The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Game Will Feature "Hero or Menace" Morality System

The upcoming Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game, which will tie into the release of the film, will feature a morality system that may have been cooked up by J. Jonah Jameson himself. Players can decide, through their actions or inaction, whether they want Spider-Man to be a Hero or a Menace. Stephane Gravel, Executive Producer at the game's developer, Beenox, said that the system is an attempt to give players a meaningful sandbox to play in that takes notice of their actions and provides consequences to match.

"First and foremost, we think sandboxes work best when the player's actions (or inaction) impact the game experience, so we're introducing the Hero or Menace system, which rewards players who save citizens and keep crime rates down through side activities — with some potentially meaningful consequences for those who shirk Spider-Man's responsibilities. And to make it more interesting, we've added new crimes to thwart, like arson and hostage rescue crises, while further developing the existing ones from the first game."

In order to better the sandbox experience even further, the team is also working on making a more diverse and accurate representation of Manhattan for players to web-sling through.

"Equally important is getting the "neighborhood" part of "friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" right, and creating a more diverse New York City that's fun to spend time in. That starts with revising our Manhattan, getting it closer to the look and feel of the real thing, complete with more varied buildings and architecture, distinct districts, more realistic street sizes, and more reasons to explore. "This design philosophy of focusing on Manhattan is about more than just mixing up the aesthetics; we want the city to be your playground, which means treating it as more than a hub for going off to other, more confined places. More missions and side activities take place within the city, and many progress dynamically (e.g., you fight some thugs in the streets, their leader takes off in a car, and you chase him down). This also means getting away from the constraints of what typically defines a "level" in Spidey games, opening them up in a way that offers far more variety."

Gravel said that they would also add to the variety of crimes to stop, including hostage rescue situations and arson. The game's web-slinging mechanics have been revisited as well. The web rush mechanic from the first game - which allows players to choose web-slinging maneuvers on the fly – will return, but Spidey will no longer be able to simply shoot his webs into thin air. Webbing will attach to actual objects in the environment this time out. Gravel also said there would be more open spaces in the city, giving the player a lot more choice when approaching an encounter. There will also be new enemy types and improvements to combat that discourage button mashing, a better pacing in the story and in how players acquire upgrades, and, of course, players will go up against some of Spider-Man's classic villains, such as Electro and Kraven the Hunter. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game will take place alongside the events of the film, with Spider-Man trying to track down Uncle Ben's killer. The game is scheduled for release in Spring 2014 for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.