Marvel's Spider-Man isn't certainly Dark Souls in terms of difficulty, but it involves a level of depth that creates a wide gap between a player who is sticking to the basics, and one who has mastered the nuances of traversal and combat.
In this post, we will provide you with a number of tips that will put you on the right track to become a really Amazing Spider-Man. That being said, we kept it spoiler-free, so you can read it before you insert the disk or while you're downloading the game without worrying about having this or that story moment revealed too soon. Do keep in mind that if you consider the existence of a certain gadget or skills a spoiler in itself, we can agree to disagree, but you should probably skip this guide and go right back to the front page because gadgets and skills are included.
Without further ado, let's dive into the tips.
1. Be aggressive.
Many action-adventure games, even some focused on super-heroes, encourage you to be defensive and to wait for an enemy attack to deflect and counter it. While you can do that in Marvel's Spider-Man, you are simply wasting precious seconds that you should be using to beat people and allowing enemies to surround and overwhelm you. Don't ever remain stationary. If no one is in range, use triangle to zip to an enemy with a Web Strike and maul him. This will force the rest of the melee-specialized goons to reposition and will give you some breathing space. Remember that you can do this from any position, even in mid-air.
2. Boost your experience gain.
The Combat Analyzer suit mod can be unlocked very early in the game and increases your XP gain when defeating enemies. More experience means more skills unlocked faster. Not only it makes you more powerful, but having more tools at your disposal earlier in the game makes combat more fun.
3. Don't forget the gadgets.
Marvel's Spider-Man is created by Insomniac Games, which means that gadgets are important. You have so many skills and attack moves at your disposal that it's easy to simply forget that you are equipped with an arsenal of gadgets as well. The Spider-Drone is especially powerful, even more so when upgraded, as it'll take care of other enemies around you while you focus on what's in front of your eyes.
4. Trip Mines are an easy instakill.
The basic idea of trip mines may lead you to believe that you need to deploy them in the path of a moving enemy and wait for them to "trip." That's not necessary. You can deploy them directly in a position so that their laser crosses a stationary enemy, and they'll be instantly taken down. This is especially useful from stealth with groups of two people. You can take down one with a trip mine, and use either square or triangle to silently take down the second before he can react. They can also be deployed directly on enemies without aiming. They will stick to them and take them down as soon as the laser intercepts anything else (of course, this will alarm them, so it's better done when you're already in combat).
5. Concussive Blast can instantly eliminate hordes of enemies.
Combine sonic waves that send enemies flying with rooftops: self-explanatory.
6. Don't waste suit mods on defense.
Again, being a spider-tank isn't very fun and doesn't really help you very much. Your best defense is offense, agility, and avoidance. Offensive mods that increase damage dealt, recharge your gadgets, or generate focus are much more effective. The quicker you defeat your enemies, the fewer chances they'll have to damage you anyway.
7. Boost your perfect dodge.
The Dodge Window skill can be acquired very early and widens the window in which you can execute a Perfect Dodge. It's very useful because perfect dodges slow down time and stun enemies with a web to the face. You can further enhance this with Payback, allowing you to press triangle quickly to instantly take down ranged enemies.
8. The "Yank" skill branch is extremely useful.
The skills on the right branch of the Innovator tree are extremely useful. They let you yank weapons with your web, and when you spend enough points, throw them back into their face. First of all, throwing stuff into people's face is very powerful in this game, and you won't have elements of the environments around you to do that. Secondly, don't let the icons trick you, you can use those skills with melee weapons like batons, rocket launchers, and those pesky shields.
9. Watch out for brutes.
Those big burly enemies can be really annoying as their reach often allows them to catch you at the end of a dodge. Web them with the Web Shooters and throw objects at them to stun them before attacking, and use the Wrecking Ball skill to turn them... into a wrecking ball.
10. Play with physics.
Your web swinging is based on physics. If you release your swing and press R2 again in mid-swing (when you're at the lowest point), you can trade off altitude for a lot of speed. If you let it go all the way, you'll bleed a lot of speed, but you'll gain altitude. Learn to trade speed for altitude and vice-versa depending on your situation.
11. You can fast-travel.
While swinging around is a lot of fun, at times you may be in a hurry. The game doesn't do a great job in showing you this feature, but you can simply get into a subway station and fast-travel to other locations in the map. You'll also be treated to small and funny scenes of Spider-Man doing what every New Yorker does on the train.
12. Powerful enemies require a higher focus.
Gaining focus is very useful because it allows you to instantly take down enemies by pressing triangle and circle at the same time. Certain enemies (like brutes for instance) may confuse you because they lack such prompt when your focus bar is full. That's because they require two full focus bar to take down.
13. You can direct your throws.
When throwing objects or enemies, you can use the sticks to direct your throw, hitting higher priority targets.
14. Web enemies to walls.
YourWeb Shooter charges are disposable, as they recharge quickly, so don't be stingy with them. If you throw enough at an enemy close to the wall, you'll instantly take him down from a distance by sticking him to said wall.
15. Don't ignore the side content.
The side content in Marvel's Spider-Man is quite fun, and it allows you to earn a variety of tokens which are required to unlock gadgets, suits, and suit mods. Some suits can be unlocked only if you complete certain categories of side content.
16. Upgrade your gadgets.
It's very easy to miss the fact that your gadgets aren't just unlocked but they also have multiple upgrades (between two and five) that can be done by spending tokens. There's a massive difference between your basic Spider-Drone and a fully upgraded one.
17. Listen to Peter's memories.
This won't exactly make you more powerful, but it's a lot of fun. When you find a backpack, it'll include a flavor item. You can either listen to Peter talk about it instantly (this is very easy to miss), or find them all in the Collections tab of the menu. It's a great way to delve into the backstory of the game.
18. L2+R2 Can Get You Out of Trouble Quickly.
By pressing L2+R2 when you see two small rotating circles appear on a ledge, you can instantly zip there. That's a great way to get out of trouble real quick if you're surrounded. Alternatively, using triangle for a Web Strike on a distant enemy has a similar effect, but with slightly less control.
19. Air Tricks are cool.
By unlocking the Air Tricks skill you can hold triangle and circle and use the analog stick to perform tricks. You can chain up to three of the same type together into a more advanced trick, or change direction in mid-air for a Switch Trick. This will earn you a bit of experience (it isn't much, but it's good when you're very close to leveling), and accumulate focus, helping you prepare for the next fight.
20. The Spider-Bro is your bro.
By unlocking a certain suit (early in the game), you can grab yourself the Spider-Bro suit power. It's absolutely devastating when you're surrounded by many enemies, and especially effective in base assault side activities.
If you want to see more about the game, you can enjoy a recent trailer featuring Black Cat and another featuring the photo mode, which will be added with the day-one patch. Of course, you should also read my brand new review.
The game releases tomorrow, September 7th exclusively for PS4. You can pre-order it on Amazon.