Scratch that surface, see what’s behind it. The question asked of the player, in both games, is a simple one: do you want to go there, instead of where you thought you were headed? There’s no dot on a map, no glowing compass point.
Or how 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s map design used deliberately triangular and rectangular geography to obscure enticing new destinations from Link, until they were revealed in real time.
Think of this year’s God of War, and how it kept its deep wealth of riches hidden, unless your interest was piqued enough to stray from Kratos’ main quest. Related: Marvel’s Spider-Man Tips and TricksĪt their modern best, open-world games gently invite the player to wander off the beaten track, rather than beat them over the head with a growing to-do list of collectibles, waypoints and optional side content.
But as a multitude of markers quickly spreads across the pause menu map, Spider-Man too swiftly turns into a throwback piece of nostalgia, unfortunate in a time when open-world games have never felt more organic. And how Spidey actually moves around it? Just the best combination of controlled navigation, speed and fluidity, and fill-your-pants freefalling. And there are Marvel Universe landmarks, too, amongst the real-world streets and skyscrapers, ranging from the diminutive Josie’s Bar to the sunset-catching high-rise of the Avengers Tower.Īs an architectural achievement, assessed purely on its physical design, the game world of Marvel’s Spider-Man is a fantastic feat of triple-A engineering. If you’ve come for some virtual tourism, to take in a spot of sight-seeing on your downtime from the supervillain-stopping thrust of Spider-Man’s central plot, you’ll be happier than a cheeseburger-chewing Tony Stark.įrom the Empire State to Washington Square, there’s plenty to snap with Peter Parker’s infinite-memory digital camera. Which is certainly not to say that Spider-Man’s Manhattan is anything other than the most spectacular video game vision of New York’s densest, tourist-ensnaring borough (or at least the island part of it) that players have seen to date. And for me, it’s the game’s map that represents the most significant disappointment in an otherwise enjoyable, rewarding and unexpectedly warm-hearted experience. Marvel’s Spider-Man is a terrific superhero game, albeit one that stumbles short of genuine greatness due to a handful of shortcomings, many of which are outlined in this site’s review of Insomniac’s new open-world extravaganza.
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