Summary
Everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood webhead has made nearly as big an impact on video games as he has on comics. While most heroes have had the odd popular games,Spider-Manis one of the few to have a wide range of fondly remembered classics. The Insomniac games are wowing fans today, but they’re built on the ground set by their predecessors.
Some fans might like to check out his older games and see how they compare to his latest ones. But how much time are they going to take? Which ones can players breeze through, and which ones are going to be a considerable commitment? Following data taken from HowLongtoBeat.com, these arethe longestSpider-Mangames around.
BothSpider-ManandSpider-Man 2: Enter Electrolast approximately as long as each other, with both taking about 7 hours to complete their main campaigns, and maybe an hour longer if players took a few detours along the way. ButEnter Electrogets the nod as, if players wanted to beat both games 100%, the sequel takes an hour longer at 13 ½ hours.
Enter Electrointroduced ground levels to the PS1 series, albeit in limited grid-based sections. Spidey tries tostop Electro’s master planto boost his powers via the Bio-Nexus device, all this while tackling the likes of Shocker, Hammerhead, and Sandman, with help from the X-Men. However, it got a cooler reception than its predecessor due to its more rote story.
Speaking of sequels,Spider-Man: Edge of Timefollows up onSpider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, as the webhead rejoins forces with Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Man Noir, and Ultimate Spider-Man to keep space and time from falling apart (again). Each Spider-Man has his own spider-quirks too, from Spider-Man’s hyper-sense to Spider-Man 2099’s holo-clones.
However, they’re the only two playable Spider-Men. The story focuses more on them as they try to secure the timeline against Anti-Venom and Dr. Octopus. Noir and Ultimate have their appearances limited to cutscenes. As such, it’s a much shorter experience thanShattered Dimensions, being just barely longer thanEnter Electro.
Movie tie-in games used to be the norm and were usually mediocre because of their limited development time, but Treyarch’sSpider-Manmovie games caught on quite well. EspeciallySpider-Man 2, as it took Spidey out of the PS1-style set levels and into an open-world setting. It basicallycreated the formulathe Insomniac games and others have since followed.
It has similar beat ‘em up gameplay, but with a plot that follows theSpider-Man 2movie, with the movie’s cast reprising their roles (for better or worse). The game also has plenty of side missions and activities that expand the Raimi-verse and stretch the game’s length. The story campaign is brief, but completionists will have up to 40 hours of fun cleaning up New York City of crime.
Despite the Arabic numeral inMarvel’s Spider-Man 2, it’s actually the third entry in Insomniac’s series. Among them isMarvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, where players help the second Spider-Man fill in for the first and become a hero in his own right as he tackles Roxxon Corporation’s criminal conspiracy and the machinations of the Tinkerer.
Still, fans might be forgiven for forgetting it, as it’s a rather brief game. Players can complete its main campaign in less than half the time of the other Insomniac Spider-games, and its extras don’t stretch it out much either. Still, it’s probably better off as a short and sweet experience than one packed with filler. If only it was priced as such, as its $50 price tag was a lot to ask for on its release date.
Spider-Man 3continued whereSpider-Man 2left off in both story and gameplay. The movie’s actors came back to reprise their roles, with varying degrees of enthusiasm (Bruce Campbell even narrated the tutorial sections). The game also brought back the open world of Manhattan, side missions and activities, and beat ‘em up gameplay, with a new Rage mechanic for stronger attacks.
The length of play time is based on the PS3/360/PC version, which had better graphics and an extra playable character in the New Goblin. Yet while its story campaign was a little longer, it didn’t have as many extras asSpider-Man 2. Raimi-verse versions ofKraven the Hunter, the Lizard, and Scorpion, among others, turn up and equal up to only 10 or so extra hours of gameplay.
With director Sam Raimi out of the picture afterSpider-Man 3, Sony rebooted the Spider-Man movies withThe Amazing Spider-Man, which turned out to be anything but. Its movie tie-in game took a different approach too, as Beenox (who ported Treyarch’s games to PC) told an original story where Spidey has to work with the Lizard to stop Alistair Smythe.
Gameplay-wise, it’s also an open-world game with side missions, but Spidey now fights similarly to Batman in theArkhamgames, with its freeflow combat and counterattacks, albeit with a neat ‘Web Rush’ mode for zipping from enemy to enemy, point to point. It offered more bang for its buck, though it wasn’t much longer or better than theSpider-Man 3game.
Just because a game gets a lukewarm reception, or is merely okay, doesn’t mean it can’t be influential. WithoutSpider-Man: Shattered Dimensions,the Spider-Verselikely wouldn’t have come to be. Dan Slott’s story for the game inspired his laterSpider-Versecomics, which led to theSpider-Versemovies, andSpider-Man: No Way Home’s own dimensional fiddling.
Instead of offering an open world, Spider-Mans Noir, Ultimate, 2099, and Classic go through levels tailored to their individual quirks (Spidey Noir is good at stealth, Ultimate has the symbiote suit, etc.) to restore balance to the spacetime continuum. All this is done at a decent length too, with a 10-hour main campaign, and a much longer 25-hour trek for completionists.
As the longest non-Insomniac game, people might rememberSpider-Man: Web of Shadowsfor the meme of Spidey walking morosely as his fellow heroes fight off an army of symbiotes. Or, if players chose to do so, they could make Spidey give in to the symbiote andtake over New York City, with Black Cat by his side.
There are happier endings, where Spidey saves the city and gets back with Mary Jane, but they’re rather ho-hum in comparison, as was the gameplay, which wasn’t exactly a step-up from the Treyarch games. Still, if players gave it a shot, they’d find its main campaign just as busy asShattered Dimensions, and almost as long through its extras too.
Insomniac’sSpider-Mangames took all that worked about the older Spidey games, added a more cinematic polish, and told stories that really plucked the heartstrings once they hit their climax.Marvel’s Spider-Man 2continues that formula, as Peter Parker and Miles Morales deal with Kraven the Hunter as he starts hunting both them and their rogues gallery down.
Both Spider-Men have separate objectives and missions, along with individual power-ups, gadgets, and regular human partners asthose stealth sectionsmake a comeback. They alone might add to its 17-hour story campaign for some players, not to mention all the extras. Cleaning up Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens completely will take players 28 hours.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2was initially going to be followed up with some DLC likeMarvel’s Spider-Man. These plans were scrapped, likely because they’re going to be consolidated into their ownVenom: Lethal Protectorspin-off, but nobody knows for sure. This means the first game is now technically the longestSpider-Mangame out there.
Even without the DLC,MSM1would tie withMSM2in its campaign length, and outlast it in extras, offering 35 hours of gameplay for completionists. However, since its Remastered edition comes with everythinga laits Game of the Year release, even players seeking to breeze through it will be kept busy for at least 18 hours. That’s more than enough arachnid-based fun for anyone.
