For a significant part of Marvel's long history, Spider-Man has been at the center of some of the company's biggest stories across comics and film. That long history has also brought itself into the world of video games, where fans have been able to embody the webhead in some fun and exciting ways. And while every game featuring Spider-Man hasn't been perfect, they're still a testament to his staying power and how much gamers just want to feel like everyone's friendly neighborhood wall-crawler.
Almost all of Spider-Man's games live and die by their web swinging. It's often been a mechanic that's hard to nail for developers, but when it's done right, it's a feature that many fans constantly praise. Marvel's Spider-Man is one of the best recent examples of web swinging done right, but there have been other games that have tried to implement the mechanic to varying success. Marvel's Avengers and Fortnite have both added their own Spider-Man DLC within the last week, and there's a clear disparity between the two that shows what makes good web swinging, and what happens when it doesn't meet expectations.
How Fortnite Gets Web Swinging Right
Fortnite is no stranger to unique game mechanics that can fundamentally change the pace of play, but its recent Spider-Man content is particularly exciting due to how it approaches web swinging. Fortnite's Spider-Man controls remarkably well for a game that isn't explicitly a Marvel property, in many ways reflecting Insomniac's web swinging in Marvel's Spider-Man. Webs clearly connect to buildings and other elements of the environment, and there is a sense of momentum to his movements. All of this combines to make Fortnite's web swinging feel smooth and satisfying, which helps Spider-Man feel like a fully integrated part of the game.
The Problems With Web Swinging In Marvel's Avengers
Marvel's Avengers and its Spider-Man DLC is in stark contrast to Fortnite, as the web swinging mechanic does not feel nearly as satisfying. There were numerous fan concerns over how Spider-Man's traversal would work before the DLC released, considering the game's already clunky traversal, and now it seems that many of those fears have come true. While the DLC overall is serviceable enough, Spider-Man's web swinging is far from perfect. Webs don't attach to surfaces, instead shooting straight up into the air, and there's hardly any sense of speed or energy to Spidey's web swinging movements.
Getting web swinging right in any game featuring Spider-Man is never an easy task, as Insomniac's final result took years to craft, but the disparity between the web swinging in Avengers and Fortnite does not make the former look good. It's entirely possible that Crystal Dynamics didn't have much time to hone how web swinging works in Avengers, but looking at how busy Fortnite is with its frequent updates, Epic Games probably didn't have much time to develop it, either. In the end though, Fortnite's Spider-Man appears to play much better than the one in the actual Marvel game, which is not a good look for Avengers' already rocky reputation.
With Spider-Man: No Way Home right around the corner, and anticipation continuing to build for Marvel's Spider-Man2, there really is no end in sight for the character's monumental popularity. While Marvel's Avengers may struggle with its web swinging, the game has demonstrated that it can make big changes to its gameplay mechanics through future updates. It may take some time for it to reach the same level that Fortnite has already attained, but if Crystal Dynamics is able to put in the effort, web swinging could become more like what Spider-Man fans have come to expect.
