EntertainmentExploring New York from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2How the largest metropolis in the world was recreated in detail on PlayStation 5today at 6:35 pm

Spider-Man is the protagonist of the main game released for the PlayStation 5 in 2023. In fact, there are two Spiders: Peter Parker and Miles Morales, the two versions of the hero, are the controllable characters of the recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2a title developed by the North American studio Insomniac exclusively for the Sony video game.

In addition to the powerful duo, there is another protagonist that makes all the difference: New York. The most famous urban center in the world, the city serves as an amusement park where the player faces supervillains, completes routine missions or simply walks around and enjoys beautiful landscapes. With the inclusion of new districts, Queens and Brooklyn, the current digital version of the metropolis is twice the size of that presented in the previous game in the series, released in 2018 for the PlayStation 4, which contributes to the feeling of total immersion.

“Real-life Brooklyn and Queens are a lot bigger, so we had to compress things a little and figure out how everything could fit together to work in the game,” explains Ryan Smith, game director. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2in an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone Brazil.

The choice of new regions was deliberate: according to established mythology, each character who wears the arachnid superhero costume has a special relationship with these districts. While Peter Parker lives in Queens, Miles Morales attends school in Brooklyn. “These smaller regions allowed us to create different player experiences than if you were in Manhattan, which is really cool,” says Smith. “We try to maintain the relative locations of everything. If you head north, you will definitely find what you are looking for. But it’s not a full-scale map, since the real Brooklyn is bigger than we can build.”

Those used to New York will notice the many similarities, but will also notice the absence of some symbols, such as the World Trade Center 1 tower, built years after the attacks of September 11, 2001. This is because the game’s setting is inspired by the version fictional city, presented in films and comics: “Our idea is that this is ‘Marvel’s New York’, so it brings interesting elements, like Avengers Tower”, says Smith. “At the same time, we made sure to include real landmarks that people could recognize, like [o parque de diversões de] Coney Island, and make the missions there memorable.”

Faster, more realistic

The expansion of the playing field was not the only aspect of Spider-Man 2 favored by the PS5’s most advanced technology. The processing power and greater loading speed favor faster movement around the map, whether swinging with the web (or gliding, with the brand new “web wings”) or even with the “fast travel” system that allows you to return to locations in which the missions have already been accomplished. “This allows you to switch between the two heroes almost instantly,” says director Ryan Smith. “This allowed us to offer a more flexible open-world experience where you can choose which Spider you prefer to play a given mission with.”

On the visual side, the improvement is evident in the improved details of the buildings, as well as light effects, reflections on the water surface, the density of car and NPC traffic and even the amount of foliage on the trees. For Smith, the combination of graphical realism and speed of action is what makes the experience closer to what is expected from a product made for the new generation of consoles.

“The way we managed to merge the feeling of being a superhero and quickly gliding through the city with the high fidelity of the scenarios, the density of pedestrians and the level of detail that the artists were able to bring to the environment, added to the different narrative lines in each region of the city… I think everything goes together very well and we are happy with the result”, he celebrates.

Asked about overcoming technological limits in future games starring the Spider, the director of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 avoids predictions and prefers to stick to the present. “I think we will continue to see advances in fidelity, realism and the simulation of how characters move, among other things,” he says. “Creating the New York experience is not just about the element of realism. It’s also about living the dream of being a superhero in Marvel’s New York.”

Spider-Man 2 continues its plot from the loose ends of the previous games (in addition to the first Spider-Man 2018’s spin-off sequel MilesMorales, launched in 2020), but the Insomniac studio guarantees that it is not necessary to have prior contact with the franchise to fully enjoy the experience. “One thing we always kept in mind is that this could be the first Spider-Man game someone plays,” explains Smith. “So we wanted to make sure you can have fun without necessarily having tried the old titles.”

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is now available for PlayStation 5.