20 Worst Game Breaking Bugs & Glitches

Spider-Man games have a strong track record this century, managing in most cases to meet and then go on to exceed player expectations, with only a few duds between them. And it all began with Neversoft and Activision’s Spider-Man, which arrived before any of the films and has a certain untouched purity as a result that means it tacks closely to the aesthetic and broader sensibilities of the comics rather than Raimi’s Spidey or the MCU.

The game lets us take full control over the web-slinger in a new adventure that sees him framed for a crime he didn’t commit, becoming a wanted criminal, and foiling the symbiote invasion orchestrated by Doc Ock and Carnage, all while battling through the classic rogue’s gallery of villains from the comics, including Rhino, Venom and Mysterio. Phew. The fighting flows nicely, the web slinging is great, and the writing and delivery of the thing feels totally on brand with Stan Lee’s comics.

But not everyone gets to enjoy Spider-Man in all his glory. Initially released for PlayStation, the game was ported to Windows in 2001, and that’s where the problems began. The PC version uses game engine physics in cutscenes, meaning he can actually die and the game will end. Modern PC players will find that the variations in timing associated with the pre-programmed control inputs cause Spidey to plummet to his death while chasing Venom in a cutscene that is unskippable, making the game literally impossible to complete.