The Plight Of A Superhero

Superheroes don’t always have it easy. Though many of us often dream of how amazing it would be to fly, read minds, and turn invisible, more often than not we never consider the downsides of becoming superhuman. Since the golden age of comic books this theme has been explored in a number of interesting ways, spawning myriad story arcs for an entire host of iconic characters.

Over the past several years, we’ve also started to see this more in video games too. Second Son’s Deslin Rowe, for example, initially sets out to get rid of his newly-acquired powers with much of the narrative focusing on his own personal struggle. And, though not a superhero in the conventional sense, Deus Ex’s Adam Jensen has a similar affliction. the line “I didn’t ask for this” being particularly resonant.

Another standout quote, and one that directs us to our game in question, comes from French revolutionary, Voltaire. Having recently been coined by Marvel the words “with great power comes great responsibility” may have been kicked around a fair bit though still ring true, especially when playing The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Quick-fire impressions? It’s not Spidey’s best outing. Web-slinging through the streets of Manhattan never seems to lose its appeal yet the game’s combat, repetition and overall inconsistency has it falling short of greatness.

Spider-Man 2’s biggest crime, however, is its morality system – if that’s what you want to call it. In a similar fashion to inFamous, Fable, and even Fallout, doing good deeds will build your heroic status. The paradox here is that, despite there also being a gage that measures Spidey’s “Menace”, the mechanic doesn’t allow players to become evil as per se. So why does it even exist?

Hopefully the answer is to avoid a simulation of Peter Parker’s trip to the dark side in 2007’s Spider-Man 3. With emo fringes and dancefloor cringes, it was a mind-scarring twenty minutes of my life I will never get back, but I digress.

Given how the morality system works, “Complacency” would have been far more appropriate as opposed to Menace. You see, the aforementioned gage isn’t cumulative, instead it rocks from one end of the spectrum to the other like an underlying tug of war.

The really frustrating thing is what causes your “Heroic” meter to deplete and enter the Menace threshold. You see, there are no evil actions to perform. Instead, Spider-Man 2 will punish players for simply ignoring crimes and incidents around the city, even if they aren’t in your immediate vicinity.

At its worst, players will be drawn away from the game’s free-roaming and pulled into a seemingly endless chain of hot spots just to stay in the public’s good books. Failing to do so will quickly generate Menace, thereby summoning the presence of Manhattan’s all-new anti-crime force. On top of that your base stats, like attack damage and healing rate also take a blow.

The most frustrating example of this system in action I encountered was straight after saving an injured bystander. I pulled the poor guy out from some debris and rushed him to the hospital pronto. After checking him in there was a moment of relief as my Heroic meter started to fill. This was short-lived however, as it immediately depleted seconds after. Apparently, while helping one person, dozens more were hurt in a bomb explosion. A bomb explosion I could never have been aware of.

From the perspective of a critic, the mechanic is simply a poor design choice, a blemish on Spider-Man 2’s otherwise enjoyable open world gameplay. However, going back to our original topic, it perfectly reflects the consequences of being super-human. Crime never sleeps and if you’re caught taking even the quickest of power-naps, public perception begins to fall with every streetside mugging or held-up hostage.

Needless to say, it’s impossible to keep all of the plates spinning, yet the expectation is still there. It’s the ultimate dilemma for any superhero and, if explored further, could make for an intriguing angle to include in a video game.

Sadly, in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it’s presence is accidental – there’s no subtext or underlying meaning to be had at here. On top of that it’s largely obstructive too and, if anything, will be remembered as the game’s biggest shortcoming.

For more on Beenox’s latest title, keep an eye open for our full review.