Before I begin, I want to say this; I love Spider-Man PS4. In my humble opinion, it is one of the best superhero games ever made and it hurts a little to write this article. Some people may think that loving something unconditionally means never criticizing it or finding faults, but that is not true. Unconditional love means loving something completely, flaws and all. It means acknowledging that what you love is not perfect, but that imperfection does not matter.

While I played Spider-Man PS4, I had an absolute blast. I played way into the night and did not want to stop playing for anything. Hours were spent swinging around Insomniac’s New York, doing quests, and finding secrets. I practically became Spider-Man and it was a joy to experience. However, there were some things that I felt could have been improved upon, adjusted or outright cut in terms of story or gameplay. This list allows me to air out these thoughts and maybe even find people who agree with me.

So yes, I love Spider-Man PS4 unconditionally. It breathed new life into my favorite superhero of all time and allowed me to see new sides of him and his world. Now, let’s go and pick some holes in that world, shall we?

25 No One Looks Up

Stealth attacking enemies in Spider-Man PS4 is so fun. It was my favorite way of taking out bad guys because it meant I could mess with them and take them out one by one. But here’s the thing; if you have a swinging superhero who is known for flying above your head, would you not look up? Surely enemies would keep their eyes to the sky to look out for me, particularly if I consistently stealth attack from above. Sure, there were some snipers toward the end of the game, but they only covered a horizontal area or the street below, not the sky.

24 Oddly Misplaced Plans

Pretty early on, you head to F.E.A.S.T. since you are suspicious of Martin Li. He runs the operation and the ever-lovely Aunt May helps him out. Upon sneaking into his office, you discover a diary detailing all of Li’s thoughts regarding leading the Demons and taking Fisk’s territory. Inside this diary is the key to his trapped lair; you know, the place the diary should be hidden in. Pretty stupid ‘logic’ loop if you ask me.

23 Where’s The Money Coming From, Peter?

From the opening moments of the game, Peter is constantly torn between paying rent with his real job and making time for his actual job. Now, the gadgets you can earn and make are cool and can be useful, but my question is this; where are you getting that money from? These gadgets are so cool they could have been made by Stark Industries, yet you are struggling to pay rent and your pay from Octavius Industries is on hold? Something smells fishy, Peter.

22 Where Are The Avengers?

Spider-Man’s thing is being our ‘friendly neighborhood Spider-Man’ and the protector of New York.

Now, that is all well and good, but he is just one guy.

We just barely hang on through the events in the game and things get pretty dang serious; the Ryker’s breakout, Sable agents controlling New York, and a scary virus leaking out seem like pretty high priorities that The Avengers should be helping out with. Their tower is in the game, but where are they?

21 Keep It Down, MJ!

MJ’s sections are not my favorite sections; they are slow and outdated, but I will discuss that later. What I want to talk about right now is the hostage situation in Grand Central Station. MJ is literally surrounded by Demons but can casually have a conversation with Peter and guide him around. There are times when you are mere inches from a Demon but are talking to Peter like it is nothing. Don’t even get me started on how loud her heels are during your ‘stealth’ walk through the station.

20 Call The (Fashion) Police!

The escaped Ryker’s prisoners are supposed to be tough cookies who went away for doing some ridiculous stuff. They’ve presumably been there for a long time, but the first thing they do upon escaping is form bases and destroy public property? No trying to escape the country? No seeing family and friends? No one even changes out of their prison uniform, which is the dumbest thing they do besides challenge Spider-Man. I know the uniform tells me who to hit, but if I didn’t know better, I’d say these guys want to go back to prison.

19 No One Can Live, Except This Guy

When the Demons ruin Officer Davis’ medal ceremony, Mr. Negative explicitly states that no one should be left alive. The Demons proceed to carry out these orders as you sneak around as Miles. Once you reach Miles’ dad, a Demon is primed and ready to end your life, but Li stops him. Maybe Mr. Negative wanted to use Miles later or something, but it does not make sense to leave him alive from a supervillain standpoint.

18 To Go Or Not To Go?

The most irritating aspect of the game for me was the Taskmaster Challenges. I love doing side quests, but these just made me rage-quit.

They make little sense and are just padding out the game so we have an excuse to fight Taskmaster.

The Taskmaster planted these dangerous things across New York to test us, but they are only activated when we choose to take the challenge. Maybe you should’ve let Yuri know about them, Peter?

17 I’m Here To Fight Crime – All Eight Versions Of It

Insomniac’s New York, much like our New York, is riddled with crime. It happens suddenly, without much warning, and can occur anytime and anywhere. You quickly figure out that there are eight kinds of crimes Spidey must face and they all go the exact same way. Sure, you can shake up how you fight or your suit mods, but it all ends up feeling a little stale after a few hours of play. Being a hero is not always as exciting as it looks.

16 MJ And Miles’ Sections Are The Worst

I applaud Miles and MJ for their bravery and sneakiness but come on man. We have not seen this kind of ‘get-spotted-and-it’s-game-over’ gameplay for a long time. Also, cardboard boxes and broken glass are what ruin me, really? This design choice just felt lazy and could absolutely have been improved. At least give me the option to run and hide instead of just an instant fail. Instead, you should just let me fix my mistakes or throw in another obstacle instead of this stupid mechanic.

15 It Is I, The Villain! S-Spidey? You There?

Martin Li and Mr. Negative were slapped all over Spider-Man PS4’s marketing. I mean, I avoided the heck out of Spider-Man spoilers, but I still heard about Li being Mr. Negative. Mr. Negative’s reveal to Peter is so anticlimactic while trying to be climactic. We spot Li during the medal ceremony attack, but Spidey says nothing. Not even a ‘Martin?!’ If the player sees it, Peter sees it. Thanks to a lot of build-up, we know Peter has a good relationship with Li. But when see him for a second, Peter says nothing.

14 Suit Powers Feel Similar – And Web Blossom Is All You Need

The suit powers were a creative idea, but the problem is they are all similar. Sure it would have been fun to mod your suit and personalize your story as a result, but most of them are power-ups/downs. The best ones by far are Web Blossom, Guitar Slam, and Quip – and that’s in order of usefulness. I only equipped the following mods; Gel Padding, First Aid, Silent Step, and Proximity Sensor. You don’t really need anything else.

13 The Pacing Is Off

On paper, the pacing of Spider-Man PS4 is off. There is so much build-up, around 12-25 hours of it depending on how in depth you want to be, and then around 5 hours of climax.

This is very obvious on paper, but I felt it even while playing.

The ending, despite being hours long, felt so rushed. It was a little disappointing, but I still cried over Aunt May’s passing. I really was not ready for that.

12 The Boss Fights Are The Same

Besides the first Electro ‘fight’ (read: chase), every boss fight is the same. Web swing a random object into the boss, then go in for the punch combo, then rinse and repeat. Sure, the team added flashy lights and effects, but that is what it boils down to every time. Kinda took the wind out of my sails. The final Doc Ock fight was the worst for it, especially since it seemed that maybe you’d get some ‘this-is-not-even-my-final-form’ action, but no. Just the same old routine.

11 Otto Lying To Us The Whole Time Is A Stupid Retcon

In all of Peter’s interactions with Otto Octavius, their relationship is so sweet and genuine. I mean, they totally foreshadowed the Doc Ock thing from the first moment we saw him, but I’ll let it slide for now. Their relationship made Otto’s inevitable descent even harder to watch because you love him and hope just maybe he will turn away, but you know that won’t happen. Therefore, him saying he knew Peter was Spider-Man the whole time is just plain wrong. Why help Peter, make Spidey a suit and give him the knowledge that could defeat him?

10 Otto’s Relationship With The Sinister Six Is Implausible At Best

Somehow, despite Otto having a speedy descent into madness in a matter of days, a couple of weeks tops, we are supposed to believe that he has formed an evil plan, made suits for all the other Sinister crew and built up a relationship with them that they would allow him to lead and help them?

The timescale makes all of this activity impossible – it does not make sense.

Also, they had Aunt May knowing that Peter was Spidey immediately after Otto said it, which was a criminal move of storytelling.

9 MJ Needs To Chill, Man

There is a scene after the hostage situation where Peter enters a text conversation with MJ. She gets hurt because she thinks Peter keeps her away from the action because she is incapable. In a later phone call, she says that they broke up because he kept her away from the action and implies that Peter thinks she is incapable because of her gender. Peter does not treat her that way ever in Insomniac’s universe. He is a literal mutant who has the ability to deal with these situations and has experience on how to contain them for minimal damage.

8 Focus Is Key (And Also An Issue)

When healing in Spider-Man PS4, do you go get health packs or maybe jacked up Lucozade? Nah, you use your ‘focus’ which you generate in battle with criminals. This is a great idea for a world in which crime and therefore injury can happen at literally any time. But, if you wanna use all those sick moves you just unlocked to look flashy, you enter a bit of a conundrum similar to one some of us have been in before; do I heal myself or just avoid taking medicine and look cool instead? There should have been different gauges.

7 Visit All The Classic Landmarks - Except That One

Insomniac’s New York, while not perfect, is pretty dang close to what Marvel’s version would look like.

I do not envy the team’s ginormous challenge in creating what is essentially the other protagonist of the Spider-Man world.

When I heard you could visit all the iconic Marvel and IRL hotspots I had to check out the most famous of all: Lady Liberty herself. I’ve never visited The West, so I was excited to finally meet a version of her. But the thing is you can’t actually visit her; just gaze at her from across the way.

6 Aunt May Does Not Have A Home, Just F.E.A.S.T.

We got to see a lot of the lovely Aunt May in this game, which is always a pleasure. It was great seeing her work to improve the lives of others and do what she was passionate about. I genuinely loved talking to her and wanted to see where she lived. If she spent so much time at F.E.A.S.T., then surely she lived nearby. I actively looked, ready for a remark from Peter about her new apartment. But I got nothing.