To put it bluntly, there haven’t been many good Spider-Man games. In fact, you could probably count the number of good video games featuring the famous web-slinger on one hand. So when the incredible Marvel’s Spider-Man was released for the PS4 in 2018, fans were over the moon. After all, we’ve gotten many great Spider-Man movies lately—from Homecoming to Into the Spiderverse to Spidey’s appearance in Avengers: Infinity War. After seeing great portrayals of our favorite superhero on the big screen, it feels great to be able to play as him in a game.
Marvel’s Spider-Man has been widely praised for making the player live the true Spider-Man experience—that is to say, make them feel as if they really were Spider-Man. The story-lines are also explored in great detail, and the game gives as much importance to Peter Parker as it does to Spider-Man, making you feel like you were plunged in the middle of a Marvel Movie.
As with many games, some deleted features didn’t make it into the main game, and, as with every game, fans found themselves wishing for more features that haven’t been integrated into the game. Let’s take a look at what Spider-Man fans would have liked to see in Marvel’s Spider-Man—keeping in mind, of course, that some of these features, costumes, or characters, could appear in a sequel or in a DLC. These aren’t meant to be “missing” features, and the purpose of this list is absolutely not to criticize the game, but rather, to have fun imagining what it could have been like had these features been a part of it.
20 An Iconic Villain (Green Goblin)
In Insomniac’s Spider-Man, Norman Osborn is an antagonistic figure, and is ultimately tied in with Otto Octavius’ transformation into Doctor Octopus. He’s definitely not a good guy, but he’s not the Green Goblin here. That means, of course, that the Green Goblin isn’t part of the game’s timeline, a fact that disappointed some fans who loved the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man 2.
After all, the Green Goblin is an iconic Spider-Man villain, and it would have been interesting to see how Marvel’s Spider-Man represented him. This is, however, in no means a criticism, as this game has already provided us with amazingly detailed backstories for several villains.
19 A Face-To-Face With Harry Osborn
Talking the Osborns, however, something a lot of fans missed was being able to actually see Harry Osborn—not as a villain, but just as himself, when he was still MJ and Peter’s friend. As it is, the mechanism by which he is integrated into the game is interesting. Peter Parker hears his recordings, and they trigger side quests, specifically, quests linked to the Oscorp research stations you can find scattered over New York.
Peter and Harry don’t see each other face-to-face, which would have been cool to see.
Of course, a secret cut-scene at the end of the game gives us a glimpse of Harry, which means we might get to see him in future sequels. Fingers crossed!
18 Spidey’s Origin Story
As amazing as it would have been to see how Insomniac would have treated Spider-Man’s origin story (as they treated other aspects of the Spider-Man lore in a new and inventive way), the story aspect remains one of the best parts of the game. Marvel’s Spider-Man isn’t afraid to do its own thing and strays away from the popular origin story narrative. We do get to play through Doctor Octopus’ origin story, which is exceptionally well-written. As I mentioned, the game puts Otto Octavius in a mentor position of sorts, and we as players get attached to him. Despite knowing how his story ends, we can’t help but wish he could stay Peter Parker’s friend and teacher, which makes his transformation heart-wrenching.
17 A Missing Suit In The DLC
The many, many suits Spider-Man gets to wear in this game are quite possibly one of our favorite aspects of the gameplay. When Insomniac released a DLC including a new suit inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, some fans felt like they should have also included Miles Morales’ suit.
After all, Miles appears in the game, and players can unlock other future Spider-Man suits, such as the 2099 suit or the Scarlett Spider suit.
It’s just one of the many suits fans are hoping will be included in future DLCs or sequels. Several other suits will be included in this list, as they are an important part of the game—the suit and the suit power you pick can really impact your gameplay!
16 Mysterio
Mysterio would have been an interesting villain to see in Marvel’s Spiderman. He does appear in the form of an Easter egg in one of the game’s quests. When Spider-Man finds himself infiltrating a Halloween party (he’s already wearing a costume! It’s perfect!), he runs into “Mysterio.”
After a hilarious “boss fight” in the House of Mirrors, Spidey takes off the masked villains’ helmet, Scooby-Doo reveal style.
As it turns out, it was only a cosplayer, and it would have been entertaining to see the real Mysterio somewhere in the game. Not to mention, we’ll be seeing Mysterio on the big screen in Spider-Man: Far From Home, so it would have been great to see him in the game!
15 Bullet Points Spider-Man Costume
Since, as I’ve already mentioned, Peter Parker can wear costumes that technically belong to other Spider-Men in the game, it would have been really cool to see the Bullet Points costume in the game.
This stunning black and white costume is technically worn by Bruce Banner, in a universe where he’s bitten by a radioactive spider.
Since the game includes Easter eggs such as the Avengers Tower, a nod to Bullet Points Spider-Man isn’t unthinkable! It’s a really cool costume, and, since the game designers worked a lot on the different costumes and how they interact with the light and the environment in the game, it would have been a nice one to include.
14 Symbiote Suit
The symbiote suit is one of fans’ favorite Spidey costumes. Any story featuring the symbiote is usually popular among fans, after all. Considering the sheer amount of costumes available in this version of Spider-Man, some were disappointed that this iconic suit wasn’t a feature of the game.
Not to mention, Spider-Man has worn the symbiote suit in previous games!
However, a secret cut-scene at the end of the game reveals that we might see the symbiote in sequels, but it doesn’t look like it’s Peter it’ll bond with… It’s a shame the suit isn’t available, but it’ll be interesting to see how the symbiote makes an appearance in future games!
13 Turbo On The Web Swing
Being able to shoot webs and swing from New York City buildings is a huge part of any Spider-Man game. Many fans have tried to compare this mechanism in Marvel’s Spider-Man and in Spider-Man 2. In Spider-Man 2, the web swing wasn’t as natural and didn’t take into account gravity as much; however, given that the game was released in 2004, it was quite well-executed for its time. One feature it had that isn’t available in Marvel’s Spider-Man is the turbo, which some fans miss. The swing in Marvel’s Spider-Man makes you feel like you’re really Spider-Man, and it certainly goes fast, but being able to use a boost while swinging would have been interesting.
12 Content That Wasn’t Included Until the DLC
While the main Spider-Man game included an incredible amount of content, from collectibles to side-quests and more, some aspects of the game weren’t added until the DLCs. For instance, The Heist added Black Cat side-quests to the main game. This is in no means a criticism, of course, since, as I just stated, the game itself is very complete, even without the DLCs. Imagine how amazing it would have been to have features like that in the main game, however! Of course, that’s the entire point of DLCs, but this doesn’t stop some fans from wishing the quests added with the DLCs were part of the base game.
11 Hornet And Prodigy Suits
Here are two other Spider-Man suits fans would have loved to see in the game. The Hornet and Prodigy suits are from Spider-Man’s identity crisis arc. As Spider-Man was now wanted, Peter Parker was forced to create two new heroes: Hornet and Prodigy. These two suits are included here as they are pretty different from most Spider-Man costumes, visually—given the amount of work that was put into the costumes’ textures, it would have been great to see them in the game. The Hornet Suit is very bright and colorful and would provide a nice alternative to many of the darker costumes you can choose from in the game.
10 Playable Green Goblin Mode From Spider-Man 2
I’ve already mentioned the Green Goblin, and the fact that he was present in previous Spider-Man games—2002’s Spider-Man, for instance. You might remember you could also play as the Green Goblin, a feature that many fans wish had been included in this Spider-Man game.
If you finished the game entirely, you got to replay it as the Green Goblin.
Unlike other costumes, which were purely cosmetics, the Green Goblin actually changed the gameplay, trading webs for a glider and giving you pumpkin bombs. Imagine how cool that would have been in Marvel’s Spider-Man! A Green Goblin costume with a special suit power would also have been amazing.
9 Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi Suit
The Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy was very popular with fans. The suit Spider-Man wears in the trilogy is classic, and has remained iconically associated to Spider-Man. Unfortunately, while we do get the classic Spider-Man suit (both in damaged and undamaged versions), the Sam Raimi suit is absent from the game, which disappointed some fans. Of course, we’re aware that Spider-Man has many incarnations and even more costumes, and that including them all wouldn’t have been possible. It’s still cool to imagine, however! After all, everyone has their favorite version of Spider-Man, and some fans would have surely enjoyed being able to play as this one.
8 Being Able To Fail A Web Swing
While in older Spider-Man games, web-swinging had a sort of skill mechanic (meaning that you had to get good at it if you didn’t want to fail your swings), in Spider-Man PS4, the hero effortlessly swings from buildings, without being able to fail a swing or receive fall damage. This deleted feature has fans conflicted: on the one hand, it wouldn’t make much sense for Spider-Man to fail his swings, given he’s meant to be more experienced in this game, but on the other hand, it’s more fun (and satisfying) to gradually learn the skill and master it. Depends if you want an experience focused on story or on gameplay, really.
7 Zombie Spider-Man Suit
Zombie Spider-Man’s storyline is probably one of the most popular (and most heart wrenching) alternative Spider-Man storylines. On Earth-2149, a zombie plague infects many heroes, including Colonel America, and, eventually, Spider-Man. Obviously, this Spider-Man isn’t the same Peter Parker as the one you play in the game… but as I’ve said before, there are other available suits who belong to different Spider-Men.
This would have been a really cool one to include in the game! Fighting as zombie Spider-Man sounds pretty awesome to us. On the other hand, it would have been a little jarring compared to the rest of the game, but as the zombie Spider-Man suit is iconic, fans can’t help but wish it had been included.
6 A Replacement For The Game’s Saddest Easter Egg
This Spider-Man game comes with many, many Easter eggs, much to fans’ delight. From the hidden text on the rockets that baddies fire, to the Avengers’ Tower and Wakanda Embassy, to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, there’s a lot to see in this game.
One particular Easter egg turned out to be quite sad, however: one fan reached out to Insomniac to help him propose to his fiancé.
However, by the time the game came out, the pair was broken up… but you can still read “Maddie, will you marry me?” on a movie marquee. Insomniac offered to replace it with something else, but it was ultimately left as it is.
5 The Superior Spider-Man Suit
Since Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius has such a prominent role in the game, it would have been cool to be able to unlock the Superior Spider-Man costume, maybe after finishing the game? After all, in the game’s story, Otto Octavius acts as a mentor figure for Peter Parker, who works in his lab and helps him develop the tech he’ll use for his arms, and it would have been amazing to have the Superior Spider-Man Suit as a sort of tribute to him. In the Superior Spider-Man comic, Otto Octavius takes over Peter Parker’s body, and, with it, the mantle of Spider-Man. Imagine how fun it would have been to play as Superior Spider-Man!
4 A Less Generic Open World
Spider-Man PS4 has an undeniably stunning world—just look at the realism on some of these buildings. Not to mention, it includes loads of cool Easter eggs and places to explore, thanks, in part, to the mechanic of retrieving backpacks all over the city. The map is absolutely huge, with district after district to explore. However, some fans criticized the game’s world, calling it generic. Since this game has already taken a lot of liberties with Spider-Man’s traditional story arcs (and does it well, I might add), it would have been amazing to see it get more creative with the game’s world.
3 Better Enemy AI
The combat system in Spider-Man PS4 is great. Clearly inspired by the Batman Arkham trilogy, the system has the player execute combos and special moves, taking down enemy after enemy. At the same time, it doesn’t feel like you’re playing a Batman game either, since Spider-Man is less resistant and more nimble—and fights with his own gadgets.
The one criticism that fans had, however, was that they wished that the game had included better enemy AI.
The current AI sometimes takes away from combats that will otherwise truly have you feeling like Spider-Man. At this point, this is nitpicking, however.
2 Future Foundation Spider-Man
This is the last entry of this list featuring a Spider-Man costume. The Future Foundation Spider-Man is probably one of my favorite Spider-Man costumes. It’s futuristic, without being too wildly different from the original Spider-Man suit.
And it has some really cool features: being made of unstable molecules, this suit can never get dirty, and can easily morph into another costume.
Seems pretty appropriate for a game that features unlimited costume changes! Not to mention, just imagine what kind of cool suit power it could have. This black and white suit would have made a great addition to the game’s costumes!
1 Better Graphics Without Having The PS4 Pro Version
In many ways, the game is visually stunning, and it’s obvious that animators took special care when they were working on light and textures. The city of New York depicted in Marvel’s Spider-Man is an undeniably beautiful city, yet some fans were disappointed that the “regular” PS4 graphics were lacking compared to the PS4 Pro graphics. Of course, that was the point of having a “pro” version, but many felt that the price difference was much too high to justify splurging on the PS4 Pro version of the game. At the end of the day, however, while it’s fun to imagine how amazing it would be with more features, this game remains a gem in more ways than one.
