Spider-Man vs Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Which Should You Buy?
Gameplay
When it comes to gameplay, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Spider-Man are pretty darn different.
For Shadow of the Tomb Raider, it’s very much a continuation of the gameplay we’ve seen in the previous installments in the reboot. You’ll go about, traversing stunning environments, solving ancient puzzles or navigating dangerous booby-trapped rooms in order to uncover and solve an ancient mystery. And for the most part, we don’t really have any complaints. Climbing and scrambling up walls feels satisfying, QTE events are used to good effect to up the ante in particularly tense moments, and the stealth combat feels incredibly satisfying when you’ve just taken down a group of Trinity soldiers.
If you get caught by enemies, however, things suddenly go downhill. General gunplay in Shadow of the Tomb Raider feels a little clunky and awkward. It’s difficult to quickly aim at an enemy and pop them in the head with a quick round from your pistol. Far more difficult than it really should feel in 2018, five years after the first game in this reboot, and yet it feels the exact same. Though it’s possible you’ll never really have to deal with this gunplay all that much in Shadow of the Tomb Raider if you’re good enough at the stealth, the fact that it doesn’t feel competent when you need to use it makes Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s gameplay feel a little behind the curve in 2018, though not so bad that it renders the game unplayable.
In Spider-Man, meanwhile, the gameplay largely focuses around how good it feels to traverse the bustling city of Manhattan as Spidey himself. Point launching from the edge of a building, freefalling a hundred feet or so, before swinging your way through Times Square meters away from the floor is exhilarating, and the way Insomniac Games has weaved traversal into every element of the experience means that just about everything you do feels so satisfying and… fun! Heck, going about picking up all of the collectibles in an open-world game was actually fun. How often do you hear that?
Many have argued that Spider-Man’s combat feels very similar to that of the Batman Arkham series, and while it certainly has the same core foundation, Insomniac Games has put its own spin on things to make it feel right for Spider-Man. You’ll be springing into walls and rebounding off them to tackle groups of enemies, webbing them up quickly before uppercutting them into the air, or swinging them around your head by a web before hurling them into their comrades.
That being said, Spider-Man’s gameplay isn’t perfect either. For some, the web-swinging antics may get a little old, and though there are side activities to hop into, they seldom mix the gameplay up enough to feel different from the main missions.
But then it tries to do something different during its story missions. Spider-Man will put you in the role of Peter Parker, and other, non-Spidey characters. And while it’s neat to see Peter Parker doing normal, everyday things, these sections do sometimes have a habit of sucking the pace right out of the narrative and will have you eager to step back inside the suit again.
So which game wins here? Ultimately, it comes down to what you’re after. Looking for something a little more methodical and mentally taxing, or just want more of what you got in Rise of the Tomb Raider back in 2015? Shadow of the Tomb Raider is probably more your cup of tea, just be prepared for some underbaked gunplay. However, if you want fast-paced, frantic action, but a simpler and less challenging experience, Spider-Man’s the game for you here.
Winner: Dead-heat
