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In the recent " Spider-Man " game for the PlayStation 4, you've got free rein to fly across vast swaths of Manhattan's iconic skyline. From Battery Park to North Harlem, the West Side Highway to the FDR Drive, Spidey's able to soar through the air and take in the sights.
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Spider-Man (PS4)
What's most impressive isn't just the scale, but how closely that virtual version of Manhattan matches up with the real thing.
See for yourself:
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One World Trade Center in "Spider-Man":
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Sony/Marvel
It's the tallest building in Spider-Man's Manhattan, just like in real life:
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Sony/Marvel
And here is One World Trade in real life. A slightly different design, but not too different.
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Phil Dolby/Flickr
The Battery Park in Spider-Man's Manhattan is slightly smaller than the real thing:
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Sony/Marvel
In reality, Battery Park is much larger — it spans the majority of Manhattan's southern tip, and bleeds into the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.
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Wikipedia
The Staten Island Ferry Terminal is notoriously missing from "Spider-Man," though its ferries can be spotted in the harbor next to Battery Park:
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Sony/Marvel
Here's the real thing — if you're visiting NYC, don't miss the free ride from lower Manhattan to Staten Island (and back):
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Shutterstock
Speaking of, the Statue of Liberty shows up in the right place — off the coast of southern Manhattan, not far from Ellis Island:
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Sony/Marvel
In reality, the island housing The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island aren't directly next to each other:
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Alex Davies / Business Insider
Governor's Island gets a surprisingly accurate depiction despite being relatively unknown outside of NYC:
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Sony/Marvel
Governor's Island was used as a Coast Guard outpost until the mid-'90s, when it was converted to a recreational space. The entire perimeter of the island is a track for running, walking, and cycling. It's accessible from Brooklyn and Manhattan via ferry, which is free.
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Wikimedia Commons
In "Spider-Man," you're only able to swing around Manhattan. No Queens, nor Staten Island, The Bronx, and Brooklyn. It's a real shame, but also Manhattan is gigantic.
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Sony/Marvel
It's hard to convey how much I want to swing around my borough as Spider-Man, but I understand why "Spider-Man" maker Insomniac Games didn't re-create all five boroughs of New York City: It would be an absurd task!
As it is, Manhattan in "Spider-Man" is gigantic — and "Spider-Man" features a heavily truncated version of Manhattan. If players could swing all the way from Jamaica Bay to East New York to the West Side Highway, it could be overwhelming.
From bottom to top, here's the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, and the Williamsburg Bridge — a close match to the trio of bridges connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan.
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Sony/Marvel
In reality, there's much more space between the Manhattan Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge, but the game's approximation is quite close.
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The general shape and layout of NYC is spot on:
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Sony/Marvel
Aside from the missing ferry terminal and a general scaling down, "Spider-Man" nails lower Manhattan — just compare the previous image to this one from real life:
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Stig Ottesen/Unsplash
Moving uptown a bit, Union Square is pretty dramatically shrunken in "Spider-Man":
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Sony/Marvel
The real thing is far more grandiose and vast — it's a large park that stretches several blocks in all directions:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1_new_york_city_union_square_2010.JPG
For some bizarre reason, the game replaces the statue of George Washington that usually stands in Union Square with this statue of William Henry Seward that normally sits in Madison Square Park.
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Sony/Marvel
Moving further uptown a few blocks on Broadway is the game's loving re-creation of the iconic Flatiron Building.
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Sony/Marvel
The Flatiron Building divides Broadway from 5th Avenue, and sits just below Madison Square Park at 23rd Street.
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Shutterstock
Madison Square Park is far smaller, and completely excludes the original Shake Shack location:
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Sony/Marvel
In reality, Madison Square Park is larger and more detailed. Where the chairs are in-game is where a fountain usually sits. Where the sculpture is, you'd see a massive line of people stretching from the original Shake Shack location.
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Shutterstock
The shrinking continues as Spider-Man swings up Broadway toward Herald Square.
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Sony/Marvel
Herald Square in reality is a major intersection at 34th Street and Broadway in midtown Manhattan. It's the unofficial beginning of mid-town.
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Flickr/NYCDOT
Perhaps the glitz and glamour was saved for Times Square, which is resplendent in "Spider-Man":
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Sony/Marvel
Massive screens with advertisements surround Times Square in-game, just like the real thing.
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Sony/Marvel
You probably don't need a comparison here given that it's Times Square, but here you go just in case:
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Justin Sullivan/Getty
Though Madison Square Garden isn't much of a looker in real life, the in-game version is somehow even less exciting:
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Sony/Marvel
In reality, Madison Square Garden is atop Penn Station — in the game, it's above "Square Station."
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Shutterstock
The Empire State Building (right) and the Chrysler Building (middle) are both looking very similar to their real-life counterparts.
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Sony/Marvel
Here's a closer look at the Chrysler Building:
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Sony/Marvel
As always, the Empire State Building is striking against the bright blue sky behind it:
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Sony/Marvel
The two buildings are staples of the NYC skyline, and it's smart that Insomniac didn't change anything for these two icons:
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AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis
But the MetLife Building above Grand Central Station is different. Instead of MetLife, it's a Colexco building.
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Sony/Marvel
Here's the real thing, towering above Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan:
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Thompson Reuters
Alongside the East River, the United Nations Headquarters is near-perfectly modeled. It's a striking building, both in-game and in real life:
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Sony/Marvel
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Flickr/stevecadman's photostream
St. Patrick's Cathedral is also given the re-creation treatment, and it's stunningly accurate:
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Sony/Marvel
Here's the real thing for comparison:
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Shutterstock
Rockefeller Center gets the shrinking treatment as well, with the whole area getting shrunk down to a much smaller version of the real thing. Here's 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where "Saturday Night Live" (and many other shows) are filmed:
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Sony/Marvel
The NBC Studios marquee is nowhere to be found, to say nothing of the Nintendo World Store and the gorgeous golden statue of angels.
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Sony/Marvel
The ice skating rink itself is much smaller as well:
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Sony/Marvel
The flags are all absent in the game, as is this bright gold statue:
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Sonja/Flickr
Radio City Music Hall is another example of a near-perfect re-creation. It looks almost exactly like the real thing:
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Sony/Marvel
It's bigger in real life, but that's about it in terms of differences:
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Shutterstock
The same goes for Lincoln Center, which looks incredibly close to the real place:
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Sony/Marvel
The differences are slight at the most:
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Shutterstock
Columbus Circle, unlike Herald Square, is a large and serious attempt at re-creating the real life Columbus Circle — it's on the corner of Central Park, just like in reality:
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Sony/Marvel
Admittedly, the statue in the middle of Columbus Circle is far shorter in the game:
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ESB Professional/Shutterstock
Central Park is sprawling, just like the real place. It spans dozens of blocks in the middle of both Spider-Man's Manhattan and our own:
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Sony/Marvel
It's not actually possible to fit all of Central Park into a single image in "Spider-Man":
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Sony/Marvel
Even the general layout is pretty similar to the real place:
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iStock
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a distinct icon of NYC. It's located on Museum Mile, in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The building is directly re-created in the game:
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Sony/Marvel
No catches here — the game perfectly re-creates the Guggenheim Museum. It's small enough and straightforward enough that such a thing is possible.
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Shutterstock/F11 Photos
Unfortunately, the even more iconic Metropolitan Museum of Art is missing — it's replaced with this monstrosity:
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Sony/Marvel
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a gorgeous, classically designed building — it's not clear why it's replaced:
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Luciano Mortula / Shutterstock.com
And finally, here's a gorgeous re-creation of Grand Central Station's magnificent, voluminous interior:
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Sony/Marvel
It's not a perfect re-creation in-game, but it's damn close — having been inside Grand Central many times, it was bizarre exploring the location in a game:
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flickr/justininsd
The Manhattan of "Spider-Man" ends in mid-Harlem. There's no Marcus Garvey Park, and no Apollo Theater, to say nothing of entire neighborhoods like Washington Heights.
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Sony/Marvel
The further north you go in Manhattan, the less alike the map is to actual Manhattan. But in general, the re-creation of Manhattan in "Spider-Man" is more detailed, more thorough, more downright impressive than any other game I've ever played.
It's a genuine marvel.
And now, a few bonuses — like The Avengers building, which is nearly as tall as One World Trade:
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Sony/Marvel
And Doctor Strange's Sanctum Santorum:
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Sony/Marvel
And the Embassy of Wakanda:
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Sony/Marvel
Oh, how could I tell that this building was the Embassy of Wakanda? Simple:
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Sony/Marvel
There's so much more about "Spider-Man" that feels like a love letter to New York City, including Spidey outright riding the subway while staring down at his phone — like a true New Yorker.
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Marvel/Sony
I didn't include much of Wall Street here, or The High Line, or The Whitney Museum of American Art, or Chinatown, or ... there's a lot. "Spider-Man" does an incredibly impressive job of re-creating a Manhattan very similar to the real thing.
Do yourself a favor and play it! And then come visit New York City.
See Also:
SEE ALSO: These are my favorite photos I've taken while swinging around New York City as Spider-Man