Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Release Date: May 4, 2007

"Swinging" and "bondage" were the buzzwords at the Spider-Man 3 preview event two weeks ago. We had to double-check to make sure we were at the correct location. Spider-Man logos all over the place? Check. Overwhelming male-to-female ratio? Check. Yup, this was a video game event, all right.

Since Spider-Man 3 will be the first Spidey game available for next-gen consoles, the excitement was almost palpable as we were finally ushered into a room for a guided demo of the title, which shares its May launch date with the upcoming motion picture.

Treyarch executive producer Chris Archer gave us the grand tour, and we started off with Spidey looking at New York City from atop the Empire State Building. We're told that this is the most expansive Manhattan ever, and before the sense of déjà vu fully hits us, Archer explains that SM3 will include more than 20 miles of subway and sewer systems.

Unlike previous Spider-Man offerings that had a certain degree of "free-roaming" gameplay until you hit key plot points, SM3 will allow players to select any mission in any order. One can opt to re-create scenes from the film by following the main storyline, or forge an original path with the side-quests, which are more faithful to the comic book canon.

The map continues to be extremely user-friendly and gives you a great bird's eye view of missions located throughout the city. Red highlighted areas on the map signify gang territory. There are three non-movie gangs in the game, and in the interest of staying spoiler-free, we were introduced to one of them, the Order of the Dragon Tail ... whose members are rocket launcher-wielding ninjas. No, I didn't imbibe. Okay, maybe just a little.

This confrontation shows off Spider-Man's new suite of melee, aerial, and charge attacks and web combos. You can string together combos to re-create moves from the film to fight foes on the ground, in the air, while jumping from roof to roof, etc. He also sports a new and improved spider-sense, in which the color screen fades to black and white, and enemies, interactive objects and hints up to 1,000 feet away are outlined in red. Spidey has faster web-swinging skills in SM3 , and his web abilities have definitely expanded since SM2; he can now use his webbing to fix broken subway rails, barricade doors, and catch falling objects and people.

Per the Spider-Man movies, Harry Osborn is convinced that his father, the Green Goblin, died at Peter's hands. Harry becomes the new Green Goblin, and with revenge on his mind, attacks Peter while he's strolling through Central Park, and they duke it out on the Goblin Glider while flying high above the city. Two interesting gameplay dynamics are introduced here — playing as Peter Parker the civilian and "cineractive" scenes. Similar to Tomb Raider: Legend, the player needs to press the appropriate button, thumbstick or trigger as indicated on the screen in order to remain on the Glider, land punches, and evade Harry's attacks.

We then move onto a battle with Scorpion, but first, we need to free him from bondage (ba-dum-chhh!). He's not very good at offering thanks, being a nemesis and all, so Scorpion lunges at Spider-Man, hurtling them both out a window. This scuffle showcases the seamless transition from interior to exterior scenes, and it's another example of how cineractives are incorporated into the gameplay.

Cineractive scenes have been done before, but they were usually pre-rendered, occurred at a particular location, and there were only two variations of the scene — success and failure. Spider-Man 3 breaks new ground in giving these scenes some semblance of being dynamic; there are more than two variations, and they are made available depending on the environment and circumstances, rather than location.

And finally, what we've all been waiting for — the Black Suit. As we've learned from the movie trailers, an alien symbiote takes over Peter, bestowing upon him some new threads and new powers. The Black Suit has an entirely separate set of brutal, vicious attacks, and the rage system allows him to easily knock around some foes, kill an enemy with one hit, and take out entire sets of baddies with a single attack. You can attain rage mode through combos, by taking hits during attacks, or by throttling the RB or R1 button. From the looks of the demo, playing in the Black Suit makes you more powerful, swifter, and deadlier than a heart attack.

An early build was used for the presentation, so Treyarch is no doubt spending the next few months smoothing out the graphics and filling in the sound effects. The virtual view from atop the Empire State Building is breathtaking, but we noticed some uneven graphics during Harry and Peter's skirmish on the Goblin Glider. The rocket launcher sound effects weren't implemented yet, but the ones that were present — car explosions and such — were mighty impressive, which certainly bodes well for the rest of the game.

Most content on the console versions will be virtually identical, except for the achievements in the Xbox 360 iteration, and the PS3 Collector's Edition will have the Green Goblin as a playable character, allowing you to cruise throughout the city on the Goblin Glider and participate in race challenges. When paired with the SixAxis controller, the race challenges have the potential to be innovative and entertaining.

While many details remain undisclosed, the next-gen debut of Spider-Man 3 looks to continue the successful franchise. A whole new realm of possibilities opens up with the free-roaming world and expansion into subterranean locales, and fresh and improved move sets for Spider-Man and the Black Suit definitely add to the complexity of the gameplay. We'll have a hands-on preview in the coming months, so stay tuned for more Spidey action!