Marvel’s Spider-Man is a game that you should only play once or twice, possibly three times if you’re an achievement hunter. With a solid 20-30-hour campaign, maybe add more for those doing the DLC or New Game Plus, that’s a decent amount of time for players to spend in this fictional version of New York.
If only I were most people, because I must have spent at least 200 hours across two different versions of Insomniac’s marvelous Spider-Man game.
Some gamers are seeing this and probably scoffing at the time I’ve spent on the game, since I could use those additional hours on Hollow Knight: Silksong or Elden Ring. And yet, even after all this time, I’m thinking of replaying this superhero sandbox again.
That’s crazy, right? How can one person spend so much time on a game with a definitive ending that doesn’t change, no matter how many times you play it? Especially when all those trophies and achievements have been collected?
Comfort. The answer is comfort.
With Great Gameplay…
As many critics and fans have undoubtedly said before, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man has some spectacular gameplay. Somehow, the devs were able to take that web-swinging from the classic Spider-Man 2 movie game, add elements from Beenox’s Amazing Spider-Man games, and come up with something simple, elegant, and satisfying.
Just imagining that sequence where Peter Parker hears about the Kingpin’s resistance, which leads to him jumping out that window, it always feels like pure magic. The seamless transition from cutscene to gameplay gets me every time. Pressing and holding down R2, watching Spidey swing, then pressing X for a big jump always puts a smile on my face.
You know what’s almost as satisfying? The combat. Insomniac was able to look at what made Batman: Arkham Asylum work and modify it a bit for Marvel’s web-slinger. Countering is a bit more technical this time, as players have to wait for the hit, rather than the spider-sense marker, before dodging. Spidey’s hits are also speedier than Batman’s, showing how Peter is more of a fast hitter who puts less power so he can do more acrobatics to bamboozle the next foe.
Moreover, mixing up combat with his webbing and gadgets never ceases to bore me, even if the pausing between gadgets should be immersion-breaking.
Not all of the gameplay in Marvel’s Spider-Man is flawless. Stealth is a little too simple, as players can just stay above and press buttons to capture most of the enemies. For the most part, you can actually skip stealth to do an all-out fight, minus a few important story chapters.
That weakness in stealth is only strengthened by the Mary Jane sections, which tend to feel “cinematic” when they’re really just basic. Admittedly, her chapters are inoffensive and short, but adding a break to the main gameplay loop shouldn’t be seen as a good thing. I’ll also add the Miles stealth bits here, too. Thank goodness he gets bitten by that spider at the end.
…There Must Also Come Great Replayability
I’ll be honest, though; as lame as the MJ and Miles stealth sections are, I still replay them every time. Because once they’re done, I can get back to being Spider-Man and doing actual cool stuff, like web-swinging. Spidey has always controlled well in his games, but the folks at Insomniac have somehow made him feel better than he has before.
No. No, I will not say the IGN meme.
Because Spider-Man feels so good to control, it’s so easy for me to pick up my PS4 controller or Steam Deck and start web-swinging without a care. Playing as Spidey, swinging and zipping around New York, fighting criminals, no other game has been able to capture that feeling well.
Additionally, the story of Marvel’s Spider-Man is actually pretty good. It’s a bit similar to James Gunn’s recent Superman movie, which starts in medias res and just assumes everyone knows who Spidey is. The small twists they do here are also pretty great, from having Otto Octavius as Peter’s mentor to making Norman Osborn the mayor; there are plenty of small wrinkles here to make fans of the character smile.
I also think it’s nice to see the story have proper escalation. The game begins with Peter stopping Kingpin and doing regular street-level crimes, while the ending has him stopping Doctor Octopus and curing New York from a chemical weapon. Almost everything is built up well, with most of the character motivations making sense.
Somehow, Insomniac missed the point entirely with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, where everything has to be epic all the time. Good thing that gameplay is still fun, because what a mess that game is.
A Comforting Experience
Even though I’ve played Marvel’s Spider-Man an insane number of times, there’s always something that brings me back.
Could it be the combat? Is it the bright and colorful visuals? The cool costume designs? To be honest, it’s probably just all of that and nostalgia.
Spider-Man is a character who resonated with me during my college years, where I didn’t know what kind of person I was going to be. Reading comics where he was always unsure about his lot in life, but finding ways to move forward and help people anyway, was just nice to see. He might just be my comfort character, so being able to play as him in such a good game will never get old, at least for me.
Ugh. I’m still angry the sequel didn’t get DLC, though.
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