Talk:Spider-Man (2018 video game)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: TheJoebro64 (talk · contribs) 21:36, 19 May 2019 (UTC)

ME AND YOU CAN RULE THIS CITY, SPIDAHMAN, OR WE CAN JUST FIGHT TO THE DEATH! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

... Dunkey-isms aside, review coming soon. JOEBRO64 21:36, 19 May 2019 (UTC)

Review

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose, spelling, and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (reference section): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism):

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free content have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

Comments

Infobox and lede

• Are Brian Horton, Bryan Intihar, Marcus Smith, and Ryan Smith all credited as director? Template:Infobox video game says only the main director should be listed.
• Also per the template documentation, we can't list more than three designers
• Link to Spider-Man in other media at "... it is inspired by the long-running comic book mythology and adaptations in other media."
• "In the game's main storyline..." We already know that the storyline is the game's, so "game's" is redundant.
• "Marvel gave Insomniac the choice of using any character from their catalogue to work on..." I feel like this should be reworded because "their" is sort of ambiguous; you could be referring to Marvel's (which I know is the intended meaning), Insomniac's, or both Marvel and Insomniac. Also, just to be sure—are you talking about Marvel Comics or Marvel Entertainment?
• "The game design took inspiration from the history of Spider-Man across all media, but both Marvel Comics and Insomniac..."
• "... creating a unique universe (known as Earth-1048) that has since appeared in novels, merchandise, movies, and comics." Correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIK the only representation the game's received in film was that Spider-Man's suit appeared in the background of Into the Spider-Verse, which strikes me as more of an Easter egg than outright representation.
• "Marvel's Spider-Man was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 video game console..." I feel like "worldwide" is already implied unless stated otherwise, and we already know this is a video game.
• "... some comparing it favorably with to the Batman: Arkham series."
• "Following its release, Marvel's Spider-Man became one of the fastest-selling games of the year, one of the bestselling PlayStation 4 games of all time, and the fastest-selling superhero game in the United States." There's no way the game could've sold well before it even came out. "Bestselling" is also grammatically correct without a hyphen.
• "Spider-Man was followed by a story-based, three-part downloadable content, called Spider-Man: The City that Never Sleeps, which was released monthly from October to December 2018 that year, that takes place after the main game."
• Is there any reason why the game is referred to as "Marvel's Spider-Man at every mention? Seems sorta hypercorrect and odd considering the page itself is just called "Spider-Man (2018 video game)".

• Think I sorted all these. Thanks for noticing those "Marvel's Spider-Man", someone has snuck those in there because that's not how I wrote it. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 21:07, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Gameplay

• "Open-world" in the first sentence should be hyphenated, since it's being used as an adjective
• "... game that is set in the borough of Manhattan in a fictionalized version of modern-day New York City."
• Link to player character at "... showing the playable character..."
• Link to Spider-Man or Spider-Man (Insomniac Games) at "The primary playable character is the superhero Spider-Man"
• "... there are also original suits that were created for the game."
• Add a comma: "... involve puzzle-solving, while Mary Jane's and Miles' segments..."
• Why is the "H" in "hard" capitalized when the "E" in "easy" and "N" in "normal" aren't?
• Link to New Game Plus

• Done! Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 23:43, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Synopsis

• Characters
  • Does this game really feature an "ensemble" cast? An ensemble cast is, by definition, a cast that is assigned (roughly) equal amounts of screen time. This game does focus on multiple characters, but Spider-Man is the main character, so I don't think it's really an accurate description.
  • I think the two paragraphs about the characters/supervillains Spider-Man comes into conflict with should be merged into one. They're both only about a sentence or two long, so I think it'd flow nicer. I'd revise the start of the sentence introducing the villains to say "Spider-Man's mission also brings him into conflict... " It's up to you if the next paragraph (the one about more minor/DLC characters) should be in this as well.
  • Link to downloadable content.
    • Done partly, I disagree a bit on the ensemble cast. Spidey is the main, but MJ and Miles are playable characters and important parts of the story and the narrative deliberately leaves Spider-Man at points to follow those characters. Arguably Doc Ock could be considered a significant role as well.Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 21:53, 29 May 2019 (UTC)
      • Makes sense. JOEBRO64 22:57, 30 May 2019 (UTC)
  • Add "(DLC)" after you mention the characters who appear in The City that Never Sleeps
• Plot
  • "Afterwards, Parker is late for work as an assistant helping Octavius demonstrate his advanced prosthetic limbs for his government financiers, who are concerned when the demonstration fails." I had to read this a few times to understand that Parker is the assistant, while the repetition of "demonstrate" seems a bit clunky. I think this should be phrased better.
  • The black web-like substance is the Venom symbiote, no? Might be worth mentioning in a note.
  • No other comments here, pretty well written.

• I changed the line to "Later, Octavius presents his advanced prosthetic limbs to his financiers, with Parkers assistance, but the demonstration fails." Let me know if that is ok. For your second point, I'm reluctant to add a note only because the developers have not confirmed it is Venom or a symbiote or anything themselves, it's just speculation at this point even if it seems obvious. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 22:35, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

• That's good, I'd just add an apostrophe between "Parker" and "s" JOEBRO64 23:03, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

Development

• "The project that became Spider-Man came about when after..."
• Link to Insomniac Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Ted Price, and Marvel Comics since they aren't before
• "The project marked a change in Marvel's video games strategy; Jay Ong, head of games, said Marvel had previously released games based on or tied to the release of films based on their properties, but this meant game developers did not have time to create impressive games." That's five "game(s)" in one sentence.
• Link to Iron Man (or Tony Stark) and Thor (Marvel Comics) in the third paragraph
• Link to Proprietary software and game engine at "Spider-Man uses Insomniac's proprietary engine..."
• "The game was first announced..." It can't really be announced a second time.
• "... when it was officially released to manufacturing." The context already implies it's official; no one's going to assume it was unofficial.
• I've noticed there are instances when the "Games" after "Insomniac" is repeated, which seems unnecessary outside of the first mention.

• Done, though I could only find two instances of Insomniac games? Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 13:04, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

• Oops, I made it sound like it was more of an issue than it actually was (that wasn't my intent). Sorry. JOEBRO64 22:27, 3 June 2019 (UTC)

• Writing and characters
  • "Intihar worked with a team of writers, who were under lead writer Jon Paquette, to create an original version of Spider-Man that remained true to the original."
  • You're a bit inconsistent on how you refer to Peter Parker; while he's usually called "Peter", he's referred to as "Parker" at other points.
  • Is this the Kris Zimmerman you're referring to? Might be worth linking
  • "Marvel initially vetoed her death but their its opinion..." Marvel should be referred to as an "it" since it isn't a person/group of people; it's an entity.
  • Link to Uncle Ben at "May's death was described as an echo of Peter's Uncle Ben's"

• Done Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 16:53, 4 June 2019 (UTC)

• Design
  • "Each character has a high-quality model for closeups, cut scenes..." "Cutscene" is one word
  • I'd link to Polygon (computer graphics) at "The game's final boss is rendered with a million polygons"
  • "Insomniac wanted to modernize the design of Spider-Man's costume while paying homage to the original design by Steve Ditko." More concise and no repetition of "design"

• Done Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 22:39, 5 June 2019 (UTC)

• Music
  • "... beginning early in the development cycle during the completion of the story writing." This reads a bit awkwardly (how can you begin "during the completion" of something?) and is somewhat of a mouthful, perhaps reword to "... beginning early in the development cycle during the completion of the story writing phase"?
  • "The score's main theme..."
  • "He wanted to avoid issues problems" per WP:EUPHEMISM
  • "Each costume features custom web-shooters unique to the suit for which they were designed." Uhhh... what does this have to do with "music"?

• Done, no idea what happened with that web-shooters line. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 19:53, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Release

• Link to platform exclusivity in the first sentence
• "... for pre-orders of this version in the U.S. and Canada only."
• "... artist Alex Ross was engaged to draw paint a custom cover..." I'd change this since the cover is painted ([1], in case the source doesn't say so)

• Done! Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 19:53, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is up to you, but I feel like the puddle controversy could benefit from some trimming or even outright removal. It strikes me as sort of trivial undue weight
• Tie-in media and merchandise
  • Has the art book been released yet? Would be worth noting if it has
  • The Spider-Geddon and Spider-Verse mentions in the first sentence of the second paragraph should be in quotes rather than italics, since they're referring to the storylines rather than actual titles.
• Downloadable content
  • No comments here

Reception

• This is not required, but general vibe at WP:VG in recent years is that it's unnecessary to name drop every individual reviewer; their statements can just be attributed to the publication they're writing for. Noting individual critics is more useful if it's someone notable, like Jim Sterling.
• The generalized statements (e.g. "The combat was praised for its speed and fluidity while presenting a range of gadgetry and environmental options to execute attacks") need direct references, since they could be challenged.
• In the fourth paragraph, GamesRadar should be GamesRadar+
• Sales
  • "... until it was replaced by the multi-platform title..." Multiplatform doesn't need a hyphen.
  • "Bestselling" also does not need a hyphen
  • I'd remove the line break between the third paragraph and the fourth

• Done. I trimmed the puddle bit a little, I get it can be seen as undue but given Insomnia responded directly it is notable if not important. I couldn't think how to trim it more than I have and have it continue to make sense. Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 05:17, 14 June 2019 (UTC)

References

• No major biggies here. Only a few comments:
  • Some sites aren't linked in certain refs. Examples include Destructoid, GamesIndustry.biz, Screen Rant, Den of Geek!, and GameCrate, though I'm certain to have missed a few.
  • Two sources, Nintendo Everything and DualShockers, are unreliable, though I'm certain they can be replaced.
  • The Wrap ref about the Stan Lee cameo has an extra /ref at the end
  • The GamesRadar+ review is in all caps, which should be fixed
  • The Polygon ref "God of War wins big at DICE" is missing the access date and archive URL.

Images

• No problems. All free images are properly licensed and non-free ones have good fair use rationales.

@Darkwarriorblake: I apologize for being a bit slow at this and appreciate your patience very much. I've had a lot of work to do recently and in the coming week (and have gotten a bit distracted with another Wiki project) but I'll make finishing this review a priority; I plan to do so by next Wednesday. I hope you understand. JOEBRO64 00:50, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

@Darkwarriorblake, I once again thank you soso much for your patience and diligence. There are only a few issues left, but they're minor so they won't affect the passage of this article. I apologize for being so slow and am sorry if that annoyed you. Nonetheless, this article is excellent. Pass! JOEBRO64 22:32, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

Don't be daft it's been fine, I've been getting on with other things in the interim! Darkwarriorblake / SEXY ACTION TALK PAGE! 22:38, 16 June 2019 (UTC)