Changing Up The Gameplay: Defending the Stealth Missions in Marvel’s Spider-Man

Insomniac, Sony, and Marvel have much to celebrate after an immensely successful September. The game became the fastest selling for the year and in Playstation’s long, illustrious lifespan in the game space. It has also come out with much praise among fans and critics alike, delivering a comics based game comparable only with the fantastic Batman Arkham games and a Spider-Man game many have been craving since Spiderman 2 nearly 15 years ago, if not forever. The game was successful on so many fronts, that it seems the issues with it propagated into a few consistently talked up points. By far, without a doubt, the most commonly agreed negative with Spider-Man came in the form of the stealth sequences scattered throughout the main storyline of the game.

Stealth seems to create a hard line with gamers, you’re either for it or frustrated by it. Utilizing this concept in games is not a new thing, plenty of games have taken this approach in differing forms and run with it. Metal Gear has a 30-year history of making stealth action that has spanned decades of technological differences in video games that have seen controllers go from four buttons to more than a dozen and graphics go from top-down 2D planes to fully 3D, nearly realistic models. The basic concept remains the same though, get around various traps, cameras and/or guards without them seeing you. The hope is to create tension, not wanting to get caught.

We’ve all heard the phrase “It’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all” and I have to say, it applies beautifully in defense of the stealth missions within Spider-Man. The essential gameplay mechanic to this game is controlling someone with the ability to quickly and enjoyably fly around New York City. Not only is it fun in general, but the idea of being able to get around with such haste in such a cramped metropolitan provides an added boost of doing something in a real-world setting you could only dream about doing. Since the stealth missions in Spider-Man take away the fundamental concept that creates the enjoyment, being able to move around loose and quick, it has automatically created a divisive moment leaving the player without the tools that have been available. So, this inherently leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the player because it’s not what they signed up for and is almost the complete opposite of what has been presented to them for the majority of the game. But, I’m here to say that although these sections of the game aren’t my favorite and many would say they just are straight up not good (I think they mostly control fine and weren’t awful by any means), the unbridled enthusiasm felt for how flawlessly beautiful it is to control Spider-Man as the basic concept of this game is what makes the stealth parts important. You love controlling Spider-Man zipping through Manhattan a whole lot so when you lose the ability to do it in the game it only strengthens the part of the game you love.

The use of the stealth missions in Spider-Man isn’t the worst part of the game, but are, in fact, crucial in benefitting the game. In a vacuum the stealth missions aren’t explicitly fun; they are slow, extremely linear and don’t reward exploring or trying different ideas without the instant punishment of getting caught and having to retry the sequence. However, in a game in which you control a boundless superhero, playing through sections that feel more attached to reality showcase the duality of a superhero in a superhero’s world and a normal person in a superhero's world. Though these areas of the game are clearly not as fun as freely swinging around New York City it creates a sense of balance with an otherwise unbalanced protagonist, which leads into the next point.

Playing as not Spider-Man, going up against the same enemies as Spider-Man in a non-combative fashion creates tension that otherwise wouldn’t exist. As fun and blue sky as Spider-Man is, there is a lack of tension or fear that you get from fighting bosses in Dark Souls, or trying to beat World 8 in Super Mario Bros., or being in the final 10 in a Battle Royale game. That’s not to say tension needs to be added to every game, I believe it helped more than hurt with this game though. Tying into the previous points, getting all that power taken away and having to play as a normal person in a world wrought with dangerous powers grounds the game and creates pockets of tension that would otherwise not exist.

These stealth sequences don’t make up a large proportion of the game, and while they are not the most ingenious mechanic, I do think they play an important role and overall strengthen the game as a whole.