Next month the PS5 turns three years old. Where has the time gone? We've seen some great games on the platform, but it's only with the latest big Sony exclusive that I've really come to appreciate the power of the PS5.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is a game of the year contender with brilliantly fluid combat, exploration and a terrific story worthy of a blockbuster movie, but that's not what's impressed me so much. It's all completely seamless.
I've lost count of the times when I've said to myself "And here comes the loading screen" when instead I've been dropped straight into the action. There's an almost imperceptible difference between where a cutscene ends and gameplay begins. The really impressive thing however is something that doesn't normally get considered sexy. Fast travel.
When fast travelling you feel less like Spider-Man and more like the Flash, because it's almost instantaneous. In fact, many people speculated that the fact you have to hold the X button for a couple of seconds to confirm your destination is masking a loading screen, but even that isn't true. On the Resetera forum, Insomniac's director of core technologies, Mike Fitzgerald, clarified that even that isn't necessary.
Being able to go from side of New York to the other in less than a second is a remarkable technological achievement and something that could never happen on the PS4. In truth, I've not had many of those moments but Spider-Man 2 (and Ratchet & Clank) is the kind of game you show to friends to convince them to upgrade. It has obviously been a long time coming but I think that the game shows the advantages of developing for one platform and leaving previous generations in the past. Spider-Man: Miles Morales was a superb game, the best PS5 launch title, but it also had to run on the PS4. This latest instalment is unburdened by last-gen hardware and free to swing by a next-gen web.
