Summary
First-party PlayStation games always get some of the biggest marketing pushes in the entire industry. Along with posters plastered on bus stops and billboards, big-budget PlayStation titles also usually get a ton of trailers around launch. While some of these trailers can be little live-action skits like theBen StillerGod of War Ragnarokone, some of the most memorable forms of marketing are often simple cinematic trailers, made using the game’s engine. These are designed to give fans an overview of the type of action and story they can expect in the final product, just likeMarvel’s Spider-Man 2’s recent “Be Greater. Together” trailer.
Most of the time, these cinematic trailers don’t really have too much bearing on the actual game, and instead act as more of a general presentation of features and characters that fans can expect to see on launch day. For instance, the recentMarvel’s Spider-Man 2cinematic trailer shows the two Spider-Men facing off against Venom in broad daylight, using their various gadgets to fight the foe. While this sequence isn’t in the final product, all of its individual components are there in the game. ButMarvel’s Spider-Man 2breaks this tradition a little, featuring a sequence that brings to life one of the original 2018 game’s cinematic trailers.
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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Makes Perfect Use of the Be Greater Cinematic Trailer
Marvel’s Spider-Manhad a ton of great trailers and gameplay reveals in the lead-up to its September 2018 release date. But by far its most iconic piece of marketing dropped just a day beforeSpider-Manlaunched. In a cinematic trailer named “Be Greater,” thisSpider-Mancutscene showed the titular hero getting knocked off a skyscraper by the game’s big bad, Mr. Negative, and continually pummeled further down by each member of the Sinister Six. But just before Peter Parker hits the ground, he decides to fight back, proceeding to battle his way back up to Mr. Negative one villain at a time.
As well as being a visual spectacle,Spider-Man’s Be Greater trailer effectively summarizes the hero’s entire core ethos within just a minute, perfectly showcasing Spider-Man’s inability to just back down and let the villains win. This trailer also effectively introduces the vast majority of the game’s antagonists, as well as establishing that this version of Peter Parker has a bit more experience than other contemporary versions of the hero. And whileMarvel’s Spider-Man 2’s “Be Greater. Together” trailerdefinitely hearkens back to this, this trailer still stands out on its own, still managing to be one of the best pieces ofSpider-Manmarketing ever made.
Really emulating a culmination of everything Insomniac has worked on so far, it’s only natural thatMarvel’s Spider-Man 2has plenty of moments that hearken back to the 2018 original, but there’s one sequence that takes this a step further, essentially remaking the Be Greater cinematic trailer shot-for-shot. When Miles Morales and Martin Li need to head inside Peter Parker’s mind to sever his connection with the symbiote hive, Miles enters a dream-like recreation of the RAFT prison, where he’s promptly beaten down by each member ofthe Sinister Six, just as Peter was in that original trailer.
This recreation of the Be Greater trailer inMarvel’s Spider-Man 2works on quite a few different levels. On the very surface, this sequence acts as a nice little nostalgia hit for fans who still remember the original trailer fondly, and it’s a nice little wink and nod from Insomniac to its fanbase. But then digging deeper, the placement of this sequence here is actually very interesting.
In Peter’s mind, this is meant to be one of his lowest moments, and a moment that the symbiote is using to show Peter how it could make his life better. But fans already know thatPeter defeated the Sinister Sixwithout the need for the symbiote, showing just how strong he is by himself. On an even deeper level, the fact that Miles is now the one standing up against them shows that the young hero is more than worthy of the Spider-Man mantle, potentially on his own.
