Marvel's Spider-Man VS Marvel's Spider-Man 2 which should I buy?

  Dillon Bemis  

Professor Montoya  

English 101  

13 January 2025  

 

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN

                VS

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2   

 

 

Sony bought the rights to Spider-Man back in 1999 they have released movies such as the toby Maguire trilogy, and some various games to go along with those. They later did the andruw Garfield movies and games to go along with those around 2012 but after those the Spider-Man gaming scene was quiet. They designed these games to be played on different gaming platforms, and it wasn't until these recent Spider-man games they decide to go PS exclusive meaning you must buy a PlayStation to play these games. There hasn't been a lot of recent Spider-Man games until the 2018 debut “Marvel’s Spider-Man" and the more recent 2023s “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” these games are the first in a while to not follow any movies, they are completely new focusing on more of a collage gradated adulthood Spider-Man rather than the more known high school kid. 

I have played both games and heard great things about them, so I am here to compare which one is better. Going through, story, gameplay, Graphics and overall feels 

                                STORYLINE & NARRITVE  

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 1 

The game starts out in older collage graduate Peter Parkers Messy Apartment with Overdue bills on the floor a radio talking about how bad Spider-Man is. a very unorganized life. immediately there is trouble and even though there are clear priorities as Peter, he suits up and rushes to the crime. This instantly sets the part of the story up throughout the whole game it takes you through the struggles of trying to be Peter and Spider-Man. The game is straight forward at first, you swing around stopping crime and trying to take down kingpin’s monopoly. As Peter you have a job at a robotics lab with your boss/mentor ‘Dr. Octavius’ you guys are close and work well together. You help aunt may with her Chairty ‘F.E.A.S.T’ and occasionally talk to MJ but you too are going through some struggles. All seems well until city hall gets attacked at the mayors campaign rally, but this time it was not some random thugs but rather masked men, it was well organized and now you have to get to the bottom of it with help from the police captain ‘Yuri Watanabe’ the rest of the game is about solving this mystery leading to some play time as MJ and Miles. And while this is all going down in Spider-Man's life. Peters starts to get messy too, when his lab shuts down his boss Dr Octavius starts getting a little to invested in his experiments and starts causing some trouble. 

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 

Peter Parker and Miles Morales continue their journey as dual protectors of the city Miles a high school student and Peter an older collage gradate. They go through trying to balance their personal lives as a new villain arrives at New York they don't know who it is, but they have broken the sinister 6 out of jail and then started killing them off. Peters reconnects with his old high school friend ‘Harry Osborn’ who has been gone for some time, and it turns out he has some new powers, but he can't quite figure out how to control them. Peter struggles with keeping jobs and still grieving recent deaths, feeling the pressure of trying to be a good mentor for Miles while he himself needs a mentor. Miles is figuring things out too, he is in a critical point of his life dealing with collage applications, friends and family, and ultimately juggling his Spider-Man/personal life 

• Comparison 

I think both tell great stories; I feel like the storyline is more in depth than the first one but also can be harder to follow both Miles story and Peters. I love the plot twist of the first one as well as the simplicity, but I think the second game might take the cake. There is a lot more characters introduced and even though it can be hard to follow having those two storylines, I think it overall improves the game 

GAMEPLAY 

Marvel’s Spider-Man 1 

The gameplay in this one is amazing. It didn't take long to figure out, there is a skill tree which is used to punches skills after leveling up you use the skill tree to learn different combat or movement skills when you first start the game you have a very basic move set such as; swinging, punching, jumping the skill tree makes it so you can improve on those like learning how to web zip or throw enemies. You unlock different gadgets after playing, like your web shooters, web grenades, Spidey drone, etc... you learn how to different tricks while swinging or throw combo attacks which i think is a very good idea because it slowly introduces you to all the mechanics rather than just toss you in it also gives an incentive to work and level up. The swinging in the game is done well very fluid, one problem I have is whilst fighting enemies sometimes the lock on to enemy feature gets discombobulated and will lock on to someone else while you are already trying to fight the person in front of you. Other than that, it is done very well, the combat is inspired by the Batman Arkham Knight series which I think is a great place to take inspiration from.

                                                        Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 

When I played this for the first time, I was astonished at the improvement overall it is very similar to the previous game but the swinging is a lot better and really makes you feel like Spider-Man there are new animations new swinging move sets and tricks overall did an amazing job taking the good bones of the previous game and simply just improving where needed. The fighting mechanics are very similar, they seem to have got rid of the problem of locking onto enemies and the incorrect times as mentioned before. There are a couple new gadgets, and you unlock some new powers for Miles and tech for Peter. The only problem I have is the new skill tree and gadget menus are a little confusing is may just be because there are now two Spider-Men vs one but either way I don't love it, just a little difficult to navigate. 

• Comparison 

Both games did an amazing job at making you feel like Spider-Man in combat and swinging i spent countless hours in the first game just swinging around. Having the bones of the first one that was already so good and then just improving it makes the second game nearly perfect, again I don't love the skill tree menu for the second game, but I think it's honestly a small price to pay for the near perfection of the second game mechanics 

GRAPHICS/EXPLORATION 

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 1 

The graphics in this one are pretty good nothing too fancy the map is also good pretty accurate to New York; you only get a smaller part of New York to explore but it is still plenty big and hours of fun. The lighting in this game is phenomenal especially at night when New York lights us, i could swing around the city for hours. If your console is running properly and you have a nice TV, the game always looks very nice no tearing whilst swinging nor dropping frame rates overall very solid nothing two stunning graphicly but also no issues really. There is a lot of side quest to do like collect Peters old backpacks that he left around the city when he was in highs shcool and some or take down some thug hideouts. Just small things to do nothing too crazy or time consuming. 

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 

The graphics have improved for sure with better lighting better shadowing and just overall looking smoother and more detailed but this does mean that if you do not have a PS5 you cannot run the game and for the PC users out there the game runs on a minimum grade gaming PC but you will have some tearing while swinging and some dropped frame rates. it is cool that it looks nicer, but it does make the running of the game a little rougher. The side quest of very similar kind of just a reskin of the first game, although the thug hideouts in this one arent nearly as fun or challenging 

• Comparison 

Now graphics wise it is not a contest here, the advancements in technology make it just too good and if you have a PS5 to run the game it will run it smoothly and it is better. If you do not have a PS5 then the game starts to tear or drop frames and sometimes you can't even run it, so ultimately this comes down to what kind of consol you have. 

     Final Thoughts 

I think it honestly depends on what kind of console you have because if you can't run Spider-Man 2 at 100% it might not be worth running. Overall both 10/10 games would recommend. I'd say play both because the story builds off each other but if you don't care about the story and are just looking to swing around and punch some bad guys, the second one is better for that. 

                                            SOURCES

Schedeen, Jesse. "Marvel’s Spider-Man Review." IGN, 4 Sept. 2018, www.ign.com/articles/2018/09/04/marvels-spider-man-ps4-review.

Schedeen, Jesse. "Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Review." IGN, 20 Oct. 2023, www.ign.com/articles/marvels-spider-man-2-review.