Why Marvel’s Spider-Man’s PS4 Photo Mode Is So Great | Gaming News

By Jonathon Dornbush

Photo Modes have become a staple of the PlayStation 4’s exclusives library — and with a built in Share button on the controller, a staple of the console itself. None has been so bespoke — and creative — as the photo mode for Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Available Day 1 as part of a new patch, the photo mode has the standard customization options we’ve come to expect — focus changes, lighting adjustments, and filters. But Insomniac Games has taken the mode to a delightful new level, as seen in the gameplay of it above and the gallery below.

(Warning: There are some suit spoilers toward the end of the gallery — don’t click through the last three or four photos if you don’t want some of the suits before you play.)

Marvel’s Spider-Man lets you plaster your photos on billboards, rolls of film, and, most cleverly, comic book covers and panels.

Creating your own sets of Spidey comic covers, or doing your best to emulate classic ones, is an absolutely delightful, and specific twist on the photo mode formula. It adds a specificity and hook to the mode that helps it stands out, and allows for a whole new level of creativity. (You can see a bit of ours in the video below.)

Theoretically, entire Spider-Man comic books could be created within the photo mode. Panels could be strung together — largely wordless outside of sound effect bubbles — to build your own stories or recreate famous Spider-Man moments.

Other PlayStation photo modes in a string of recent PS4 releases, like God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn, have offered some specific tweaks to the photo mode formula, but there’s something special to be able to make your own little bit of Spider-Man history in a way so intrinsically tied to the character.

Of course, Spider-Man’s origins as a well-known comic book character opens up a world of possibilities non-licensed properties don’t inherently have. But I would love to see Sony first-party developers — and all others who integrate photo modes — to continue finding clever ways to put a fun spin on an already enjoyable aspect of this generation.

For much more, be sure to check out Tech’s review of Marvel’s Spider-Man, hear from Insomniac about how HDR and 4K work in Spider-Man, and get all the details about Insomniac’s plans for Spider-Man’s three DLC expansions. And to hear more about our spoiler-free thoughts on Spider-Man, check out our discussion from Tech’s PlayStation show, Beyond.

Jonathon Dornbush is Tech’s News Editor and PlayStation lead. Find him talking about Spidey on Twitter @jmdornbush.