Can Insomniac save Spider-Man, in the same way Rocksteady rescued Batman?

It's fair to say that video games, starring everyone's relatable, genius, web slinging superhero, Spider-Man, have been let's say subpar in recent years, yes? And I'm not the only person to have written that line, because apart from Spider-Man 2 on the PS2, the last and current generation games based on Peter Parker have kinda sucked! (Although 'The Amazing Spider-Man' wasn't as bad as I thought it would be).

Don't get me wrong, there were Spider-Man games released that were not movie-based tie-ins. Web of Shadows, Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time, were all titles released not thrown in with a big blockbuster movie release. And I want to point out, that the stories in those games had some really good ideas.

The symbiote invasion in Web of Shadows was a grand story but it took too long and it had too many characters to follow so their motivations got lost in a very convoluted storyline.

Both Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time had good storylines, one I would've loved to see in comic book form, with Shattered Dimensions binding multiple universes together to fight an evil threatening the different Spider-Men. Very similar to the Spider-verse comic book story, but smaller in scale.

What let these games down also was their respective gameplays. I won't go into each of them in depth because so many people have done that before.

With Activision finally surrendering their stranglehold on Spider-Man games, Marvel have looked to Insomniac to develop the upcoming Spider-Man game, exclusive to PS4. And the game is confirmed not to be tied into the current MCU or the upcoming Spider-Man Homecoming movie (THANK GOD).

This means Insomniac have been given the freedom to develop the game in their own vision, very similar into how Rocksteady Studios have done with their recent hit Batman Arkham series.

And here are some of the ways how Insomniac could save Spider-Man games, just as Rocksteady did to Batman?

It's set in it's own universe

Before Batman Arkham Asylum was released in 2009, the dark knight's most recent outings had been set in the universe of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, or on the immensely popular Batman The Animated Series cartoon. (I'm completely discounted Batman Dark Tomorrow by the way).

Bat man Begins was basically the movie in video game form, never straying from the plot of the movie, even though the game played quite well it was never really original. And Batman Rise Sin Tzu was a basic linear beat em' up with a storyline which could fitted into two episodes of the cartoon.

So when it was announced that the beginning of the Arkham franchise was going to be set in a universe all of it's own, Rocksteady were given the freedom to create a fully original story. To say 'it paid off' is a little bit of an understatement!

You had the typical conflict between Batman and The Joker, but the supporting cast really gelled, the conflict between the two, together very well. Ranging from the rogues gallery to the Arkham staff and security, everything felt tied in, rather than just having a random villain thrown in just to hinder Batman's progress. And Rocksteady continued this trend into Arkham City and Arkham Knight, and events from game to game came together well.

Spider-Man on PS4 has been confirmed to be it's own universe, so no tie-ins to the MCU, Spider-Man cartoons and not directly in line with any specific universe from the comic books.

At the recent unveiling at E3 2017, several key characters were revealed. These included Wilson Fisk (The Kingpin), Mr Negative, Yuriko Watanabe and the one that blew everyone's minds, Miles Morales. It seems that there is a turf war going on between Kingpin and Mr Negative's Demons gangs. How this ties into the story is just to be known, but we want to see a plot which impacts with Peter Parker in a way that is juts not, 'New York is in danger and needs saving.'

And speaking of Peter Parker, let's see more of Spidey's secret identity in a more prominent role. Insomniac have said the story will see Peter struggling to balance life as Spidey and a normal life. Yes this is a constant in almost all Spider-Man comics, but those who don't spend hours upon hours reading book after book after book, want to see Peter's struggles portrayed in a game that they can relate to straight away but not forced on to them. In the same way that every normal person struggles balancing a very demanding job with a family life, for example.

I've got to be honest, there aren't many stories revolved around Bruce Wayne that I've enjoyed, however it seems Wayne's past can lead to the most striking stories as Batman. Whereas Spider-Man and Peter Parker are tied at the hip, normally Parker is involved in day to day activities and trouble find him and so Spider-Man is suddenly required, forcing Peter to disappear, normally putting strain on the ones he loves.

Batman on the other hand goes looking for trouble and on many occasions seems not to be overly bothered by the effect on his allies, until one of them eventually dies. He can seem cold and detached, a trait that Parker does not possess he carries the weight of family heavier than any other superhero that I know.

Slow Down the Action

It's undeniable that Rocksteady's patented combat system was the making of their Arkham games, it is the most enjoyable combat system in video games to date. However, what the developers did well was vary the pace of the game very well, stealth sections and detective segments made the game flow superbly.

I bet you don't realise this, a type of counter based combat had appeared in a Spider-Man game before. In Spider-Man 2 on PS2 in 2004, there was a very basic counter system, with Spidey's spider-sense warning the player of an incoming strike which could be dodged and a follow up attack could be initiated.

Spider-Man games have mainly been action heavy and not much room for variety. This includes infiltration and information gathering, something Spider-Man is very adept at. Although to it's credit, The Amazing Spider-Man movie game had plenty of indoor locations but they were more of the move to another area and beat everyone up or web them up, their way of trying to integrate a stealth mechanic, but there was no challenge to them.

And to be honest, the gameplay reveal from E3 didn't allay any worries about that changing. It was a very striking reveal, but it's nothing we haven't seen from many recent superhero games.

The combat looked incredibly fluid and the small stealth section, while looking very polished was again nothing we haven't seen before.

And while you can't just make Spider-Man into Batman, in terms of his stealth gameplay but I want to see Spidey use his intellect to more of a degree to affect how you play the game.

Of course, the one big aspect (no pun intended) of any Spider-Man game is the open-world exploration and interaction.

Something a lot of people have taken issue with, is the lack of speed in Spider-Man's web swinging and traversal. Me, I personally love that, why?

Firstly, web swinging the last few games have been too fast paced, you need the reactions of Spidey himself sometimes to manoeuvre around the city in a way that wasn't jarring. It just wasn't appealing, constantly hitting building walls and losing all your momentum.

From E3, Insomniac looked to have slowed down the movement, not a crawl (oh another pun), but to a pace where it feels quick and controllable, to the point that surely web swinging can be enjoyable again.

And secondly, it makes you look at the world. The game looks absolutely beautiful, even though we have been duped by good looking demos in the past, this could be the best looking Spidey game ever. Who wouldn't want to marvel (ok I'll stop now) at the world you are playing in. How would you be able to appreciate it if you are constantly moving so fast that the world can't keep up.

Whatever a Bat Can Do

Rocksteady set the bar for superhero games, insanely high and I believe Insomniac are capable of living up to that standard.

While Batman revived DC in video games, Marvel's most beloved suited hero will be hoping that his dying video game franchise can be brought back to life!

Very detailed post, I believe this spiderman will be really good. The last spiderman game I cared for was 2 on the gamcube.

@xblackerrthing: thanks. I loved Spider-Man 2 and I had it on PS2. I just hope it's enjoyable, cos the last Spider-Man game was atrocious

Nope, cant be saved, it looks good but plays like shit.

@GTR12: what makes you say that?

Looks and plays like Sunset Overdrive (a 2014 game), and has the same director.

In what way does it play similar to SO? Well it's gonna have the same director, it is the same publisher as SO.

Why do you think it'll be crap?

The last two Spider-Man games I played were 3 and Amazing Spider-Man 1 and I had fun with them. Before Arkham, Batman had a long time before there was actually a good game in the series, so its not as bad as you say it is with Spidey.

@glitch-: cool as long as you enjoyed them, great :).

I just don't feel like the last few games have been good. My favs are the two Spider-Man games on PS1, S2 on PS2 and Shattered Dimensions.

The Amazing Spider-Man was ok and TAS2 was a big let down

Did you watch e3? or any gameplay?

I explained why it'll be crap, it looks like SO and the gameplay. Also not open-world really, looks to be guided on a set path. Fighting and combat looks "heavy" like Batman, he's meant to nimble and agile, not like a tank.

I have never played a spider man game before so I hope I enjoy it I've heard the previous games we're crap so it's all about the gameplay and if they can get the game mechanics right then I see no reason to doubt insomniac.

I haven't played it obviously but from the demo they showed it looked like it held your hand way too much, more Uncharted 3 than Batman Arkham. That's a major problem for me as I like games tha toffer me more creative freedom to do what I want with the action, rather than "go here, press, watch pre-set cutscene". Hopefully we see more of the game and i'm proven wrong, because Insomniac are a good developer but who knows.

Having said that, I've never been a fan of the Batman games mentioned so I hope it's not like them anyway lol

@GTR12: well considering I've put the video of the gameplay in the blog, yes I have seen it.

Also the developer has confirmed the game is open-world.

So sliding under your enemy, flipping over them while blinding them with webbing and flinging them into the air and webbing them to the wall is 'Batman?'

I'm sure the demo from E3 was barely representative of wht the full game will be like, they just needed something to show off.

@soul_starter: So do I, I really hope you have more freedom during the action.

In my opinion that's where Spider-Man games of recent are a problem, he can get involved with major scenarios, such as cranes falling or whatever, the problem is incorporating that into gameplay.

How would you be able to play that out in gameplay, such as the stuff we saw after the QTE from the E3 footage, during the crane falling scene? That's the difficult part, which is why I think there has been a reliance on QTEs in Spider-Man games.

Will be interesting.

@mash_up_matt: That's a good question. How do you make those sorts of scenarios fully playable? I'm sure if developers spent more time researchin gthat, brain storming etc, they could come up with an idea. Problem is, QTEs are lazy and easy PLUS they look good in promo material and thats something publishers want to sell their items.

I hope the game ends up being better.

Yes its too "Batman" esque, look at other games, Mirrors Edge, the recent Lara Croft games (including Temple of Osiris), they are both nimble and quick, not bullet magnets and cant take very much damage. Spider-Man is the same, he's not a superhero in the traditional sense, it was accidental.

He isn't fit, bulky, train at the gym or anything.

Also, the slow-mo fight scenes put me off, but that's just me.

I kinda wanted to say something about Spidey games as opposed to other superhero games. The Webslinger has not faired THAT bad in the medium, if we're being fair. Spidey 1 and 2 all those years gao are still thought of fondly but the cell shaded, original story Spiderman games that were released last gen received quite a few positive reviews from critics and gamers alike and were never regarded as bad games.

That is entirely opposite to games like Batman Begins et al.

Spiderman, with or without Insomniac was already in a better position and woudl have to go some for them to make a really bad game.

I have a lot of hope for this one. The combat and stealth look really well developed and take advantage of a lot of Spidey's powers in a lot of creative ways. The web swinging looks really fun and seems to have just the right amount of weight to it. I do wanna see more of the story and find out what villains and characters from the comics make an appearance, but the little we've seen has definitely peaked my interest. And while a lot of people have complained about the suit in this one, it's kinda growing on me. It's a bit different, but I still think it looks good and will work for this Spider-Man.

The only thing I really disliked were the amount of quicktime events. There's a little more than I'd like in the gameplay segment we've seen. I hope that the scene we saw was just one of a few that have a decently large amount in them and that the story missions don't have to many of them. However, even though there are a lot, they are at least entertaining visually, try to keep you engaged with the button prompts, and mainly serve to convey segments that would be near impossible to portray in gameplay given what Spider-Man does in them.

The game as a whole still looks pretty awesome to me, and I have a lot of love and faith for Insomniac's work. That and Spider-Man is my favorite superhero of all time, so here's to hoping that this turns out to be a great game.

The demo at E3 looked decent to me, but I'll have to see more before I commit to a day one purchase.

@GTR12: should own up to the fact that you were wrong about it looking like it wasn't open world. You can't expect to tell from a short demo showing story mission that's linear.. come on

The demo didn't show it was open world, so how am I wrong?

The mission showed that he was guided into that skyscraper, and the QTE's (which I personally hate, because it shows no creativity).

Spin it however you want, open-world means that you can approach the mission from multiple angles, demo didn't show that.

@GTR12: i was just messing with you about being wrong. I have to be fair, they didn't detail that until after the demo.

Even so, in demonstration of a mission like that, i would not expect them to showcase it. All spider man games have had chasing missions like that. Even in the open world ones you couldn't deviate from the path due to the fact that you would lose your target and fail. Even in an open world a mission can be linear in some aspects.

Now when dealing with arriving to a mission location, that is a different matter. You are expected to be able to approach a mission area from multiple directions. The combat was in a smaller area.

As for the QTE, i only saw that for that really cinematic sequence near the end unless you mean the little environmental take downs as well