What would be your ideal Spider-man game?

[Thundercrack85]

I have long thought that Spider-man may be one of the best comic book franchises to turn into a video game, but overall, the games we have gotten range from dreadful to... okay. I would like to see a game series made for the sake of itself; standalone, not as a tie-in, or an adaption of a specific storyline.

The thing that gets me, is that some of the games, actually have good mechanics, but drop the ball in other areas. I played a bit of Amazing Spider-man 2. I actually liked the web slinging, but the city had less traffic than Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto III. Since it's a movie tie-in, it was doomed to be mediocre, but it's not without redeeming qualities.

The other thing I notice in these games is a lack of supporting characters, which is one of the franchise's strongest assets. I think the Spectacular-Spider-man TV show really showed that off. The Persona series has less character interaction than that show.

Personally, I feel that a Spider-man game should have a limited amount of villains. Perhaps incorporate some characters prior to their villainous break out.

So for example, the game can have Green Goblin or Dr. Octopus (but not both), and some less ambitious villains, like Shocker, Rhino, Sandman, and Vulture, but reserve (if they use Green Goblin) Dr. Octopus for a sequel. However, if they use Dr. Octopus, they could then have Norman Osborne as just the person appear in a prominent role, and set him up to become the villain in the next game.

Perhaps allow your choices in the game to influence their future (Peter Parker has inadvertently created some of his future villains).

The gameplay mechanic I think would be interesting, assuming the game actually shows Peter Parker getting his powers, is to let him level up, giving him more and or stronger abilities as he levels up. This could also make villains more challenging, with some simply being out of Spider-man's league, until he gains more experience.

Or if you don't feel like reading all that:

1. Make use of Peter Parker, and his daily life, with a focus on social interactions
2. Don't have too many villains, but incorporate characters before they become villains, and let the player influence the path they take (both as Spider-man and Peter Parker)
3. Spider-man becomes more powerful / gains new abilities as he gains more experience

Just some thoughts. I'm curious to hear what others think.

 

[Tanin]

My favorite so far is Spider-Man 2 on the Gamecube.

 

[cryptic name]

I would like a colorful game based on the comics, chock full of characters and villains, set in a lively, populated city with plenty of varied side quests and a long, engrossing main story. I would like a swing mechanic based on the Ultimate Spider-Man or Spider-Man 2 movie games, but updated. An Arkham-esque combat system with plenty of crazy, acrobatic animations. And I'd like them to pay more attention to the wall-crawling mechanics as it's really seemed like that aspect has suffered in the last few games. Peter Parker in his civilian guise should play an important role as well as his job with the Bugle. More than anything I just want to have as much fun as I did when I first played Spider-Man on the N-64 or Spider-Man 2 on the PS2.

 

[Sterling Archer]

I'd be interested to see if first person swinging could work, kind of like Mirror's Edge. Would separate it from the other games and make the world feel much larger. Imagine experiencing the speed of a full pendulum swing in first person.

 

[Jick]

I like your leveling system and that we're only able to defeat some villains when we're more powerful.

What I want, first and foremost, is this:

Don't. Change. ANYTHING!

Second, I'd like to have the kind of graphics that Shattered Dimmensions or Ultimate Spider-Man had. I think that helps to give that friendly feel.

Third, I'd have the story be somewhat like the first X-Men Legends, which had flashback missions (Sentinel Attack, Weapon X, Juggernaut Invasion at the mansion...). This way we could take part on the most classics moments of Spidey's life (Green Goblin and Gwen at the bridge, the Master Planner Lair, the symbiote with Venom's first battle, Electro's, Sandman's...). Not only we'd play an original story, but also relive moments we adore. Like XMLegends.

Fourth, I'd have a fun story. Like the first PS1 game. It's lighthearted, has cameo appearances from other heroes, his most known villains, doesn't take itself so seriously and has even a what if mode. That game pure Spidey.

These are the ingredients for my perfect Spider-Man game.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

EDIT:
Nevermind. It will probably be another game with a lukewarm reception at best.

 

[The Slang]

Years ago I wrote out a detailed description of my ideal free roam Spidey game. Some of the features included were:

*Identity toggle: Freely switch between Peter Parker and Spider-man. As Peter Parker you can go to any secluded location and change into your Spider-man costume, at which point your regular clothes will be stored in a web sack that can be carried on your back or hidden somewhere safe. To change back into your regular clothes, you must retrieve the web sack or go back to home base.

*Wanted system: Similar to GTA, you have a wanted level that changes based on the story as well as your actions. As your wanted level rises, authorities will pursue you with more aggression. When being pursued as Spider-man, changing into Parker will throw pursuers off your trail.

*Currency: There are various ways to earn currency throughout the game (such as taking photos) that can be used to purchase consumable resources (like webbing), tech upgrades (spider tracers, extended belt capacity) as well as complete story based missions (like helping Aunt May with the rent).

*Web shooters: Spider-man's web shooters can be modified and upgraded throughout the game. At any time you can adjust their settings with the d pad, changing the type of web you fire. You can select between lines, nets, pellets and more. You have a limited supply of webbing, encouraging you to conserve the supply and rely on hand to hand combat occasionally. When the web shooters are empty, you must change the cartridge. The cartridges are stored on your belt, and once you run out of cartridges, you must return home to collect more. Without web you can't swing, but you can still use your spider agility to travel quickly.

*Public transport: Various forms of public transport are running in the city. Peter Parker has the ability to spend money on public transport as a way of instantly traveling across the map. Spider-man can't use public transport, but he can still ride on top of vehicles.

*Tether system: The ability to shoot web lines at a target of your choice, tethering them to you or to a secondary target. Using this system you can hang people from ledges, swing objects around you and be towed through the air by helicopters (or flying enemies). Combining tethers with the net setting on your webshooter allows you to create your own giant orb webs (or hammocks) between two points that can be used for different things.

There was so much more but those were some of the key features. I also wanted a revolving day/night cycle with time based missions and events that had to be completed to a schedule. Imagine you have to go to this location at this time to meet Gwen for a date. Whether you make it or not affects the relationship between Gwen and Parker within the story. You have the choice to get there via public transport as Parker, or you can swing there as Spider-man and change to Parker on arrival. During the date with Gwen, you might witness a disturbance like a robbery or a rampaging super villain. At this moment you'll have the decision to abandon your date and change into Spider-man (which will negatively affect your relationship) or you can ignore the disturbance and complete your date (which will negatively affect your super hero career).

The game would revolve around responsibility, seeing consequences for your actions and the challenge of balancing a double life as Parker and Spider-man.

 

[DeadPresident]

Shattered Dimensions is the best it got for me.

 

[X Knight]

if they make another Spider-man game, I want them to create it with the same love and quality as the Arkham games.

and like the Arkham games, I want the story to not be tied to any particular movie or comic. be it's own thing.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

616 comic based universe

expansive and detailed nyc with day and night, weather, traffic and population

Clean swinging mechanics

Top notch Cel-shaded graphics

Deep story featuring a huge Rouges galley and classic allies

Plenty of side missions

Clean and fluid fighting mechanics

 

[Decepticonus]

Going back Shattered Dimensions kinda sucks, Very cookie cutter, the fights and combat are OK, not much replayability or diversity, way too linear and the Noir stuff had the worst stealth ever.

 

[Oscorp]

I think Spider-Man as a character with his mythos is ideal for AAA gaming in the way that if they manage to make a true Spider-Man experience it could be as popular as the Arkham games.

I imagine however that Spider-Man is incredibly hard to incorporate in a game. His transportation methods and powers for example don't mash well with typical game combat. Yeah, that might sound weird, so I'll explain it further.

Most of us agree that Spider-Man 2 has the best web swinging experience. It's fast, it's as close to physics as we've gotten, it's a blast. What does the game lack in however, besides graphics, voice acting and so on?

Yeah, combat. To me, it just doesn't feel right to have this fast and fluid web swinging combined with that stale and slow combat. Incorporating the speed and agility of Spider-Man into his combat just seems extremely hard. We haven't gotten any combat that's close to his potential and skills. When they try, like Beenox with their latest games, they've made sacrifices like...yeah, web swinging. Still, they didn't come close to Spider-Man's potential in combat either.

I think it's hard to combine Spider-Man's skills outside of combat with his skills in combat. Instead, the games end up like feeling like playing two different characters depending on if you're in combat or not.

I mean, I think Beenox have come the closest to Spider-Man combat, but they're still very much far away in my opinion. Spider-Man shouldn't be as ground based and martial arts inspired as he's been in every game (besides Web Of Shadows, but that combat lacked in so many other ways!). At least to me, Spider-Man should be all over the place. If there's a room of thugs, he shouldn't jump into the middle and stand there delivering kicks and punches like Batman. He should jump around all over the place.

Also, Spider-Man shouldn't have to deal 3-5 punches and kicks on a normal thug. That's also partly why I haven't felt like Spider-Man in the previous games. Spider-Man would one off them. The challenge should be in something else (perhaps the sheer number of thugs, them using certain strategies, or other obstacles). The regular thugs themselves should be easy as pie. The real straight combat challenge should be against super villains and super powered up foes.

Speaking of that, the bosses need to be a good balance of combat and puzzle. I want the boss battles to be challenging, and they haven't been so far. The moments when boss battles have been hard have been because they've been made cheaply over powered. Not because they actually require you to make full use of your skills.

That's why I think it's a mistake to straight up copy the Arkham combat for Spider-Man. They approach combat in different ways. There needs to be something entirely new invented for Spider-Man's combat. Spider-Man also needs to make a lot more use of his webs creatively, much like in Spider-Man 2 but way more fluid. That's how they'll make me feel as Spider-Man. Not by incorporating wrestling moves and finishers.

I mean, they should take inspiration from the Arkham combat in the way that it's extremely fluid. But make Spider-Man jump from wall to wall, on heads, while pulling others with webs at the same time, etc. That will be extremely hard to deliver though...the speed and creativity of Spider-Man's combat combined with precision and not making it messy.

Also, to hell with the stealth gameplay in the latest games. Spider-Man is not as stealth reliant as in those games. Again, that's copying the Arkham games instead of focusing on what's right for Spider-Man. Stealth should be a more rare thing. A Spider-Man game should be way more action oriented if you ask me, with stealth moments being more "Oh crap this is serious ****".

I think the main inspiration from the Arkham games should be the faithfulness to the lore and mythos.

616 comic based universe

expansive and detailed nyc with day and night, weather, traffic and population

Clean swinging mechanics

Top notch Cel-shaded graphics

Deep story featuring a huge Rouges galley and classic allies

Plenty of side missions

Clean and fluid fighting mechanics

Great list. I think a cell shaded free roam Spider-Man game could look glorious. Sure, we already have Ultimate Spider-Man, but I'm not a huge fan of the Ultimate art and design. You know that intro for Amazing version of Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions, where you're on rooftops in New York? Yeah, that kind of look would be absolutely glorious!

 

[Galactus123]

Open-world game with a huge Manhattan island and maybe Queens too. It would have a budget like Batman games have.