I'll never forget the first time I got to be Spider-Man in a video game. As a kid, I was utterly obsessed with the wall-crawler (and still am), so my first experience playing 2000's Spider-Man on the original PlayStation is up there with my fondest video game memories. Heck, it's probably up there with my fondest memories in general.
So when I saw this video of a young lad called Ryan playing Marvel's Spider-Man for the first time ever, I related pretty hard to the look of pure joy on his little face. The video, shared by HollowPoiint on Twitter, is only 12 seconds long - but it says everything it needs to. 2020 has been an awful year for so many reasons, but this serves as a much-needed reminder of what video games can do when they're at their very best.
See for yourself below.
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To be perfectly honest, Ryan's reaction was pretty much exactly the same as mine the first time I played Marvel's Spider-Man, and I was 25 at the time. Insomniac Games delivered an incredible piece of work that absolutely captured the essence of Peter Parker and his webbed alter-ego, and it makes me so happy to know that it'll be the first Spider-Man game an entire generation of kids like Ryan plays.
Don't get me wrong, I'll always adore 2000's Spider-Man, but could you imagine getting to grow up with a video game like Marvel's Spider-Man? Younger me never dreamed a game like it would ever be possible, and not just because my formative years were spent trudging through increasingly rubbish licensed tie-in Spidey games.
In my 9/10 review for the title (nearly two years ago now!), I called it the best Spider-Man adaptation of all time, and one of the best super hero games to date.
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"Simply put, Marvel's Spider-Man is a triumph on almost every level," I wrote. "Even the occasional bit of padding in the story and some repetitive crimes can't get in the way of a game that looks incredible, plays even better, and manages to tell one of the most exciting stories in a video game this year."
I absolutely stand by that. If anything, watching Ryan's face as he plays me almost makes me wish I'd given it a 10. Almost.
Featured Image Credit: Insomniac/HollowPoiintTopics: PlayStation, Marvel, Spider-Man, Insomniac Games, PS4
