Recent reviews by Penken

Update: 5/30/2025: 10 patches, it finally works at an acceptable performance. There's still some things that i haven't tested but its already leagues better than at launch. So I'm changing my recommendation from no to yes. But its an extremely weak yes. I wish there was a "ehh" option. Just because I'm not gonna turn people away from the pc version now going forward, however I'm not exactly this games biggest fan, or going to ultimately recommend this version over the ps5 version if that friend has a ps5.

I have done a large amount of crapping on this game and the port, so I'll mark my final edit of this review with what I DID like about this game.

The swinging 1000000% is the best this "cinematic style" swinging has ever been. It feels so smooth and does an excellent job simulating moment and blending movements and poses as the spideys whip through the air masterfully. Lots of costumes and actually decent variants. obvs not ever costume is a winner but there is far more to like than to dislike in the selections, and some of my favorite suits from the first game return here, so thats a big plus despite the mods existing. As sick as I am of overly realistic video games, the city looks fantastic in this game I cant deny that. So much to do and see. You can just stroll around and take everything in before leaping off to swing to the next crime popping up. If you grab this game on sale, youll have potentially one of the most fun and immersive spidey games to just screw around in after youve beaten (or skipped) the campaign!

In the end, while i feel bad about some of my harsher critisisms and how ive expressed them. My anger was never directed at any individual developer, but more so the big companies in charge of everything. I'm glad the games playable now. Praying the my mind can be changed for Spider-man 3 by insomniac or any other game they might release in the future.

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update: 4/6/2025: 7 patches. no real change. Still as stuttery, laggy and crummy as it was on launch. I give up with this game. It's clear it'll never run well on pc. What a complete waste of my time, patience and money. Every time i see "x HAS BEEN IMPROVED" in these patch notes, I begin to wonder if it could be counted as false advertising.


update: 3/20/2025: We are 6 major patches in. Not one of these patches have made the game feel any better, at least in spots where it would really count the most. How in the name of god did this game get steam deck verified? The game barely runs at an acceptable rate, resolution, etc. You cant even adjust the frame rate settings to get 40fps or even a stable 30fps. It causes weird issues if you try to force it. SO again, how is this 60 dollar mistake "verified?" How is the PLAYSTATION LOGO AND MARVEL LOGO STILL HAVING SCREEN TEARING! I get its just the logo but for god sakes its a representation of your BRAND AND ITS SCREEN TEARING ON NOT JUST THIS GAME, BUT NEARLY EVERY PLAYSTATION PC PORT. That alone should be a sign of the quality of this port. I dont WANT to hate this game, but the fact that it struggles on a 3070ti, in spots where the original remaster ran fine in, is baffling. I still don't recommend this "port" even at 6 patches in. At this point, stop releasing this little spit shines, and just work on an actual fix. Because its hard to not feel like us players are being used as beta testers without pay.

Original Launch review:
inexcusable performance for a game published by a multibillion dollar company. inexcusable price for such a horribly performing game. I've played past the sandman stuff, nothing improves. I was already mixed on SM2 from insomniac due to my huge gripes with the story, and a lot of the gameplay being improved while also being slightly worse in some areas. Why the HELL am i being forced to play as Hailey? I don't care that its a 10 minute section. It's the longest 10 minutes of my life. Why am i forced to do these drone sections that feel so forced on rails and unfun and uninspired. WHy am I yet again forced to play as Mary Jane? Giving her a gun doesn't make her fun. Why does a cutscene play, then im in a forced on rails section for 5 seconds, then back to long ass cutscene? Stop. Please stop. I bought the game to play as SPIDER-MAN, not ride a bike with harry as he talks away, and then have a boring walking sim section with teen peter and then hear harry sing never gonna give you up.

This game isn't irredeemable. But wow this pc port is worthless. i'm refunding until i know for a fact they fix the performance. Otherwise if you must buy this, know that the webswinging is the best its ever been. The best thing to do in this game is glide, swing and jump around. But thats not possible when the bad inconsistent frame rate gives you motion sickness. what the hell is the point of DLSS if it does NOTHING.

Also side note

why does every single Playstation game on pc have screen tearing on the ps logo? What a perfect way to show you guys do NOT care about your ports.

This is the last spider-man game im ever playing from insomniac. I despise the direction they are taking the story, I'm tired of every single big video game being "overly realistic with zero art style, I doubt we will ever again get anything like "Ultimate Spider-man" or shattered dimensions ever again with unique looks and feels to the games.

One of the best damn games I’ve ever played. Proud to be a fellow dispenser of democracy.

Even if you have zero context for what this game is supposed to be a parody of, right off the bat you'll notice it's a labor of love. The game is an extremely fun metroidvania with goofy cutscenes and goofy characters. Arzette is meant to put a smile on your face the entire ride. The big reward is getting to watch the cut scenes animated by various animators done in the same style as Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon for the CDi. It's like a Reanimated project turned into a video game. There are some veteran Youtube Poopers who worked on this game, if you dont know what a Youtube Pooper is, all I'll say is they are the ones who made the zelda and mario Cdi games widespread knowledge. Their joke videos on youtube back in the mid 2000's helped surface content not seen by most people. A majority of you reading this review would never have even known and people like AVGN would have MUCH less material to work with if it wasnt for the work of Youtube Poopers... and those same people helped MAKE THIS GAME. So these people BREATHE this kind of content. They know what they are doing and they do it VERY well.

I have friends who worked on this game and I still bought it twice to support them. The game is only 20 dollars, I BEG you to give this one a chance!

go on capcom, keep ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up your games thaty i stood by and spent a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of money on. Now i cant play this game thanks to the drm you added. Do not buy capcom games. its clear they are trying to rob you

you broke the game with drm

Uses ai voice acting and devs have doubled down on their lousy stance on it. Game also features some of the ugliest and lamest cosmetics I’ve ever seen in a game. Maps feel the same no matter where you go. Gameplay feels fun at first till your 2nd or 3rd round where you start falling asleep because all this game has going for it is the destructible environments. Your time is better spent elsewhere.

Yong Yea is a terrible terrible terrible kiryu kazuma. And it’s not a case of English dub is bad. Everyone else sounds fine/very good by eng dub standards. Yong both sounds unprofessional and like he recorded his lines from a snowball mic you get from Walmart. Do yourself a favor and just keep the jp dub on or you’re going to cringe to the point of your skin pruning.

As far as the game goes. It’s a friggin RGG game, they don’t make bad games. That big ol OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE rating ain’t there to look pretty, these games are always a fun ride. And this one is considered A SPIN OFF. If you’re new to the series, let that set the tone for what to expect if you wanna start playing through the rest of the yakuza/ like a dragon/ judgement series

the game is very good but you NEED a mouse with buttons on the side and you NEEEEEED a 100% keyboard, not a 60%, not a micro %, and ONE HUNDRED PERCENT keyboard with page up, page down, numpad, etc. If you have none of these things, then I wish you luck, cuz the overall experience relies on a TON of mappings. This isnt rainbow six seige all the way down to the modernized controls fit for an xbox controller, this is a simulator!


With that giant warning aside. Highly recommend this game

Game just doesnt work. shooting doesnt work, getting ammo doesnt work, buttons arent properly mapped, lag in a game that looks like an iphone 3 game, just dont. This is one of those games that will frustrate you and make you question your decision to try out vr games. Im beyond upset that i bought this second hand because now im stuck with it forever.

a reminder for why piracy exists. content i've paid for is now gone.