coast is clear, you call the shots for Spider-Man to help safely web up Demons so she can disarm the Devil’s Breath. It not only is a stealthy mission, but you get to play as both characters’ perspectives, seamlessly switching from one to another. Once you disarm the bomb as MJ, in order for the citizens to escape, it’s now up to Spider-Man to clear the way.

To end off this awesome mission, you then track down Mister Negative into a subway station nearby, and in all honesty, have a lackluster duel. He ends up getting sent to The Raft, but quickly you realize, this isn’t the last you will see of him or even other villains locked up in the maximum security prison.

During the time of all this, Doctor Octavius has finally struck big with his Nanotechnology. He has successfully made four working tentacles that are strapped to his back. But Peter is quick to analyze that the nanochip in his neck that controls these arms is extremely dangerous to himself. This is the moment where Octavius officially becomes the popular villain, Doctor Octopus.

Now comes the best mission in the game in my eyes, “Quarantine.” Somehow, after the Devil’s Breath was safely out of harm’s hand, it was broken out of the escort vehicle and is nowhere to be seen. To add insult to injury, a prison break is occurring due to a power shortage, and The Raft villains also end up escaping. These notorious villains are known as “The Sinister Six.” Shortly after their big reveal, it is revealed that Doctor Octavius was the one who sanctioned the prison break, and now has the Devil’s Breath in his possession.

Overall, Chapter 2 definitely excelled in the progression of the story much more compared to the first chapter. Not only that but throughout this time you continue to upgrade Spider-Man with new abilities and gadgets that help you out in combat. I’d give it an easy 9/10.

The last chapter is all about stopping the villains, the first boss fight you end up brawling in is both Vulture and Electro. I love that the first two boss fights of this chapter are two versus one; it adds variety to the boss fights and makes the player cautious about their surroundings. Ensuring that while taking on one bad guy, the other one isn’t rapidly approaching behind you.

The next boss duo is Lizard and Rhino. Beforehand, Spider-Man encounters the Lizard and injects him with poison, making Spider-Man blackout between reality and a false world created by the poison. This mission reminds me of the typical Call of Duty Black Ops psychological mission. I love when games tap into the mind a lot after what seems to be a relatively normal game.

Then comes the rematch with Mister Negative. Compared to the first boss fight, this one is what I envisioned the first fight to be. This is a boss fight in his own realm, fighting off corrupted soldiers while dodging his wide arrangement of attacks. All who is left now is Doctor Octopus, who is after one thing and one thing only, the antiserum for the Devil’s Breath developed by Norman Osborne.

The game ends in a cinematic final boss fight and a heartbreaking, tragic decision. Spider-Man develops an “Anti-Ock” suit, made by the same Nanotechnology Otto’s arms are made of to help fight in an extremely cinematic rooftop battle.

After all the trouble that has happened to our hero, he is faced with one last decision. Aunt May the entirety of Chapter 3 has been struck with the Devil’s Breath illness. With the antiserum in his hand, Peter has to choose between saving his aunt or allowing the sample to be duped to save the entirety of New York City. In tears, Peter approaches Aunt May assuring her that everything will be OK. In a shocking turn of events, Aunt May, just short of death, asks Spider-Man to take off his mask to see her nephew. Throughout the entire game, May always knew that her own nephew was the wall-crawling hero.

This was emotionally beautiful, even with Aunt May on her deathbed, she still goes on to say that she is extremely proud of all that her nephew has secretly done. She tells him she is appreciative of all the lives he saved and that she wants him to save the rest of the city rather than herself.

This chapter is without a doubt the best and has little to no flaws. Just this game in its entirety was nothing but pure bliss. From gameplay, story, replayability and dialogue, all of it was near perfection. I have 100% completed the first DLC pack, and it’s just as interesting as the main story.

Final game rating 9.5/10

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