Game Review | Spider-Man (New Game+)
No need for a summary of the game at the top of this post, as it's already been posted in the review of my first time through Spider-Man which you can check out by clicking on the link to the right. All I will say is that it can feel a little different to play thanks to having all powers and gadgets unlocked from the start this time around.
Then again, that's pretty much the minimum you'd expect of a New Game+ mode and - in all honesty - the start is pretty much the only time it actually feels like a new experience. By the time you're back to around the two-thirds point of the story, you might've been missing a few upgrades but would have the majority of your core abilities and favoured moves, so that 'newness' wears off.
Which is why I gave up on the mode at pretty much that exact point: from there on out, it was simply going to be more of the same and very little on the 'plus' side. As you can read in my original review, I was one of the few that really didn't like the game all that much and no real reason for me to continue playing something I knew I wasn't going to enjoy.
The central problem for me with New Game+ mode is that the story sections are so tightly-scripted and with certain required actions taking place that having all of your abilities unlocked was almost always an irrelevance. What's the point of having every ability, suit power and fully-upgraded gadget unlocked and available when Quick Time Events are how story missions almost invariably end?
Having a maxed-out Spider-Man winds up only proving useful for the open-world stuff, as it gives you greater variety to your approaches and greater confidence taking on enemies, rather than being restricted to a very narrow set of options for dealing with the bad guys. Even then, I have to wonder how much of that simply comes from knowing what to expect .
Honestly, I think a better idea would have been to add a 'Superhero Mode' (or however you want to title it) that lets you play with a comic book level Spider-Man who can knock out enemies with a single hit because that's how bloody strong he is. Give players infinite finishers and no refills needed for your gadgets so you can truly go all out.
If that sounds too much like a cheat mode, here's the flip-side: one bullet in the wrong place would kill you, just like you'd expect it to. Or if one of your super-strong enemies actually hits you? It'll bloody hurt. Make it about that risk/reward balance and actually give players a new experience rather than just more of the same - although they'd have to make Spider-Man's movement a little faster to avoid that mode last any longer than a an hour or so.
Spider-Man's New Game+ mode is definitely an upgrade on the base game, giving you a new experience for the first few hours of the story before it all gets very familiar. Overly-scripted sequences still force players to play a particular way, but at least the open-world missions become far, far more enjoyable with so many tricks up your sleeve from the start.
