Hands On: The Amazing Spider-Man

Maybe a handful of you still remember Beenox like I do, as “that studio that did loads of nice ports to Mac a decade ago”, but these days they’re much better known for their work with Activision’s Spider-Man franchise.

Following on from their well received first attempt with Shattered Dimensions 2010, Activision made them the lead studio for all future Spider-Man games, leading to Edge of Time last year and now the movie tie-in for The Amazing Spider-Man set as an epilogue to those events, which is hitting the shelves this week. Tomorrow in the US, and Friday 29th June for the EU and UK.

I had the opportunity to see and play a small slice of the title, with Lead Designer Rodolphe Recca and Lead Narrative Designer Benjamin Schirtz looking on, and the former answering a few questions too.

The two obvious differences between The Amazing Spider-Man and Beenox’ previous titles in terms of gameplay are that we’re back to a single version of Spider-Man and also making a return to an open world version of Manhattan, stretching off into the distance whichever way you look. I asked Rodolphe if the move to an open world for the first time was something they struggled with?

“Oh, it was a really nice challenge, yes! A big challenge!” said Rodolphe. “You know, Spider-Man is a character that can do anything. He can web-swing, he can web-rush, he can do anything in this game, and it’s in the character’s DNA.”

“So doing this city, reproducing Manhattan, with a character that moves so fast, it was a really nice challenge to do, with streaming things in and all this kind of stuff. Also with the varieties of gameplay and side missions that we have in the city, so it’s not only dungeons and something that progresses the story, but it’s also car chases, collectibles, human backpack, and plenty of other side missions and navigation challenges as well.”

Of course, no open world Spider-Man game could possibly work if they don’t get the navigation right. As part of this, Beenox have really tried to bring you closer to the action, with a much closer camera, motion blurring on the edge of your screen, the sound of rushing wind getting louder as you approach the street… Until you hit the right trigger and gracefully swing back up into the air.

It comes together as well as you’d expect, but swinging isn’t the only method of traversal, and is combined with Web-Rush.

You can use this in two ways, either a quick tap to propel Spidey forward, or you can hold it and view the world in super-slow-motion from his eyes, with indicators of nice areas to perch on, objects to interact with, and so on. Make your choice of direction, let go of the button and you swing, wall run, jump and get to where you want automatically.

I said to Rodolphe that it feels like the game kind of takes over at these points.

“Yes and no, actually,” came the reply.

“The Web-Rush allows you to select with precision the point that you want to reach, and the programme will create the flow of the animations and acrobatic moves that Spider-Man will use to reach this position, but you are free to cut in and completely change the direction with another Web-Rush or Web-Swing or something else.”

“So you are free to either let it take you to the direction you choose, or you can change your mind and I can change direction with the Web-Swing and interrupt that.”

“So it’s not really automatic, it’s… semi-automatic!”

It definitely simplifies landing on the tip of a flag pole, to look down on your next objective, rather than diving right in.

So there should be plenty of diversions to side track you from the main plot, with muggings to stop, people to help get to where they’re going as a “human backpack”, and brief appearances of boss characters, such as the Rhino or one of an army of high-tech robots.

Many of the key plot points and story levels of the game take part within dungeons, taking you inside buildings, for dedicated levels and story progression. You can approach these in a few ways, going in fists first, or clambering around on the roof with goons none-the-wiser to your presence, unless you want them to be…

“Something great, also, with this game is that even if it’s only one Spider-Man, we also took some experiences from Shattered Dimensions. Spider-Man Noir was really acclaimed by the players, and they loved the stealth as well, so that is something that we bring into this game. Spider-man is not only a fighter, he’s also really smart, you know, and he can also do some sneaking about, so that’s also something you can do in this game.”

As I said, unless you want them to be aware of you. You can happily skip past groups of guards if you don’t see the need for a fight, but if you tire of clinging to the roof unnoticed, you can happily perform stealth takedowns, or just drop in and start fighting.

There are also plenty of environmental objects for you to throw at people wrapped around a core fighting mechanic with combos, dodging and finishing moves. Something that’s a bit reminiscent of the recent Batman games.

“It’s one of the inspirations, of course, because, you know in the movie, Mark Webb is doing something more lucha libre style, more realistic in the combat?”

“Well, more realistic for Spider-Man!”

“But in this game it’s the same, that it’s very agile, very fast pace and it allows you to select the enemy you want to fight, switch and build up your combo for the Signature Moves.”

“The Signature Moves are something great, that are really in the Spider-Man DNA, using the webs, so that after the fight you’ll be able to see the enemies webbed onto the floor, and also the walls and the ceilings, it feels completely Spider-Man.”

Whilst you’re fighting, getting around the city and in the middle of missions, there was also some noticeable joke making by Spidey. That’s something that plenty people enjoyed from the trailers for the new film, with Spider-Man back to quipping and being a bit snarky whilst he’s taking out the baddies. So it’s great to see that this has been kept in for the game.

“We worked with Sony, Mark Webb and Marvell as well, of course, for this game, and we have all the DNA for Spider-Man and Peter Parker, so when he fights he will also make some jokes. It’s something that all fans of Spider-Man expect, so of course we have that, yes.”

“One thing to remember is you are Spider-Man, you’re not just controlling some character, you really are Spider-Man, and this is what the mantra for this game is, to be Spider-Man. By being Spider-Man, you do also make some jokes!”

At first blush, this could be one of those good movie tie-ins that we only very occasionally see. Since it’s an epilogue, though, I would wait until after you’ve seen the movie before you start playing, unless you just love the odd spoiler…