10 Criminally Underrated Comic Book Video Games You Must Play
2. Ultimate Spider-Man
Ultimate Spider-Man is one of those games I look back on and just... wonder how it even exists?
Games based on specific Spider-Man comics had been a thing before, sure - but the years running up to 2005 had seen Activision and studio Treyarch pivot to movie tie-ins, with 2002 and 2004's Spider-Man games both being adapted from the Sam Raimi Spidey films. There was no indication the studio would look to the comics for inspiration, let alone one as specific as Ultimate Spider-Man.
The Ultimate Universe may be consigned to the back-issue bin nowadays, but it was everything at the turn of the century, with Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley leading the charge on a new take on everyone's favourite wall-crawler.
Next to the original Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita comics, Ultimate Spider-Man is the web-slinger's best run. It was one of Marvel's biggest sellers, reaching the zenith of its popularity arguably around the same time Treyarch decided to adapt the series to the gaming medium, and is something every Spidey fan should read, given the chance.
But is Ultimate Spider-Man (the game) underrated? Yes. Not by a long shot, but it is. The game has long been overshadowed by its hugely influential predecessor - Spider-Man 2 - but just because a game was influential doesn't mean it's superior. Ultimate Spidey is an improvement over the 2004 game and for plenty of reasons, not least because it adapts the art of the comic perfectly, but also because it gave players access to Manhattan AND Queens.
2018's Spider-Man game is still the wall-crawler's best, but Ultimate Spider-Man deserves the silver medal.