[ad_1]
<div _ngcontent-c16 = "" innerhtml = "
These days, you just never know what kind of lunatic hot-takes you'll read while perusing the World Wide Web. You just know that, no matter the subject, the hot takes will follow. And they just keep getting hotter.
Take this piece in Deadspin by Tom Ley, who writes "One thing I definitely did not enjoy is how the game turns Spider-Man into a friggin 'cop! […] It is also responsible for the reflections of real life, but it is also impossible, for me at least, to not feel certain about the game forcing me into a reality with a fictionalized version of the NYPD, an organization that routinely oppresses some of the most vulnerable residents of the city I live in. "
Of course, Spiderman PS4 does not feature Peter Parker jokingly adopt the persona of Spider-Cop, much to his police contact Yuri's annoyance. Parker makes his voice serious and hard-boiled and pretends to be a detective as a running joke. But this is not what Ley is referring to. He's referring to the fact that Parker helps the police both solve crimes and fix their surveillance network.
You do not have to go to radio, and you do not have to do it. Unlocks the map, collectibles, crime and so forth. Ley writes:
I'm not fatping for as many straws as it may appear. Spider-Man does not just help the cops by catching armed robbers and putting deranged super villains in jail, he helps them maintain a high-tech, citywide surveillance network. One of the ongoing missions in the game Spider-Man Repair NYPD operated (and Oscorp-constructed) surveillance towers that stand atop various buildings throughout the city. These are some of the things you can do to get to the point of view of a certain radius of the tower, and for Spider-Man to get real-time updates on the city by using the towers.
A couple of things about this: First, I'm just concerned with monitoring the state of the next freedom-loving American, but the real issue with the radio towers in Spiderman is the fact that we should be in this obsession with towers by unlocks by now. At least a game like Horizon Zero Dawn used giant dinosaurs. Even The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild succumbed to map-unlocking-tower gameplay. Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed— the franchise who shoulders most of the blame for this overused mechanic — has ditched them altogether.
Even still, I do not think the towers are more important than the game and they are part of the larger narrative about the city's mayor since they're an Oscorp product.
Spoilers ahead.
What Does It Do? (Http://www.youtube.com) radio towers. We're not supposed to think of them as entirely good; after all, they come from Oscorp. It's subtle, barely addressed even, but that's my takeaway.
I'm not sure any Spider-Man fan out there (at least some at least) is unaware of Osborn's comic book identities. Certainly Spiderman PS4 makes it quite obvious that it is not a very good guy and that it is at best misguided and at worst truly dystopian and dangerous.
Osborn is one of the best and fight against the private security forces he's set up in the city. Spider-Man's goal is still to protect him from the forces arrayed against him, he's also forced to rescue citizens from these new oppressors.
Spider-Man's side of the game. There's no way around that. In this fictional universe, the cops are good guys. The escaped convicts are bad guys as they are armed with Fisk's organization and the Demons. The cops, or at least the ones working with Yuri and Parker, are heroic and hapless, always in need of help.
But so what? Does this really ruin a game for you, just because we know that police abuses exist in the real world? I just saw Black Klansman and it was an amazing movie, but it is a movie that is copious in this world. It's certainly interesting that both the black college activists and the KKK refer to the police as "pigs" in the film.
I'm also deeply hooked on Brooklyn 99 right now, binge-watching with glee and abandonment. But it's a police show in New York City that is not horrible oppressors killing unarmed black men with impunity. Does this mean we do not like the show, because it takes a comedic look at the police profession rather than being Very Serious? Are we in this world? Law & Order gold CSI? Should I put down all my detective novels? Burn them in the fires of ideological purity? Signal boost my distaste for anything and everything that is cops in a good light?
I'm writing about police abuse in the past. I used to write about the War on Drugs and the militarization of US police departments. I've read countless horror stories about police abuse and violence. Still, there are lots of good cops doing a very difficult job. By its very nature, font work is impossibly hard.
It attracts bad apples, sure, but it also attracts people who want to protect themselves and to face dangerous criminals, horrific domestic abuse situations, drug addicts, the mentally ill and so on and so forth (not to mention bad. Writing off all the police as bad or acting like the police are doing the wrong thing. As with most things we humans do, the truth lies somewhere in between.
(As a side-note, I can relate to a little bit to where The Division I definitely felt going out into the city to shoot at guys in hoodies looting stuff. That felt like the heavy hand of an oppressive government. But I think it was a tonal thing with the early game that was better explained as you went along. Sometimes you just have to play to get a really good feel for what it's trying to do.)
Spiderman does not glorify police abuses or totalitarian government. It does not really address the police abuse issue at all — it's not that kind of game — but it does show how bad politicians can use their power to oppress normal citizens. Spider-Man, throughout the game, is a man of the people doing everything he can to help anyone in need, whether it's a homeless man who has lost his pigeons, the people at the FEAST shelter, or a friendly cop and his Miles .
In the end, you can enjoy this fictional New York City and its fictional superheroes and super-villains while at the same time that criminal justice reform needs to happen. We can accept that the US has a prison population problem, with incarceration rates that are far too high for a civilized country, while also accepting that in a comic book story, when there is a prison break, only hardened criminals escape to run amok and wreak havoc. We can consume media as disparate as Black Klansman and Brooklyn 99 and not be confused.
So yes, this is exactly the definition of fatping at straws. The problem is simple: Sometimes you just get burned.
Further Reading:
- Here's my Spiderman review.
- Here's why the controversy downgrade was silly but still understandable.
- Paul Tassi argues that Spiderman is probably better than the Arkham games. I think it definitely is.
">
Spider-Cop does it again.Credit: Sony
These days, you just never know what kind of lunatic hot-takes you'll read while perusing the World Wide Web. You just know that, no matter the subject, the hot takes will follow. And they just keep getting hotter.
Take this piece in Deadspin by Tom Ley, who writes "One thing I definitely did not enjoy is how the game turns Spider-Man into a friggin 'cop! […] It is also responsible for the reflections of real life, but it is also impossible, for me at least, to not feel certain about the game forcing me into a reality with a fictionalized version of the NYPD, an organization that routinely oppresses some of the most vulnerable residents of the city I live in. "
Of course, Spiderman PS4 does not feature Peter Parker jokingly adopt the persona of Spider-Cop, much to his police contact Yuri's annoyance. Parker makes his voice serious and hard-boiled and pretends to be a detective as a running joke. But this is not what Ley is referring to. He's referring to the fact that Parker helps the police both solve crimes and fix their surveillance network.
You do not have to go to radio, and you do not have to do it. Unlocks the map, collectibles, crime and so forth. Ley writes:
I'm not fatping for as many straws as it may appear. Spider-Man does not just help the cops by catching armed robbers and putting deranged super villains in jail, he helps them maintain a high-tech, citywide surveillance network. One of the ongoing missions in the game Spider-Man Repair NYPD operated (and Oscorp-constructed) surveillance towers that stand atop various buildings throughout the city. These are some of the things you can do to get to the point of view of a certain radius of the tower, and for Spider-Man to get real-time updates on the city by using the towers.
A couple of things about this: First, I'm just concerned with monitoring the state of the next freedom-loving American, but the real issue with the radio towers in Spiderman is the fact that we should be in this obsession with towers by unlocks by now. At least a game like Horizon Zero Dawn used giant dinosaurs. Even The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild succumbed to map-unlocking-tower gameplay. Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed— the franchise who shoulders most of the blame for this overused mechanic — has ditched them altogether.
Even still, I do not think the towers are more important than the game and they are part of the larger narrative about the city's mayor since they're an Oscorp product.
Spoilers ahead.
Spider-Man does not help oppress the people.Credit: Sony
What Does It Do? (Http://www.youtube.com) radio towers. We're not supposed to think of them as entirely good; after all, they come from Oscorp. It's subtle, barely addressed even, but that's my takeaway.
I'm not sure any Spider-Man fan out there (at least some at least) is unaware of Osborn's comic book identities. Certainly Spiderman PS4 makes it quite obvious that it is not a very good guy and that it is at best misguided and at worst truly dystopian and dangerous.
Osborn is one of the best and fight against the private security forces he's set up in the city. Spider-Man's goal is still to protect him from the forces arrayed against him, he's also forced to rescue citizens from these new oppressors.
Spider-Man's side of the game. There's no way around that. In this fictional universe, the cops are good guys. The escaped convicts are bad guys as they are armed with Fisk's organization and the Demons. The cops, or at least the ones working with Yuri and Parker, are heroic and hapless, always in need of help.
But so what? Does this really ruin a game for you, just because we know that police abuses exist in the real world? I just saw Black Klansman and it was an amazing movie, but it is a movie that is copious in this world. It's certainly interesting that both the black college activists and the KKK refer to the police as "pigs" in the film.
I'm also deeply hooked on Brooklyn 99 right now, binge-watching with glee and abandonment. But it's a police show in New York City that is not horrible oppressors killing unarmed black men with impunity. Does this mean we do not like the show, because it takes a comedic look at the police profession rather than being Very Serious? Are we in this world? Law & Order gold CSI? Should I put down all my detective novels? Burn them in the fires of ideological purity? Signal boost my distaste for anything and everything that is cops in a good light?
Why do you hate Spider-Man so much?Credit: Columbia Pictures
I'm writing about police abuse in the past. I used to write about the War on Drugs and the militarization of US police departments. I've read countless horror stories about police abuse and violence. Still, there are lots of good cops doing a very difficult job. By its very nature, font work is impossibly hard.
It attracts bad apples, sure, but it also attracts people who want to protect themselves and to face dangerous criminals, horrific domestic abuse situations, drug addicts, the mentally ill and so on and so forth (not to mention bad. Writing off all the police as bad or acting like the police are doing the wrong thing. As with most things we humans do, the truth lies somewhere in between.
(As a side-note, I can relate to a little bit to where The Division I definitely felt going out into the city to shoot at guys in hoodies looting stuff. That felt like the heavy hand of an oppressive government. But I think it was a tonal thing with the early game that was better explained as you went along. Sometimes you just have to play to get a really good feel for what it's trying to do.)
Spiderman does not glorify police abuses or totalitarian government. It does not really address the police abuse issue at all — it's not that kind of game — but it does show how bad politicians can use their power to oppress normal citizens. Spider-Man, throughout the game, is a man of the people doing everything he can to help anyone in need, whether it's a homeless man who has lost his pigeons, the people at the FEAST shelter, or a friendly cop and his Miles .
In the end, you can enjoy this fictional New York City and its fictional superheroes and super-villains while at the same time that criminal justice reform needs to happen. We can accept that the US has a prison population problem, with incarceration rates that are far too high for a civilized country, while also accepting that in a comic book story, when there is a prison break, only hardened criminals escape to run amok and wreak havoc. We can consume media as disparate as Black Klansman and Brooklyn 99 and not be confused.
So yes, this is exactly the definition of fatping at straws. The problem is simple: Sometimes you just get burned.
Further Reading:
