What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast

[Mustang]

Spider-Man and Miles Morales
Replaying both just to see if I was tripping or not. Swinging-wise, Miles all day. I don't know, it feels tighter in MM. I still wish MM had some of Peter's and vice versa, but I get it. If they had each other's toolkit they'd be broken. Everything else I stand by. Peter just has too much in his story and again, I grew up with Peter.

Street Fighter 6
I need about a month or 2, but right now, despite not having Cody, Dudley, Yun or Yang, this is still looking like it can be my favorite fighting game of all time, dethroning 3rd Strike. This is possibly the deepest Street Fighter I've ever played. The decision to just include a little bit of something from previous Street Fighters through the Drive mechanic is genius. The only other game that I'd say come close to this is probably Capcom vs SNK2 with all the grooves. I've said that Street Fighter 5 was a fun game to play, and this game takes that fun and ramps it up to maximum. I can't speak on balance just yet. I need to see more and experiment more. But at the moment, Dee Jay is a problem. Juri is a problem. JP is a problem. Cammy is a problem. Despite all that I don't find any of the characters overbearing. I've heard pro players talk about the mental stack because of all the options that you have, and I can certainly see why they would say such a thing. Hell, Daigo is saying that this version of Ken is probably the hardest to play because of all the answers he has at his disposal, it's just a matter of choosing the right one, even though his gameplan might be simple. I gotta talk about Juri though. This little nutcase is a walking torpedo with this Drive Rush. Her startup is very deceiving because it looks like she has a slow startup, but the moment you think that she's already in your face and next thing you know you're losing almost 50% life. I've heard critiques here and there and all games deserves to be critiqued, and considering what some of those critiques were, I'd say they're fair. I haven't heard anyone outright blatantly say they hate the game. Even if they do, by all means, they have that right. It's just been an overwhelming ball of positivity. Sure, I'm also hearing BS about running into X Ken's but you know what? That's cool. Just remember. 18 characters at launch. Everyone that's probably settling on Ken is more than likely waiting for their character (case in point, me with, again, Cody, Dudley, Yang and Yun). Just be happy you're not running into Blanka and JP at the moment. Once people figure out how to actually play them, good luck. This is a 10/10 fighting game and I haven't even touch World Tour. I might crack out on this game.

[Mustang]

Over our little break for Independence Day and whatnot, my nephew decided he wanted to run some sets in SF3, USF4, and SF5. Haven't been able to play SF6 against him yet (apparently the Dualshock 4 don't work on the PS5 version for some oddball reason)

3rd Strike - This little boy here bodied my Dudley with his Akuma. Got to the point where he was trying to "let" me win rounds without pushing buttons. Alright, cool, it's been forever since I've used him, but whatever, no excuses. He won 3-0 against my Dudley. Then started to run his mouth. Unfortunately, my nephew is not old enough to go to our locals yet, so he didn't get a chance to witness that version of me where I bodied the last guy that wanted to pop-off at the mouth. Alright cool, warm up over. Bring out my Ryu. I'm up 3-0 at this point. He got a couple rounds off me. Good job. He's definitely improving. Then I bring out Ken and it was murder she wrote.

USF4 - I was actually surprised he wanted to play this. He only played Yun here. I bring out Ryu to get my hands warmed up. I'm up 2-1. Not bad, nephew. Not bad at all. To keep up with my Ryu for his age. Not bad. Switch to Evil Ryu, but he felt way too foreign in my hands. Hover over Cody and he says NOOOOOOO NOT HIM! LOL. He hates when I throw rocks at him and not to mention my Cody is pretty deadly. So, I bust out Ken yet again, went 5-0, but he did take a couple of rounds off me. Check you out little man. I also had him do combo trials. That was a funny sight.

SF5 - He played Ryu and I played Ken, and went 5-0 here. No rounds lost. He don't have access to this game so he can't keep up with this one, but he had fun.

SF6 - Most of my time has been spent in training mode, but I did start doing Ken's trials. Ooh boy, Drive Rush cancels from a normal are eating me alive. The timing is weird for me at the moment. >> is something I'm terrible at when it comes to canceling from a normal because you have to confirm it and that's a single hit confirm and I feel like I'm mashing the dash input. Fun stuff though. I got some training drills in my head that I can go through. (Edit - I take it back. Drive Rush cancels from a normal is not as complicated as I thought. Just weird. And seeing how this is Ken, the timing is throwing me off a bit)

I finished up everything I wanted in Spider-Man 2018. Might play up to a certain point in Miles Morales because I have everything unlocked and there's no real reason to go through the rest of the campaign other than see how many hits does it take for a over-leveled MM to put down some of these enemies.

Gonna jump into Ghost of Tsushima next while I wait on Trails of Reverie (completely forgot about this game)

[Mustang]

Street Fighter 6
Same ole typical training mode stuff. Ken and Juri.

Ghost of Tsushima
I had to pull myself away from this for a little bit lol. I'm on Act 2, but I've also been tackling a lot of the side quests as well. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this game? I know I gave up on the game once before but that's because somebody spoiled some stuff and also, if you know me, you know animal killings a killjoy for me. I can handle in game stuff, but cinematic, nah, I'm ready to go to war at that point. I think I know when it happens (haven't gotten to that point yet) but I got some things I can do to remedy that situation. Anyway, like I said, I love this game. Gonna end up seeing this on my favorite games list when I update it (there's a huge update too). Petting foxes. The scenery. The combat. The characters. Are they Vergil, Dante, Sephiroth? HELL NO, but if you know me, you know that I love all things Samurai. If I could, my house would be designed in a way to represent a Samurai lifestyle. The overall game is so basic and simplistic, but the way it's presented is what makes it work. Do I need another 1? No, but I sure as hell want one. And don't get me wrong. I certainly see the flaws, but this is one of those type of games that's perfect for me, if that makes any sense. 

After this, not sure yet. Toss up between Trails of Reverie and Final Fantasy 16.

[Mustang]

Ghost of Tsushima
And beaten. Currently going through a new game+ though. I love this game. Iki island was good, but could've been better in terms of the rewards (armor, swords, etc). Sure, there were a lot of charms, but I rarely use or depend on them. Getting to pet other animals was the cherry on top. New game+, seeing that you can still get dye, armor, etc, "chef's kiss". Overall, I've enjoyed this game from beginning to end.

Street Fighter 6
Little disappointed in my nephew. I don't mind using modern controls at all, but when I find out you're depending on a handicap to get your wins. Come now, you're a fraud. Anyway, I'm still enjoying the game.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
My nephew originally challenged me in this game, but I don't know if I'm gonna accept his challenge. I think I'm gonna make him earn the right to challenge me this time. In the meantime, I've been hitting the lab with Wolverine/Dormammu/Dante and Spencer/Dante/Hawkeye. I also might want to try out Spencer/Dormammu at some point. Spencer + Dark Hole sounds like damage galore. Getting the brain racking again.

[Mustang]

Ghost of Tsushima
So overall, I have about 200hrs put into the game, and going through a 3rd playthrough, but I'm not going to finish it anytime soon. As you can see, my love for samurais is through the roof. I know people here don't like it, but this is what I'd say Dad of War is close to, in terms of presentation, and I think that's why people tend to oversell it so often. Anyway, I'm updating my favorites, and a little bit of a spoiler, this is in my top 5.

Kind of had Street Fighter 6 on pause for a little bit, but I'm about to jump back into it. After Evo, I'm gonna stick with Ken. Originally, I was gonna make Juri the main, but Ken, his game fits me. People were suggesting Marisa for me, and I'll admit she does fit that criteria, especially when it comes to striking fear because of damage (I'll make her a secondary), but she's a little on the slow side for me. Like, I need to really sit and learn her because, while she's slow, her moves are hard to time making it hard for me to whiff punish with her. Anyway, Ken is the safe pick for now, until I get a character I actually like.

Single-player stuff, I'm not really in a rush for anything. Yeah, I can buy Final Fantasy 16, and while I'm looking forward to playing it I'm not exactly in a rush to play it immediately. Same for Trails of Reverie and Dad of War/Ragnarok. I think the only game I'd actually rush to get is Spider-Man 2, but even that isn't something I must have day 1. So, not really sure what I'm firing up next. Guess it depends on my mood.

Sort of given up on Twitch and went full YouTube. Mainly watching the same people (ChilledChaos, ZeRoyalViking, Dooley_Noted, etc.) for the Among Us, Project Winter, Town of Salem fixes. Town of Salem 2 is really something. This is one I'd play with random people, especially for icebreakers. It's too good and can get real hectic if you're playing with people that know how to sell their role and lie about others.

My PC gaming might start sooner rather than later, so I might even get a setup going for streamer and all that jazz. Gonna get interesting between now and December.

[Mustang]

Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie
I've come to love the series over most of your upper echelon of jrpg's over the recent years, and while I do love the game, I'm also split as well. I'm just hitting over 100 hrs mark (damn near right there at the end), and that could've been shortened entirely if I weren't grinding for "loot". So, yeah, I'm split on the final entry here because, on one hand I like the direction of telling a story from different angles. I like that I can build every playable character the way I want to play them.

That being said, everything else is disappointing. Severely disappointed in this game but I'm still having a blast doing my thing. Anyway, the disappointing parts. Where to begin..? There's a damn gacha mechanic in here. WHY!? This is not Genshin Impact. You can sort of abuse it in a way to get strong items/quartz very early, but it involves save scumming and I don't have time for all of that. I've only done it once and that was because I wanted a Master Quartz badly. I wouldn't have much of a problem with the gacha system if a lot of what you got weren't useless. Like, I'm not going to jump for joy over getting some sort of cosmetic item that don't do shit when there could've been had something like Attack 3 or Skanda Gem.

Speaking of that useless fluff, did I mention there were 51 playable characters? Potentially useless fluff for 51 characters? YOU SHITTIN ME!! Tried it out, OH HELL NO! Costumes are Ultra Rare value? Falcom, what kind of bullshit are you smoking? Ok, FINE, I'll bite. Wait. Where are the costumes for the Liberal crew? Where's Sara's, Laura's, and Emma's? They're not DLC this time, but they're from the previous Trails games, so I know they have some.

So that's just costumes. Gameplay, nothings changed. So I can build my characters up the way I want to but what's the point if the moves are the exact same from Trails 3-4? Like nobody learned anything new since the end of Trails 4? Really? Class 7 has 5-7 crafts while Liberal and Crossbell is stuck with 2-3 crafts (I hear they had even more moves in Azure and Zero). BULLSHIT! Ok, I can still play though. WAIT!!! Falcom, where are the bonding events? They don't exist anymore? WHYYYY!!? Some people are trying to justify it by saying because of the events that's happening. I'd buy that if it weren't for these minigames (trying not to spoil stuff as well). Vantage Masters, Pom Pom Party makes a return and you even got some Beach thing where you can hold romantic conversations. Falcom, you lucky there's 51 playable characters otherwise I'd break this shit in 2.

Like I said, I'm pretty much at endgame (about to go to the final dungeon). There's post game stuff, and even more characters and Master Quartz to unlock. Overall, this is for the fans. Somebody new coming into the series, I'd urge you to skip it. Hell, on a scale from 1-10, this is probably sitting at/or between a 5-7. I'm gonna replay it when I beat it because there's definitely a character I want to unlock and try out. And then, of course I have to go for my busted builds. I feel like there's something else I'm leaving off, but I'll leave it there.

Next game after is between Final Fantasy 16 and Sword and Fairy.

[Mustang]

Street Fighter 6
Me and my nephew just finished a session. I won but the score don't matter. The takeaway is that he's definitely learning and trying to adapt. I'm very impressed. He's a little masher, but that's the way he plays at the moment, especially on Modern controls. I also tried to use Modern controls. Not for me at all. Missing buttons, and a special button is weird to me. It's not really all that weird in a wider scope of things, but in Street Fighter, it's weird to me to grasp. I can't really explain it that well. I'm not knocking it either. Just not for me, especially when I like my flashy combos. That being said, while Ken is the main, I've tried Cammy, Juri, JP, Rashid, Guile and Luke. JP and Luke definitely feels cheap. The rest felt strong. That being said, 19 characters. About to be 20 soon with A.K.I. You really feel it when your character(s) are not in the game. It's definitely a repeat of Street Fighter 5 at the moment. Everyone feels fun, but I can't enjoy it the way I want to because I'm missing Dudley and Cody. I hate settling on characters that I know I don't want to stick with in the long run, especially in a game with a roster this small.

I've been watching people play Armor Core. Man, that game look sick. I might have to get it because the movement looks insane. I kinda want to make a Gundam. And then on top of that I've been getting MGS5 vibes from it. With it being mission based and whatnot. I can see the souls formula there but I might be able to ignore that in this game.

[Mustang]

Final Fantasy 16
Finally pulled myself away from Trails into Reverie to fire this baby up. I'm currently at level 17 and had my awakened fight. I'm not going to talk much about the story at all since it's presented well. The problem is, is that the game so far is mostly cutscenes so I can imagine people that had a problem with Metal Gear Solid 4 for its cutscene heavy focus is going to have a problem here. Me, I love it. Nah, my issue comes more along the lines of traversal. I mean, from what I've seen so far you're running from point A to B and while that's fine and all, the world map itself is in the way of it all. It's only there for fast travel, and they pretty much force you to do this. Combat, I'm still getting used to, but you can certainly tell Devil May Cry inspired this game, but there are traces of Final Fantasy 15 here too. Much like Devil May Cry 5, it starts out slow. Almost caught myself getting bored in the 1st hour, but once you start gaining abilities and Eikons, while it's nothing special, it is good at the same time. The combat starts to open up and, yeah, DMC all over the place. There's even its own version of Stinger in it. As of right now, no it's not game of the year. Not even close, but we'll see as I get further into the game.

Edit:

Update: Before I really get into it I may take all of this back because of where I'm at in the game. Anyway, traversal, I see you can actually run around the entire map if you really want to, so that's cool. So let me get straight to the nitty-gritty. You know me, I'm gonna talk about the gameplay/combat. I think I see what Square is doing, but I'm not sure if it's enough. Let me also say that I got my fourth Eikon and this one is very fun. The 3rd one, not so much. Anyway, my gripe with this combat is that there are not enough weapons. I'm pretty much just using this one sword and considering that you only control Clive, and he don't gain or learn additional attacks with this sword and at one point it had me going "eh". But as I said, I could be taking all of this back because I see what's going on with the Eikons. But that also brings another problem. Outside of the original Eikon, the ones I've gained so far only has 4 attacks which can be upgraded, but it leaves me wanting more. Some of the moves I don't really care for (admittedly, I haven't found a way to use in a way for me to enjoy them). That being said though, for a "character action" game I can tear this apart. If a Ninja Gaiden head got their hands on this, you better believe this is getting torn to shreds. BUT this is a good game. I think Ninja Gaiden fans and DMC fans will take this 100% over God of War. It don't go as deep as Ninja Gaiden, but if given another shot, I think Square can nail it (which is what I think FF7Rebirth will turn out to be). I don't think this is game of the year either. I can't remember everything that came out this year (and with Alan Wake and Spider-Man 2 coming) it might not even belong in the conversation. But it is a good game. This Games of Throne stuff. This medieval stuff. You can miss me with all of it, but here, I'm intrigued. I'm willing to give more games in this kind of setting a shot. Give Yoshi P and his team another crack at this kind of game I'd guarantee it'd be 10/10 game.

Had to get that out because as soon as I finish this play-through I'm going right into my 2nd play-through and it's where my fun truly begins. Right now I'm enjoying the story though. I might do a 3rd run to see if I can do anything broken, but it don't look like I can. After that, it's probably going to be Breath of the Wild (yep, stalling. I also have Tears of the kingdom but I'm indeed stalling lol)

I guess you can also say I'm officially out of my funk. I think it was Spider-Man that brought me out of it though. I'm just enjoying these. Enjoying my time. Taking my time with these games too.

[Mustang]

I've healed up enough.

Final Fantasy 16
And done. Currently going through my 2nd playthrough, you know, since that's where the "real" fun begins. I stand by what I said previously. It is a good game, but it's NOT a GOTY contender, and it's definitely one of those 1 and done's for the most part. Why am I replaying it then? Because I like to get my monies worth. I don't see myself replaying the whole thing though. The combat took a turn for the worst for me. I like the thought process with the Eikons, but I wish there were more weapons. The thought of having daggers, an axe, spear, etc with this game could've been so good, opening the combat up even further, but to stick with this 1 sword and have Eikons be the way they are makes it feel limiting. Maybe I missed something, I don't know, but that's sort of what this 2nd playthrough is for. To see if I can customize these Eikons a certain way.

Story, eh, it's a good story. Makes me curious about this kinda setting, but I'm not going to go out my way looking for this type of thing. Music is actually crazy good, and it actually might be it's strongest/selling point. There are some epic moments and the music really makes some of those moments shine. Other than that, deep down this game is just like a Tales or Y's game. Slightly disappointed, but it's a good thing I went media blackout with this. That "slight" disappointment could've put me in another funk.

[Mustang]

Trials of Mana
Yep, more stalling. I just know as soon as I delve into Zelda, there will be no turning back and I'll be stuck in that world for quite some time, especially with me liking open-world games and being able to zone out the way I zone out, yeah. Anyway, Trials. I've been putting this off for some time as well, though for different reasons. Now that I'm getting to it, I'm having a hard time jiving with it. I like the idea of being able to customize each character to my liking, buuuut, I don't know, this one just might not be the one for me. I'm just now getting to my 2nd character, so I know I gotta give it a little bit more time. It might be the main character choice. It could be the acting (although, the main lady in Hawkeye's story, whoever is voicing her got my full attention). Combat, not fond of, but this is where I need to have some patience at. At the same time, I'll admit that I should've put this game off a bit more considering I'm kind of anxious to jump into either Valkyrie Elysium and Tales of Arise a little more than this at the moment. I'm also holding off on God of War as well lol.

At the very least, I'm holding out on Zelda until Spider-Man 2. Reason being, I think Spider-Man 2 is the last game that I'm anticipating for the remainder of the year. I don't think or recall anything aimed for me is coming out in neither November or December (I don't count fighting games. I'm always going to be playing them). That frees up a lot of space for me. Still plan to play at my own pace, but by the end of January going all the way to March I believe is going to be stacked for me (Tekken 8, GranBlue, Persona 3 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth)

I also gotta get back to grinding in fighters too. Christmas tradition. This time we got a gauntlet of games we're gonna be running through.

[Mustang]

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Why am I playing this again why I know I'm not going to complete it? Yes. I'm still a masochist. What's even worst is that the Dual Shock 5 controller absolutely sucks with this game. So I'm already dealing with hit detection, hit boxes, and unresponsive buttons, I'm also dealing with a terrible controller on top of all that. So why put myself through this torture? Masochist is all I can say. The real answer is, I watch Seereax, Rhymstyle and Dotodoya (call themselves the 3 idiots) do these little raids, although they're playing a custom version, but regardless, sometimes seeing them play puts me in the mood to play as well, and I remember that there are still some things I need to see and moves that I need to acquire. There is one move in the custom version that I'm hoping is in the actual game. One move Seereax uses on his character (I don't even know the name of the move) but it looks like a move Vegeta would do; like, fire off 3-4 Big Bang attacks. Little stuff like that gets me going some time.

Anyway, with the games I've been playing, and the mood I've been in, a couple of games are in due for a replay at some point. Devil May Cry 5 and Nier Automata. I've been playing a ton of JRPG's lately, and a lot of them have been ARPG's on top of that so I figure those 2 games, especially Nier is due another shot because I dismissed both games. I'm fairly certain I dismissed Nier because I was in a big funk and just wasn't feeling it at the time. DMC5 on the other hand, was a different reasoning, but still I owe it a playthrough, especially because of Vergil.

[Mustang]

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Just as soon as I was about to rage. Previous day (day after that last post) I was HOT. DLC PQ 101 had me tilting badly. Expecting me to be able to babysit 2 people. I can barely babysit 1. So the following day (yesterday) I had a gameplan set. Boot up. As soon as I'm loaded into the game, I get an unexpected update. Fast-forward to now. Whatever the update was for, they made part of it easier, and it made my day cause holy hell, the babysitting, the randomness was dumb as hell. I finally got my hands on a lot of the stuff that's been hard to get that I've always wanted. Expert missions are complete (some of it is a pain even with easy mode on). I don't use it on everything though. Just the missions that's asking for bullshit.

All that being said, there's apparently another update coming in 2024. I guess I get it. It's easier to keep updating a game instead of making a new game, but at this point I'd rather have Xenoverse 3 instead of these updates. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely grateful for this update, but considering there's more to work with now from the manga and whatnot, it would have been a good opportunity to kinda reset a little bit.

Even then, don't necessarily need Xenoverse 3, but could've done another anime just like Xenoverse. Perhaps a Bleach, Naruto, MHA, etc. These companies are getting stranger and stranger by the day.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Signalis- A really good homage to classic survival horror so far. Kind of reminds me of Nier: Automata of all things what with every character seemingly being machine-based replicants emulating humanity, and if I'm being honest it does seem to be trying a little too hard to seem cryptic and layered with meaning (not to imply that it's necessarily pretentious, though). However, the atmosphere and overall gameplay make up for that so far, especially the puzzles which mostly hit a good sweet spot of neither being too obvious nor too obtuse. It's just enough to get you thinking for a hot minute. The music is also excellent so far.

Dead Space (2008)- Replaying this for the first time in about a decade. I have little interest in the remake if I'm being honest, but this game still holds up incredibly well. I'm mainly excited to go to the sequel after this since I actually never played it. That said, I may go ahead and replay Alan Wake first before going onto that since I want to relive the original before playing the sequel to that game which is nearly upon us.

[Mustang]

Spider-Man 2
Good God, Insomniac has some amazing set pieces. I'm probably about 4-5 hours in, but man, it's been a blast to experience so far. Combat is nothing to write home about, but I never thought much about the combat to begin with. Pure fun is what I'd say the combat is. That being said, this is the equivalent to Arkham Knight. The wings and fighting side-by-side in certain areas has Arkham Knight written all over it. This is what Arkham Knight should've been. Minus the Batmobile, AK is a 10/10 game. If you can remove that, SM2 does not beat that game IMO (none of the SMs do). That being said, flying might've gotten figured out and we might be a lot closer to a game where we can control somebody that flies in the future. Depends on what Insomniac is going to do after Wolverine. 1 thing I am disappointed in. The suits have no powers. Granted it never really mattered in the first 2 games anyway, but it gave me something to look forward to. Here it's all about "drip". Modern people ruin games I tell you. Some of these suits do look good though.

I gotta get something off my chest though. I was watching Kinda Funny's review for this game (I think it was the review). I understand the notion of wanting something different innovative and different. I also want change. I think it was Blessing that said something along the lines of wanting Insomniac to change it up. My thing is why do they gotta be the ones to change it up? For the most part it's almost always everyone except Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica that these journalists "allows" (not sure if that's the word I'm looking for) to get away with whatever just because the story and presentation is "top" notch. To me, neither God of War nor Uncharted/TLOU gameplay is anything to write home about either. If you're tired of the hero formula or open world formula, just say that. I'm not a Horizon supporter at all. But the amount of BS that series get is mind boggling. Like, they were a company that did FPS for crying outside. To go from that to Horizon and then the sequel, and the response from journalists is "it's doing the same thing the first game did but better" is suddenly a negative? HUH?! Yet God of War and Last of Us added the world and the kitchen sink to their sequels right? At the end of the day, just be consistent. I get it, we all have our favorites but man. If you gonna be a spade then be a spade and call all of them out. Tiptoeing is not something I respect.

[Mustang]

Spider-Man 2
I think I've played enough of it to give my overall thoughts. I'm either at endgame or damn near close to it. Once again, the set pieces are crazy good and I find it entertaining. Story, I saw something with Kyle Bosman comparing Super Mario Wonder and Spider-Man 2. Pretty much giving his suggestion to folks on which one to get first. Overall, he was basically saying get Mario, and for the most part, I see where he's coming from because it's very comic book tropey, and the same stance he has towards SM2 is my exact stance towards horror (as a whole). I think the main problem is, while the delivery is good from everyone, except Yuri Lowenthal (sp?). 1st lemme get this out. If you've seen symbiote Spidey in any form of fashion then you already know what you need to know. It's just a matter of how it's handled from Insomniac. Now, back to Yuri. He's good as Peter Parker. He's good as Spider-Man. He's terrible at being edgy. To be fair, I didn't like him as Sasuke either. I just never thought Yuri was good enough to portray that type. I think to really pull this off they should've stuck with Josh Keaton.

Even then, throughout all of media (besides the comic) I still think 90's cartoon Spidey is the best when dealing with the symbiote and Venom.

Anyway, combat, not much to say here. I'll tie in everything else here as well. I've seen lots of complaints about the game being too samey too. All of it is fair. I also don't want to be a hypocrite here because I've had that same feeling with DMC5 and a few other games too, but it's a fair complaint. I just wish people would be consistent with that complaint. For the most part the game is go here and beat up people, go there and beat up people. The Mary-Jane stealth portion makes its return as well, but it's better than it was in the first since she have a little more in her arsenal and you're not penalized with a gameover for getting spotted. I've had some tech issues to pop up, but nothing game breaking.

Overall, I'd say this game is about an 8 maybe high 7 and I'm having a blast. At the moment, without having played Tears of the Kingdom yet, this is my GOTY. When it comes to media, I'd be surprised if this is even in the discussion considering what all came out this year. And to be fair, even though I'm not into most of them I do think the audience trounces Spider-Mans, at least most of them except maybe Dead Space, but I could be wrong. I know most people love the survival horror genre.

This is the last big game of the year for me. I have some small games to pick up like Star Ocean 2 and GranBlue Fantasy Versus Rise to pick up, but once Spider-Man is done here comes Zelda.

Edit:

After finishing this post I went ahead and beat the game. Now I'm tackling some of the side activities. I don't see myself 100%ing the game because that's just not something I'd do, and some of these activities can be irritating. That being said I stand by about everything I said, high 7, to a mid 8.

Anyway, you know me. Comparison to Batman Arkham Knight time. Nah, there are a couple of things I want to hammer home. Spider-Man 2 has Batman Arkham Knight beat when it comes to it's world itself. Having NPC's around in the world really can make a game. That being said SM2 trounces AK in it's world and suits, but everything else, AK is the better game IMO. I'm also bias because, as I said in the original post, everybody delivers and I'm also a stan when it comes to the 90's cartoon. Having said that I'm not the biggest Spider-Man fan, let alone Peter Parker. There are just some things he does that irritates the hell outta me (across the board in everything). Even when it comes to Batman, I'm not the biggest supporter these days, but I'll take him over Spider-Man any day.