Spider-man is New York's superhero
other heroes pass through, wreck our shit and go away again
But Spider-man is from here
he likes bagels
he rides the subway
and he disrespects public property
the point is, getting New York City right is crucial
to getting spider-man right and insomniac games did a pretty good job
their New York City is quite true to life
but some of the changes that they made
are very interesting
so let's see
I'm walkin' here!
In the game Fisk Tower is an ostentatious skyscraper with big gold
letters that spell out "FISK"
and it's right here, in Columbus Circle
Roughly where Trump International Hotel is.
technically it's in the spot of the Time Warner building
but let's not pretend this wasn't on purpose
Fisk isn't the only villain standing in for a local politician
Norman Osborn's Oscorp has effectively replaced
the software company of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Norman Osborn is of course the mayor of New York City in Spider-man.
Hey! Recognize that? It's the Staten Island Ferry and they also have them in
spider-man except in spider-man they go the opposite direction of Staten Island
up the East River
here in New York City everyone wants to touch this Bulls
testicles but in spider-man, you can't
because there is no bull statue
Instead, insomniac games put in a perfectly majestic statue of the enormous
teleporting bulldog lockjaw from the inhuman series
they didn't want to pay the licensing fee for the bull
which I totally understand
because I would much rather take a selfie with a dog's butthole
it's a short walk from here to
Freedom Tower, which you won't find in spider-man's new york
the tower that stands here vaguely resembles Freedom Tower but it isn't an in-game landmark
so it doesn't have a name
the 9/11 memorial also isn't in the game
we did catch a tour guide at the base of the tower giving a talk about 9/11
"...on 9/11, when all transport in the city was shut down,"
"citizen boat owners managed to transport over 500,000 people from Manhattan Island."
so it happened
there are a few potential reasons the memorials not there though
1, cultural sensitivity, I think it would be kind of weird to play a
spider-man running all over the 9/11 memorial,
2, - it's possible that the memorial declined memorial declined to be licensed for use in the game
3 even if it were possible to license the likeness of the memorial it might have been pretty expensive
we've reached out for comment about all of this and I really don't envy anyone
who is involved in figuring out what to do with such a sensitive location
taking a deep breath let's move up the west side of Manhattan
to an old elevated railroad that's been turned into a park called the High Line
it runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District all the way up to 34th Street
in an area called Hudson Yards
in spider-man the High Line is still under construction
but in real life, it's done!
it's constantly packed with tourists
Hudson Yards is almost done being constructed too
this sterile playground of gentrification
literally wasn't here when spider-man entered development four or five years ago
so the Hudson Yards that you see in the game is
already a thing of the past
life comes at your path
so does the mob.
right over here is the Javits Center
it's not in Spider-man but it almost could be
the building's management is affiliated with the mob and it's cost the city
literally billions of dollars
they have comic-con there!
The north part manhattan really got shortchanged. Washington Heights has essentially been
lopped off and Manhattan ends in Harlem
there's a medieval European museum
called the cloisters in Manhattan's northernmost neighborhood of Inwood.
In the game, it's been represented by a church and a graveyard
but the highlight of New York City in spider-man and in real life
is the Empire State Building
Here insomniac games just absolutely knocked it out of the park.
The Empire State Building feels huge and it dominates the skyline.
If you were gonna get one thing right about New York City it has to be this right.it
It wouldn't be in New York City and it wouldn't be spider-man without it
you New York lovers probably caught something that we missed so make sure
you let us know in the comments
If spider-man we have a great one about all of his fighting styles and another about
the amazing swinging in the game Thanks and don't forget to subscribe