When we purchased Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we opted for the season pass to include a handful of future downloadable content releases. Two additional tombs were available by the time we settled down for our Christmas break, and it was 100% our plan to raid them over the festive period.

Except, then, Sony had a sale and we bought Spiderman and now it’s like Lara who?

I had heard people raving about this game and was interested to see what it was like, but I am really so very fussy when it comes to Playstation Games, there’s not a lot that holds my interest.

Spiderman almost didn’t, too. The first wave of baddies, whilst crucial for setting up the story was about as off-putting as it gets. Tricky, mostly button-mashing, and really… I just wanted to get to the bit where you can explore the city.

That’s where the game comes into its own. Persevere through that early battle and you are left with the entirety of glorious New York to swing through, scrambling up walls and over rooftops, crashing down to earth and scaring people like crazy. The graphics are amazing, the sprawling city a wonder to behold, and some of the vistas - well, it was no fool that opted to have a photo mode in this game too.

So far we’ve uncovered a few of the side mission things you have to do - hunting down backpacks, taking photos of bizarre cat statues, doing science at scattered research stations. Some of it is easy, some of it is hard, some I really don’t like (the one where you had to swing between two electro-magnetic storm things as they moved in at various points and zapped you… ugh). It seems like there’s a lot more to do and a lot more to discover, and now I’m annoyed because the Christmas holidays are very quickly running out.

What a great game this is, and what a reminder to sometimes listen to what the general population is saying and give these things a try!