Spider-Man 2 Mod Adds Wall Combat and Slingshots

It’s no surprise that Brand New Day drew so heavily from Marvel’s Spider-Man when it came to fight scenes. The kinetic combo-driven brawls and web moves are a ‘THOK’ and a ‘WHAMO’ away from the pages of the comics leaping into the realm of polygons. Air attacks, wall leaps, web swings into devastating kicks, the action is unbelievably satisfying and pulpy. Only, there’s one thing sorely missing that the criminally overlooked Web of Shadows nailed way back in 2008 — wall combat.

Insomniac, take note, because modders are showing how it could work in the framework of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 with an early WIP video of the wallcrawler running up and down a skyscraper while walloping Kraven’s thugs. I’m sure Spider-Man 3 will find plenty of ways to iterate on the swinging and combat as is. However, ButtersTM’s work is the last missing puzzle piece in making Spidey feel like Spidey.

“I’m making good progress,” they announced in the description of a new YouTube video. “PLEASE keep in mind that this is a WIP. I know it looks jank but I just wanted to show what I was working on. The camera will be better. I’ll fix the jittering. Overall it will be more polished.”

Learning From The Most Underrated Spider-Man Game: Web Of Shadows

Arkham is an obvious inspiration for Marvel’s Spider-Man, but the web-head gets to be more dynamic with his moves than Batman. There’s an innate verticality to someone who can leap in the air, swing from a web, and crawl along walls, but that last point hasn’t been utilized as effectively as it could be.

You can jump onto a wall and propel yourself at an enemy to really send them flying in both games, sure, but Web of Shadows showed nearly two decades ago how unique combat can be with Spidey’s abilities. Considering we were up against symbiotes in Spider-Man 2, it was a missed opportunity not to bring the action away from the floor and into Parker’s arena.

Still, ButtersTM’s video (and mod, when it eventually releases) shows how effectively it could work in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3. Of course, your generic street thug probably won’t have the tools to climb along a wall and fight the web-slinger, and Insomniac should definitely steer away from a Green Goblin-branded army who have the tools to do so, but maybe there’ll be a Silver Sable-esque militarized group that has grappling hooks or magnetic boots, akin to what we saw in Web of Shadows. And this kind of combat opens the door to boss fights that sprawl along the side of buildings, adding a new layer to combat.

ButtersTM is a modder to keep an eye on, because if this project reaches its full potential, it could add an entirely new dimension to Spider-Man 2’s combat.

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