It feels like right now all we’re talking about is Spider-Man but we just can’t get enough of the character right now. I think the hype with No Way Home plus the fact I’m currently rewatching all Spider-Man movies including Tobey and Andrew’s iterations, plus I’ve begun playing the games again, it’s all I can think about it.
This is more of a comparison to the 3 franchises we’ve had. I get that in a game it’s a lot easier to do as you have fewer actors and only VFX work to do. But, the writing abilities all remain the same. The directions they go into and what aspects of Spider-Man they choose to show.
Speaking of that, as I’m playing through the games and watching the movies I took a step back and discussed with my wife who really has their universe perfect. Each Spider-Man movie for example has issues.
Let’s discuss the first being Mary-Jane Watson. A character I believe wasn’t done right in Tobey’s movies. She came across as selfish, obnoxious, and was with around 5 different guys across 3 movies. In the games, she’s a reporter, a damn good one as well. She’s there for Peter and their relationship has a spark. Despite the fact it ended, it’s still super entertaining seeing them together and also…working together. That’s 1 point to the games.
The next point is the villains. Spider-Man is always hit and miss with their villains. Venom in Spider-Man 3 or Electro in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 are prime examples of being poor, but the Green Goblin is perfect in Spider-Man 1. However, the game used Doc Ock as their main villain followed by the full Sinister 6.
This is something out of 7 (close to 8) movies we’ve had where Sinister 6 hasn’t been involved. There’s been a lot of teases and directions pointing to that, but it’s never actually happened. The game had the bottle to go straight into that knowing full well it was a risk. They actually did them right as well which is another bonus point.
Yes, a lot of them didn’t get enough time to truly shine one by one but when you have 6 villains grouped together it’s difficult to give each one a meaningful backstory. It wasn’t needed in my opinion. When they kicked the sh** out of Peter on the rooftop, it hit hard. As a player, I was thrown back at how brutal it was. It showed the Sinister 6 weren’t there to mess around.
Now, let’s discuss Aunt May. May is a character that’s had positives in each iteration. In Tobey’s she was great, but I feel like she was on the older side of what I envisioned May to be. In Andrew’s she was nearly perfect, she just didn’t get enough screen time to connect with, and in Tom’s, she’s too young, more of an annoying character. The game had her perfect. She was helping at FEAST, she knew Peter was Spider-Man all along, she truly helped him out at every chance she could. Plus, not to mention her death was incredibly sad in the game. I’m not even scared to admit I was cutting onions at the same time…
One of the big statements Insomniac made which I will be forever grateful for is Miles Morales. They introduced him perfectly in the PS4 version than even risked giving him a solo title with the PS5 release in November 2020.
Miles is a fairly new character to the comics but someone who truly deserves everything thrown at him. The game did just that, he was perfect in both games. The kid who was bitten by a spider was inspired by Peter and wanted to do everything in his power to ensure he followed in the same footsteps as his role model. That’s how it should be. I absolutely loved Miles in his solo game. Miles should be introduced very, very soon in either the MCU or Sony. It’s time for him to shine in full effect.
The suits are up next. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man franchise is something that actually does very well at this. Most of us know that Spider-Man’s wardrobe is filled with exceptional suits and very rarely explored. Tobey only ever used 2 suits and one of them was just the original suit painted black (the Symbiote suit). Andrew only ever rocked one suit. Tom Holland so far has used 5;
- Homemade suit
- Stark tech
- Iron spider
- Noir suit
- Far from home suit (own design)
We know he’s about to use a Doctor Strange-inspired suit in No Way Home. In the games your possibilities are endless. Tom Holland’s version has the suit game perfect, so does the game. The actual suit Doc Ock makes for you, the one with the white spider on the chest. This one to be precise;
It’s perfect. The introduction of all the original suits in there including all the ones from Holland’s movies is there. Even the Miguel O’Hara 2099 suit is there. Again, perfect.
In the next game, we’re being introduced to Venom, and looks to be a full team-up game with Miles and Spider-Man, it looks to be fantastic. You can see the teaser here from when the game was announced at Sony’s PlayStation event;
What do you think? Do you think Insomniac has it nailed down or are there any issues with the games you can think of?
