Spider-Man: Threat or Menace?
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
I am a big fan of the superhero genre. Even at the height of Marvel fatigue, I still enjoy seeing their characters on the big screen or the Disney+ screen. While I certainly concede that the MCU has been lackluster lately, I have been able to find solace in other superhero mediums. Amazon has produced two series that I enjoy greatly in ‘The Boys’ and ‘Invincible’, especially the latter. I had a fun time with the ‘TMNT vs Batman’ movie. I am optimistic about ‘Daredevil: Born Again’. I note this to say that even though the mainstream Marvel and DC movie level of quality has been greatly diminished in recent years, the dark and gritty stories with something to say are still here.
In 2016, when I first heard of ‘Spider-Man” being developed for PS4 with a 2018 release I was of two minds. ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ was on the horizon so I was excited to see exploration of a new Spider-Man world, but I knew I would have to wait. I have never been a Playstation owner and this game was announced as a Playstation exclusive (which made perfect sense as Sony owns shared rights of Spider-Man and completely owns the Playstation platform). It saddened me that a game I wanted to play was locked behind exclusivity, but I held out hope that one day I would be able to experience this game.
Exclusivity is utilized differently in the big three video game companies (Nintendo, Xbox, Playstation). Nintendo titles will never see the light of day outside of their consoles...ever (though they have a middling presence on mobile phones presently). Microsoft has practically given up on exclusive platform titles seemingly to navigate away from physical hardware and bolster services like Xbox Game Pass and infiltrate other platforms. Traditional Xbox exclusive games like Gears of War and Forza: Horizon are now having PS5 planned launches for 2025 which feels strange. This may set the stage for Microsoft to depart from making physical hardware and lean more heavily into software development. Only time will tell what their plan is and if it will pay off. Playstation seems to be somewhere in the middle. While they still have a laundry list of exclusive intellectual properties (IPs), there have been titles that make the journey from the PS5 shores to PC. Helldivers 2 is one of the more recent examples of this. The three Spider-Man games were eventually released on PC after each being a Playstation exclusive: ‘Spider-Man’, ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’, and ‘Spider-Man 2’.
As someone who was disappointed that they had missed out on these games I was excited to get my chance. I did wait for the first two games to go on sale, but I was eventually able to add them to my collection. Waiting for some time after launch to play these titles was a smart move in hindsight as each release was plagued with a slew of controversy and bugs to sort out. Another unsettling trend in the video game ecosystem is to ship games in a half-baked, glitchy, and unpolished state just to patch the issues out of the game eventually. It could be weeks or months, but one day the game will be in a playable state. I definitely crossed paths with a few visual glitches and some improper loading triggers. I was stuck in a loop of crashing during the original game’s Vulture and Rhino fight. I experienced a crash while freeing Tombstone in Spider-Man 2. The cutscenes would sometimes play without audio and I had instances of intense stuttering. Overall, the glitches were disheartening but the games were still playable.
So, did I even enjoy the Spider-Man games? Yes, I did. An internet meme exists regarding video game reviews that will say a game is good because it makes the player ‘feel like’ the main protagonist.
I have linked a GMTK video that I found helpful to defining what the player is actually responding to in these instances.
These games do a fine job of giving the player a believable New York City to swing around in. Unfortunately, some of the side content to gain the games resources is rather bland and the games will ask the player to repeat it dozens of times across the city.
Physical haptic feedback is a great way to engage the player in the world. Being able to interact with the controller in a unique way that translates directly to gameplay increases my appreciation of the medium. An example that comes to mind is ‘Jusant’. This is a game about rock-climbing and uses the controller triggers to simulate grabbing handholds. This was a game recommended by the Game Maker’s Toolkit Youtube channel and I was glad that I listened to this recommendation. This game about rock-climbing showcased an internal rhythm to controller inputs that I had never felt before, the analog sticks being the player’s hands and depressing the triggers caused the character to grab on to handholds. While not as pronounced, this type of rhythm absolutely exists as the player swings through NYC. Akin to the scene from ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse’ where Miles learns the basics of swinging through trees in a forest, the same pattern of figuring out how to tie all of the movement options given to the player leads to a satisfying skill curve. The movement options only increase between the games. This gives the sequel games an even higher skill ceiling, however, once you get these new options, it makes the movement of the earlier games feel sluggish by comparison. The experience is similar to adding additional monitors to a computer. When I got my second monitor, it changed everything and I could no longer fathom going back to one monitor (my father experienced something similar when I built his current computer with two monitors). Developers have found ways to ensure that sequels do not devalue the original. Games such as ‘Shovel Knight’ avoid this issue by giving the player a completely different moveset in sequel titles so that the earlier titles are appreciated for what the player once had versus being made obsolete. It is an interesting dynamic but I would be lying if I said I had a better solution for the Spider-Man games, it is just unfortunate the earlier movement systems feel more archaic which each new development in how the player navigates around. The movement is easily my favorite part of this series. The rhythm of depressing the trigger to thwip out a line of web and releasing the trigger to let it go is immensely satisfying. Threading this action with jumps, zips, dodges, and other zany acrobatics only deepens the player’s connection to the skill of the Spider-men. In ‘Spider-Man 2’ I was impressed by the instances where I had to pull back on the analog sticks to simulate pulling back on lines of web. The earlier games in the series had asked me to mash a button in instances where Spider-Man was exerting more effort than normal but I found that this new system was far more engaging, especially in instances of desperation. Pulling the analog sticks as far as they would and still watching Peter or Miles struggle to pull on objects gave me a moment of dread where I knew that the character was putting in their maximum effort but it may not be enough. The gravity of their actions resonated with why I seek out the superhero genre. Feeling even for a moment that these characters may not be able to save the day increased the stakes.
This type of immersive gameplay paired very well in the tailored story experiences, but the high pressure of situations can negatively impact pacing in other sections of the game. When the stakes are set so high and the threat from the villains feels imminent and deadly, being thrown back into the open world to explore and play little mini-games feels wrong. I found myself bouncing from story beat to story beat without exploring all that much. I would engage in some of the side mission content, but I could not find the inspiration to 100% all of the copy and paste activities like doing science missions or finding random backpacks strewn about the city. The exception I had to this was the active crime missions. When an alert comes up on the HUD that states that a crime is occurring mere blocks away, ignoring that feels antithetical to the Spider-Man mission and morally incorrect. Even this feeling did fade in certain instances as the crimes in progress always play out in the exact same fashion. You beat on a group of escaped in-mates or gang members ad nauseum. There is no nuance, there is largely no danger. Simply beating up on generically ‘bad’ criminals. I believe that the problem I experienced with this system in all of the games could be solved by reducing the number of enemies, increasing the variety of enemy types, and increasing the variety of situations. The original game has the same car chase over and over which results in the exact same resolution of Spider-Man webbing up the baddies and then jumping in front of the car, having the player mash a button and then the car comes to a halt. Imagine a game where you stop something as menial as a bike robber but then have to find the owner of the bike somewhere in the city, or showcasing how poverty can lead to folks making the decision to turn to crime just to make ends meet. How about saving folks from a burning building? Coupling the complexity of being a superhero with the action set pieces, in my opinion, would improve this gameplay loop. When the enemies are reduced to evil gang members who take pleasure in causing harm, nuance is removed and the game has nothing interesting to say. This being said, when tackling the threats such as Kingpin, Kraven the Hunter, or Venom, the game is confident in their representations of the characters, being faithful to their source material while injecting new elements to keep things fresh. Learning the moves and attacks of the bosses and enemies was largely like finding an internal rhythm. Feeling the ebb and flow of their movements and becoming more confident with how Spider-Man moves around gave me that feeling of mastery that I look for in games, however there were some sections where the difficulty felt more artificial than earned.
Difficulty is a fickle topic in video games. Games with difficulty sliders given to the player at the start of the experience can ruin the game before it even gets started. Asking the player to define the level of challenge they want before interacting with the games systems and knowing what to expect is asking for trouble. I seek out challenge in video games. I intend to play ‘Elden Ring’ and some other souls-like games this year and I am a fan of games in which losing all your health sends you back to the beginning of the game (rouge-like). However, I have found that a games difficulty needs to be organic to not deter the player. Being able to understand what mistakes the player made and ask them to improve is different than simply turning up enemy health and damage output. I had a fluctuating relationship with the difficulty of these games.
Spider-Man 2 Difficulty Options
Long before this site was even a concept, I played the first Spider-Man game. I chose the ‘Amazing’ difficulty as this seems like the games intended difficulty. I finished the story doing some side activities but rarely straying far from the dedicated story progression. I put the game down for a year or two and returned to the DLCs in order to write this piece (The City That Never Sleeps chapters). When I returned and booted up the DLC, perhaps it was my time away from the game or a difficulty spike, but every single enemy seemed to hit like a truck while Spider-Man would have to spend a minute per enemy trying to deplete their large health bar. I do think the fact that I did not collect everything may have resulted in a more difficult play experience in these instances. Because my lack of engagement with the open-world, I did not have much of my equipment to the max level, nor had I purchased many of the additional suits that may have held better Suit Mods to assist me. For this portion of the game, I did lower the difficulty in certain sections just because I was not enjoying my time spent beating on generic grunts with seemingly endless health.
My experience with Spider-Man: Miles Morales went in a different direction. I noticed that my play style for the previous game’s DLC was very repetitive. I would employ the same combos, the same movements against enemies without much variety. It made me feel like I was simply going through the motions and not an active participant. In order to maximize the amount of enjoyment I received from this second installment, I decided to act more like Spider-Man. Using all of the tools in my arsenal, switching up my fighting style when things were not working, and actively engaging in Miles’ electric powers made for a much more engaging experience. I did not experience any massive spikes in difficulty for this game and I attribute that to more thoroughly interacting with my combat options.
I progressed this mentality to its logical conclusion for my playthrough of Spider-Man 2. I recorded my gameplay (where I was able to voice my thoughts on the game in real-time) while dressed as Spider-Man. I still wish to retain some semblance of anonymity with this site outside of the folks who know me and this felt like a fun way to accomplish that goal. Feel free to check out my 15 hours of gameplay footage if you want to witness my candid thoughts on the game while it was happening. This game gives such a diverse toolkit for movement and combat. The Iron Spider arms, elaboration on Miles’ electric abilities, as well as the parry system are incredible additions that make the combat of the previous games instantly outdated.
A personal highlight from my playthrough is the boss fight against Kraven the Hunter. When Peter gains the symbiote, enemies that were a pain to defeat only minutes prior were now nothing more than paper-thin suggestions. The physical strength that is delivered to the player’s fingers in an instant creates a sense of unchecked power. It felt wrong to dish out retribution as Spider-Man with the black suit, especially knowing how the symbiote corrupts the host, yet alleviating the frustration of having to struggle against even basic enemies is so cathartic. I largely was able to put myself in the shoes of Spider-Man during this playthrough and attempt to reckon with the violence I was participating in. My only gripe about the symbiote portrayal regarded how Harry Osborn seemingly did not have a negative reaction to the symbiote. While it seemed to instantly affect Peter Parker’s mannerisms and attitude, Harry seemed normal to Peter and MJ even after the reveal of his powers at the amusement park.
I am glad that I got the opportunity to explore these characters again in this game. While the dialogue can be goofy at times, there is heart in all of the voice actors’ performances. Yuri Lowenthal (Peter Parker) is easily one of my favorite voice actors and worked very well with Nadji Jeter (Miles Morales). Laura Bailey (Mary Jane Watson) and Graham Philips (Harry Osborn) also have excellent performances. My final voice actor shoutout goes to Darin De Paul (J. Jonah Jameson). Hearing Jameson’s podcast occasionally when swinging through the city is always a welcome moment of levity. One of my missions with this site is to promote media literacy and hearing the fear mongering and unsubstantiated claims made by the Daily Bugle is a fun way to practice such an important skill in a low stakes setting.
Overall, I had a lot of fun taking a deep dive into these games. While repetitive in some areas, it is clear to me that Insomniac made this game with a vision and brought us into the world of Spider-Man. The story pounds at your heartstrings and forces the player to question the morality of their actions. Mastering the movement and combat takes time, but is accentuated with the creativity and flexibility that the player can employ should they choose.
Thank you for reading my thoughts on these games. I will be back soon for my next piece regarding microtransactions and predatory practices in the videogame industry. Stay tuned!
