20 Comic Book Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

7. Ultimate Spider-Man

They said it couldn't be done, but original developers of the Raimi movie tie-ins, Treyarch, returned with a revamped property under their belt, determined to deliver a followup to Spider-Man that could sit alongside part two. Luckily for us, they did so in spades, adapting the increasingly-popular Ultimate arc and all its aesthetic trimmings. That meant a fully cel-shaded New York City, character models that pop with colour and refined over-animation to give them a far more vibrant personality - along with the ability to play as Venom for the first time in years. Essentially it boils down to Venom being the standard 'muscle'-type character, but when you're ingesting civilians to keep energy levels topped up or flinging entire cars at gang members, there's a level of escapism and power fantasy fulfilment that the web-head's second movie outing just couldn't come close to. You might be more of a fan of the 616 (standard) Spider-Man, and that's totally fine, but for legions of us who wanted a more updated take with a hell of a lot more character and things to do in the open world, USM was exactly that.