E3 2012: Hands on with The Amazing Spider-Man for iOS and Android
Spinning its web
Gameloft struck (a Pocket Gamer) gold when it launched Ultimate Spider-Man: Total Mayhem back in 2010, so the re-appearance of the arachnid-bitten superhero on smartphones should come as a welcome surprise to mobile gamers.
While The Amazing Spider-Man may technically be a film tie-in, the company isn’t going down the traditional route and restricting gameplay to snippets from the movie’s plot.
Instead, it’s seemingly taken the entertaining combat from the previous spidey game, and combined it with the open world web-slinging reminiscent of much-loved PS2 title, Spider-Man 2.
I'm a swing it
So rather than simply running around the city, beating up groups of thugs with your eclectic selection of combat moves, you’re now free to swing between buildings, perch on lampposts, and do whatever a spider can (if said spider had superhuman abilities).
Getting from A to B in the game is as gracefully simple as holding down the jump button, with Spidey’s web automatically spreading out and attaching to an unseen wall high above.
There’s certainly a Batman: Arkham City feel to proceedings, thanks in part to this freedom of movement and the exhaustive selection of thug-bashing moves at Spidey’s disposal.
Biff!
These moves can be upgraded a staggering amount of times, unlocking more vicious attacks to the two button combat system as you complete missions dotted around the city.
These missions aren’t just combat-orientated, however. One early example from the demo I played at E3 had Parker swinging through ‘gates’ for a photographer, which then froze the action and allowed you to get the perfect shot of the (very detailed) Spider-Man mid swing.
Helping make these photographs that bit more attractive was the impressively far draw distance. Even when sat atop of a water tower high above the city streets, you can still see taxis and cars milling around on ground level, far below. Before then hurtling down and knocking out a few more thugs.
Naturally, this being a Gameloft game, you can decide to pop down real currency to speed along the progression of your skills, but the company has assured me this won’t be necessary to enjoy the game, given that it’ll be a paid-for title.
Nice suit
In fact, I could tell straight away that this isn’t likely to be another Six Guns in the way the title is laid out.
There’s very much a feeling – from the level of graphical detail right down to the slick web-slinging controls – that The Amazing Spider-Man is a premium release for the company.
We’ll see if it can keep up this momentum when it swings onto iOS and Android on June 28th.