The Best Spider-Man Game No One Played

Think it's all about Spider-Man 2? Think again.

by Ewan Paterson
Spider-Man Web of Shadows
Activision

Spider-Man, as opposed to most comic book characters, has actually had quite a successful history in the gaming medium. Fans can recall fond memories of swinging through New York in Neversoft's Spider-Man titles for the PlayStation, and again in Treyarch's tie-in to Spider-Man 2, as well as in their adaptation of Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man comics.

There is another Spidey title out there, however, that wasn't so fondly looked upon when it was first released. Web of Shadows, which holds a MetaCritic average of 67, currently, may have something of a cult following these days, but it had a difficult time winning people over when it was first published, and marked Treyarch's last soiree with the Spidey license.

People certainly played it, but when we consider the truly great Spider-Man games from the fifth, sixth and seventh generation of consoles, Web of Shadows tends to get lost in the conversation. And though there definitely are better Spider-Man games out there, this is one guaranteed to put a smile on the faces of True Believers everywhere, and has done, for those lucky enough to have dismissed the review aggregators when it released ten years ago.

With branching paths, a unique premise and a brilliant cast of characters, it's high time Web of Shadows forces its way onto the pantheon of Spidey's greatest games, before we're whisked away by Insomniac's stunning PS4 exclusive.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.