The mark of a great Spider-Man game is the quality of its web-swinging mechanic. Few other elements are as effective at drawing the player into the role of Spider-Man and letting them live out that fantasy. While previous Spider-Man games have refined web-swinging over time, Spider-Man: Miles Morales improved upon its predecessors' designs and set a new standard for the mechanic.

Web-swinging has made its way into countless video game representations of Spider-Man, spanning nearly every generation since the arcade era. However, a robust and gratifying version of the mechanic didn't make it into the public consciousness until the web-swinging in Spider-Man 2, the 2004 video game adaptation of Sam Raimi's second Spider-Man film. Many players found its trigger-based swinging mechanics allowed for speedy, graceful traversal that combined well with the game's detailed, open-world portrayal of Manhattan.

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Marvel's Spider-Man for the PlayStation 4 also included a web-swinging mechanic, which worked similarly to its predecessors. This version of the idea simplified the controls, binding web-swinging to only one trigger, but it also expanded on the mechanic by letting Spider-Man perform tricks between swings. Tricks were done with a simple button press, in combination with a direction, and earned the player experience points and filled their Focus Meter. The player could also dive-bomb to gain speed, web-zip to specific points in the environment, and launch off of obstacles to gain speed. In general, these changes made web-swinging more fluid and satisfying than ever before.

The Evolution Of Spider-Man's Open-World Web-Swinging

The sequel to Marvel's Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, takes these same mechanics and expands on them even further in subtle ways. As an all-new playable character, Miles' swinging and tricks receive entirely new animations that express his character's personality and experience level to a greater degree than the first game did for Peter Parker. Miles can pull off more tricks than Peter, while his swinging animations show the unpracticed motions of a greenhorn Spidey. To tie all of this up, his unique powers give him access to Miles Morales' Venom Jump, which the player can activate in midair to continue trick combos.

The change in quality between Marvel's Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales is marginal, but it still sets a new standard for web-swinging. The slight amount of depth added to the game's trick system gives traversal a sense of satisfaction similar to stringing combos together in a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game, as players switch between swinging, tricking, and Venom jumping while navigating the cluttered Manhattan skyline. Hopefully Insomniac finds new ways to expand on its web-swinging when designing a possible third entry in the Spider-Man series.

Next: Spider-Man: Miles Morales Modernizes The Superhero Genre