Against Spider Man 2's expediated swing onto PC, how does Insomniac's killing moon rank against the past twenty years of interactive arachnid content?
You know, I'm something of a generational classic myself.
To those hard-bitten true believers who were anticipating the belated delivery of additional story DLC for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: please, divert this energy to Marvel’s Wolverine, per a speculative report on its imminent reanimation. Regrettably, the tale of Peter, Miles, and their slimy third-wheel will remain a complete statement, ostensibly to be expounded upon in a standalone Venom parable in the near future. However, as a symbiotic silver lining to this protracted affair, Spider-Man 2 will arrive on personal computers on January 30th - a little over one year from its debut on home consoles. Considering that the original Spider-Man and Ghost of Tsushima took a languid four years to swing from its borough and sail from its shores respectively, this pace is indeed unexpected - perhaps in reponse to a leaked, playable build siphoned from the Insomniac hack of December 2024. Regardless, this announcement is an ignominious end to Insomniac’s sophomore slump: the game itself, though a resounding success in technical ambition and mechanical fluidity, was an uneasy fusion of terrestrial thrill and alien assault. The final act, wherein New York is occupied by a legion of symbiotes - a la Web of Shadows, which I will return to shortly - was curiously truncated; a museum of cut content indicates a thorough rebalancing of the narrative’s weight was sanctioned. Furthermore, Tony Todd - Venom’s voice and the Candyman himself - noted that only 10% of his recorded dialogue was employed; it may emerge in the aforementioned standalone instalment, however.
Thus, with the final chapter retroactively written for Spider-Man 2, how does it compare against its contemporaries across the past two decades? Ironically, to begin, we must return to a game sharing this esteemed moniker…
2004: Spider-Man 2
Criticising Spider-Man 2 for its antiquities is similar to lowering the esteem of Bill Russell’s collection of championships for playing against weaker competition: plain disrespectful. Prior to succumbing to their call to duty, Treyarch revolutionised the bare foundations of a film tie-in title, elevating a manner of merchandise to a visceral, haptic experience worthy of genuine estimation. The aw-shucks qurkiness of Sam Raimi’s interpretation of the Spider-Man experience translated rather effectively to an interactive space, from Bruce Campbell’s sardonic commentary to a riotous series of pizza delivery missions - scored to a memorable ditty. Aside from serving as an echo of the film’s storytelling concerns, the game featured novel battles against mechs and Mysterio, whilst introducing characters who never quite made it to the silver screen in Black Cat and Rhino. To a particular end, each successive Spider-Man game iterated on a particular element of this title; the physical relationship between webswinging and Manhattan’s geography was a minor revolution unto itself.
2005: Ultimate Spider-Man
Talkin’ bout a revolution, Ultimate Spider-Man expanded upon the best elements of its predecessor, delivering a peerless, unadulterated spin on the contemporaneous Ultimate Marvel timeline - the highest standard of 21st century Spidey storytelling to date. The cell-shaded aesthetic disregarded seventh-generation rendering limitations, delivering pristine comic presentation tantamount to thumbing through a stack of compendiums at a prodigious pace. Furthermore, the game presaged Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2’s eminent evolutions: both Venom as a playable character and Queens as an interactive borough. Therefore, though Spider-Man 2 served as a worthy demo tape, Ultimate Spider-Man became the fully mastered studio album, delivered through inked tones and a distinctly Y2K form.
Intriguingly, the game’s relationship with the comic’s chronology was oddly fluxional. The story took place three months on from the series’ Ultimate Venom arc, addressing the status quo of the Earth-1610 with consistency. However, the narrative was remixed for the War of the Symbiotes storyline; its events were altered in delivery, thus extricating the game from its canon. The game is worth pursuing, nonetheless - though I would recommend emulation via Dolphin for maximum efficacy.
2007: Spider-Man 3
In a kindred manner to its major motion picture kin, Spider-Man 3 was a complete bellyflop from atop the Empire State Building. Performance woes notwithstanding, the rote story was delivered through sparse, distant means; the game bears no weight nor respect for the physics pioneered by its predecessors. Treyarch’s inaugural project next-generation hardware failed to seize upon the enhanced processing power, instead encasing the wallcrawler in a malaise closer to his retirement in Spider-Man 2 than the boastful triumph of Spider-Man 3. Conversely, its rendition for the Wii and PlayStation 2, handled by the late Vicarious Visions, was a faint echo of an already meagre outing - though you could don the symbiote suit whenever you felt emo enough. However, it did deliver one of the more iconic quicktime failures in gaming history.
2008: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Treyarch, in union with Shaba Games, swiftly recovered from the failure of Spider-Man 3 in weaving a shadowy web - held together by moral crises and jittery performance woes. Granted, crafting an original tale, accomodating disparate characters from the broader Marvel Universe - Wolverine, Luke Cage, Moon Knight, the Kingpin, and Black Widow of particular note - for a licenced title less than one year on from the last deserves commendation. The game featured a streamlined morality system, influenced eminently by a consequential cutscene: you could choose to either be uncomplicatedly good or downright malicious. However, the audacity of the narrative is in active competition with its structure of delivery: escort missions, horde brawls, and chase missions inclusive. Nevertheless, the environmental evolution of a New York in the throes of a symbiote inquisition is fairly complex for an early eight-generation title - additionally, the combat mechanics sanction thrilling vertical battles that rival Insomniac’s iteration. Indeed, I would recommend this as an intertextual journey through the modern era of Spider-Man storytelling, incorporating a merry cast of characters referred to as Amazing Allies in the sidescrolling PS2 edition.
2010: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Buzzing from their development of the Bee Movie Game, an amusing exercise in nominative determinism, Beenox were entrusted to revitalise the Spider-Man brand - thoroughly plateaued against the rising profile of comic book adaptations pioneered by Batman: Arkham Asylum. Consequently, the studio decided to casually revolutionise Spider-Man storytelling through detailing a multiversal web of characters - ultimately perfected through the Spider-Verse film franchise, though first delivered in this very title. Aside from this one ingenious element, the game itself is rather pedestrian: a collection of vignettes featuring battles against bespoke interpretations of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. In a similar manner to Super Mario 64 DS, each variant bears innate qualities - Noir is a master of stealth, Ultimate is a symbiotic siege machine, 2099 is a vicious brawler, and Amazing is an agile, all-around do-gooder. Mechanically, their characteristics are sound, impressive in spite of a challenging quadfurcation of focus. However, their individual aesthetics are considered in both a graphic and functional regard, delivering blistering, delightful episodes akin to scrutinising each panel of an annual press.
2011: Spider-Man: Edge of Time
Beenox’s swift successor to Shattered Dimensions begins with authority: Spider-Man is killed by Anti-Venom! However, the ensuing narrative fails to substantiate this teaser - though it does hit upon resonant notes, notably through the concept of a timeline-switching jaunt between 616 Spider-Man and his 2099 contemporary, and a reflection upon his responsibility to weigh personal duty against the obligations of multiversal security. Granted, these concepts were perfected through Across The Spider-Verse, thus rendering the game an early curiosity, rather than a vital contributor to the canon. Unfortunately, the level design is severly hampered by a repetitive jaunt through Alchemax’s bruitalist architectural reserves, a frustrating interpretation of a hero who thrives swinging through open skies. If you enjoyed the diverse perspectives of Shattered Dimensions, the bisection of its concept into two Spider-Men and one location may seem unambitious; the bespoke banter between the dry Miguel and a Peter oscillating between performance and pathos is worth giving the game a spin.
2012: The Amazing Spider-Man
For their adaptation of the sudden reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise, Beenox elected to return Spider-Man to the bustling, open streets of Manhattan. In a manner consistent with their last two titles, the studio penned an original story - likely attributed to the lack of a locked film script to predicate development upon. Though the introduction of a Web Rush feature, allowing the player to slow time to a nigh-halt and mimic the lightning nerves of the titular hero, gave the traversal a certain tactility, the automated web swinging - utilising an invisible skybox - was an unfortunate departure from the prior open-world adventures. Furthermore, fights drew upon the Batman: Arkham philosophy of counterattack combat, albeit through dodging rather than punching, in a manner that failed to capture the fluid, yet powerful measures of the caped crusader. Moreover, stealth encounters did not quite capture the hero’s agility; Insomniac would later refine the raw materials promising to deliver a comprehensive representation of the Spider-Man experience.
2014: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Textually, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the most authentic representation of its source material: an overstuffed, yet underbaked attempt to further the ambition of its predecessor - drawing upon the nascent eighth-generation to accomplish this lofty labour. The latter may not have a particular corollary to Electro’s rise, though I found the film’s electrical effects to bear the technical prowess of an impressive PlayStation 4 tech demo. The narrative was encumbered by an uneasy melding of the film’s twisted tale with fabricated elements, introducing the Kingpin as a major player - and Carnage as a concluding menace. Fascinatingly, Beenox elected to employ a more intricate system of web swinging, requiring coordination between the left-and-right triggers - better in principle than execution. Ultimately, ten years on from Spider-Man 2, the critical difference between the two is the addition of an adjective.
2018 & 2020: Marvel’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Following on from years of malaise and mediocrity, Insomniac’s interpretation of Spider-Man was akin to hearing Dylan go electric - an analogue bard entered the stereo era with shocking authority. The studio took the best elements from each prior title with great precision, synthesising the purest form of the character filtered through an interactive prism. Spider-Man’s locomotion alone was jubilant, imbued with dizzying, dynamic expressions; the combat captured the Arkham-esque ambition of the Amazing Spider-Man duology with chromatic marvel. The story balanced the terrestrial earnestness of the Raimi trilogy with tantamount fielty to the comic canon, succeeding through sheer force of integrity and propulsion. Though the player’s post-narrative plight was shaded by the pursuit of collectables and photographs, the sublime means of movement ensure it remained installed on my hardware long after completion.
Miles Morales, a pulsating, lean remix of Spider-Man’s mechanics, was far greater than a mere reprisal: it evolved its means of stealth in an inspired manner, drawing upon Miles’ inherent characteristics to hasten traversal and trick enemies with electrical wiles. Furthermore, the story - streamlined to centre upon a single conflict - effectively translated the breadth of a one-shot holiday special into a playable form, dressing the city in snow, Christmas lights, and interactive bodegas. One could argue Miles Morales’ strides comprised the basis of its sequel’s successes.
2023: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Sure, it’s nice, but have you considered adding Venom? This is the guiding principle of each iteration of Spider-Man, leading towards the inevitable median of the gooey, wiley symbiote slasher. Thus, Spider-Man 2 experienced slight growing pains in reconciling its elevated supernatural elements against a domineering alien menace, culminating in an abbreviated final chapter that will not be furthered, nor resolved through DLC. Regardless, through diegetic metrics, the game is fundamentally exceptional: the unification of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens provides the city with a sense of vivacity, sanctioning the smoothest traversal in the franchise, if not gaming writ large. Both Spider-Men can leap, glide, and smash through legions of enemies, ranging from Kraven’s disciplined acolytes to unforgiving, bloodthirsty symbiotes. There are a suite of engaging diversions to punctuate one’s rapid transit through the increasingly troubled metropolis, accomplishing the chief concern of major series’ sequels in deepening and darkening the crises of its heroes. Oh, you can clean house as Venom for one sublime level, before slaying Kraven the Hunter. Sometimes, that’s all you need as a measure of meditation.
Thus, I turn to you, the reader: how would you rank these titles? Is Spider-Man truly a menace, or is he a metric to measure the vigor of the gaming industry? As Insomniac’s Spider-Man 3 will reportedly bear a budget of $385 million, one can only imagine the next evolution in their formula. Multiversal rifts may appear; the Green Goblin will likely chuckle at our misery. Remember: emulate Ultimate Spider-Man on Dolphin!