Spider-Man PS4: 10 Ways It Owes Its Success To The PS2 Spider-Man 2 Game
3. Rewards For Exploration
Making a lovely New York sandbox for players to swim around is one thing, but encouraging people to dive into it beyond jumping off the Empire State Building is another. Spider-Man 2 filled in Manhattan's cloud piercing heights with Skyscraper Tokens, and some other choice trinkets, that players would hoover up as they took the swinging for a spin.
It was a very logical gameplay loop, rewarding players for doing the most fun thing in the game and pushing them to keep playing and experimenting. It's the kind of commitment to core gameplay that should be seen more often.
As has become the case in more recent years, stuffing a map with collectibles at the very least can compel a player to start poking around. But it's by no means a guarantee that people who aren't actively trophy hunting in this day and age, so used to overly saturated maps are players. Insomniac clearly spun out from Skyscraper Tokens, including backpacks and photo locations that pushed players to iconic areas they might have otherwise missed, such as Avengers Tower, and earn themselves a few shiny objects for their troubles.
The most effective loops are always the simplest.