Insomniac’s Marvel game succeeded where Marvel’s Avengers failed

Insomniac Games announced two Marvel projects on Sony’s PlayStation Showcase on Thursday: Marvel’s Spiderman 2 with Marvel’s Wolverine. This is after the original Spiderman In 2018 and the first spin-off, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales,last year end.

With Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, Wolverine, Miles Morales and potential Venom in the playable Insomniac hero combination, the studio has begun to carve out a small part of its own in the Marvel universe.But it is different from Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix Marvel Avengers, Insomniac is something to keep intimacy.

To truly understand and appreciate heroes, in addition to any team they may eventually join, players, audiences, and readers all need to focus on time. Little-known characters like Miles need some additional backstory to help fans understand what they are doing.Even well-known heroes like Spider-Man and Wolverine need to build how this Version of Peter Parker or Logan operation.

This is how the MCU handles it, and it paves the way for the incredible conclusions of Phase 3.If Doctor Strange just appeared Infinity war His key role in the movie was not so important for the first time. Likewise, the Disney Plus show helps us focus on smaller characters who have not made our movies shine.we are at Wanda VisionNine more episodes than many Avengers movies he starred in.

But more importantly than Insomniac’s lesson of hero focus from the MCU, it’s to avoid pitfalls Marvel Avengers Walk directly in. Each of the major Avengers of the game is like a half-step between a new character and an homage to the MCU version of the hero.Tony Stark of Nolanos may have its own history Marvel Avengers, But the game did not spend much time revealing this, which means that there is not enough time to distinguish him from the character version of Robert Downey Jr. In addition to the rookie Kamala Khan, Marvel Avengers Will not spend time focusing on any one hero. The scope is too wide, almost every character will suffer.

Compared Marvel Avengers What is Insomniac doing.In the past 20 years, there have been four major movies of Peter Parker-five, if you count the versions of Chris Pine and Jack Johnson respectively in Into the Spider-Verse. However Marvel’s Spider-Man The version of the role exists independently.Just like the headlines of Miles Morales in the game, although Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Includes a lot of respect Into the Spider-Verse. why? Because Insomniac provides a long runway for its heroes-alone time with the player, and a large number of unique stories that distinguish them from the character models that the audience already has.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Focus on Peter Parker. Although the player can also control Mary Jane and Miles and observe Otto Octavius ​​up close, all the characters have entered Peter’s world.exist Miles Morales, Peter appeared to guide Miles, but this is Miles’s game. He is the focus, and Peter is just another character.

The team between Peter and Miles Spiderman 2 Should be more cohesive than the role team in the game Marvel Avengers. The foundation has been laid. I spent many hours learning about these unique Spider-Mans, so even if they are working as a team, I can appreciate them individually—just like teamwork in an MCU.

It is too early to speculate whether Insomniac will put all Marvel characters in one game. We are not even sure if they exist in the same universe (though we have already asked). But so far, Insomniac’s approach has been to let each version of Marvel’s superhero play a personal role first and potential teammates second.If Peter, Myers, or Venom suddenly appeared in Marvel’s Wolverine, It will not feel strange or inappropriate.but Marvel’s Wolverine It will almost certainly be a game that focuses entirely on Logan, the other heroes are just characters.

A beautiful universe full of unique heroes takes time to build, but it also requires focus. Marvel Avengers It feels like it is trying to profit from something huge and successful by spreading itself too thin-like a low-poly map that loses all its texture at the street level. But the Insomniac version of the Marvel world is too focused, even if you start to zoom out, you can still see the details.