At the core of it all is a perfect bit of animation. It’s the leap that sells this game, the leap of faith. Off the edge of a staircase or out through a hole knocked in a wall, out, out into the open air. Arms reaching, chest forward, hurtling to the ground. And then the hook sizzles and rushes and clamps on and the line goes tight and you’re yanked in a new direction. Onwards! Upwards!
Grappling hooks are a wonderful bit of wish-fulfilment – an ideal tool for any video game that wants to make your wilder fantasies of traversal come true. Who doesn’t want to move faster, leap higher, zip around from here to there? Who doesn’t look up in the bright cities of the world at all those towers rising overhead and feel a little sad that the vertical wonders of modern space are pretty much closed off to most of us?