Few games did more to sell PlayStation 4s, than the original Marvel’s Spider-Man. Swinging its way into Sony’s E3 2017 press conference and then dominating the charts on its release the following year, this surprisingly slick licensed offering was an unashamedly cinematic adventure, the cutscene-heavy formula setting the tone for the bombastic single-player blockbusters that defined the PS4 era. Now, six years later, all eyes are on the webslinger to repeat the trick for PlayStation 5.
At a recent demo event in London, I pick up the controller and send our quip-happy hero hurtling fearlessly across a shiny Manhattan – and initially it seems as if very little has changed. There is Peter Parker, now rocking a black symbiote suit being pursued across Manhattan by the hired goons of big-game hunter Kraven, and my brain happily switches to acrobatic autopilot, pummelling henchmen and swooping between skyscrapers as if it were 2018 again.
