OK, ever since Spider-Man 2, the Spidey games haven't been… particularly good. But we live in hope. We first caught atrailer for Spider-Man in the Sony E3 press conference last year. It looked like every other garden variety Spidey game at first, but then we learned that Insomniac games, the team behind the creative and frantic Ratchet & Clank platformer series, were behind the wheel.
At E3 2017, Sony again took to the stage for some more detailed arachnology with a length look at gameplay. With combat that looks heavily inspired by the Batman: Arkham series (as good a model for stealth superhero action as you could ever hope for) and a huge city to swing around, Sony closed its press showcase with a bang.
Luke Lancaster/CNET
The reason Spider-Man 2 is the gold standard of Spidey games came down to the sandbox feeling. You could websling around New York (with proper web physics -- you'd have to stick your web lines to buildings to swing) and help thickly-accented Manhattanites who had just been burgled or needed pizza or whatever. Regular Manhattan stuff.
The new game, following an original story and not a film tie-in, looks set to reclaim some of that former glory. While there wasn't a firm announcement, it certainly looked like it was using the Spider-Man 2 model. Between that and the fantastic combat, a more recent villain in Mr. Negative and a teaser of Miles Morales right at the end, you got me Sony. I'm hype.
With the world nearing Spider Madness (which is a real thing, just trust me on this, I don't need a link) ahead of the new Spidey movie due out next month, hopefully that's enough to tide us over until the 2018 release.