The new Venom suit in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 sure packs a punch, so much so that developer Insomniac Games was worried it might be too powerful.
Sony's recent PlayStation Showcase ended with a lengthy gameplay video for Spider-Man 2, which saw Peter Parker don the Symbiote suit. Far from being just a cool new look for our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man it comes with powerful new abilities for thwarting the plans of newly unveiled baddie Kraven the Hunter.
In a recent interview with IGN, Insomniac's creative director Bryan Intihar and game director Ryan Smith discussed the iconic suit and the impact adding it would have on the sequel.
"Expectations for the Symbiote are really high and we wanted it to feel different than what you would normally see," Intihar explains. "The Symbiote is power, is strength, aggression and I think we wanted to make sure that from a gameplay standpoint that was represented."
This raw power is most keenly felt in Peter's new finishers, which Intihar says are "much more aggressive and borderline brutal." According to IGN, with all this added strength, the developer worried that the suit might be too strong and worked on balancing the game so it delivers an experience that lets the player feel powerful without making the action "feel like a cakewalk".
As we see from Peter's cold exchange with Miles in the trailer, the Symbiote suit will impact his personality as well as his moveset. To bring this other side of the character to life, actor Yuri Lowenthal, who plays Peter, researched "the behaviors of addiction" when preparing for the protagonist's stint in the suit.
And if you have concerns that the PlayStation Showcase revealed too much of Peter and Miles' next adventure, put them aside as, according to Lowenthal, "you've seen nothing yet".
Our own Joe Donnelly thought Spider-Man 2 couldn't match the first game – it took less than 10 seconds to change his mind.
