The Amazing Spider-Man Game Finds Inspiration in Batman Arkham City

In a recent demo for the Amazing Spider-Man, IGN got the chance to see the game in action. After a short amount of time, deja vu struck as flashes of Batman: Arkham City came to mind. Can you really blame developer Beenox for finding inspiration in Batman: Arkham City? Batman swiftly flowed from enemy to enemy rendering them unconscious in seconds. With elegant combat, attention to detail, and a development team with a bleeding love for Batman, they were bound for success. Just how does this inspiration affect Spider-Man? Imitation is the highest form of flattery, but just how much inspiration are they taking? Spider-Man can rush into the middle of fight, and right from the start the inspiration slaps you across the face. A multiplier counter ticks away as well as a dodging system in place, similar to Batman, for counters. If you get taken to school in the middle of a fight your suit rips, discolors, and all around reflects just how bad you are. While similar to Arkham City. it will be interesting to see whether or not this occurs after each fight, or happens throughout the course of the game.

Choose to go the silent route, and Spider-Man will cling to the ceiling. Every enemy has a color indicator that allows you to know how alert enemies have become to your presence. This sets you up to use Spidey's new power "web rush", in combat and is a way to perform stealth takedowns. Once you're back in the Big Apple, Spider-Man is free to web sling to his hearts content finding random events throughout the city. In the demo, Beenox showed off a "police deadlock", which is essentially using your new web rush power and attach to the criminals roof, then enjoy a QTE. It will be interesting to see exactly how the QTE's are handled, but here's to hoping they can put a fresh take on them. Navigating through the heart of the city is enhanced by the web rush power as well. Press a single button and Spidey can slow down time in order to make responsive navigational decisions. Traversing the game environment with parkour precision and webslinging to reach a yellow icon. When you're trying to quickly reach a precise location the new power becomes an invaluable tool. With the ability being upgradeable it will be interesting to witness Spider-Man finally leap from a skyscraper, swing down to the street below, and land with precision. While in-game shots of the title appear to be nowhere close to the level of detail in Arkham City, Beenox has plenty of time to give their environments a little more attention. However, with the game's new camera position you're directly behind Spider-Man most of the time, and when you're speeding through a city at high speed, you probably won't be staring at the ground. Beenox's latest Spider-Man title is gearing up for release on June 26th. With Seamus Kevin Fahey (Battlestar Galactica, Spartacus) penning an original narrative, we will see Peter Parker continue to websling after the credit's roll on the film this summer. With inspiration being drawn from one of the best titles of 2011, there appears to be a beacon of hope on the horizon for Spider-Man games.