Spider-Man - Busted Buttons Ep. 25

Red and I talk all episode long about Spider-Man, the 2018 action adventure game from Insomniac Games released on the PlayStation 4 (PS4).

We start with the combat. How did we feel about the Spider Sense and Focus Meter? What gadgets did we like to use? Were there any skills that stood out?

We then transition to the gameplay. How fun was it to web swing through New York City?! Are there any suits that we were particularly fond of? What Suit Powers and Suit Mods did we use? Did we like all the tasks in each district? How much did we collect and what's our opinions on the benchmarks?

Afterwards, we address the game world. What landmarks did we like seeing? Which landmarks do we wish we would have saw? How do we feel about the map screen and its effects and music?

Later, we dive into the story. How do we feel about Otto Octavius's character arc? Did we like or hate Mayor Norman Osborn? Did we enjoy the chemistry between Peter Parker and Mary Jane? Was Devil's Breath a good story concept to use for this game?

We then talk about some of our favorite characters and enemies. Did J. Jonah Jameson (JJJ) get annoying? How much did Yuri Watanabe help us? How sad was the plot around Jefferson Davis and Miles Morales? Were we happy with fighting the Sinister Six of Doctor Octopus, Mister Negative, Electro, Vulture, Rhino, and Scorpion?

We end with a short discussion on the DLC. Red didn't have a chance to play them but Hick did. Did he enjoy the episodes (The Heist, Turf Wars, Silver Lining) of The City that Never Sleeps? We also give our final thoughts on the game.

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Transcript

Hick: 0:17

What's up gamers Welcome to Episode 25 of the Busted Buttons video game podcast. And today, all episode long we're talking to 2018 action adventure game developed by Insomniac Games. Spider Man, Ray and I really aren't a fan of spider man. But surprisingly, this game was very very good combat the gameplay, the world story, characters enemies, a little bit about the DLC I read, I don't think he played the DLC correct. I did not I did not

Red: 0:51

talk about it.

Hick: 0:52

Well touch on that I'm not gonna say too much too bad because I didn't go back and review it. I just looked at the summary. And then we will give some final thoughts on the game. But I just kind of want start off with before I give it to read, we talked about the combat. One of the cool things about this podcast is going back and kind of reminiscing and remembering these games. I can just take a time to go back, you know, and do some research. But when we ended last week, I was like, Okay, cool. We can talk about Spider Man. But then today, like, you know, I'm prepared. I'm research. I'm like, Oh, we can talk about Spider Man. Like I forgot how much I really enjoyed the game. So that was so cool. Going back to it. Like, you know, just realizing that Oh, cast some of the game more in the final thoughts, but read on to you the combat kind of give me your opinions of that in the game?

Red: 1:40

Well, the combat I mean, the combat really is what keeps you coming back for more in this game. And it gets you doing all the activities that you have to do around the city. But I mean, you're absolutely right, like this game was a bit of a surprise for us. We didn't expect to like it as much as we did. But just the brawling combat was so much fun. It reminded me very much of like the old Batman like Arkham Asylum. Back in the day, like that style of just combos using your web, the web was incorporated so well into the combat and just the list of moves. They don't got overwhelming, sometimes the variety of things you could do, but just the combat, it was so smooth, and so well done, and so cinematic, because even when you're just hitting like the basic attack button for basic combo, like they mix up the moves you do. And then like I said, just just getting the web Incorporated, you can like sling opponents around, you can jump up and pull opponents up into the air, slam them back in the ground. Like there's just so much you can fight so many different ways. And that's not even getting into gadgets and things like that, that we're going to talk about here just a second. But man, I was blown away by the combat. It's just especially from a company like Insomniac Games that isn't really known for this kind of game. So they kind of came out of least I don't think they are I remember looking a while ago when this game first came out I did not believe that this was kind of

Hick: 2:58

like which says, like this like is more of a shooting game Ratchet and Clank is what the combat is different. But they do know a little bit of like, I know if you want it's not really I guess gun play like, you know, combat in a way but you know, you got like kind of more hands on like, you know, a human fighting versus guns.

Red: 3:15

Yep. And just to me, just the fact that you could jump into a fight with eight or 10 or 12 bad guys, and just kick all their acid. Yeah, without too much trouble. You know, once you get powered up a little bit once you get the hang of it, you know, if you jump in like that right at the very beginning, or if you haven't played the game in a year, like I did this week, then you might get your ass beat. But you know, it's just it was so smooth combat what was kind of your favorite part of the combat in Spider Man?

Hick: 3:41

Really? Okay, first of all agree with you, like just hitting the square button, I believe. And then he would do a bunch of different things like I absolutely loved that, like that was so simple. It may combat look different, because there's like a different, there was probably routine behind it. You know, I don't know the algorithm made that work. But it did make it feel like it kind of wasn't routine. It did. One things that I loved the most was a finishers were hit like a circle, triangle. Those were so much fun to use. But overall, I just loved like you got touched on it all the variety. Like there's all kinds of things that you could grab and throw you know, you had, you know, your spider spider since was it was a part of it. Like, you know, we could Josh Yang's, you know, he had healing during all this like, which actually, that's not really combat but it allowed like you to go on and fight longer. So Exactly. Who's gonna bitch about healing. And again, you know, the focus meter like, you know, was great, you know, as you lay in hits, like, you know, you get the focus meter for ease or healing for you or finishers but just like I seen the variety of all the different things you could do, you know, like you had skills like work it, actually those were incorporated, you got them, but a gadget like, you know, could choose different gadgets, you know, he could fight our ways, in different enemies had different strengths and he had to fight them different ways. So just really The variety here's how, you know, Spider Man was a great game is that combat did not really get old throughout the entire game. And I didn't know why. But, you know, it's an open world game, I would say it's as big as most open world games. But I play quite a few hours into this game. And the fact that it didn't get boring was like, you know, a testament to the game, but also elaborated on that variety. I mean, there was just so much you can do and that's really what I love the most about the combat.

Red: 5:30

Yeah, and I will say, you kind of mentioned the spider sense. I really like how that's Incorporated. I mean, neither you and I are big, like diehard Spider Man, comic or movie fans. But you know what, that's what always told him when didn't danger when danger was about to happen. So the way that they like had just a little visual indicator, when you're in combat that you're either about to get shot, or someone's about to land a punch on you. And you knew that's when you needed to dodge like, I thought that was very well incorporated. And, and it's just, it was a fun way. Like you just get like a glowing, almost like a halo, you know, like, you know, hey, whoa, something's going on, like around your head that tells you

Hick: 6:04

I like knowing when I'm about to get my XP, like, I was like, I love that.

Red: 6:09

I do too. But man, what really helped to keep that combat fresh all the way throughout, besides the variety of enemies, and the skills you get as you go through. But man, just the gadgets that are at your disposal in this game. And you know, it goes from the very basic the web shooter, which I think you and I both use, like more than anything else, but you just use it to like slow down and tie up opponents. But you had so many other gadgets you could use you had like an impact web that immediately tied someone totally up like a spider drone that would help you in the combat and electric web that would shock people like bombs and minds made with your web. So like there were such a fun variety of gadgets that really lets you switch up how you played and I like we said, we use the web shooters the most, I believe both of us, but man, I really did like using the impact web and also like if I was actually trying to stealth an area I used to trip mine quite a bit just like leave it somewhere. And as soon as somebody walked within a certain distance of it, it like immediately stuck them to a wall. So I really loved the variety of gadgets and kind of what they allowed you to do but other than the the web shooter you know your very basic one what were some of the ones you found yourself using throughout the game? Okay, first

Hick: 7:16

of all the trip, man, those things don't ever work for me no matter what game I'm playing. There's always that concept usually. And again, it never works, man. I put it in the best place right where all the enemies have been walking and you think hey, this is a video game. They are programmed to walk a certain direction. Yeah, and for some reason they're like well Hick put it down a trip man so we're gonna change all the programming in this game or go make it walk a different way that's all those like but um I did you see a suspension matrix a couple times where you kind of would lift them in the air and they were a bait I think electrocuted was what it looked like but basically they were up in the air you couldn't they couldn't really do anything. Yeah, I love that because I always I love throughout the air combat in the game like shoot up to them and find them in the air. Which you know even for Spider Man It doesn't make sense how you can float exactly like I understand like Well okay, there's a lot Spider Man in real human life that doesn't make sense. In the mid air

Red: 8:13

physics and we'll call Yeah,

Hick: 8:14

cover up again jump his ass I don't know anyways. Like he said a lot of gadgets. I didn't use the web shooters. Mostly throughout the game. I did play around with some of them. Like I said, the suspension matrix. I also used the concussion blast a couple of times just to knock enemies back. Yeah, the web bomb I did find it very useful against some of the I don't know if they were called brutes, but the bigger guys all the big brawler Yeah, the big the big brands that you had to buy in the game. But um, other than that, like, I didn't use them that like, you know, the other ones. I didn't use that much. But I did like that they were there. And you know, and also the skills that came along, like, you know, throughout the game, which obviously their skills slash abilities. I always kind of ranked them together. Yeah. But you know, usually this game was the same, like there you get experience points. And then as you get experience points throughout the game, you get the skills. Yep, I just loved how all those came together. Because it added to that variety of combat. It's like, you know, do this to you know, I don't know if it was CERN, but I think it was CERN buttons, but just some of them were Yeah, some of them were but just different things to add to that variety. And just, you know, here's the thing, like, games became become overwhelming with how we can have in it in this game had a ton of combat, combat a ton of gadgets, had ton of skills, but Insomniac brought that together so well. It made it work and that's attached to them because that is a very difficult thing to do.

Red: 9:41

It really is and I loved like those skill trees you had like innovator defender webs younger it's just I really loved how the skills kind of instead of keeping throwing new skills, new skills, new skills that you won't even use throughout the game. They really built on each other like it started out with Okay, you have like a web throw where you can you know rope up, one of your enemies swing around your head and throw them. But then that built into where you could disarm opponents with your webs. And then you could like start with pistols and then it was rifles and then you could even catch rockets out of midair and sling them around and sling them back at your opponent. So it's like the skills they kept it from getting too overwhelming because they just built naturally on each other like skills would just get a little more powerful or add a new wrinkle to it where it was really the same base skill. It just had a new function or like it was more powerful. And I just I loved using like that web throw in a weapon yank Well, he said were you sling an enemy around up in the air and then chuck them back at people like and then you get into things like the ground strike where you jump down from somewhere up high, and it's like a pound the ground and just sends out a shockwave that knocks everyone back. So it's like, I feel like all the skills were very well incorporated into the game without being overwhelming. I agree with you completely 100% there. And then there's the skills that got into your movement, which I will talk about movement here in a minute when we get to gameplay, but man just be able to do like tricks in the air, you could do swing kicks, you could do like a point launch boost, where you like you touch down on something and immediately shoot off of it. I mean, it's just the skills just built on each other incredibly well. And, you know, I kind of one thing when it came to the combat that I've noticed like stealth was an option. In the game. There were some areas especially when you kind of played it, you had to play as Mary Jane a couple times, like stealth was required. But man, in a game like this where the combat is as good and gratifying as it really is like the brawling just felt so satisfying, that I almost never use stealth. Like I almost never snuck up on enemies, I usually just jumped in, or jumped down with like a ground strike and then just started throwing punches and kicks, man and it just like it's good to me because I suck at stealth games in general. And so just running in balls to the wall is always my favorite, favorite approach. So I'm so glad that the combat was good enough that it really, really made me want to, like just do away with stealth altogether unless it was forced on us. So

Hick: 12:10

that told you I've been getting better at stealth. And I actually used it in this game too. And it helped me out quite a bit because you're the running attack approach like with like, you know, gunslinging even though there's no guns. Oh, yeah. Like you say it works for you. But it really it never seems to work for me anymore. So I am putting that stuff into play in this game. I love it just the same. But anyways, let's kind of First of all, I do want to apologize to our listeners. I know last week kind of went a little bit over the tie. We didn't mean read like to shoot for 45 minutes. That's a good time for us. And we think it's also a good time for our listeners. And we want to keep that consistent. So we're going to try to do better keeping it for 45 minutes. Those things was not talking about the first topic for so long. But you know what? We didn't accomplish that go anyway, gameplay. Oh, geez. Okay, the combat was great. Yep, the gameplay was awesome. Fantastic. And most people know what's coming up right here. And it's just web slinging throughout all this is like sled slinging, swinging throughout the city. This I got heard about this, from so many people. They're like, Oh, it's just really cool. to swing throughout the city. I was like, this seems like a mechanic that would really get old quickly. Yeah, then you play the game. And you're like, holy crap, this web sling is just a blast of swing between all my games, you could run off of them and kind of go along with all the skills and the variety of the combat. There was also a lot of variety of how you could get around the city using your webs jumping, running excetera. And just it made exploring new york city so much fun,

Red: 13:49

it really did. And that was the first thing that really started popping out when I was kind of looking at reviews for this game is like everyone's talking about the movement is some of the best movement in video games, just the way you get around the city. And I was like, Okay, okay, I could see that as Spider Man, but until you actually pick it up and play it. Like, I can't praise enough the job they did with just swinging around the city. I mean, it helps that like the city is beautiful, like the Manhattan that you're on is a very beautiful city. It's got so many like kind of real world locations, but just the actions that you do while you're swinging around the animations. The stunts you can do like you said, running up buildings jumping off ledges, I mean, it's just it feel it's the closest I've come in a video game to actually feeling like you truly are a superhero. Just the way you swing around the city. So I'm completely with you. Like that was the first thing that jumped out to me and reviews and and it didn't even do it justice. Like it just blew my mind. But then I mean, even when you're not doing combat and even when you're not doing that kind of stuff, you know, or missions, you know, just while you're swinging around, you get awesome like you get awesome music. For one thing you get like kind of that spider man music. It's a little low key but Still good. But one thing that you know, other than the music that I really loved was the radio show that you would always get snippets of while you're just moving around the city it was Jay Jonah Jameson yes is the is the guy and he was great in the Spider Man movies you know back in the day like the Tobey Maguire ones. But man like I love those little snippets of his radio show why cuz he hated Spider Man, you rag on spider man so much. So like, I loved that little touch just while you're swinging through the city to have kind of like that background? Oh, yeah. Here's a news guy that hates you. Yeah. And just rails on you. So I love that little touch while you were swinging around the city.

Hick: 15:37

Yeah, you know, didn't know you're gonna talk to me right there. Sorry. But here's another thing that I loved is how easy they made it like you didn't really aim for anything you basically could hold down our to the entire time. And then we catch something to say like slink to so absolutely love that they made it so easy. And then also, they made it very quick. Absolutely love that, like, you know, you could get through the city, fast travel you basically get to do I did it very little kind of, I always tend to do it more towards the end of the game. Like, you know, I explore everywhere. It's kinda like, okay, I just want to do the missions or accomplish this certain tasks. So I'll just fast travel. But most of the game, I did not fast travel because there's so quickly by websley This sweetener sleeve?

Red: 16:24

Well, he slings webs, but then you swing from them. So I think you can say either one. Yeah,

Hick: 16:28

that's what I'm gonna do. Because that's, I don't want to think about which correct one to use. Because I have a beautiful up on wheat ale in my hand. And I am enjoying this, that beer and this podcast, but um, anyways, kind of moving on from that swinging mechanic because we can talk about all day, it was just the US praising it. It was fun as hell pride really one of the best things in the game. Yeah. And also, you know, you kind of got some things like, you know, all the different suits in the game, which like said, like we said, retina are not huge spider man's I've actually not seen I don't think any of the movies will ever really pay attention to it. And then the final thoughts, you know, I'm not gonna touch on that right now.

Red: 17:06

But until way,

Hick: 17:07

like even though I didn't know the suit, I'm sure that they appeared throughout the games, the movies, the there was a show, I'm sure there was a spider man show. Show back in India, also the comics, like just all these suits, whether they were made up for this game, or they were from something from the past, just once in variety, and you're gonna hear say that a lot throughout this podcast, you just having all these different suits to change your appearance, which is something that we're starting to see a lot in games, and something that I love and games, but I don't use it a lot. Because with the suits, I actually stayed with dm I forgot which one it was, um, it was like the Vance suit, I think as well. Yeah, very early on in the game. It looked like an advanced suit. suit, but just a little more, you know, technology in it. And I did use that one throughout most of the game because, you know, not being a spider man fan. I just wanted to look like Spider Man. And I don't know, is that something that you kind of experienced in the game? Or did you switch suits a lot?

Red: 18:09

No, I didn't really switch suits either. I stuck with the advanced suit as well. And it's a lot of the other suits did look really badass. They looked cool. They had like the great color schemes or designs on them, whatever. But at the end of the day, I'm with you. I just wanted to look like Spider Man. Now I did like that the suits as well. You had to unlock them, which kind of gave you something to strive for which we'll talk about collectibles and stuff here in a minute. But like, I feel like I've said that four times in this podcast, right, which we'll talk about that I'll try to get away from that. I'm sorry. But uh, but no, just like being able to unlock the suits. In an unlocked a suit. Each suit had a suit power that came with it and you didn't I love that you didn't have to wear that suit to equip that suit power. Like it's just when you got the suit it unlocked that power for you to use with whichever suit you wanted

Hick: 18:55

other game developers pay attention to

Red: 18:57

like that was I thought that was such an innovative approach because I'm like oh that power is really cool but that suit kind of looks like shit yeah. Or it's not Spider Man and I'm like oh wait I can just equip that power with my other with the regular like you said the advanced suit the default I'm like well fuck yeah. So yeah, I'm with you. I kind of stuck with the advanced suit just about all the way through as well but some of those suit powers were really cool kind of Which ones did you focus on?

Hick: 19:25

spider bro I tried a couple of the other ones out here and there and just I don't know none of them compared to spider bro just having something that would go around and fight enemies shot kind of neutralize them while you know either one you win them and attack them or fight somebody else like that spider bro just helped out so much the iron arms as soon as I saw that like I'm not afraid of spiders but those are iron arms just look creepy as hell so demon tried that went in Really? Honestly did not try many of them. I did use unrelenting fear I don't even know I don't remember what that was actually I just know yo was a fury of attacks is somewhat

Red: 20:06

as well I'm guessing but I think your attacks were unblockable for sure yes that's what it was your attack yeah blockable but really I didn't care for the suit powers I was more to suit mods. Yeah ours Did you have any that you used I use battle focus a little bit because I filled up that focus meter really quickly which let you do your finishers and one quick more thing on finishers a they were fun to do they all looked awesome yeah, I know what kind of get back to combat but like the the cinematics on the finishers I thought were absolutely stunning. I love doing those so so I use the battle focus a lot a it helps you do your finishers and it also helps you with your healing so I was very much a fan of getting that focus meter and I also kind of use resupply quite a bit because that refills your gadgets if you're using anything other than the webslinger because the webslinger recharged by itself over time, you know, but the resupply power like would automatically reset refill your ammo for all your gadgets I use that one a lot throughout as well. I almost never used the spider bro and now I kind of regret that

Hick: 21:05

oh it was an awesome power I bought this like I said it's the only one that I use but really the mods is where it was that like you can get a quick three of those exactly what sounds like in you know you see him in all these other games basically just Mazda increase your defense increase your health increase whatever. Um, I found those to be extremely valuable in the game so see ours didn't really use a lot of suit mods I did use quite a bit um there's a lot of them we're not through all of them I don't have which ones listed that use because I think you know depend on where I was at in the game and what certain combat I was going into like I just like you know, I switched them out. I'm kind of guessing you did the same thing but um, yeah, I get to the districts in the game, which is basically the like little challenge not challenges because there were challenges actually. Yeah, different things that you could do throughout each area of the game. First of all, I love that they divided into districts probably makes sense. I'm guessing New York does have districts within Yeah, I think most this game was what Manhattan Yes. On an island. Thank you think Harlem is above Manhattan. Not positive on that. Sorry. Anybody from New York City if I pissed you off? I don't know. The burls that well,

Red: 22:15

but I'm just UT GPC gaming, Bastien.

Hick: 22:21

But just, here's the thing, okay. The districts in all things to do in them were fun. They were This is probably the one thing of the game that got a little bit repetitive. And a lot that centers around the crimes. There was just too many crimes in the game now. No, those tokens were valuable for like buying suits, mods, gadgets. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, raids, whatever. But um, you know, there's just too many ground crimes on the challenges. Those were hard. I thought, so I didn't, I did a little bit of challenges. But man, some of those have been some of the other ones. And we've talked about this, like sometimes, I just love simple things. So I find those backpacks and also those landmarks, like that just allowed me to explore the city. Oh, absolutely. In a game that had a lot combat that break to just use backpacks and landmarks was really nice. But were there other things to do in the districts that you really liked?

Red: 23:14

Well, I'm with you that I liked how they just like divided up the you know, Manhattan Island into you know, these different districts and each one it was kind of like you had five tasks to do in everyone until you cleared it. And and you had like you said you had a good variety of things to do. You had the prisoner camps, the hideouts, the warehouses, the crimes, challenges, all that stuff. It it did when you had that many districts and every one of them was like, yeah, go through and do five of whatever, it did start to get a little repetitive and kind of a little, a little grindy I would say yeah, I still did it. I still hadn't cleared every district because I mean, why not? Because that was the comment was a blast. So I was on board with it. But it did get a little bit grindy but you know, those challenges were very tough, but I'm with you. Just the stuff that allowed you to explore the city like you mentioned, you had the photo opportunities of the land gaps, the backpacks you collected and then also what was the the cat person who had you like, blood? Thank you for that. I guess that makes sense. But yeah, like spot her in a couple different locations. So like I love those kind of more just exploration because again, just exploring that city was so much fun and you kind of hit on the the tokens and stuff. I liked how there were different kinds of tokens that unlocked that you could use to unlock like you mentioned, suits, mods, gadgets, upgrades, like all that stuff. I like that there was a good variety of those. So it always felt like you were earning something beyond just experience. So

Hick: 24:35

okay, first of all, fuck the pigeons in the district. No, those people those birds, they were assholes. They were so I did get better as the game went on, but boy that pissed me off at in the beginning. And then also, to me Damn, like, you know, suits, mods, gadgets, upgrades, whatever. To me challenge tokens are I told you the challenges were too damn hard. Okay, so why Right pricing me out. Challenge tokens. I don't have that many. Okay, tell me about all this crap. So that was one thing I would like few things that actually did make me mad with the game was to me challenge tokens were needed. And hard. There are too many games. And then lastly, we're not done with talk about this a lot. But the benchmarks, just basically rewards for just doing something a lot in the game, whether it was falling climbing buildings, shooting your web, whatever, I liked that, um, you know, that's something for the completionist like, you know, people that or people that get don't have a lot of money, and they get a game and they want to get the most value out of it. Like those are there for them. Not something that you need to do. But I love that the edit it because no matter what you're doing, it feels like you're accomplishing something. But anyways, I want to get to the world because the game world was absolutely gorgeous. Just on the ps4 Pro, which Ren are lucky to both have a ps4 Pro and 4k. I'm a little bit better because I got HDR. But anyway, this game world looked amazing. So read Go ahead, what's your overall opinion.

Red: 26:11

So we've kind of already mentioned this, but it is a beautiful world. And one thing that I really loved about it. And you actually kind of mentioned this, too, it is an open world game, but it's a smaller, open world. And I thought that was perfect for just using your web swinging and swinging now now you're in my head, just to get around the city like and it was stunningly beautiful. I mean, yeah, I've been to Manhattan, I've spent time there like it is a very good recreation of the city. I mean, you see the landmarks that are like the real life landmarks like your central park, the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, just like being able to see those landmarks in the game that you know, that I've actually seen in real life. Yeah. And they're really pretty faithfully recreated like, I was a huge fan of that. And of course, then they put things in there like Stark Tower and stuff like that. That's from like, the Avengers. So you know, there's some artificial ones in there too. But

Hick: 27:01

I liked it. I really loved those because one, they were high as hell. But yeah, oscorp Tower, and then the Avengers Tower, injures tower looks absolutely stunning. But yeah, don't mind it like you, when you get a game. You're not going to get a one to one replica. So and those two billions I was cool with now here's one thing I didn't like, I wish they would have had the um, I forgot what's called the New World Trade Center area. Oh,

Red: 27:25

I think it's a one. I think it's just called One World Trade Center now,

Hick: 27:27

okay, that my thought was that I think it's Freedom Tower in my center, something like that. But, you know, we're really like to see that memorial in there. I think that would be a great tribute, you know, to the people that lost their lives, you know, for sure. I'll be honest, on that tragic day. So I think it'd be very cool to get that and then also is the tallest building in New York now? Exactly. They did have a building that looked very similar to that, but just I don't know, I think it'd been great to have that in there is a great memorial to remember then also, you know, it's the highest building in New York. Feel like you got to have that landmark, but really not gonna complain about too much. And I think I cut you off. I'm gonna keep on going with this. Oh, it's okay. Well, here's the thing, like, yeah, you have you have been lucky enough to visit Manhattan. I have not visited New York City. Now, here's the thing. I hate crowded areas, like I live three hours, you would fucking hate three hours or a little bit over three hours from Chicago. And I hardly ever go because I just don't like dealing with the traffic and the crowds and everything. So, you know, like, you would think with New York City that like I would absolutely hate going there. But I've always wanted to go there. I can deal with the crowds and deal with that for a couple of days. But it's kind of like you're saying, like, you know, yeah, I've always wanted to visit New York City. But as I've gotten older, I'm kind of like, yeah, you know, it's crowded. It's a lot. It's a hassle. It's inconvenient. It's not it's, like you know, stepping away from a little bit. This gang brought me back to New York City cuz I'm like, this game is the city in the game world is absolutely gorgeous. And just the thing that caught my eye was just all the water around New York City, which I think has to be replicated pretty good. Maybe not all the landmarks in the buildings, but the layout of the lane I would think looks pretty similar to New York City at least one map does. And like I knew there was water around New York City, but until you're able to explore it even if it's in a video game, you just like Damn, this city is gorgeous. And so thank you for spider man for making me now. You know not to have kids I don't know does a good go by myself. But yeah, this reinvigorated my excitement for one day visiting New York City

Red: 29:42

well and just on top of like the world itself, which was very beautiful especially like you get the sunrises the sun's Yes. Like it all looked very gorgeous. But just the map itself, like you mentioned, yes, it does look very similar, like the real Manhattan. Yeah, map of the outline and everything but just it was a very good map in terms of Like functionality for the game, like the color was good, like the the areas you hadn't yet discovered, look good. And as you discovered them, like it just really opened up and just I thought the map was very well done. I know that's a little thing. But I played enough games that have absolute shit maps in them.

Hick: 30:15

Yeah, I can appreciate when there's a good map in the game. So random man is very, very important. So I just carry with you in that. Here's why I spend a lot of time with kids on the POS screen. So I see this probably more than I actually play the game. So I think like you say, it's not a big deal. I, you know, depends on what type of gamer you are. But the map or the hub, as I like to call it is a huge deal to me, because, you know, we hit that big button, wherever it takes you to or the star button it buries. But um, whatever that takes you to it's on that screen a lot for me. So you gave me that blue color. Like you said, the effect of the areas that you had not discovered yet at that was amazing. And then the music that they had going, I thought they absolutely nailed. That might not be a big deal to some people. If you have kids Damn it, and you're on a posture. It's a big deal to you, I can guarantee it. So yes, absolutely love how Insomniac Games did that. l for sure. And,

Red: 31:11

you know, speaking of things that we loved in this game, and I think we both agreed the story was kind of getting off the world, the mat, but the story was very, very well done. Like we both really loved the plot of the game and you're not going to rehash the whole thing but like Otto Octavius, you know, Dr. Octopus had a great arc where he's just like, you know, I've got this degenerative degenerative condition, I'm trying to develop something that will help people who will be immobile later in life, and it ends up like driving him crazy. I mean, very similar to what happened in like spider man to the movie, and I loved his arc throughout it, but just the whole story with Martin Lee and the way they have Peter Parker and Mary Jane's relationship. Yeah, it was it was all wound together very well. Like you had several different storylines going at the same time. Yep. And it could be confusing sometimes if they don't do it well, but I thought they did a great job making sure they stayed intertwined. And like you know, like I said, Dr. Octopus, his story got time Peter Parker and Mary Jane story got time, Martin Lee's story got time evened up the Miles Morales, Morales introduction like so they wound the story elements together very, very well. I thought so what were what was some of the story highlights for you that you enjoyed? First of all, Norman Osborn, man,

Hick: 32:26

I cannot figure out how I like him the whole game or I didn't. And you know, he's kind of a jackass. But at the end of the game up, obviously, if he gets in No, there are going to be spoilers in this podcast. I should talked about that. At the very beginning. We'll try to remember that But anyways, we are going to talk about the ending here coming up and everything so you can play the game you might want. Don't talk, don't turn off the podcast, just turn this down to where you can't hear it. So then we still get the stats. But anyways, Norman Osborn, like, I went back and forth. Do I like this guy? Do I not like this guy in the you know, having kids, you know, me having kids, and then seeing at the end? why he's doing this for me, it meant something. And you know, I really liked him. And then like, you talked about Dr. Octopus, or is it Dr. Octopus? It is Yeah, Dr. Octopus, whatever, whatever his last name is, whatever. Um, I thought his arc was one of the best arcs that I've ever seen, like, you know, in a video game, I guess you could say is definitely not the best arc that seen a movie, but in a video game, like I just loved his story and how he changed throughout the entire game he carried touched on it, Peter Parker, Mary Jane and awesome Martin Lee Miles Morales, very cool setup for the next game. And that just kind of the whole concept of brown Devil's breath, you know, being a virus created by oscorp to cure genetic diseases. Like that's, that's something you get a lot in games usually really is a guy that's trying to you know, blow up a city or blow up a country land, whatever, somebody is trying to destroy thing. Things usually with power, explosions, strength, whatever, this game gave you something different in a virus, you know, so I just absolutely loved that. And then there was this little things like, um, the whole past between Martin Lee and Mayor Osborne, and how they didn't really like each other and how Mayor Osborne and Otto didn't really like each other

Red: 34:20

is like a hate Mayor Osborne that's for sure.

Hick: 34:22

Yeah. Yeah. And then like, lastly, the prison break at the rat. I just thought that well, cool. all came together and everything. But anyways, you know, that's basically our opinions on the story, I thought was great. Let's talk about some of the characters in the enemies. They kind of really some of the enemies are the characters in the game, but just yeah, overall, did you have some that you'd like more than others? What were your favorites? Which is the same fucking thing is asking if you'd like some more than others, but go in?

Red: 34:51

No, I was a huge fan of the cast. like of course Peter Parker and Mary Jane are staples of spider man like that. And both like voice actors I thought did a great job. Yeah, you Yuri like the cop that you're kind of working with working against you know kind of the whole way i thought was a really well done

Hick: 35:07

she plays out actually she does play out in the DLC Episode Two I think it's Oh 902 which actually is very interesting i really i would say actually does not arc her character very well because I was more confused after that but just oh it was really cool not ending for her but to see her different light but go ahead well that's good because

Red: 35:25

I liked her characters you like always talking on the radio to her and like she was always there kind of in your ear helping to guide you along you know I mentioned earlier the radio host you know Jay john Jamison loved like just love that character the voice actor did a great job just it was such a fun little side plot and then I thought the bad guys really got some good time to shine a Greg Martin Lee was you know the main big bad I guess you know, Mr. Negative and he had a great story to him you know of why he's doing what he's doing. And then you know, we mentioned doc doc had a great story as well but man some of the other I loved how many other of the villains that they really made

Hick: 36:02

it and that's how you say I don't know why I made it so hard but if you go with doc I was like damn it I should have went with that but go ahead.

Red: 36:09

But no like I really liked how they got like Rhino electro Scorpion like vulture in there like these these famous Spider Man villains and the way that like you had to fight all of them like separately and every fight felt different. And then a couple of times you'd have to fight two of them at the same time. And they're like pat i think a scorpion and vulture were the two you had to fight it. Yes, same time. And like the

Hick: 36:32

rhino and crap what was the other one? I'm

Red: 36:35

not tubes. Not electro or it was electrical?

Hick: 36:38

Sure. No, gosh, I forgot Scorpion Scorpion, a rhino I believe Scorpion joined the fight with Rhino. Okay, or whatever.

Red: 36:47

Yeah, but I liked how they would like tag up and their powers would kind of complement each other well, so I thought the cast was top notch like I said the Peter Parker Mary Jane relationship. You know the voice actors just knock that out of the bar in the story. Did those two so much justice but what were some of your standout characters or enemies like we said they're kind of go hand in hand in this what were some here first

Hick: 37:08

of all, I love tombstone. He was just laid back. He was a cool dude though. So about him again. We didn't really have a big part in the game but no, absolutely loved him. Wilson Fisk. I don't know how I feel about that character. Like he was introduced obviously very early on, you can hear throughout the game, but he feels so insignificant now. I know he was in prison for most of the game but just yeah, I really thought his character was a little bit of a waste did love the Marne Lee kind of storyline as you said, Jefferson Davis the copy like you know, being Miles Morales is dead. And like every day he kind of went through you know, and how he was killed. You know, obviously, I didn't love that because it was somebody that was killed. But that storyline as a character like I love him as a character because yeah, you know, he was a hero and Okay, I'm not gonna get into what's going on in the world right now. But it's just good, right? Good Cop. We'll just say that. Yeah, we'll leave it at that. Yeah. But like you know, Norman Osborn you've ever heard me talk about him? good character silver sable, man, like, you know, like, just a bitch man. Just an absolute bitch. But I liked her. I liked her because, you know, she knew what was up she absolutely knew what was up she's gonna get the job done. And so you know, I love that. And then also, you know, like you already said this is their six you know, vote your Scorpion electro Rhino. I guess they are to be Marley and Otto. I don't really know how to word that. But I guess yeah. And then lastly, the black cat. She was included in the first episode of the DLC where you kind of going on the called the heist. I believe she makes trouble for Peter Parker but I love that they introduced her like during the regular story, just kind of, you know, a past fling a Peter Parker just kind of well, first of all, she was good looking too. Brener bag you know like I thought her um, her storyline and how she played into the game was just you know a little more refreshing I guess a little bit different. I just really really liked that so um, that's really all I had on the characters in the enemies Did you have any more?

Red: 39:10

No, not really. I do agree with you that like kingpin felt like a bit of a wasted carrier and I get that the purpose was you know, you put them away early and that kind of opens up the city for everything else that happens with Mr. Lee and or Martin Lee I'm Mr. Negative slash Mr. Lee Martin Lee Jesus I'm just gonna stop talking. But no, I agree with you like kingpin was little underutilized I liked it. There's a good variety of the enemies like you said you had silver sables agents. You had like the demons that were following Mr. Negative like so I like that they kept a good variety of the enemies in there. It kept the combat refreshing and it made you feel like there was something progressing as this as the game went along in the city like things were really changing so you kind of hit on the DLC a little bit and I do I do slightly regret not playing it. I don't play a lot of DLC just in general a little bit of you know, backstory. I don't play a lot of DLC. General because usually once I'm done with the game I move on to a new one. Yeah, and I have a hard time picking a game back up again. Yeah, so I did not do the DLC on this and we're just real quick. What did you think of it? I know you mentioned you like the black cat you liked URI having a little bit more of a storyline, but overall,

Hick: 40:13

did you think it was a pretty solid? good purchase? First of all, when I gone they were on sale for a bleep 30% off and then go shopping. So purchase no still right there. But when I got the game like the I got a little bit later, and so when I got the deal C's were already out. So for me, like, I wish that played the game all the way through. But no, I hit a level about two hours before I completely finished the game went off to some other game. I don't remember what it was, it might have been distracting actually. It did something. Yeah, came back to it and then realized that man only had two hours to beat this game. But I'm I'm actually like the opposite. I actually do play a lot DLC because, um, you don't just add content to the game. And I think a lot of times like Yeah, I do get away from the game and go on and play other games. But it's a good way for me to go back and reminisce and kind of you know, like we did today like research and for all this DLC kind of serves the same same function where you're just going back and remembering the game a little bit but won't really talk a lot about the DLC I really did enjoy it. I'm kind of kept on that repetitiveness, like you know, introduce new things to the district. I was I didn't really need that because I feel like I already got too much of in the game. Yeah, but the story that came along with it, like you know, Episode One was black cat. Episode Two was a Hammerhead and mudgear maggia or whatever. Um, I think that's actually a gang I don't know. I don't know I'm not sorry for all you Spider Man fans out there I a nice Spider Man fan. Red's not a huge Spider Man fan. So now we know we're getting some stuff wrong. We apologize. We don't mean to piss anybody off, though. I just don't know, talking about some ties. But um, and then the last one, I thought the last one that kind of wrap the whole story up. silver lining is what was called has silver sable, kind of come back and concluding her storyline. Overall, I was very impressed. They weren't that expensive. Yeah, a little bit repetitive and tedious in the point of like, you know, dropping those things back into the district. But overall, the story like you know, really wrap those up very well. And they were short. So I was a fan but read. Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm kind of going through our final thoughts. Can you give me your final thoughts over on how you felt about the gang?

Red: 42:26

Well, I mean, I loved it at the end of the day and not being a huge spider man not being a huge comic book fan. You know it it caught me off guard. Like it was a game that was getting a little bit of publicity, but not a lot. And then just great review after great review came out and people on like discord and Twitter, were praising it. I'm like, Well, shit, I guess I'll buy it. It blew me away. I mean, it had a great story. It was a gorgeous game, especially like we said on the ps4 Pro with the 4k, like the combat was great. The story was great. Just moving around the city was one of the most liberating feelings. It's just so all it all is a game that shocked me and surprised me. And I'm so glad I picked it up and played it though. So what about you?

Hick: 43:07

I'm the same way like, you know, I was never planning on getting it because yeah, Spider Man fan did not think I would enjoy the game and just like you, I heard everybody talking about it. So I was like, okay, no, I'm gonna check out this game. I mean, as soon as I start up, I'm like, holy shit. New York City looks absolutely gorgeous. And just all the combat all the variety, the characters, the villains, the music, I thought the music was spectacular throughout the game. And y'all know me like I absolutely love music in games. And I think it makes a huge difference in a game. Because the way like you know, the characters in the cinematics, the cutscenes were presented, it kind of made it feel like a movie and it's a game that you know, this probably the closest to 100% I've been in a long time, like I always set out to get 100% in the game. Never ever get close to that. But um, this is probably the game that I was the closest and that's a testament to the game that I enjoyed it so much that I was willing to do all this Lino these tedious tasks and everything you know, to get close to that just really not to do to get 100% but just to do all these upgrades and get like to experience all the variety in the game. So for me, I was absolutely blown away like I said last week, I wasn't that excited about talking about it, and then going back and reset you fired me up? Like I remember how much I actually enjoyed the game. So just I mean, they know everything they know the combat the gameplay, the world was beautiful. The characters enemies, the cutscenes like, you know, the story, everything like you know, yeah, we have our like, you know, gripes here and there. Mostly tedious stuff, but there's so many things that Insomniac Games did so well, that they did a just absolutely spectacular game. Anyways, that's it had a blast talking about it. Read Yes, but why don't you go ahead and wrap us up?

Red: 45:02

Well, first of all, all the links for this stuff is going to be down in the description here for the podcast. But if you want to, you can support us on Patreon or PayPal, Patreon is a bit of a recurring thing, whereas PayPal is more one time. If you can't support us financially, we absolutely totally understand that we know there's a lot of shit going on the world right now and a lot of people's lives. But definitely please leave us a review and rate us. You know, we love those five stars or five star reviews and five star ratings. Even if you didn't like us good, good and lie a little

Hick: 45:29

bit we definitely definitely.

Red: 45:31

We also have a couple of websites out there. for gaming merchandise we have tgp z gaming.com and two guys playing zelda.com on the first one you can get gaming related merchandise and of course on the second one you can get Zelda related merchandise. Yep. And we may earn a little bit of a commission on that it is affiliate sales. So we may earn a commission on that, but go check it out. There's a lot of good stuff out there. Hick How about you go ahead and tell us about social media.

Hick: 45:54

You've got some Facebook groups going on a lot phone over those. We got gaming realm and Zillow around obviously was built around we only talk Zelda gaming realm is like all video gaming, you know, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo PC, we got two YouTube channels are two guys playing Zelda. That's where things started. Over 10,000 subscribers got a lot of videos. Go check that out. Um, RTG PC gaming YouTube basically, I just put the podcast on there. Our discord, we have a blast, our discord we talked about all those systems are mentioned, we talked about sports, we talked about booze, which is really the funnest channel on that, that we just talk really about everything. A lot of it is gaming, but we talk about a lot of different things. And then you can find us all over social media, Twitter, Instagram, and then we also have some Facebook pages as well. We had a blast a read, I think a blast. Just again that absolutely shocked us. We had so much fun playing. It said that it's coming to an end and we can't talk about it again. But we will talk about another game. I don't know if it'll be next week or not. But we'll talk about another game sometime at some point. But anyways, y'all keep on gaming stay safe, stay healthy, and we will see you on the next episode.