Peter Parker’s return to the PlayStation has shown promise since it was first previewed at E3 last year – and that ambition of the early trailers appears to have been fulfilled.
The open-world action game is a different take on Parker’s role as Spider-Man, he’s eight years into the job in this game and so players are handed a powerful character from the first moment of the game.
The result is the ability to explore and traverse the game’s impressive version of New York City quickly and in style.
Web-swinging does still take some time to get used to and expect to make mistakes and bump into the odd building. However, developer Insomniac has planned for such eventualities, with a special “quick recovery” move possible to style out any hiccups as you travel.
Those with fond memories of open-world Spider-Man games of years gone by will be delighted to see the format brought into the current console generation.
This fluidity also extends into the general gameplay itself, with side quests and missions constantly popping up around you as you swing through the city.
But it is in the game’s combat that Spider-Man shines most.
The combat system is incredibly engaging, with players able to quickly dodge enemy attacks in style and easily fire off devastating, powerful counters with just another single button press, making stunning-looking combat sequences nearly effortless to piece together – even as a new player.
Spider-Man is also able to use large amounts of the surrounding environment to take out enemies too, with a combination of the two controller shoulder buttons able to grab and take out enemies with everything from manhole covers to scaffolding, which can be picked up, pulled over or thrown.
In a very positive way, it feels reminiscent of another superhero game – The Batman Arkham series – which also sported a lively, dynamic combat system.
The camera angles and objectives during the boss battle experienced in our demo were not the most intuitive – the cramped confines of a bank made the fight a little claustrophobic, but on the whole the omens look good for the next big game in a superhero universe.
