Now before you go thinking I am lying, let me tell you how I can do this. Thanks to what I suppose was some error at my local Best Buy, the game was already on the shelves for sale seven days before release and I was able to purchase it. I figured I would use this unique opportunity to help those of you on the fence whether this is a release date purchase decide. Let's begin.
Main Story:
I think the most important thing to put here is that this is a movie tie-in game, rather than a movie license game. The story is not a watered down version of the film's plot, but a unique story taking place after the events in the film. The game begins with a promotional video from Oscorp introducing Dr. Alistair Smythe (voiced by Nolan North), whom is Curt Connor's (voiced by Steve Blum) successor. In it, Smythe explains how the new face of Oscorp will be nano-bot technology, and that "Oscorp is a new company with the same name you trust." After the video, we see a brief exchange between Spider-man and Connors, whom has checked himself into the Beloit Mental Institution. The words "17 hours after incident' are shown at the top of the screen. The game then flashes back to "5 minutes before the incident" and go through a cut-scene, done in a similar style to that of the opening of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, in which Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy sneak in to Oscorp. After this lengthy scene, in which various cross-breeds are revealed, comes your first taste of gameplay, followed by another cut-scene, and more gameplay. After this opening chapter, you will be snapped back in to the present, where you break Connors out of the institution. After completing this chapter, the open world is unlocked. To sum up in the most basic sense the rest of the main story, Spidey has to deal with a city where cross-breeds now run rampant, infection rates are rising, malfunctioning robots designed to stop the cross-breeds attacking citizens due to the infection, and a city rapidly turning against him, plus his normal Spider-man duties, all while helping Connors develop the cure for the infection. As you progress through the main story, a "Twitter-type" feed called "New York Thoughts" will be shown on the loading screen and updated to reflect your progress. The story is set on Manhattan Island.
Side Missions and Collectables:
Since this game features an open world, there are many side missions to participate in and a number of collectables to find.
Crimes and Aiding the Law: These are a series of side missions in which you aid the police in one of three ways. The first is by beating up baddies harassing citizens, labeled on your map as Petty Crimes. The second is by webbing get away cars, labeled on your map as Car Chases, and breaking deadlocks, labeled on your map as Deadlocks.
Aiding the Infected: As the infection rate rises in Manhattan, so to does the number of people in need of aid. These side missions are simple escort missions, in which you grab an infected citizen and swing them to the nearest hospital.
Disturbances in the Sewers: The sewers are a favorite hang-out of the infected and cross-breeds. These missions simply involve hunting and defeating a cross-breed.
Xtreme Sports Reporter Challenges: B-Movie veteran and Spider-man series regular Bruce Campbell voices this zany sports reporter who flies around Manhattan in his broadcast zeppelin offering Spider-man two unique types of challenges, acrobatic and race. In an acrobatic challenge, you control a remote control helicopter cam and must keep Spider-man in frame while he does some acrobatics centered around an object the sports reporter "Hates". In a race challenge, you swing around the city gathering flares before your time runs out.
Wendy Chang Photo Challenges: Reporter and newspaper editor Wendy Chang lends Spider-man her trusty camera, with the mission being to photograph evidence of suspicious Oscorp activities, as well as gather photos for her article's. These missions basically fall into two categories, ones which are their own special mission and ones that are done during other missions. The ones that appear on your map are the ones where you gather photos for her articles, looking for subjects that she needs. The other type are subjects that appear at anytime during a main or side mission that involves photo evidence of Oscorp, so be sure to check your camera regularly for a listing of subjects.
Oscorp Secret Labs: With the help of Whitney Chang, Spider-man is able to find various secret Oscorp labs that contain tech upgrades. In these missions, you use stealth to takedown guards and access computer terminals, and upon completion, a new upgrade to tech becomes available (more on upgrades later).
Comic Book Pages: These 800 comic book pages are all over the open world of Manhattan and unlock digital vintage Spider-man comics that can be viewed in Extras on the Main Menu. Note that these are only in the open world and not hidden in any missions.
Oscorp Evidence: These are various bits of evidence such as audio files and classified documents hidden throughout the various missions. These help reveal more of the story.
Tech Boxes: Hidden throughout the missions, these provide you with points towards tech upgrades. (More on upgrades later.)
Gameplay:
Still here? Good! Let's talk gameplay.
Movement and Web-slinging: Now, right off the bat, I'm going to answer the one burning question about the webs you all want to know. They stick to the air, sorry folks. The Web-slinging was clearly designed with wanting to look cinematic while being simple to use. The Web-slinging is done with two buttons, one that controls the web-swinging, and another that allows for propelling forward. The web swinging buttons never has to be released and you can just swing through the world, leaving the propelling forward button to be used should you want to quickly swing to a certain point, such as a wall or just into the sky. You can also run up and buildings in the open-world by holding down the web swing button and moving in the direction you want to go. This is faster than just doing standard Spidey wall crawl. Of course, you can stick to buildings and walls and other surfaces, and crawl up and down walls, pretty much what you would expect to be able to do as Spider-man. Note however that, while the camera angles are adjustable, the default angle while on any surface is to make it so you always appear to be on the floor. Just something to keep in mind, because I find myself with vertigo sometimes.
Combat: Combat uses a freeflow combo style. It is easy to see where the inspiration for it came from. But while the style is reminiscent of the Arkham series, it still has a unique flare. Spidey's attacks are more acrobatic and fast-paced. Of course one button is used for striking and another for dodging (countering), however, a third button is also used. This button is the signature move/hard attack button. When the player has achieved the necessary combo, this button allows the player to unleash heavy attacks and, when the player dazes their opponent or knocks them to the ground, they can use this button to initiate a takedown on an opponent by webbing them to the nearest surface, often after beating them senseless. Also, it is not one time use, so long as the player keeps the combo going, he can perform an as many heavy attacks and takedowns as they can.
Stealth: Stealth is interesting in that it is most of the time completely optional. While there are some stealth challenges, most goon groups are designed in way that either stealth or combat can be used. Stealth involves sneaking around on ceilings and walls to get behind them or above them to stealthy web them to the ground or the ceiling (upgrade required). Be advised that if you are spotted at least once and escape, any stealth takedown will cause you to be spotted, turning it into a hit and run game Oscorp goons will also use flashlights to smoke you out. Don't worry too much though, because just take advantage of web rush to beat a hasty return to the shadows and it should be cake.
Web-Rush mode: This is one of the games defining features. Web-rush mode allows you to momentarily slow down time to survey your environment, and make a decision on a course of action. You can scan the room for targets, threats, spots to propel to, objects to interact with, and other useful things, and choose a course of action. It is very useful when spotted by goons with ranged weapons, as you can stop time and pick a spot to quickly web over to. It is also useful when moving fast, should you want to land at a specific point or rapidly change direction.
The Osphone and Upgrades: The Osphone serves as your Map/Mini-map, your upgrades menu, and your statistics menu. There is also a tab for e-mails from various characters. Upgrades come in two categories, Character and Tech. Character upgrades are bonuses to attack damage, your freeflow combo, etc. and are gained at a rate of 1 per level. Levels are gained by experience granted by almost everything you do, from collecting comic pages to fighting goons. Tech upgrades are defense bonuses, upgrades to your webs, etc. and are granted when a certain number of tech pieces are found. Tech pieces can be found by destroying robotic enemies, in tech boxes in missions, and from completion of certain mission objectives.
The Apartment: The apartment serves as your rest zone, and in it you can talk to Connors, change outfits, review audio files, replay main story missions, and exit to the city. Outfits are gained upon completion of the game or should you find very well hidden Spider-man logos.
A Final Note: I feel I have covered the three main categories, but the following are just some minor notes that didn't seem to fit in anywhere else. The dialogue is campy a lot of the time, especially Spider-man's. The game does have serious moments, but is mostly light-heated camp. So if you don't like that style, I would suggest giving this game a miss. So, I think that does it for me. If you have any questions I neglected to answer, please feel free to ask them.
