Spider-Man features a big open world full of larger-than-life characters, but it’s the little details that really make that world feel special, like the way Spider-Man talks on his phone. As Spider-Man swings around New York, he’ll get phone calls from his friends, family and colleagues. During these little chats, his voice sounds appropriately strained. He grunts through his sentences as he leaps from web to web.
Nobody ever questions why he’s exerting so much effort. Maybe they just assume he’s on the toilet. The labored delivery sells the intensity of Spidey’s preferred means of travel, but I wondered what would happen if I stopped swinging mid-call. Would Spider-Man stand motionless on the sidewalk and continue to grunt and groan into his phone like a weirdo. As it turns out, he doesn’t.
It looks like Insomniac Games has recorded multiple versions of Spider-Man’s phone calls with voice actor Yuri Lowenthal. Which version you hear is determined by what you’re doing: If you’re swinging, you hear grunty Spider-Man, but if you’re standing still, you hear the same exact lines delivered in a more relaxed voice. You can hear the difference in the video up above.
You can even transition mid-phone call. If you stop or start swinging, the game will wait for the next appropriate pause in the conversation, then switch tracks. It’s a tiny touch that goes a long way in making Spider-Man’s world feel fully realized.
