Since last year's E3 gaming expo and D23 Disney Expo, Marvel and gaming fans alike have been giving much speculation to Insomniac's upcoming web-slinging video game. For what is predicted to be the "Batman Arkham" game for Marvel, all speculations include how the controls, story, and characters will be handled in the upcoming action-adventure superhero video game. However, what seems to be the most important one of all is how big the world will be?

It was announced by Insomniac Games that "Spider-Man (PS4)" will have an open-world value to it, meaning, players can have the chance to free roam across New York City; something similar to Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row.

This has been done before with previous Spider-Man games, most notably the "Spider-Man 2" game based on Sam Raimi's movie. With many Spider-Man titles under the gaming belt, it seems like the scheme of free-roaming is the number one fear for gamers.

Great power

Let's rewind back to 2004. "Spider-Man 2" was released in theaters nationwide and received critical acclaim; some comic book readers claimed it was the start of the superhero movie renaissance.

The video game based on the movie was released, too, and that met gamers' standards with open-world games. By this point, no other Spider-Man video game had the sense of free-roaming until "Spider-Man 2," and players loved it. They had the chance to swing across New York City with no limitations.

However, it seemed like Marvel got too big for their britches because no other "Spider-Man" game would recreate that fun. "Web of Shadows" and Spider-Man 3" did have free-roaming but it did not feel the same to players.

"Spider-Man" games would come and go and for over a decade fans split as to what game met the standards for the definitive web-crawling game.

Now, with six months left, will Insomniac's "Spider-Man (PS4)" bring fans to a new light or continue to split the fandom?

'I am the night'

In 2009, Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released the first in the "Arkham" series, "Batman: Arkham Asylum."

It changed superhero video games by giving players what they want: an open-world, detective style, action-adventure video game.

"Arkham Asylum" was praised by critics and gamers alike, not even "Spider-Man 2" topped the style the Batman game gave. However, Rocksteady did it again with "Batman: Arkham City," and this time the scope was much bigger.

The first "Arkham" game was set in Arkham Asylum, a psychiatric hospital/prison where Gotham City's most cruel villains were set to stay if caught by the Caped Crusader himself. The scope was small yet felt big to players; they finally had the opportunity to explore what the eerie prison had in store. In "Arkham City," bigger and better were the perfect combination. Instead of its setting being a big prison, players were able to explore a whole city after the citizens of Gotham made the choice to keep the mentally ill out of their own, corrupted one.

So after the successful run of the "Arkham" series, it seems like players want to recreate the magic again and all seems to rely on Insomniac's "Spider-Man (PS4)."

Great responsibility

Earlier this week, GameSpot reported that Insomniac's "Spider-Man (PS4)" will officially be released on September 7th. The article reads that it will contain "an open world to explore, and you can use your environment to your advantage by... throwing nearby objects at enemies." As stated before, Insomniac's upcoming superhero gamer seems to rely a lot on open-world and is the sole reason why players want it to be the next "Batman: Arkham" game.

All seems promising and it seems like gamers trust Insomniac Games to develop a free roaming game with our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man; after all, the studio recently announced that they will be developing a re-mastered release for Spyro the Dragon. Go ahead and pre-order Insomniac's "Spider-Man (PS4)" for early exclusives and downloadable content, and be ready to swing and crawl across New York City on September 7th!
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