After watching the trailer for Spider-Man I could already tell that it was going to live up the hype. Insomniac Games has already proved that it can pull off incredible visuals with game such as Sunset Overdrive and Ratchet and Clank. But this could very well be their biggest project yet. So many developers have tried over the years to duplicate the With an all new combat system and amazing web slinging acrobatics, Spider-Man has everyone talking, and for good reason.
You can check out the E3 Showcase Demo here:
In the initial gameplay trailer we see Spider-Man , hanging on the side of a helicopter, launching an attack on a super max prion called The Rift, where we learn that one of the major villains, Electro, is planning on releasing all of the prisoners. However, they arrive too late as Electro opens up all of the cells for the prisoners. Spider-Man’s partner leaves the area, leaving Spidey to take on the prisoners himself. The combat shown in the trailer shows how Insmoniac Games ingenuity comes into play as they give Spider-Man all sorts of abilities to mess with his foes. Spider-Mans senses are clear right at the beginning as you can see the white circular cloud around his head brighten as he attacks the prisoners. He then uplifts his opponent into the air and pummels him with an awesome air combo. He then follows this with our first glimpse of his web abilities, webbing the pillar behind them, swinging it up and slamming it down onto them. This was an impressive display of the ability to destroy environments and use it to your advantage.
Spider-Man then goes on a tear beating the prisoners one at a time. The combat is very reminiscent of the Batman Arkham Series, and this is a good thing as the fighting mechanics for that is very popular. However Insomiac seems to have gone a bit further, as seen in the trailer Spider-Man pulls out a crowd control ability where he jumps into the air and spins around launching web shots in all directions. With the prisoners dispatched, Spidey webs himself up to the second floor and goes into the other room to encounter none other than Electro and another super villain, Rhino.
Spider-Man gives chase as he webs himself onto the walls and through broken doors with seemless camera movement. However just he goes through the doors, Scorpion grabs him from behind. An explosion frees him, but Scorpion flees the scene leaving Spidey to contend with more prisoners, this time with riot shields. More abilities are shown here as Spider-Man jumps into the air, webs one of the prisoners up to him, punches him backwards, webs himself into him and kicks him to the ground. Its also important to note that the camera changes angles whenever Spidey pulls off one of these acrobatic moves, giving it more of a finishing move to his enemy. While in the air, he then webs himself towards a prisoner with a riot shield and hoists him up in the air and hits him with multiple webbing’s until he falls down covered in it. Spider-Man showed off more of his abilities when he webs a riot shield off of a prisoner and swings it around the room hitting everyone in its path. Spidey finishes off the last opponent with fast punches and kicks before heading outside to deal with Electro.
Spidey climbs up the walls to the rainy area and starts web slinging his way to him. The web swinging is a crucial ability that Spider-Man uses to swing around the landscape, and its on full display in this section as he swings and wall runs through the large open area, not to mention Electros’ attacks almost hitting him whenever he lands on something. Just as Spidey catches up to Eectro, Vulture swoops in and takes him for a ride. Spidey counter this by spraying webbing in his face, causing him to fall. More web swing action here as Spider-Man makes his way across a large terrain, over water no less, slinging onto towers and sides of buildings. Its clear that Insomniac wanted to show off the web swing more than anything to drive home the fact that this is the definitive Spider-Man game to play.
Another amazing display of Spider-Man’s wall climbing is shown as he is constantly dodging Electro’s attacks whilst running up the walls. The trailer changes back to a cut scene as Spidey confronts Electro on top of a helipad, who is then joined by all of the villians shown in the trailer thus far, and a surprise appearance from Mister Negative in a helicopter. Spidey attempts to fight all of the villains off but he is eventually overpowered. However he is saved at the last minute by a mysterious force not shown on screen. The trailer ends right there leaving Spider-Mans fate ambiguous.
Of course we assume that he survives, otherwise this will be the shortest Spider-Man game of all time. With the tight knit combat and the focus on the web abilities, specifically the web swinging, Insomniac seems to have done the impossible. They just may have created the ultimate Spider-Man game, and we don’t have to wait long to enjoy it ourselves.
Spider-Man will be playable at E3 2018, and it releases on September 7, 2018 for the PlayStation 4.