Developer Bennox talks to eu.playstation.com about bringing four different versions of Marvel’s Spider-Man to PlayStation 3.
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions features Ultimate Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Man Noir. That's a lot of Spider-Men! Did you ponder any other potential universes before settling on these?
We did - a lot! There were a few other universes that we thought about using but we went with those four for different reasons including gameplay, art direction and for brand recognition.
Did you have to allocate separate teams to work on each universe?
So, for gameplay we had basically five different teams, one for each universe and one core team that handled the overall combat system. As for the art direction, we had artists working on all four universes; one team for each. However, only one art director would make sure that every level respected the art direction that was set for that particular universe.
Did you have any Marvel writers help with the storyline for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions?
Dan Slott, the writer on Amazing Spider-Man at the moment was brought on right at the beginning because even though we had the basic idea, we weren't sure how we could connect all four together. He came in with the idea of using a really powerful artefact that exists in the Marvel universe to connect each of the storylines together.
Have you had more creative freedom developing a wholly original Spider-Man game rather than one that is based on an upcoming movie?
We have. If we were building a game that was based on a movie, we wouldn't be able to showcase four different worlds, so that's the kind of freedom we've had in working with the comic books. When we approached Marvel with that idea they were really pleased with the fact that we'd be showcasing four different Spider-Men. There are also 13 Marvel villains in the game which is a lot compared to others.
Is Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions an open world game like previous Spider-Man games, or will it be more of a linear experience for players?
It's linear but you get really huge levels. You don't feel constrained; you don't feel like you're in a really tight place. It's still pretty much straightforward in objectives, but if you want to explore the world you can. There are a lot of secondary objectives that will require you to do some exploration of locations.
Spider-Man has a vast array of moves and abilities, how have you developed the control system to keep it from being overly complicated?
It's the same control system in all four worlds so once you have learned the controls in one world; it's going to stay the same. It's also really action orientated so we went with something that's quite common in combat games. So you'll get fast attacks, strong attacks, grabs, jumps and web swinging. Throughout the game you'll also see yellow markers, which means you can web zip to them quickly by just tapping a button.
Will you be able to unlock new abilities for Spider-Man as the game progresses?
There is a lot of unlockable content. You'll be able to unlock new moves such as counter attacks. The best way to get these new moves is by defeating enemies in battle, which earns you a currency that can be used to purchase new moves, enhance health or buy alternate suits to wear throughout the game.
Does the game feature any multiplayer modes?
Right now there are no multiplayer modes in Shattered Dimensions but you do have a total of 180 challenges to complete. You'll get through half of them during a normal playthrough but if you want to complete all of them, you'll have to replay parts of the game in order to unlock the complete package.
Swing by eu.playstation.com for more Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions news soon, and check out the PlayStation blog at eu.blog.playstation.com for a gamescom report on the wall crawler's latest adventure!
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