You can't keep a good Spider-Man down especially considering the original PS4, Spider-Man title was released in 2018 and then remastered for PS5 in 2020.
Last year I borrowed the office PS5, and as a big Spider-Man fan I then had to go buy Marvel's Spider-Man, and oh boy I was not disappointed. It's just as amazing now as it was then and I've been very excited to finally own it on PC.
This PC port is one of several PlayStation heavy hitters to have been brought to PC including other titles like God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Uncharted.
Like those titles, it has received some backlash from diehard PlayStation fans who feel their exclusive IPs are being sold out. This is pretty stupid as most people are just happy more players will get to experience these excellent games for themselves.
Developed by Californian developer Insomniac games, known for Ratchet & Clank, Sunset Overdrive, and the Resistance series, Spider-Man helped push the developer into the stratosphere.
They also developed the follow-up Spider-Man: Miles Morales in 2020 and they are currently working on a full sequel to Spider-Man.
Spider-Man is a 3rd person, open-world game that puts you in the web-covered, wall-crawling shoes of everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, allowing you to freely roam a massive and realistic New York City while stopping crimes, fighting bad guys, undertaking missions, and unlocking new suits as well as gadgets by progressing through the main story or completing specific tasks.
Spider-Man Remastered throws you right into the action, beginning with you finally bringing down The Kingpin Wilson Fisk and culminates in an exciting boss battle.
The rest of the game deals with the power vacuum his incarceration creates and the rise of new villains like Mister Negative who is looking for something called Devil's Breath, meanwhile, Peter and his friend Dr Octavius are attempting to gain funding for their life-changing prosthetic limb research, which of course goes very wrong.
While the game of course focuses on Spider-Man, it also features a lot of Peter Parker without being boring.
Insomniac's interpretation of Spider-Man seems like a perfect blend of modern, classic, comics, and MCU all in one, while still managing to put their own unique take on the characters.
This incarnation of the wallcrawling hero looks better than ever before with the game seeing some substantial graphical upgrades to make use of modern powerful cards.
While at first glance it may not look like too much has changed but the new graphical enhancements really make a huge difference.
Firstly framerates have been unlocked, so instead of the PS4's 30 FPS, you're movements and now silky smooth at up to 144 FPS on supported devices.
Thanks to Nvidia's DLSS support you can push those framerates even further which provides even better-looking motion and animations with a much smoother experience even when pushing those 4K resolutions.
The game also supports the addition of DLAA technology or Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing which helps produce further enhanced image quality and remove jagged effects.
The lighting system is the most stunning visual upgrade with the addition of ray tracing reflections look amazing and watching a sunset from the Empire State building was breathtaking.
Seeing Spidey's reflection in the skyscrapers was very cool and more immersive than ever.
For those fancy pants with an ultra-wide monitor, those are supported so you can cram even more of the beautiful Manhatten skyline on screen, although sadly I don't.
Much like the PS4 and PS5 versions, facial animations are detailed and expressive making me often forget I'm playing a game and feel like I'm watching a film.
Another strange edition is Peter Parker's new younger-looking face. Just like the PS5 version the PC remaster also has the updated Peter Parker model, which was changed from John Bubniak to look more like the motion capture actor Ben Jordan, so animations would look more natural. It also helps he looks more like Tom Holland.
While it's expected I was hoping to have an option to turn on the old one, but I guess that's a job for modders.
The game perfectly nails not only the feeling of swinging around New York City, but it feels fun, fluid, and a quick and exciting way to get around.
The game really encourages you to with you able to perform impressive dives and acrobatics mid-air to gain speed and a small amount of experience.
Combat is reminiscent of the Arkham Batman games but they integrate much better with Spider-Man’s power set, especially his spider-sense.
His spider-sense gives an indication that a foe is about to hit or open fire on our masked hero giving you time to doge or in some cases counter which buys you time to follow up with an attack or close the distance between you.
With a focus on rapid attacks and well-timed dodges as well as special moves and takedowns through the use of Spider-Man's impressive arsenal of gadgets.
Successful attacks, combos, and well-timed dodges will lead to your focus bar being filled which allows you to heal or execute special moves.
You also have some ranged options with Spider-Mans web-shooters which can be upgraded and swapped out to improve the effectiveness and efficacy, you can even use them to throw items at foes or spring towards enemies and close the gap.
The PS5’s DualSense controller is supported which will allow players to feel adaptive trigger feedback as well as haptic response giving you the full Spiderman experience.
Using the left shift to swing and maintain swinging, with space bar to leap and c to jump to and leap from spaces. The best part is using the mouse to rotate the camera as it feels smooth and natural but it took me a while to get used to the clunky keyboard inputs and I much preferred using a controller.
It's not all "Press X to punch the bad guy" either as there are some stealth sections that require a little more planning and thought while you try to not be seen and land silent takedowns.
There are also parts of the game you play as Peter and even MJ that breaks up the action with some nice puzzle solving.
Pre-orders will also receive the spider suit pack which includes 3 extra costumes as well as the Spider drone gadget and 5 extra skill points to start you off.
The Remastered version of the game also comes with "The City That Never Sleeps" a three-episode story-driven DLC that focuses on the Black Cat and adds new missions and content.
Spiderman Remastered is priced at £49.99 which is a little pricey for a 4-year-old game, however, given the quality of this title as well as the enhancements and DLC I think it’s a fair price.
Verdict 5/5
Even after 4 years this game still looks incredible, plays well, and has aged really well. It's fantastic that more people will be able to experience the definitive version of one of Sony’s strongest titles.
In a clear case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" Insomniac has graphicly updated the game to make it even more visually stunning as well as improved performance with its unlocked framerate, DLSS support, and fast loading times but has left the core gameplay untouched and with good reason.
Spider-Man Remastered is easily one of the best Superhero games in the genre and is a must for hardcore Spiderman comics fans, MCU enthusiasts, or any gamer who loves a good action adventure.
I'm a huge fan of the PlayStation ports of some of Sony's best games to PC, I was overjoyed to be able to play the game on my PC with Ray-Tracing and all the DLC included, and the remaster certainly lives up to the hype. I look forward to Mile Morales receiving the same treatment when it releases in Fall, 2022.
Platform: PC
Price: £49.99
Spider-Man Remastered swings on to PC on August 12, 2022, and is available on Steam and Epic Game Store
