Finished Spider-Man yesterday. What a great fucking game. The last stage of the final boss fight was awesome. I don't think it was even possible to die but it was just an epic way to end the fight that really hammered home that you were playing as Spider-Man.
Loved the story. There were some plot holes, and the open world nature of the game makes it seem like the entire thing takes place over a couple of days, which logistically makes no sense. Still, it feels like a story ripped straight out of the comics. I also like how they appear to be drawing from a variety of different versions of Spider-Man. The Ultimate universe is definitely represented, but there are plenty of nods to the main Spider-Man universe as well.
The ending was great too. Far better than any of the Arkham games managed. I think the main difference is that Spider-Man is such a likable character compared to Batman. Batman is a dick to everyone, and as such in the Arkham games it never feels like he has much of a relationship with any of the other characters. They are more like co-workers than the side characters in Spider-Man, who feel much more like friends or family to Peter. As such, a certain event at the end of the story hits you in a way that wouldn't be possible in one of the Batman games.
The gameplay, as I mentioned earlier, took a bit to click, because the controls are a bit different than most other action games of this style for whatever reason. Once it clicked, though, combat was generally a breeze. I think my main problem with it is that the camera is necessarily (due to your mobility) pulled so far back that sometimes it can be tough to differentiate between enemy types, or to see the little icon that pops up above Spidey's head when he's about to get hit. This is doubly true when the combat involves a dozen or more different enemies, as it can get real chaotic and be tough to see the icon in time to dodge. This was never an issue in the Batman games, as combat was slower-paced and the camera stays in closer.
The combat, at its best, really does make you feel like Spider-Man, though, zipping from enemy to enemy, sliding under someone's legs, using your webs to snag a gun out of an enemy's hands and then swinging it back and hitting them with it, perfectly dodging gunfire at the last moment...it just works. It can occasionally be annoying when enemies appear on upper levels of fighting stages and start taking pot shots at you, though, as it's a pain to get the camera right to web up to them while you've got half a dozen guys on the ground with you throwing bunches as well.
Stealth, while more or less a total rip off of the Arkham games, works as well. You web from perch to perch and silently web up guys, picking them off one by one. It's fun, though, for the most part. You've got a variety of gadgets you can work with, and you can use your webs to pull objects over as either a distraction or to KO an enemy that happens to be walking by. Unlike in the Arkham games, though, the enemies never really develop any countermeasures to your stealth. In the Arkham games, enemies would start using thermal goggles that could detect you on perches, or even wire perches to explode and detonate them any time they saw you using one. Nothing like that ever happens in Spider-Man, and so your basic stealth tactics are as viable in the final stealth sequence as they are in the first one.
Overall, if you have a PS4, you should buy this game. It's easily the best Spider-Man game we've ever gotten. Not sure the runner up (probably the Ultimate Spider-Man game?) even comes close.
I thought they did a great job of setting up future games as well. There's a great post-credits scene that foreshadows two of Spidey's most iconic villains, one of which was more or less a given for the sequel, but the other of which would be a nice surprise.