Spider-Man PS4 Review: 6 Ups & 1 Down

3. Combat Feels Great, Taking JUST The Right Amount From Arkham

Spider man ps4
Marvel

Gameplay wise, there are a lot of similarities between Spider-Man and Batman: Arkham. However, while it’s true that stealth and combat work much the same, Insomniac have only modelled their system on the genre’s best, and they’ve even added enough tweaks to make it feel unique too.

While Arkham’s system emphasised power and gadgetry, Spidey’s focuses on verticality, movement, and environmental interaction. The more abilities you unlock, the more satisfying it is to play, with various web-based gadgetry also doing much to set this Spidey game apart from its predecessors.

Taken together, and you have a system that truly lets you embody the spirit of the friendly neighbourhood hero, much the same way Rocksteady did with Batman, only different. You'll be chaining together combos in know time at all, weaponising the environment, integrating gadgets and striking from the shadows.

For all intents and purposes, for the duration of this game, you are Spider-Man. The experience as a whole can only be compared to Arkham because it's just as successful; not because it imitates, but because it innovates.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.