The wait for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is getting shorter by the day, and whilst we don’t have a specific release date for the game, we can count down to the rough release period of ‘Fall 2023’ until we know more. Insomniac Games are now starting to ramp up with their marketing for the highly anticipated sequel, with the most recent reveal surprising and shocking fans by showing more of the symbiote than we ever thought we’d get.
There were no shots of Venom, but we got to see a lot of Peter wearing the symbiote suit, an incredibly intimidating-looking Lizard, and a shock inclusion of Kraven the Hunter, who looks to be the sequel’s main villain. In the meantime, as we wait for the sequel to drop, we thought we’d look at some of the many previous Spider-Man games and decide upon the five best ones.
5. Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro (PS1, 2001)
A sequel to the hit game that was released the year before, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro will unfortunately be remembered for the delay caused to development due to the 9/11 attacks than it will be remembered for its gameplay. The developer took the smart decision to delay the game so it could replace the World Trade Center with just another skyscraper in the final level.
The game and its predecessor would have been a lot of people’s first adventure as Spider-Man on a game, and even though it was made only a year after the original, it used the processor of the PS1 to much greater effect, allowing the inclusion of ground levels and more natural swinging animations. Nowadays that sounds like less than the bare minimum, but over twenty years ago, this was huge.
4. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (PS2, Xbox 360, PC, 2010)
The multiverse is seemingly everywhere at the minute, with Marvel doing their version of it in the MCU and of course with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the sequel soon to be released Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and that’s just comic related multiverses! However, if you’re looking for the somewhat original modern multiverse, look no further than Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.
Related: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review: The Best Film of the Year
Showcasing four different Spider-Men over four different dimensions, each having different strengths and weaknesses with the game playing to that in various ways, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better multiverse-spanning video game than this. The Hollywood voice acting certainly helped catapult it up in people’s estimations, too.
3. Spider-Man (PS1, 2000)
No more side-scrollers for ol’ Petey after this. As already mentioned, this will have been a lot of people’s first foray into playing as Spider-Man, and this may well be the most transformative and impactful Spider-Man game there was. The first Spider-Man game to allow web-swinging in a 3D arena, combat and most importantly, personality from Spidey in abundance!
With Spider-Man trying to clear his name thanks to a doppelganger committing crimes as well as Doctor Octopus and Carnage orchestrating a symbiote invasion at the same time, Peter truly has his hands full, and it’s clear to see not only gameplay wise, but story wise, how much of an influence this game had on future Spider-Man instalments, and still has for that matter.
2. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5, 2020)
The first (of hopefully many) Spider-Man games with Miles Morales in the lead role, this was a shorter, smaller, almost DLC-sized game largely using the same map and graphic engine from Insomniac’s previous Spider-Man game, Marvel’s Spider-Man. That said, nothing can be taken away from the story, the voice acting and the studios ability to make this feel more of the same, yet completely different to the game that came before it.
Related: 9 Villains/Anti-Heroes Teased to Appear in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 So Far
Taking up where its predecessor ended, Miles has spent a year training with Peter, learning, refining and understanding his powers, and is now at a point where he can be trusted to protect the city. To that point, other than a brief cameo at the beginning and end, Peter Parker’s Spider-Man is uninvolved, allowing Miles to shine on his own two feet, and shine he does. With a completely new story involving Roxxon and The Tinkerer, the game may be shorter than Marvel’s Spider-Man, but that just means you feel the momentum of each story beat that little bit more, rather than being distracted by the latest side quest or district mission.
With the latest gameplay reveal of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 showing off the swappable nature of the two main characters, its clear that we’ll be getting more time to play as Miles and use his very different powerset in New York once again.
1. Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4, 2018)
Coming out in 2018 to critical and commercial success, Marvel’s Spider-Man is perhaps the closest representation of how it would feel to be Spider-Man swinging through the streets of New York. From the opening cinematic as Peter gets ready in his suit and heading towards a surprisingly early boss fight with Fisk, which no-one expected, the game rarely lets up. As well as relying on the standard and well-known villains like Electro, Vulture etc, the game introduces Mr. Negative to the video game universe in quite a spectacular fashion.
Doctor Octopus is a regularly featured enemy of Spider-Man in all forms of media for the character, but here again the game subverted expectations with the first two thirds of the game having the character as his normal, scientific self, before transforming into the mind-manipulated, eight limbed maniac we all know and love. With countless easter eggs to other heroes, locations and even previous storylines from the comics and movies, the game is not only the best Spider-Man game (so far), it’s one of the best PS4 games ever, and expectations are incredibly high for the soon-to-be-released sequel.
Related: 5 of the Worst Parts of Marvel’s Spider-Man We Want Nowhere Near the Sequel
Insomniac Games rarely miss the target, but being in control of arguably the biggest launch of the year and the PS5 so far is a lot of responsibility, so here’s hoping they stick the landing, and in a few years when we’re expecting Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, the second game is then at the top of this list.
Do you agree with what’s listed here? What have we missed?
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