SPIDER-MAN
Getting our hands sticky with the webhead
“With great power, comes great responsibility.” Wise words from the tragically fated Uncle Ben, and the reason Spider-Man does what he does (which is pretty much whatever a spider can, but also fighting crime). Insomniac developing a brand-new Spider-Man game is a big responsibility, but after going hands-on, we know the dev’s going to make Uncle Ben proud. We’ve already waxed lyrical about how Insomniac has managed to nail the feeling of swinging around New York as Spider-Man, but as that’s something so integral to the character it bears repeating every time you even think about playing a Spider-Man game: that web-swinging had better be good. And in this case, it’s damn good. No game before has captured the thrill Spidey feels as he rockets through the Big Apple’s slices (er, the streets of New York).
Our hands-on has us teaming up to investigate a lead with police captain Yuri Watanabe – off the record of course. (In the comics she has her own alter ego, Wraith.) Someone appears to be letting Spider-Man’s worst foes out of prison – the E3 presentation saw Spider-Man facing off with a deluge of them. In this case, Yuri’s tracked Shocker to a bank robbery, a guard having been put into a trance to let him go free.
SHOCKER AND AWE
The altercation is brief, and fairly simple if you’ve ever played a boss battle before. But there’s a level of detail and freedom within it that plays to Spidey’s strengths. The bank feels legitimate, Shocker’s energy waves cause pillars to crumble, and there’s plenty of room to incorporate web swinging into your tactics as opposed to just dodging. The same holds true when you’re facing off against enemy groups; you’ll find yourself taking goons down with webbing, or careening off buildings, web-swinging around, and coming at them from new angles. Considering the wall-crawler can, well, stick to walls, playing with level geometry fits him like his snug superhero suit. We’ve yet to see how far the missions will go, but just slipping on Spider-Man’s one-piece is fun enough to have us hooked.
“SOMEONE APPEARS TO BE LETTING SPIDEY’S WORST FOES OUT OF PRISON.”