Start your Spider-Man adventure off strong with this guide

Diving into Spider-Man without some direction may not be the best idea.

Our favorite web-slinging hero is back and better than ever. Before you jump into Spider-Man, I’ll give you a few tips to make the opening hours as hassle-free as possible. After all, Peter’s had several years of experience acting as Spider-Man by the time the game begins. You should at least have some knowledge to act the part of a seasoned veteran too.

See at Amazon

Explore New York City

Insomniac spared no expense in recreating New York City, right down to the Apple Store in Grand Central Terminal. Its vast scale may be intimidating, but it’s well worth it to explore the city first. Get a feel for your surroundings before diving into the story.

Spider-Man’s New York City is littered with towers and beacons that display the locations of collectibles, activities, and nearby crimes. Once these are all activated, you can pick and choose what you’d like to do at your leisure. As an added bonus, exploring the city this way first gives you a lot more XP up front. Quests will eventually send you all over the city during the course of the game, so it’s best to take some time and familiarize yourself with each district beforehand.

Not only does this ramp up your XP, but you are awarded tokens for each event that you complete across the city. These tokens can then be redeemed toward new Spidey-suits and upgrading your gadgets. Because every suit has its own unique ability tied to it, whether it a be stealth buff or additional strength, you’ll want to unlock as many as possible to give you the upper hand early on.

Stay on the move

Your defense is just as important as your offense in this game. Spider-Man’s acrobatics and flexibility give him a notable advantage.

If you’ve played Sunset Overdrive, you’ll know how important movement is. And if you haven’t, you’ll get a taste for it now. Everything from combat to traversal relies on Spider-Man’s fluidity as he quickly dodges enemies and slings from one location to another. You should be spending just as much time in the air as you are on the ground.

This isn’t your typical melee fighting where you can stand in one spot and just pummel your enemy until he stays down. You’ll never want to be standing still in Spider-Man. More threatening enemies have top-of-the-line weaponry, and even lowlife thugs can get the jump on you with bullets. It is much more important to learn how to dodge than trying to land in one more punch. With Spider-Man’s abilities you should use your momentum to aid you as well. Quickly leap over an enemy and thrust him into another as you push off and sling towards your next target.

Insomniac thankfully employed a nice visual touch to let you know when an enemy is aiming to shoot you so you have ample warning to get out of the way. If a thug has got Spider-Man down his sights, a trajectory line will appear on the screen, all but screaming at you to move.

Attempting to ignore this and just throw punches left and right will end up with you lying on your back with no fight left in you. Don’t be that guy. Avoid attacks when necessary.

At times Insomniac even employs a little slow-mo action moment before you land a devastating hit so the combat is less chaotic and easier to follow. You shouldn’t feel lost in a battle. You’re always in control.

Combos, combos, combos

Between Spider-Man’s gadgets, skills, and moves list you have a whole slew of combos at your disposal. Use them! You don’t need to master every single one, but it’s a good idea to play around with your combos and see what works best for you. Combos are your friends, they’re there to help you out.

Nothing’s quite as satisfying as finding a combo that just clicks for you. With Insomniac’s impeccable combat system, sticking with a few favorites should have you enjoying your daily superhero responsibilities in no time.

You’re all set!

We hope these tips help you start off your adventure strong.

In our Spider-Man review, we dive deep into what makes the game so spectacular.

See at Amazon

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Henry Cavill signs on to ‘The Witcher’

Henry Cavill will star in an 8-episode series of The Witcher for Netflix. No word if a mustache will be involved. (Image credit: Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Netflix)

Superman star takes on Geralt of Rivia in the upcoming Netflix series.

Netflix today announced that Henry Cavill — the Brit best now as Superman, and Napoleon Solo, and that dude with the troublesome mustache in the latest Mission: Impossible flick — will star in an 8-episode series based on The Witcher.

Based on Polish author’s Andrzej Sapkowski’s series, The Witcher also has previously been adapted for TV and film, video games, and a series of graphic novels.

The Netflix synopsis spells it out what we should expect in this new iteration:

Based on the best-selling fantasy series, The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.

There’s a good bit of power behind the camera as well. Executive Producer Alik Sakharov — who’s worked on House of Cards and Game of Thrones will direct half of the series, including the premiere episode. Alex Garcia Lopez (Luke Cage and Utopia) and Charlotte Brändström (Outlander, Counterpart and Disparue) each will direct two episodes.

No word on how long we’ll have to wait for The Witcher to hit our screens.

Introducing CordCutters.com

• The hardware you need
• All about streaming services
• What channels are on which service
• FREE over-the-air TV
• How to watch sports
• Join the discussion
• Listen to the podcast

Get the latest deals

As iOS 12 Launch Approaches, iOS 11 Adoption Hits 85 Percent

Apple’s iOS 11 operating system is now installed on 85 percent of devices as of September 3, according to updated statistics Apple shared today on its App Store support page for developers.

Apple hasn’t updated its adoption statistics since May 31, when iOS 11 was installed on 81 percent of devices, marking a four percent adoption increase over the course of the last several months.

iOS 11 adoption has likely slowed as Apple’s focus has shifted to iOS 12, which is set to be released in the near future. Apple’s last iOS 11 update was iOS 11.4.1, released in July with bug fixes and support for USB Restricted Mode, not quite features that entice people to upgrade.

With iOS 11 installed on 85 percent of iOS devices, 10 percent continue to use iOS 10 and five percent continue to use an earlier version of iOS, such as iOS 8 or iOS 9.

Over its lifespan, iOS 11 adoption has been slower than iOS 10 adoption, perhaps due to the multiple high-profile bugs affecting iOS 11. The HomeKit bug, the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, and the iPhone slowdown controversy that saw Apple throttling the performance of older iPhones all likely impacted iOS 11 adoption.

The issues with iOS 11 led Apple to delay some planned iOS 12 features to focus on improving iOS performance and stability. One major focus was bolstering performance on older devices, and iOS 12 is designed outperform iOS 11, introducing faster app launch times, faster load times, and an overall quicker feel to the operating system.

Given the under-the-hood improvements that iOS 12 brings, it’s likely we will see faster adoption of the new update than we did with iOS 11. We’re expecting Apple to release a golden master version of iOS 12 on September 12, its iPhone event day, which will mark the final version of iOS 12 that will be released to the public.

After that, Apple is likely to debut iOS 12 on Wednesday, September 19, two days ahead of when iPhones are expected to be released on Friday, September 21.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
Discuss this article in our forums