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I summarize or repeat a lot of points raised in my three posts on the game, but one thing I wanted to emphasize with Marvel’s Spider-Man was accessibility.

Unfortunately, we’re reaching a point where “accessibility” is a term with two separate meanings. Or perhaps it’s more appropriate to say there’s an old, conventional meaning descended from concepts of usability and human & computer interaction, and a newer meaning more akin to its definition regarding friendliness towards handicapped or disabled. I have no expertise or education on the latter, so I speak in the more broad sense in terms of learning the game’s controls, systems, and ease of adaptation.

For Marvel’s Spider-Man, the game still relies on familiarity with basic gaming systems. It assumes that you’ve played some games before and thus have a minimum standard of reflexes and verbiage established. Nevertheless, it’s going to create difficulty settings and limit its complexities so that players of all kinds can enjoy it. Despite being a regular player of games for decades, I actually appreciate this. I do not need nor demand every game test my skills to their very limits. In fact, I imagine it would be exhausting!

Watching Steven’s son play Marvel’s Spider-Man, I was actually impressed with how good he had gotten at it. This is going to be a game he remembers years from now. It will be foundational for him in the way that A Link to the Past, Mega Man X, Super Metroid, and Final Fantasy IV all were for me. It’s pretty cool to witness that sort of thing happening in someone else’s life.

What are your thoughts on Marvel’s Spider-Man? Please comment on the Facebook page or e-mail ramblepak64 at gmail dot com with your thoughts, and maybe we’ll read them on the show.

Opening theme music by my buddy Brandon, a.k.a. Fallen Prophecy.