Spider-Man PS4: World Traversal
World traversal is a big deal in Spider-Man games. During the PS2 and early PS3 era, the developers had the awesome idea to have his web work as it does in other media meaning it actually connected to things. This changed the physics of traversal in new and exciting ways, allowing you to build momentum, loop around obstacles, and really feel like a hero. This was abandoned in the more recent releases for a number of reasons but was never happily received by fans. Thankfully, according to the first gameplay reveal at least, Spider-Man is going back to respecting the physics of the comics and animated series.
Of course, the usual maneuvers return with flips, dodges, wall runs, and rapid jumps. What’s interesting is the copious amount of quick time events (QTEs) that appeared in the gameplay reveal. Spider-Man had the option of squeezing through tight places while moving quickly through the sky or even while approaching enemies. At one point in the trainer, there was a chance to immediately change course towards an enemy to create a combo situation, showing that split-second decisions are definitely a thing as well as more dynamic movement through the world.
Hopefully QTEs aren’t as present in the final game as they were in the trailer, since they tend to make a game feel more like a sequence of just tapping a button rather than you really playing.
