The One Feature All Spider-Man Games Get WRONG
How do they keep messing this up?!
Spider-Man is the perfect superhero for a video game adaptation. Everything about him can be game-ified, with the web head coming pre-loaded with a bunch of unique powers and abilities that lend themselves perfectly to satisfying mechanics.
It's why over the decades there have been tons of tie-in titles and adaptations, and why, even in the ones that absolutely suck (looking at you, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) there's always fun to be had indulging in swinging around Manhattan, doing whatever a spider can.
While the art of swinging and web shooting has been perfected over the years, with there being a few legitimate claims to throne (though for me it's a two-way race between Spider-Man 2 and Insomniac's most recent game), there is one area every game based on the Marvel hero falls down on and, ultimately stops you from, as the old overused saying goes, truly feeling like Spider-Man.
The wall crawling. It's the wall crawling.
Despite it being a major part of the character's toolset, and a unique ability that dictates everything from how he moves around environments to methods of attack, it's always felt like an afterthought in the games.
Which is odd, right? Especially considering that if you check the reviews for any Spider-Man game from the past couple of decades (which I have done), there's a good chance a major criticism will be the wall crawling segments.
Swinging around NYC will be lovingly tweaked and tinkered with until every subtle animation and thwip of the web looks like a comic-book panel brought to life, but just attaching yourself to a wall in a Spider-Man game turns into a wrestling match as you make sure you're angled correctly, to press a button, wait a second and then look in disbelief as the camera glitches into Spidey's arse.
Now, overlooking or undercooking this mechanic doesn't mean that Spider-Man PS4 is suddenly a 4/10 disaster. These games are still great in spite of this recurring issue. But that said, they could be even better if they gave some love to such a signature part of this character.