I can see why Spider-Man was Stan Lee’s favourite. His powers are unique, he is incredibly strong and fast. He can sense danger which always leads to that momentary anticipation before everything kicks off. However, I think it is Peter Parker’s vulnerability and humble outlook that make him appealing to so many superhero fans. In a way, he creates a bridge between the impossibly powerful characters like Captain Marvel and your average Joe on the street. Not being a huge comic fan my interest in Spider-Man came with the launch of the first Toby Maguire film in 2002. Looking back, that first film did have some issues (and an incredible amount of cringe value). Yet it also got a lot right and introduced the character to a far wider audience. 

This was also a time before the MCU was even a thing and superhero movies were usually not that great. The last decent hero film had been Keatons Batman (or possibly X-Men), a whole twelve years prior. It is interesting that Keaton then played the role of the Vulture in Tom Hollands' first outing as Spider-Man. 

I have now played (and adored) Spider-Man on both PS4 and PS5 so like so many of you, I already knew this game was incredible. I always said that if it ever did get a PC port, I would certainly pen a review. However, our family holiday overlapped with its release this year and so I missed that golden window where people are scrambling to get their reviews in front of gamers. As it happens, being first has never been a motivation for me, although that often means more people read my work. So here is my review for Spider-Man Remastered, like Peter; a little late but hopefully worth the wait. 

A Little bit Wiser

In 2018 Insomniac Games, of Rachet and Clank fame, released Spider-Man (don’t forget the hyphen!). In a refreshing change, there was no origin story in sight as the Peter Parker we got was tried and tested in his superhero gig. Mary Jane Watson is now an ex, Jonah Jameson has his own radio show and poor old Uncle ben is already pushing up daisies. I really like that Insomniac decided to skip the now well-trodden tale about Peter getting bitten and then developing his amazing abilities. There is a huge story waiting for you and this more weathered Spider-Man can dive right into the fray.

While the timeline has been bumped along a few stations, the world of Spider-Man has still been faithfully recreated for us to enjoy. As usual, Peter is in an almost constant existential crisis; balancing the many facets of his double life. In one mission you must hunt down Peter's belongings as his endless failure to pay the rent ends up with him getting evicted. Like many of the early missions, this then leads to him developing a new web gadget: thankfully this meshing of story and gameplay development continues through most of the game.

Insomniac also decided to add sections where you will play as Peter Parker or Mary Jane. These little breaks in the action were the parts that gamers disliked the most. While I can see why people who just want to play Spider-Man all the way did get irritated; I kinda liked them and think they help pace the story. The brief scenes in Otto’s lab where you help the Doc to ‘change the world’ are actually vital to add some meat to the characters. The environments are also exquisitely realised and you can spend a long time hunting around for little details. There are some light puzzle games to get through and again I actually enjoyed these. However, due to player feedback, the developers have now added an option to skip them. The few sections with Mary Jane are basic stealth setups, avoid the guards and zap them from behind. There is one that is a little more involved but I won’t spoil that here.

The Big Apple

This version of New York City has all the trademark locations from the actual place, with a sprinkle of Marvel over the top. Fans of the MCU will be treated to places like Avengers Tower and that funny-looking place where Doctor Strange hangs out. All this is woven together with a deft touch and the city is a joy to explore. In terms of size and design, this city is around one-fourth the scale of the actual city, with Central Park showing this difference the best. As you will see, one of the side activities is in fact snapping pictures of famous landmarks, so you tourists out the will be well served. 

I will say that while this city looks incredible and is filled with interesting sights, walking around at ground level can reveal the game's weakest area. While people will react to you, comment on your recent exploits and even ask for a high five: that is about the limit. However, this isn’t a criticism as much as a passing comment: the city is designed to be swung through at high speed. 

There is a time of day (kind of) that is tied to the main story and will change as you progress. This means the developers have a greater degree of mood control; so when tragedy strikes a ways into the story, a rainy overcast day to follow sets the tone perfectly. The towering buildings and impressive sprawl never look better than when the sun is hanging low in the sky and the streets are bathed in warm sunlight. On completing the game you and it's time to mop up those last activities, you can change the time of day at any of the many research stations.

Centrifugal Fun

How a character moves through the environment can make or break a game and cannot think of one that does it better than Spider-Man. How Peter moves is inextricably linked to his character so they had to get this right: thankfully they did. The way you traverse around New York is wonderful and is certainly one of the stand-out reasons to play this game. Holding swing does what it says on the tin, but it is when you release or boost that gives you control over your direction and trajectory. You can also run up or along buildings, zip to any point that is highlighted and so many more. When you do reach the lofty heights above the city you can also enter a dive that is very reminiscent of the opening scene in the Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

The animation team have also done a bang-up job of making sure Spidey keeps moving, vaulting over low objects like cars or AC units on city roofs. You can also take your time, crawling around under bridges or hanging in that iconic way from a single web strand. As you move forward with the story you gain more speed and helpful moves like the point launch. As I’ll cover later, this extra speed is much more impressive when playing at blisteringly high frame rates on PC. 

Thwip Thwing and Repeat

So Spider-man isn't a murdering bastard. However, (like Batman) that doesn’t mean he isn’t afraid to dish out plenty of life-altering injuries to the thugs of New York. Even if you whizz someone off a hundred-story building you can see them get webbed before impact which I thought was a nice touch. The Arkham-style combat system works incredibly well with an initially simple punch and dodge set-up. As you gain XP you will be able to unlock a whole list of new moves and Spidey gadgets. You will be swing kicking, upper cutting, web-spinning and so much more, These systems all bounce off each other so well. For example, you might web someone up but if you then throw them they will stick to the first solid object they hit. What truly makes you feel like Spider-Man is how fast you can move around and this is shown perfectly in the bigger fight arenas you find around the city. 

On top of these arenas, there are also smaller encounters to happen across each section of the city. To keep things fresh, these will offer bonus rewards for checking off certain criteria, such as electrifying five goons or gaining a twenty-hit combo. Boss fights are also well designed and offer challenges that really fit the character you are facing off against. The encounter with Vulture and Electro is particularly well done as you stay airborne the entire fight. While on the subject of content it is also worth noting that all three pieces of the expansion DLC come with this version of the game and offer a few more hours each. While these don’t really offer much to the gameplay formula, they are well presented with the same excellent cut scenes and dialogue

As mentioned, there is a fantastic amount of fan service here and there is no better example than the Spidey suits. As you play more suits unlock and these have been pulled from across the Spider-verse. You can don the Iron Spider suit from the later MCU films for example, which looks incredible and even comes with the arms. In fact, most of these suits come with their own power that you can mix and match with your favourite suit. There are also three suit power slots that let you fine-tune Spider-Mans strengths and weaknesses.

Grey Matter

I do still read PC Gamer from time to time and often wonder just what is going on over there. In their Spider-Man review, the writer claims that this game's biggest shortcoming is its failure to effectively utilises the comics' wonderful roster of villains. It is an odd thing to claim seeing as the game is packed to the gills with them. I’m not just talking about a passing reference on a hidden PDA somewhere. These bad guys (and gals) are not only in the game but most will square off against Peter at some point. 

I was very happy to see Insomniac change things up and not go straight for the Green Goblin, although he is referenced if you are paying attention. There are in fact quite a few main villains running around New York and on your first play through it is hard to know where things are heading. What makes these boss encounters all the more tense is that some of them have been almost father figures to Peter. The relationship Otto Octavius has with Peter is genuinely compelling and makes his decline into madness all the more painful to watch. As I now know how the story ends, it has also been interesting to see the clues hidden around the lab as Peter unwittingly helps his friend become the infamous Doctor Octopus.

Mr Negative was also a good friend of Peters and alongside his Aunt May, he runs a homeless shelter where Peter helps out. It is such a powerful juxtaposition when this character puts his mask on and does some truly evil things. Some of which lead to the genesis of another hero will talk about later. Another element of the villains in Spider-Man is that they are not black and white, although Mr Negative is pretty close. As mentioned, Doc Oc does have some real grievances with Norman Osbourn as well as facing a debilitating physical condition. A man seeing his life slip through his fingers, it certainly gives you pause to judge him so quickly. Even the less central villains have tangible motivations for what they are doing, the Vulture for example seeks a cure for his otherwise terminal cancer prognosis caused by the power cell in his suit. 

Is it PC? 

So of course this Spider-Man game has been out in the wild for a number of years now so whether it is or isn't a great game has already been decided. The real question: is it a good PC port? Thankfully the answer to that is a resounding yes, both in terms of control and performance.

One of my main concerns for the PC version of this game was how it would play on my old trusty mouse and keyboard. Having played it on the PS5 I had gotten very used to the awesome feedback and adaptive triggers. I could have used the PS5 controller on the PC and of course, you can too (if you have one). The PS5 controller works perfectly well on PC and so if that’s your preference then job done. However, (and I never thought I’d be saying this) I vastly prefer mouse and keyboard for this game. While web swinging you can spin the view on a dime with the mouse and so this instantly this feels like a whole new experience. So much so that if I do play on PS5 again, I’m going to struggle to go back to the controller. As this is a great port there is, of course, the ability to map controls to your heart's content. I had my dodge button on my main thumb and spider-sense on the secondary. 

This PC port performs very well in terms of raw fps. With everything ramped up to maximum and full RTX, I was still getting upwards of a hundred frames at 1440p. This is on the 3080ti system so I was hoping this would be the case. The RTX in this game also looks phenomenal, most of the time. The city is awash with windows, metal and many more reflective surfaces. Seeing all the electric billboards reflected in the towering skyscrapers at night is something else. I do think there is an issue with RTX in some areas, like a shimmering effect when looking in puddles (those damn puddles!). However, I know there is a patch being worked on so hopefully, this will get fixed. I have also seen a few other graphic issues that were not in the console version, such as the occasional flashing texture in cut scenes. I have also seen five crashes down to desktop which was surprising, but thankfully I only lost a few minutes of progress. 

Summary

Sony continues to make strides into the PC gaming space and after a shaky start with Horizon, things are now looking very promising indeed. With God of War and Death Stranding both showing how good a game can play on PC, I think team blue is now fully committed to this once unthinkable union of platforms. Later this year we will also see another classic Playstation game get a PC release in the form of Uncharted 4 and the equally excellent Lost Legacy.

For those who like to skip to the end, Spider-Man was already an amazing title that captured the very essence of what makes Spider-Man such an interesting superhero. It gets everything I was hoping for right, the movement, the feeling of tension in the web just before you catapult across the city skyline and the combat completely embraces his web-based abilities. One area of the game that also excels is one that not many games get right and that is the writing. Insomniac Games have delivered a convincing cast of characters, even the smaller ones have been handled with care and reverence. Once the few minor bugs have been squashed this will be the very best way to play Spider-Man and so I highly recommend you pick it up on PC. With such a sterling effort from Nixxes (and given the reception on Steam) I have no doubt at all, they will already be working on bringing Miles Morales to PC sometime soon.