The article mentioned the city being 2.5 times larger than is SM2, but they didn't clarify if that would be true for all versions (PS2 and such). It seems that the past-gen version will be much the same with weaker graphics, so hopefully that's the case. I'm not the graphics whore I used to be, so I could stand for SM3 on PS2. I guess I'll just have to wait a couple years for the price to drop
That is going to be one big arsed city. Now if only the gameplay delivers as SM2 did. Nothing quite like having a bad day, loading it up, and [/i]tossing/flicking/piledriving[/i] villains off the Empire States Building.
Nice thread. I love sandbox games, and I'm always curious about what good ones there are. Steambot Chronicles has intrigued me. How free roaming are the Spider-Man and Hulk games? Are they actually good? I love comic themes, so running around and doing super-heroey stuff non mission related would rock my world.
In Spider-Man games, you can do a lot of superheroy stuff. Wait for 3 though. It looks to be really good.
In Hulk, you are not a superhero...your enemies pretty much are the heroes of the story. You are the engine of destruction in the game. You can grab a bus full of people and throw it to people in the same time. You can make a skateboard out of an ambulance...and other stuff like that.
The city in Hulk is really bland though. Spider-Man cities beat the hell out of them, although there is not nearly as much interactivity with the evironment then with Hulk. 3 SHOULD have more interactivity though. Here is some stuff from the IGN article:
Grab your tights, everything you loved about Spider-Man 2 is back; sandbox gameplay, Bruce Campbell's biting wit, secret tokens, villains, the Daily Bugle... and the stuff you hated about Spider-Man 2 is gone.
"The repetition was something that we were criticized for in the past," Townsend said.
Lame-ass balloon-catching missions and a handful of other constantly repeating tasks? Gone. Spider-Man 3 is going to boast at least 21 city objectives that'll pop up as Spidey makes his way from point A to point B.
One main storyline running throughout the title? Nah, Activision is pouring ten threads (nine not from the movie) into the game and drawing in comic book rogues such as the Scorpion, the Lizard and a couple of other big names that I can't mention yet.
Incredibly generic citizens who wander the streets at all hours of the day and don't react to the epic battles that are being waged before them? They've been replaced. The amount of traffic and sidewalk-stomping New Yorkers will be dependent on the time of day, and if Spider-Man has to take the battle to the streets, expect the crowds to react.
Oh, and yeah, the graphics are better.
"He's awesome-looking," Townsend said with a grin as the Scorpion appeared on screen for the first time. "The villain has 40 bones in his tail alone."
The first thing worshipers at the Church of Parker will notice when they leap into the sky and whip a web is the ramped-up slinging animation. The web comes out with a fluid arc, slams into a wall and goes taut as Spider-Man puts his weight on it. It doesn't sound like much, but in comparison to the straight webs our hero's been throwing for years it's pretty impressive -- just like the new wall crawling Activision's added. Remember how particular Tobey Maguire is when he scaling walls in the movies-- y'know, he gets close the surface and uses his fingertips to stick as he moves? It's in here.
Beyond colors schemes, Spider-Man has a handful of new and improved tactics up his sleeve and past his web shooter; chief among them is his Spider-sense. In previous titles, Spider-sense was thrown into gameplay as another way to block attacks and for cinema fodder. Now, you can use your ability to find enemies, solve puzzles and just make the game look cooler. See, with the click of a button, the majority of Spider-Man 3's screen goes from lush and colorful to black, white and grainy. Civilians show up in green, and your enemies or puzzle objectives turn red. It might not sound like much, but when the sense enables you to see through a building and locate the exact position of a gang or identify a water pipe that could extinguish a blaze blocking your way, you'll be happy you have it.
As far as blocking attacks, Spider-reflexes take over in this installment of the franchise. When some goon is coming to get you, tap a button to activate your reflexes. Time will slow down for the bad guys, a blue meter in the left corner will start to drain and Spidey will be able to reverse melee attacks by you hitting the right button in time.
If you want to dish out more powerful attacks or swing faster, you'll just need to keep practicing. There's no Spider Store in the current-gen versions of Spider-Man 3. Peter's abilities will get better and better as the player plays more and more (think Oblivion), although completing missions will unlock new moves.
Activision's brand new interactive cinemas will be key to completing missions on Peter's way to being the hero of New York. When the big story elements go down in the game (think fight scenes such as Harry Osborn and Peter brawling through the sky) players won't just watch a cutscene, they'll play it... kind of. The cinema will play, you'll be watching and suddenly a button logo will flash. Tap the corresponding button quickly, and the cinema continues with Spider-Man fighting the good fight and you needing to repeat the button challenge a few more times. Hit the wrong button or don't get to the right button quickly enough, and Spidey eats it (a car he should've dodged takes him out in midair, a subway car turns him into tunnel pizza, etc). Your health will decrease, and you'll try it again. In other words, it's like the God of War or Tomb Raider Legend playable cinemas.
So... Activision is claiming to have created QTE cutscenes? I mean, yeah, SM3 is going to be good, but that... is a bit much.
Where did you get that? They said brand new interactive cutscenes, I assume to mean brand new to the Spider-Man series, not brand new to games. Am I missing a part of the article?
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That is going to be one big arsed city. Now if only the gameplay delivers as SM2 did. Nothing quite like having a bad day, loading it up, and [/i]tossing/flicking/piledriving[/i] villains off the Empire States Building.
In Spider-Man games, you can do a lot of superheroy stuff. Wait for 3 though. It looks to be really good.
In Hulk, you are not a superhero...your enemies pretty much are the heroes of the story. You are the engine of destruction in the game. You can grab a bus full of people and throw it to people in the same time. You can make a skateboard out of an ambulance...and other stuff like that.
The city in Hulk is really bland though. Spider-Man cities beat the hell out of them, although there is not nearly as much interactivity with the evironment then with Hulk. 3 SHOULD have more interactivity though. Here is some stuff from the IGN article:
Looks pretty awesome.
Where did you get that? They said brand new interactive cutscenes, I assume to mean brand new to the Spider-Man series, not brand new to games. Am I missing a part of the article?