Summary
- Wall combat is a highly requested feature for the Marvel's Spider-Man franchise, as seen in Web of Shadows' fluid combat mechanics.
- Implementing wall combat in Marvel's Spider-Man 3 could enhance gameplay, but must be fully realized to avoid any disruption in its hyperrealism and immersion.
The Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise may have an original narrative, but like all Spider-Man stories it’s impossible not to see where it must’ve received inspiration from other related media, sometimes through unmistakably explicit means. Insomniac’s take on Miles Morales alone is steeped in other popular influences, for example, while Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s playable Venom sequence could’ve definitely been inspired by the character being a playable monstrosity wreaking havoc throughout Ultimate Spider-Man.
Maybe it came to this set dressing of its own accord somehow, but the third-act plot of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 where the symbiote invasion has wrought black tendrils all across New York City, entangling buildings as symbiote enemies swarm the streets, is undoubtedly reminiscent of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. That game’s combat system allowed Spider-Man to battle enemies while stuck to the sides of buildings—a highly requested feature still for the Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise—and Insomniac’s boss fight designs prove that Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 needs to finally find a way to make this work.
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Wall Combat Would Cater to Marvel’s Spider-Man’s QTE Boss Fights
Doctor Octopus, Tinkerer, and Lizard’s boss fights each have a component where players battle them on the side of a building and what these sequences amount to is simple input QTEs. This is obviously due to Marvel’s Spider-Man’s lack of wall combat mechanics, which are fluid if not a bit janky in Web of Shadows.
Indeed, a lot of Web of Shadows’ combat mechanics revolve around being tethered to an enemy, whether that’s via the abused web strike attack that reels players into enemies or via the camera being gravitationally drawn to particular enemies. Even so, there’s a lot of freedom in Web of Shadows’ gameplay and nearly every boss fight allows for the same combat to be employed.
Marvel’s Spider-Man still has room to learn from Web of Shadows even if its third big installment does end up being its last, and wall combat would be an excellent pivot to see.
Wall Combat Could Disrupt Hyperrealism
The one hurdle Marvel’s Spider-Man might have with wall combat is integrating it in a way where it can still be as immersive as the rest of the series. Web of Shadows got away with its bombastic action due to not having a whole lot of realism going on anyway, having Spider-Man perform ridiculously long powerslides and body-surfing atop enemies along wholly smooth building surfaces.
Marvel’s Spider-Man allows players to wall-sprint seamlessly anyway, but neat environmental interactions occur with Spider-Man rounding corners or weaving up and through fire escape scaffolding, which would be even more phenomenal to see while mixing in combat with enemies swarming a building. Boss fights themselves could feature smoother combat that isn’t reliant on invisible QTEs anymore as players simply dodge back and forth.
Wall Combat Would Need to Be Fully Realized to Have an Impact
The Lizard boss fight in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was especially egregious for this, having players continuously dodge a hunter vehicle dangling below the Lizard. Now, if this vehicle had been causing damage to the building it might’ve at least been cinematic, but without the building sustaining any collateral damage that the player then had to avoid it fell flatter than it should have as a sequence.
Now that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s boss fights have become incredibly well-rounded with health bars and parries, too, these QTE set-pieces have become far more lackluster and could be entirely underwhelming in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, which likely won’t be arriving until the next PlayStation console generation now. Technological capabilities will hopefully be emergent and astounding by then regardless, but wall combat akin to Web of Shadows’ would already give it a huge leg up in terms of what Spider-Man is capable of and what actions would be exceptional to participate in during cinematic gameplay.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- Released
- October 20, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
Spider-Men Peter Parker and Miles Morales face the ultimate test of strength inside and outside the mask as they fight to save the city, each other and the ones they love, from the monstrous Venom and the dangerous new symbiote threat.
Explore an expansive Marvel’s New York with faster web-swinging and the all-new Web Wings, quickly switching between Peter and Miles to experience different stories, epic new abilities and high-tech gear.
Wield Peter’s symbiote abilities and Miles’ explosive bio-electric powers in battle against new and iconic Marvel Super Villains – including an original take on a symbiote-infused Venom, the ruthless Kraven the Hunter, the volatile Lizard, and more from the Marvel Rogues’ Gallery.
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Insomniac Games
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Franchise
- Spider-Man
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PC
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action-Adventure, Superhero
- How Long To Beat
- 17 hours
- Metascore
- 90
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
