Ryan Taylor
Fans of Insomniac games’ Spider-Man series were finally treated to a gameplay deep-dive of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 over the past week, kicking off with Thursday’s State of Play that featured a 4-minute overview narrated by Creative Director Bryan Intihar, showing off the open-world, new suits, combat features, side activities, and more.
Since the official announcement of the sequel all the way back in September 2021, developer Insomniac has remained relatively tight-lipped, until now. Multiple content creators within the Marvel gaming community were invited to play Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 early, testing various features and even getting to partake in a boss battle against the Lizard.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has been Universally Praised
However, one thing that fans noticed was relatively little being said about improvements to the actual web-swinging mechanics. Insomniac has gone into great detail about the new web-wing gliding feature, leading many to believe it is the only noteworthy improvement to traversal other than increased speed.
ALSO READ: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Features Real-Time Battle-Damaged Suits
For those of you who were hoping for more depth to the iconic mode of traversal in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, there is some great news. Various sources have confirmed some major web-swinging upgrades that have not yet been seen in any trailer or gameplay footage.
The first of these upgraded mechanics is the iconic loop de loop, which allows Spider-Man to complete a full circle when swinging around a pole or crane. The best example of this in action is the final swinging scene of Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie, where the character swings around a crane twice before launching high up into the air and perching on the Empire State Building.
Next up is the hard corner turn, which allows players to tether a web to a building while swinging near a corner, causing Spider-Man to be launched left or right. This feature is similar to how players can quickly move around corners in the first two games while wall running, but can now be done while swinging as well.
If you want a visual example of how this could look, the opening chase scene of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 features a very similar move, where Andrew Garfield’s version of the wall-crawler shoots a second web to the side of a building to yank himself sideways into an extremely fast turn before launching into a slow-mo spinning air trick.
ALSO READ: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Features NPC Spidey at Times
It’s very clear that Insomniac has studied the movies closely for inspiration.
Youtuber Jake Baldino was the first to describe these mechanics, having used it during his play session. I then reached out to Insomniac community manager Aaron Espinoza for more information, who confirmed how they work as well as teasing players with the ability to surf along water.
Espinoza, who goes by @TheAgentOfDoom, posted a gameplay clip from Sunset Overdrive, an open-world game that was also developed by Insomniac. The clip showed the in-game character skimming along the surface of the water before launching into the air, with Espinoza confirming that the mechanic in Spider-Man 2 will be very similar.
Finally, Youtuber Caboose confirmed that the slingshot feature seen in the very first gameplay walkthrough shown earlier this year is not limited to specific, designated spots. The Spider-Men can in fact use the sling feature anywhere, similar to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, developed by Beenox.
The trade-off is that the poles Miles uses for the “super” slingshot seen in the gameplay walkthrough offer even greater distance than the standard slingshot.
It is interesting that Insomniac has chosen to keep these features relatively under wraps but it does give fans a lot to talk about and generate hype organically as word spreads. It will no doubt be worth it when we finally see these features in action for ourselves when Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20th.
What do you think? Is Insomniac and Marvel keeping other gameplay mechanics hidden?
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
