Spider-Man 3: The Game - first look

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He's back in black and ready to clean up Manhattan

As with any sequel, Spider-Man 3 boasts "all new moves and combos." While most of the action we saw looked pretty damn familiar, there were a few animations and vicious attacks that felt new. There seemed to be a lot of midair juggling too, with Spidey tossing criminals in the sky and bicycle kicking them to death. Before they could land, he'd web 'em back up and keep on beating the snot out their battered bodies. Other moves, like acrobatic somersaults and web rodeo attacks, are back for more.

The major addition to the battle system has been dubbed "Cineractive" - a fancy name for God of War-style interactive cutscenes. The first example was Peter Parker (yep, in his civvies) fighting Harry Osborn on a makeshift Goblin Glider. As they flew around the city, button commands would pop up (again, like God of War, Shenmue or Resident Evil 4) and if you do them properly, well you know how it goes. We saw Parker take down Harry first, then a later cinema put him up against one of the main movie villains, Sandman.

To our surprise, the Sandman fight actually unfolded two separate ways on two different plays. The interactive bits changed based on where Spidey was in relation to Sandman, with one move smashing Sandy's face into a passing subway train and the other knocking his knees out with rock-hard web blasts. So, even though you're just pushing buttons, the movie-like, cinematic brawls should still be exciting enough to keep interest high.

Another villain, Scorpion, made a brief appearance too. Too bad it led straight into another "chase the villain around the city until we decide it's ok to fight him" scenario we've been playing since the 2000 Spider-Man­ game. Sigh.

Brett Elston
Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.