Best Spider-Man Games: Ranking the Best Web-Slinging Games

The Evolution of Spider-Man Games

Spider-Man’s gaming journey started in 1982 with a simple Atari 2600 title where you climbed buildings and caught criminals. It was basic, sure, but it laid the groundwork for what would become one of gaming’s most enduring superhero franchises.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, you could find Spider-Man games on pretty much every platform.

The 2000 PlayStation game marked a turning point with its open 3D environments and web-slinging mechanics that actually felt liberating. PS3 Spider-Man games pushed things further with improved graphics and physics, while PC Spider-Man games gave you the chance to mod and customize your experience.

It was during the late 2010s that the real game-changer arrived in 2018 with Marvel’s Spider-Man from Insomniac Games. It redefined the franchise with fluid traversal, compelling storytelling, and a meticulously crafted New York City.

It had those before, but with the limitations of the older tech, there was still a ceiling.

This success continued with Miles Morales in 2020 and Spider-Man 2 in 2023, cementing the series as the definitive Spider-Man experience, and we can only see it getting better.

Top 8 Best Spider-Man Games

There are so many Spider-Man games to choose from, and most of them are pretty good, but we’re only picking the best.

In this list, we’ve listed down 8 of the best from the Spider-Man game franchise – the last on the list being the best.

So, let’s get started with the countdown.

Read More: Spiderman Malaysian Memes

8. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008)

Developer: Shaba Games, Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS

Released in 2008, Web of Shadows took a darker turn that gave a new sense of freshness to the typical sunshine-positive superhero game genre.

The game introduced a morality system where your choices between the red suit and black symbiote suit actually shaped the story and determined which allies would help you out. They actually did larping then.

The freedom of choice was really welcomed. You could switch between suits mid-combat, each with its own fighting style.

The ally system was genuinely fun too, letting you summon heroes like Wolverine or Luke Cage or villains like Electro and Vulture depending on your morality choices.

Game Trivia: Web of Shadows was removed from all digital storefronts on Jan 1, 2014, when Activision lost the Marvel gaming license. This means if you want to play it now, you’ll need to track down a physical copy.

7. Ultimate Spider-Man (2005)

Developer: Treyarch (Console/PC), Vicarious Visions (Handheld)
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: PS2, GameCube, Xbox, Windows PC, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, mobile phone

This one hits different if you grew up reading Ultimate Spider-Man comics.

The entire game looks like a living comic book with cel-shaded graphics that actually hold up today, and you can play as both Spider-Man and Venom with completely different gameplay styles.

While Spidey swings through Manhattan doing heroic things, Venom throws cars at people and literally eats civilians to restore health, which is wonderfully chaotic. A little bit like Web of Shadows, but the presentation is totally different.

The open-world exploration across Manhattan and Queens lets you swing between buildings using actual physics-based web-slinging. You need to aim at real structures to attach your webs, not just shoot them into the sky like some earlier games pretended was fine.

The story picks up three months after the Venom arc from the comics, involving Trask Industries and some genuinely interesting conspiracy stuff about Peter’s parents.

Game Trivia: Comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis, who created the Ultimate Spider-Man comic series, served as one of the game’s directors. The game was even adapted back into comic form years later as the “War of the Symbiotes” storyline, though it changed quite a few things and eventually fell out of official continuity.

Did You Know: AEON Bukit Tinggi Holds The Guinness World Record For The Most Spider-Man Cosplayers Gathered

Organised by Sony Pictures Malaysia and AEON Bukit Tinggi, hosted a Spider-Man gathering that reached up to 685 Spidey cosplayers, breaking the Guinness World Record of the highest number of Spider-Man cosplayers in one place.

TGV’s Own Spidey Fan Gathering

Hoping to recreate such a success, TGV Cinemas has also hosted a similar Spider-Man event where they included fun Spidey games and activities to celebrate the Spider-Man: A Brand New Day opening in Malaysia.

6. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010)

Developer: Beenox
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, Windows

This one almost has them all.

The story kicks off when the Tablet of Order and Chaos gets shattered, and Madame Web recruits all four Spider-Men to collect the pieces.

We love how each dimension changes the gameplay. Noir levels lean into stealth and shadows, 2099 throws in free-falling sequences, and Ultimate Spider-Man brings the symbiote suit’s brutal tendril attacks.

You’re basically playing a different game in different dimensions!

Game Trivia: Each Spider-Man is voiced by someone who played the character in a previous animated series. It’s the OG multiverse.

5. Spider-Man (2000)

Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, Windows PC, Mac OS

This one’s for the boomers and the older millennials.

This game is special in how it nailed the feeling of being Spider-Man with the technology of the time.

The combat system lets you get creative with web attacks, and unlocking alternate costumes (each with different abilities) kept you coming back. It wasn’t peak graphics, but it did make it into many people’s core memories in video games.

The game used the same engine as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, which explains why the movement felt so fluid and responsive. Both of them are deserving of being called one of the best games of the PS1.

Game Trivia: The iconic theme song on the title screen is the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon theme remixed by Apollo 440.

4. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020)

Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Games
Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC / Windows

Released as a PlayStation 5 launch title, Spider-Man: Miles Morales isn’t quite a full sequel and definitely not just DLC. You play as Miles Morales, who’s been training under Peter Parker for about a year and is now left to protect a snow-covered New York City during Christmas while Peter’s off helping Mary Jane in Symkaria.

The game gives you the same satisfying web-slinging and combat from the 2018 original, but Miles brings his own flavour with Venom Blast attacks and a camouflage ability that lets you turn temporarily invisible.

It’s set in the same Manhattan map you explored before, just dressed up for the holidays with actual personality this time.

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered (2022)

Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC / Windows

You play as a 23-year-old Peter Parker who’s already been Spider-Man for eight years. There’s no origin story in this game, and it is in the more mature phase of Spidey.

Combat flows between punches, gadgets, and webs rhythmically, even when you’re just button-mashing your way through a group of thugs.

The Remastered version brings enhanced graphics, faster loading times on PS5, and all three DLC chapters from The City That Never Sleeps. It’s everything from the original game but shinier, and it is definitely the definitive version to play.

Game Trivia: Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance as a short-order cook, and the game exists in its own universe designated as Earth-1048 in Marvel’s multiverse.

2. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: PS2, GameCube, Xbox, Windows PC, Game Boy Advance, Mac OS X, N-Gage, Nintendo DS, PSP. Note that versions differ a lot by platform.

Now this is truly a classic.

It is the first Spidey game that nailed web-swinging in a way that actually made sense.

The webs attach to buildings, not invisible sky clouds. The physics-based swinging system was genuinely innovative for its time, turning Manhattan into your personal playground where momentum and gravity actually mattered.

What made players fall in love with it was the open-world freedom combined with that satisfying traversal system. You could ignore the story missions entirely and just swing around helping random New Yorkers, stopping pizza deliveries from going cold, or rescuing construction workers.

Tobey Maguire and Alfred Molina even voiced their film characters, which was a nice touch that grounded the experience.

Game Trivia: Bruce Campbell, who played the usher in the Spider-Man 2 film, narrates the entire game with his trademark sarcastic commentary.

1. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023)

Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platforms: PS5, PC / Windows

Probably the best of the bunch. Could be recency bias, but it’s way too much of an all-rounder to escape top position.

You get to swing through New York as both Peter Parker and Miles Morales in this sequel that somehow makes being Spider-Man feel even better than before.

The game lets you glide through Brooklyn and Queens using Web Wings, while dealing with Kraven the Hunter and a particularly problematic symbiote suit that turns Peter into someone Mary Jane probably wouldn’t want to date.

The combat builds on what made the previous games great, adding parrying mechanics and symbiote powers that make fights feel properly dangerous and intense.

Plus, people love this game because it nails the superhero power fantasy while telling a decent story, something pretty rare in superhero games.

It became PlayStation’s fastest-selling first-party game, moving 2.5 million copies in 24 hours.

Game Trivia: Tony Todd, who voiced Venom, recorded his lines in a unique way to achieve that unsettling, otherworldly quality.