Year in Review 2018 Letter Series: Marvel’s Spider-Man-Trapped in a Web of Conflict
Howdy Jo,
We’re gathered here today to talk about Marvel’s Spider-Man. Leaning into the Waypoint roots this series came from, I’d have to say that the word that comes to mind when I think of this game is conflict. Part of this applies to the conflicts in the game itself, but mostly I’m referring to my mixed feelings on it.
I guess the main sources of conflict for me stem from being in the world of the game, both on the level of actually playing it, and on what it’s trying to convey through its stories and encounters. I found playing the game to be really, really enjoyable, for the most part. The combat was exactly my speed. Learning the combos, and mixing different ways of interacting with the environment with varied powers was fun. I loved the gallery of costumes, and thought it was a nice touch to have so many suits from the comics. Swinging through the city was exhilarating for me (as someone who played Spider-Man 2 on PS2, but barely remembers it), especially as I got a better hang of the physics and tricks. But for every high I got from each of these elements, I got a drastic low.
The combat was fun, but weighed down by all the possible options when adding in gadgets and abilities. The suits were cool, but walled up behind way too many collectibles, and combinations of them on top of it. Swinging felt good, but was made annoying by the all too frequent appearances of random crimes throughout the city. It always felt like there was something in the way of really getting to enjoy the parts of this game that were good. The sheer excess of things to do offered up roadblock after roadblock to my enjoyment of parts I genuinely loved, adding to my sense of conflict everytime I booted the game up. I was always torn between “I can’t wait to play!” and “God I don’t want to deal with all this shit”.
This feeling of being torn continued as I made my way through the plots of the game, both macro and micro. The way Peter is characterized felt so right and true to the character. His naivety and desire to believe in the good of the world and institutions around him makes sense. He sided with Tony Stark in Civil War ( both the comic and movie, but I specifically mean the comic here) for god’s sake. But what’s missing is the commitment to doing the right thing that surpasses his trust in institutions. Peter never joined the Avengers because he refused to turn The Hulk over to the Hulkbusters, for example. He knew it was wrong to do so even though the folks in power that he trusted were telling him otherwise.
That part of Peter partially appears in his distrust of SABLE, but that’s where it ends. He’s not at all critical of the police, of their relationship with OSCORP, especially as you do more research stations and learn about how shitty OSCORP and Norman himself are. How can someone like Peter see how awful and damaging to the city and its citizens OSCORP and Norman are, and still trust a surveillance system being run by them? Once the towers are set up, that’s just it. There’s no more thought to it, or even a quick line of “hm, maybe I should look into these once this is all over” after the research stations are completed. Adding that kind of content/commentary to the end of that set of missions would have been an easy way to make them feel like more than tedious errands to gather yet another form of collectible currency, but the ball was completely dropped.
Peter’s trademark compassion and understanding also seem to end at main characters in the game. Big budget criminals like shocker and Mr.Negative get sympathy and backstories to contextualize their behavior, but more run-of the mill criminals are nothing but fodder for Spidey’s fists.
Despite working at a shelter, Peter demonstrates no understanding or sympathy for folks who are struggling with addiction, or the intricacies of the cycle of poverty and crime’s place within it. Every time he said “man I love busting drug dealers!” I cringed. Same goes for the whole prison riot sequence. It’s just…awful and completely out of touch. Reducing Peter’s ability to care about people and their conditions to whether or not they’re “bad guys” just feels like it misses the point of the character, especially when he goes out of his way to try to help his enemies in multiple cut-scenes throughout the game.
This dissonance between who the game wants me to believe Peter is, and who it shows him to be, made it really difficult for me to fully buy into his story and motivations. He is good, empathetic, and overly-trusting with those who are close to him, have been hurt by him, or share his experience with accidentally acquired super powers, but beyond that, he couldn’t seem to care less, and that sucks. By referencing Pete’s constant issues with money, and his altruistic work at Otto’s lab, the game tries so hard to convince us that he’s a regular dude fighting for the little guy, but really, he’s just fighting for himself and anyone who happens to be affected by him. I want a Spider-Man who can’t pay his rent because he’s doing the right thing and who understands that there’s more to fixing drug and crime epidemics than punching extremely stereotypical “marginalized folks as thugs” tropes.
I’m curious if you felt any of this conflict as you played? I know you enjoyed this game from the brief conversations we’ve had previously, so I’ll ask: what word comes to you when you think of Marvel’s Spider-Man?
