Expect more of pretty much everything in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2." The new video game features two playable Spider-Men in Peter Parker and Miles Morales, as well an expanded New York sandbox to play in. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Sony **MANDATORY CREDIT**

Expect more of pretty much everything in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2."

The new video game features two playable Spider-Men in Peter Parker and Miles Morales, as well an expanded New York sandbox to play in.

"Double the protagonists, double the city and a whole lot more sand in the sand box," said Doug Sheahan, senior programming director at Insomniac Games.

The boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens are featured in the game for the first time. Villains include Venom, Kraven the Hunter and Lizard, among others.

Showcasing the game on PlayStation 5 allowed developers to "let our creativity run a little bit wider," according to Sheahan.

That's shown in the game's opening, a movie-like showdown with a supersized villain high above New York City streets, "a level of ambition I don't think we would have done on a previous (console) generation."

The sequence also serves as the game tutorial, although gamers may not realize it.

"What we really set out to achieve with that was to give players some spectacle, give players some fantasy fulfilment. While at the same time they came out of that not even realizing that they were learningto play the game the entire time," said Sheahan.

In addition to web-slinging, the gamer can now use web wings to navigate New York. That helps players navigate the city in a faster and more natural mode, Sheahan said from Burbank, Calif., where Insomniac is based.

Combat has been upgraded with a parry move that enhances Spider-Man's defence while forcing the player to up their game when under attack.

"That gives them a little more risk — they can take a hit out of it," said Sheahan. "But the reward is that they can follow that parry up with extra damage."

Gamers will also be rewarded for reacting to enemies in combat, which is handy given the villains are no pushovers.

The game's bosses feel bigger and more aggressive, said Sheahan.

"We were able to kind of really push players to really make sure that they're on top of things and not just be able to slam buttons as much because they can't rely on just the same buttons every time. Our bosses are really going to demand that you are watching the boss, paying attention and using the right strategies at the right times.

"I think that that elevates our boss fights, as well as a lot of our other fights, above what we were capable of doing before because we have that added depth and extra layers that players have to engage with."

The new title opens nine months after the action in "Marvel's Spider-Man: Mike Morales," released in 2020 for the PlayStation 4. Both protagonists are dealing with changes in their personal life.

"As you go through the game, both are going to be challenged in a lot of different ways.… With great power comes great responsibility. And I think in a lot of ways this game looks at Peter and says: 'What does that responsibility mean and what is Peter's power?'"

"They both show a lot of growth in the game and they're both challenged in who they are outside the (superhero) suit and how they handle those scenarios," he added.

Gamers get to swing, glide, bike, run or swim in New York. With plenty to see or tackle along the way.

Sheahan, who earned a degree in computer science from Kansas State and a master's in computer graphics and animation, has been with Insomniac since 2007. His attachment to Spider-Man goes back even longer.

"For me there was so much escapism but also just so much connection," he explained. "For me, Spider-Man is so much about what happens outside of the suit.… There's so much relatability there. The scale of Spider-Man always comes back to the people outside of the suit and the people around him."

The game was released Oct. 20 for PlayStation.

Spider-Man dates back to the 1962 Marvel comic book, "Amazing Fantasy No. 15," a near-mint copy of which was auctioned off for US$3.6 million in 2021. The comic originally cost 12 cents.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2023

News from © The Canadian Press, 2023