Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Has Two Forms for Lizard, PS5 Allowed for Realistic Muscle Simulation

gamingbolt.com:

While Venom and Kraven have hogged headlines for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 as its newest villains, Lizard, the alter-ego of Dr Curt Connors, also plays a big part. As in the initial gameplay reveal, Peter needs him to help his friend Harry Osborn. In a new PlayStation Blog post, Insomniac Games discussed bringing Lizard to life, starting with referencing the comics.

As senior art director Jacinda Chew revealed, “The first thing we always do when we look at a Marvel character is reference the comics. And then, from there, we collaborate with Marvel to put our spin on it. It can come from the gameplay, or because of the narrative.”

Interestingly, Lizard appears in two forms – a smaller version and the massive dino-like beast wreaking havoc. The former is “human-sized. He’s also able to communicate with Peter. But our version of Lizard – he’s leaner, meaner, bigger and greener, in all ways. He’s not wearing clothing, and he’s lost all humanity. So, we’re not able to communicate with him. That’s a really big difference.”

The developer spent extensive time getting Lizard’s skin right, emphasizing its sheen. “We looked at a lot of lizard skin for research. The thing about lizards in real life – their skin’s actually really dry. Most people who looked at our Lizard kept initially saying ‘he’s not slimy enough.’ But I think it’s a nod to what people expect a lizard to look like – he’s got that lizard skin, but it’s actually much shinier than what you’d see on a real lizard,” said Chew.

“We gave him spikes, too. For design references, I tried to look at real-life lizards that looked a bit more prehistoric, because some lizards can look kind of soft and cute. I was looking at spikier, more snake-like, more aggressive references. We