Spider-Man PS4: 10 Big Things We Learned From The E3 Demo
3. Environmental Interaction Is Key
Insomniac
Anyone who's at least vaguely familiar with Spider-Man license will know that Peter Parker just can't help but 'thwip' everything he sees, especially when his spidey-sense is tingling. It might surprise you, then, if you're somewhat unfamiliar with the character's gaming exploits, that developers have been somewhat reluctant to embrace his thwip-heavy impulses.
Sure, past titles that have featured the wallcrawler have all seen him web his enemies in an appropriate fashion, but none have ever really seen Spidey take advantage of his surroundings. Not so, in Insomniac's case. The E3 demo saw their wallcrawler ever so eloquently emphasise the need for hardhat-wear by dropping heavy machinery on some unsuspecting goons, and later, Spidey pulls a heavy beam towards him, knocking out an opponent in the process.
It might seem like a small addition, but it's a great way of showcasing Spider-Man's ability to adapt on the fly.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
