Day 32: Kingpin

(Lyra comes in looking emotionally drained)

Me: Oh, hey Lyra, I haven't seen you in over a week. Where've you been?

Lyra: Well, you know, after being reminded that the Spider Queen exists, I've been at therapy.

Me: For nine days?

Lyra: Spider Queen really messed me up, man. Just please tell me we're done talking about spiders for the rest of this marathon.

Me: Well,the bad news is I'm talking about something spider related today.

Lyra: Oh God, why!

Me: But the good news is that it's Spider-Man.

Lyra: (Immediately calms down) Oh well that's different.

(Onto the segment)

Insomniac's Spider-Man really knew how to start things off with a bang. It's not enough for the game to start off with an epic intro stage that teaches you all of the core game mechanics, but they had to cap off their intro stage with an awesome battle against Wilson Fisk himself, the Kingpin.

After busting into Kingpin's office, he'll hide behind some bulletproof glass and activate a couple of turrets. You need to dodge the turrets' bullet fire and then wait for them to reload so you can web them up and throw them at the glass concealing the Kingpin.

This isn't a bad first phase. It's fun and keeps you on your toes, especially since those turrets can really rack up some good damage on you if you're not careful.

After this phase, Kingpin will decide to face you head on and the real fight begins.

In the fight, Kingpin will show Spidey that he really knows how to throw his weight around as his attacks hit like a truck, and for a heavyset fellow he moves fast. He can also take abuse just as well as he can dish it out because the only way for you to do damage to him is by either webbing him up so you can lay the smackdown or throw items at him.

After a doing enough damage, Kingpin will throw Spider-Man through a wall to another room so the fight can continue.

This phase is pretty much the same as the last one, only this time Fisk will call in some of his henchmen to assist in the fight. So, on top of Fisk running around like a bull in a china shop, now we have his goons to worry about. This phase keeps you on your toes more than the part with the turrets.

Keep webbing up and fighting Fisk, while taking the occasional break to fight off his minions, until another cutscene is triggered. A few quick time events some epic cinematics later, the Kingpin is finally subdued.

The reason I like this fight so much is how it keeps you on your toes when avoiding the turret fire in the first phase, the henchmen in the third phase, or Kingpin's fast and hard-hitting attacks throughout most of the fight. I also really like this fight as it pretty much triggers the domino effect that causes most of the major events in the game.

A perfect end to a perfect opening stage to a perfect Spider-Man game could only mean that this is a perfect fight...sort of, I still have 18 days left of this, so we'll what 18 first bosses managed to beat out the Kingpin soon enough.