Image source: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is generating buzz not only for its spectacular web-slinging action but also for a technical marvel that’s been taking the gaming world by storm: lightning-fast fast travel. Traversing the sprawling map from one end to the other takes just a matter of seconds, leaving players in awe of the game’s remarkable performance. The speed of Spider-Man 2’s fast travel system has raised eyebrows, with some speculating that there might be hidden loading screens. Let’s take a closer look at this astonishing feature that’s wowing gamers.
Spider-Man 2 Fast Travel Is So Fast Fans Can’t Believe it
A viral video clip shared on social media in the run-up to Spider-Man 2’s launch on October 20 showcased the astonishing speed and smoothness of the fast travel system. Players couldn’t believe their eyes as they watched the character travel from one corner of the map to the opposite with absolutely no loading screens.
User Okami13 tweeted, “The fact that you can travel to any location, even the opposite corner of the map, with ZERO loading is absolutely mind-boggling. Definitely the most seamless fast-travel system I’ve seen.”
In a discussion on ResetEra, gamers debated whether a hidden mini-loading screen might be involved in the button-press sequence required for fast travel. To initiate fast travel in Spider-Man 2, players must hold down the triangle button for a second or two over the desired location on the map. The fast travel occurs so swiftly that some speculated the delay in input served to mask background map loading.
However, Mike Fitzgerald, Insomniac’s director of core technologies, debunked this theory. “That’s a hold-to-confirm prompt, not hiding a load,” he clarified on ResetEra. He encouraged players to test it for themselves, highlighting that they can cancel the fast travel even at a late stage of the input process. In fact, Insomniac Games had debated removing the “hold-to-confirm” prompt to make fast travel even faster.
Fitzgerald explained, “Last month, I brought up whether we should remove the hold-to-confirm, mostly to address that accusation we were seeing. But it was correctly pointed out to me that having a confirmation window was important for player usability, which, at the end of the day, is far more important than Internet cred points (even though we love our Internet cred points).”
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Having experienced Spider-Man 2, many players agree that the “hold-to-confirm” requirement enhances the gaming experience. Not only does it provide satisfying haptic feedback, but it also prevents accidental fast travel initiation to unintended locations or when players are trying to gather information about new activities on the map.
Still, the sheer speed of Spider-Man 2’s fast travel is nothing short of astounding. It’s a testament to the game’s technical prowess that it can nearly achieve instantaneous travel across its expansive rendition of New York City if the “hold-to-confirm” feature were to be turned off. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is not only shaping up to be an exhilarating adventure but also a technical marvel that showcases the capabilities of the PlayStation 5.
