The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man never fails to keep the concrete jungle of New York safe. The much-celebrated Spider-Man on the PS4 allows players to swing into the classic Spider-Man world. They can complete missions, unlock suits and items, and face criminals, villains, and any other disturbances as they come. Of particular note are the great and well-realized side missions that players can explore to unlock other elements.
However, it becomes apparent which side missions are better the further players get into the game. The importance of these side missions depends on what the player is hoping to accomplish in the game as well as the rewards for completing the side missions. Let's take a look at the best and worst of them.
10 Best: Storming The Castle
A woman named Stephanie is bird-watching when she notices armed men in Central Park at Belvedere Castle. Spider-Man suspects that they are not tourists. He webs down all the men and finds an odd USB when suddenly a pigeon steals it away. Spider-Man snatches the pigeon, swings back to the castle, and plugs the USB into a laptop. He discovers that the men are using this device to access personal data. He has to take out the criminals before they continue to upload the information on the USB, and the side mission ends when Spider-Man defeats all the criminals and makes sure that Stephanie is okay. This side mission allows players to think on their toes and it keeps them occupied. Spidey senses on point!
9 Worst: the Network Is Down
Spider-Man is on his way to the Police Department when a worker stops him and asks for help. The worker needs help with figuring out why the Financial District signals are jammed. Players are not able to use the map during this side mission and have to use radar, which more than a bit of an annoyance. Spider-Man uses energy waves to gauge where the jammers are. Once he defeats them all, players can use the map again. This mission involves stealthy fighting, but not having a map is not as fun for some players. Furthermore, Spider-Man should not have to help a worker before going to the Police Departement.
8 Best: Helping Howard
Spider-Man is chatting it up with Howard. He is homeless and finds comfort and happiness in his flock of pigeons. He can't find the majority of his pigeons because he's near a different building. Spider-Man helps Howard find all twelve pigeons by searching all the districts. When he sees one, he chases them as best as he can. Players prepare for harsh turns and they must keep up the momentum. Sometimes it's fun to go on missions that do not involve crazy evil villains. Chasing pigeons is probably therapeutic for Spider-Man, and enjoyable for players as well.
7 Worst: Spider-Man P.I.
Spider-Man meets a woman named Carmen in Madison Square Park. She is concerned about her husband's involvement with dangerous people. Spider-Man spots the husband in a group. A woman in the group says that if Rodrigo says something about their plans she will leak a picture.
Somehow, Spider-Man knows that they are criminals so he follows the taxi that the woman gets into. The majority of this mission consists of Spider-Man following the taxi. Once he gets close to the taxi, shots are fired and Spidey has to rapidly dodge bullets which ruins the group's plan. Spider-Man fills Carmen in on what happened and the mission ends. What was the point of this mission again?
6 Worst: Spider-Men
A man thanks Spider-Man for rescuing his daughter. The gag is, Spider-Man didn't rescue anyone. He swings to the theater where the man's daughter was supposedly rescued. The daughter is confused as to why Spider-Man is back because she thinks that he is helping with a fire. At this point, Spider-Man realizes that someone is impersonating him. Is Loki in this game? Spider-Man arrives at the fire and everyone thanks him for saving people from the fire. He decides to follow this trail of heroism and eventually runs into the impersonater surrounded by criminals. Spider-Man steps in, defeats all the criminals, and teaches the impostor a lesson. That said, this impersonater was able to save a woman, and save people from a fire? Maybe two Spider-Men isn't the worst idea.
5 Best: Internet Famous
A confused Spider-Man talks to a woman on one of New York's rooftops. She tells him to take a picture of a barcode on the building wall. Once he takes the picture, the woman congratulates him for accepting the challenge of going around the city and taking pictures of the other barcodes. Sounds like a pretty lame challenge, until Spider-Man realizes that the barcodes lead him to someone that has been kidnapped.
He reaches the location of the last barcode, where several men are waiting to take him down. He defeats all of the men and the mission is over. This mission can catch players off-guard, so be sure to have Web Bombs ready.
4 Worst: College Buddies
Philip Chang's roommate is missing, so he asks Spider-Man to help find him. Philip shows Spider-Man this roommate's recent social media post so he can track down his location. He sees that Philip's roommate is somewhere near the Statue of Liberty, so he swings over there. On the way, Spider-Man takes down a few unnecessary criminals and finds Philip's roommate. And that's pretty much it. The mission is over. It's nice to have laidback missions once in a while to practice and improve skills, but all this mission shows players is that Philip is a bad roommate.
3 Best: Tombstone: What's He Building In There
Spider-Man is trying to track Tombstone's new location in Harlem. He spots Tombstone's group and has to take all of them out one by one. Spider-Man looks inside the barrels that the group was messing with and finds dangerous chemicals in them. All of a sudden, another group arrives and inhales the chemicals. Spider-Man fights this group off and takes a closer look at the chemicals. Tombstone can only be stopped when Spider-Man makes a drug that can counteract these chemicals. This mission involves a lot of action-packed combat, but at the same time, it's almost like a puzzle. It's a great balance that really shows off how polished the game is overall.
2 Worst: A Matter Of Debate
Spider-Man helps Philip Chang find his debate club that never came back. He shows Spider-Man a social media post around the Brooklyn Bridge to help track them down. Sound familiar? Spider-Man finds the group tampering with a fuel tank - needless to say, Philip's friends are not the smartest. Spider-Man chucks a Web Bomb at the group and it somehow does not blow up the fuel tank. Spider-Man uses Impact Webs to gather the team together and the mission ends. It's unintuitive and a little less than engaging.
1 Best: Over His Head
Philip Chang calls in Spider-Man to help him find missing student Steve Hopkins. Spider-Man uses Steve's last post on social media to find his location. Unfortunately, Spider-Man finds Steve in cahoots with Tombstone's group. Spider-Man defeats the group that is corrupting Steve and pins him to the ground to complete the mission. This is a simple mission, but it is enjoyable for the players because it still involves fighting and Spidey skills. Hopefully, Steve learns his lesson.