You'd almost think the folk at Activision are a bit paranoid to judge by their demo of Spider-Man 3, what with the controller being snatched away at various points and the console getting switched off with a dramatic flourish at the end of the presentation. However, it's not the folk at Activision who are paranoid, but the folk at Sony Pictures, who are at pains to make sure that no grubby games journalist is going to spill the plot secrets of its forthcoming summer blockbuster. That's because Spider-Man 3 is, like its predecessors, based closely upon the events in the film.

It's not just based on the movie though. Nope. Although Spider-Man 3 aims to capture the sublime swinging and decent third-person crime-fighting of the last games, one of the many ways in which it hopes to improve is that it will feature ten different plotlines. Indeed, several of the changes address shortcomings in the previous game, one of which is that Spider-Man 2 was perceived as an essentially linear experience. By contrast, Spider-Man 3's multiple story lines are all open from the start of the game. What that means is that there's a greater emphasis on GTA-style sandbox exploration, and there's less likelihood of coming up against the sort of difficulty spike that, last time around, Kristan described as "one of the most evil quadruple whammies this reviewer has ever had the misfortune to encounter". 

One of the other major changes between this game and its predecessor is an improved swinging mechanism thanks to enhanced physics. That means you'll be able to use the arc of your swing to reach greater heights or further distances, depending on when you let go. It's not intrusive enough to require players to learn significant new Spidey-skills, but it certainly boasts enough depth to afford skilled players more freedom for self-expression. It's a point that's demonstrated at the very start of the demo as Spidey plummets off a tall building - and as he swoops down, the demo provides a glimpse of another improvement: the city itself. There are more pedestrians and more detailed buildings, and Manhattan is now 2.5 times larger than it was in the last game, with 20 miles of subways and sewers, and a number of buildings that you can enter.

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