Key to that system working so well is its accessibility. After all, Spider-Man has superhuman reflexes that allow him to web a criminal while simultaneously kicking two of his pals in the face. Marvel’s Spider-Man solves this by slowing down time to a crawl when the player opens the gadget selection wheel or enters manual aiming mode. This enables us to strategize how to use the items most efficiently and then execute the plan with style, respectively. The result is combat that at its best looks and feels just as stylish as Spidey’s heroic feats on the big screen or the pages of a comic book.

Gadgets are of limited use, which can feel restrictive especially in the early game before they’re upgraded, but they refill during fights rather quickly. This forces the player to keep switching between them, demanding resourcefulness and encouraging variety in plays. The goal, it seems, is to use items to thin out the crowd enough so you can then safely air combo thugs one by one. There’s a bonus, though, that makes the entire combat system suddenly revolve around the fact that you play as Spider-Man: webbed up enemies that touch the ground, walls or stationary objects become stuck to them for good.

As the players learn the game and face more challenging foes, that mechanic elevates gadgets from supplementary tools to an elementary component of combat. Nearly all of them are indirect and only inflict status effects: all but the Spider-drone don’t do any damage on their own. On the other hand, the one-hit KO potential of most of them becomes extremely valuable late-game. When faced with a choice of either gracefully webbing up a heavy to a truck or brutally pounding him till his legs give out, the player starts actively looking for opportunities to do the former. Creating those opportunities, even: combining Web Bomb with Suspension Matrix to stick enemies to the ground as they fall, using Concussive Blast to push thugs close enough to a wall to stick them with Impact Web. It’s quicker, more satisfying and just plain more fun. What might not be that apparent from the start, is that it’s also the most nonviolent solution possible. This is in fact the mindset of minimizing harm that the red and blue hero approaches fights with as well. After all, with great power comes great responsibility.