Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever the screen prompts say. Look out! Here’s another QTE.
There are some things that just make sense. There are some things that make ‘be careful what you wish for’ just seem daft. We never needed to be careful about this one: take the Arkham template, and apply it to the best superhero never to get a really good game. With upcoming PlayStation exclusive Spider-Man, Insomniac looks to have done just that.
It lifts right over: A dense, dark, beautiful gothic sandbox? How about a sun-lit, dirty, breathless New York, in all its steel-and-glass glory. Free flowing combat with counters and combos? Dial that free-flowing up to eleven with actual super-powers, and those little symbols that pop up over the heads of thugs? Well now they make more visual sense – Spider-Sense! Even the little grapple point symbols are here, but it’s, you know, webs instead.
Almost everything in the trailer was a yes moment. You can see the impact – particularly in Sony’s family tree, with things like Days Gone and God of War – of Uncharted 4. We’re getting the first big wave of games to really start taking notes: huge, semi-playable set pieces of outrageous collateral damage (those are some conveniently empty office buildings); witty dialogue spiked with sarcasm (was there ever a more perfect home for that than here?); a truly cinematic quality with sweeping camera pans and crash zooms with sumptuous lighting.
And yes, it’s here. That one euphoric takeaway from Spider-Man 2 is here in all its magnificence. Web-slinging around New York looks stunning, and if you notice in the trailer, there’s a shift in its indoor/outdoor mechanics. For one thing, though there seems to be swing point icons that pop up, you also seem to be able swing with more freedom in general directions – something that Spider-Man 2 allowed with some slick pathfinding.
With Sunset Overdrive, Insomniac has proven its knack for balls-to-the-wall open-world excess. Here, it’s been given the keys to a juggernaut franchise opportunity – a reward for churning out great games like Spyro, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, solidly backing four generations of Sony hardware. Well you know what they say: with great pow – oh I can’t even. It’s looking good!
