Spider-Man

Sandbox superhero swings into sight looking Marvellous in motion, facing enemies who force him to think fast

Now that’s how you end a conference. Spidey swang by for a brutally brief trailer at E3 2016, but his latest cameo certainly makes up for last year’s tiny teaser. Insomniac rocked up to the show of shows with no less than nine minutes of gameplay footage, running in real time on PS4 Pro in glorious 4K. And boy, did the ensuing arachnid action show off some truly wondrous web-slinging heroics.

The E3 demo shows Spider-Man is an absolute master of the… um, sticky stuff. As our hero battles Kingpin’s goons on a New York rooftop, then later the Inner Demons gang and their deadly energy weapons, he shows off all manner of kickass tricks. Webbing a dude to the floor; leaving another to hang upside down; remotely triggering a web line that sends a thug crashing into industrial crates when the sap hits a tripwire. And that’s just the first 90 seconds.

There’s a lot more to this heroic open-world effort than fancy web tricks, mind. Just as the Dark Knight’s Arkham trilogy is built around three brilliant pillars – slick stealth, crunching fisticuffs, ace gliding mechanics – Insomniac’s Spider-Man has its own triple threat of treats. For creative director Brian Allgeier and his team, it’s crucial the studio delivers improvisational combat, screen-shaking set-pieces, and most importantly, an elegant web-slinging system.

SWING CITY