T w e n t y S i d e d

Let’s back up a bit and talk about a scene that takes place at the height of the city-wide crisis, before Spider-Man defeats Electro, Vulture, Scorpion, and Rhino. We get a moment where Spider-Man shows up to a burning building to save Miles and Aunt may. One thing leads to another, and MJ and Miles end up saving Spider-Man. Then our three heroes gather on the roof to process what’s going on in the city. It’s a great scene that allows MJ and Spider-Man to reconcile and gives some character development to Miles. This is the first time we’ve had all three of our hero characters togetherTechnically they all attended the Osborn rally, but they hadn’t been introduced at that point. and now we get to see them bond and make plans.

It’s also a bit of a funny scene because Spider-Man and MJ have to pretend to be casual acquaintances instead of an ex-couple. Miles is charming, eager, and a little star-struck.

Spider-Man thanks MJ for saving his life, and she turns it around by pointing out how often he’s saved hers. It’s pretty clear that this bugs her. Yes, maybe Spider-Man is a touch overprotective, but maybe she’s a little overly defensive about it and maybe this partnership would work better if they both relaxed a little. I know I keep saying this, but I really like this new take on the characters and I find this dynamic so much more interesting than the original version of the relationship between down-on-his-luck Peter Parker and his wealthy glamorous supermodel actress wife.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Spider-Man Part 22: Exposition Central”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

People are dying of disease, six different supervillains are tearing apart the city infrastructure, violent escaped prisoners roam the streets, and fascist Sable thugs are oppressing the populace rather than doing anything about the situation.

Again, I kinda feel like this is too big of a failure for Spider-Man, particularly for his first game in a new franchise. But whatever. We’re here now so we might as well see what we can accomplish by punching people. Let’s do some boss fights…

You arrive to confront Scorpion, perhaps hoping you’ll get a proper boss fight. But instead he stings you in a cutscene and runs off. Why? Because Doctor Octopus wants to “torture” Spider-Man first.

That’s in direct conflict with the previous scene where he explicitly tried to kill Spider-Man. Given how vicious Doctor Octopus is towards Spider-Man, it’s somewhat perplexing that he doesn’t attempt to torture Norman Osborn when he gets the chance later on. Why does he want to torture his best friend but give his nemesis a quick death?

I know I keep harping on this, and I don’t want to give the impression that this is some all-encompassing flaw that ruins the story. I realize it’s not a huge problem and it amounts more to a missed opportunity than a an outright flaw, but for me this was an annoyance that ran throughout the game.

But whatever. The point is, Spider-Man is poisoned in a cutscene.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Spider-Man Part 21: Boss Fights”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.