Summary
With Spider-Man being one of the most popular superheroes in all of comics, it makes sense that the character will be the focus of several video games throughout the years. This agile webspinner got his first video game all the way back in 1982 for the Atari, and he is still receiving mainstream attention on modern consoles. It is always great to take over as Peter Parker and fight some of his most famous villains as players swing through New York City. This format has been the case for most Spider-Man video games.
Unfortunately, not all of his games are a casual swing through the park. In fact,Spider-Manhas featured in some truly difficult video games in the past.
Hardest Elements in Ultimate Spider-Man:
TheUltimate Spider-Mangame did a lot of things right in terms of allowing players to easily control both Spider-Man and Venom in this open-world action game that is based on the currentrun of the Ultimate Comics at the time.With atraversal system that is very close to theSpider-Man 2movietie-in game from the year before, players will only encounter a few difficult moments throughout this game. Chasing Beetle through New York is difficult for first-time players, and the level where Venom is being hunted by the military can get overwhelming. However, nothing in this game compares to thedifficulty of the final boss fight.
This last fight allows players to use Spider-Man to finally take on Venom in a one-on-one fight on the rooftops. Venom is tanky, and his attacks are hard to dodge, especially when he throws objects at random. Players have to uselightning-fast reflexesin this fight to finally beat this game once and for all.
Hardest Elements in PS1’s Spider-Man:
TheSpider-Manvideo game for the PS1 isloosely based on the animated show from the 90s, which means a lot ofthe foes he normally facesare already established in this universe. This game starts out quite easily, with players having to foil a bank robbery during the tutorial and then having to deal with two easy boss fights against Scorpion and Rhino. Sadly, thedifficulty ramps up when players finally encounter Venom.
Spider-Man and Venom are allies in this game, but Eddie Brock brings with him a new set of enemies called thesymbiotes. These alien life forms take the form of purple blobs in this game, and they appear on many levels in the back half of this story. They are incredibly frustrating to take down, as they areimmune to Spider-Man’s web attacks. Add to this the fact that thefinal boss is a chase segment, and players will find finishing this game a frustrating task.
Hardest Elements in Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six:
Putting Spider-Man in a video game where he has to fight some of his most dangerous villains seems like a winning idea.Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Sixis aside-scrolling NES gamethat sees Spider-Man having totake on each member of the Sinister Six one at a time.Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it sounds.
The control scheme makes it very hardfor players to engage with each boss fight. Just figuring out how towebswing is one of the biggest challengesin this game. Then, each boss fight takes an age to finish, as the method needed to defeat each villain is poorly telegraphed. Players will die over and over again before they figure out what to do to progress, rather than through failing to dodge enemy attacks.
Hardest Elements inThe Amazing Spider-Man 2:
Interestingly,The Amazing Spider-Man 2tie-in video gamedeviates from the plot of the movieto tell its own story. This story focuses on Spider-Man trying to stop the Carnage Killer while alsobeing mentored by Kraven the Hunter.Everything in this game is fairly standard for a Spider-Man adventure, except for one feature.
Traversal should be fun in an open-world game like this, but stopping to see the sights is not a possibility inAmazing Spider-Man 2, no matter how smooth the web swinging is. The developers decided to include a mechanic that seesdrones come out to attack the player if they fail to address the random crimesthat appear on the map. As such, players are stuck in a difficult loop of fighting off waves of drones or trying to stop every crime they come across. All this happens before players even get to finish the main story.
Hardest Elements in Spider-Man 2 (PC):
Spider-Man 2for consoles is a highly regarded video game that is based on the movie of the same name. Many players praise this game for finally getting the web swinging mechanics right, so playing as Spider-Man inan open-world game is both fun and simple.Unfortunately, the PC port of the same game did not take any of these notes.
Instead of including the fluid, automatic web-swinging that allowed the player to swing around the city so long as there was something for the web to connect to, thePC version ofSpider-Man 2used a manual approach. Players have to use thecursor to point at something they want to swing fromevery time they want to move around the map. This mechanic makes traversal boring, and the entire game more difficult as a result.
Hardest Elements in Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety:
Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxietyis the sequel to the highlypopular side-scrolling beat-em-up video game, Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage. The idea behind the first game was simple. Players could use either Spider-Man or Venom to walk the streets of New York and fight off the waves of enemies on the screen. Therefore, following up on this game should have been simple.
Sadly, the developers overdid things on the enemy front inSeparation Anxiety.Too many enemies flood the screenat once to make it difficult for the player to cope. Plus, thepoor hit detectionand the fact that both Spider-Man and Venom play exactly the same means there is little players can do to overcome this gaming challenge.
Hardest Elements in Spider-Man 2 (New Game Plus):
The latest update to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for the PS5 has given players the chance tostart the game again in New Game Plus. This new version of the story mode is amuch more difficult versionof the original game, one that should not be attempted by new players. Enemies have more health, and the reaction times on Spider-Man’s spider-sense are reduced.
As a result, some of the more difficult aspects in Spider-Man 2’s main story now require a lot more skill from the player. Thefinal Venom boss fight is particularly frustrating, with his ability to cover the entire arena in black sludge, and taking out the waves of Kraven’s goons is a bit more of a slog this time around. However, it is all designed for the player to have in this new challenging version of the game.
