Avengers’ struggles have been constant since launch. And while any game with that many stumbles would stick out, they were particularly egregious in the face of Insomniac Games’ 2018 Spider-Man game. Insomniac kicked off Marvel’s new era with a bang and set the standard for what players could expect from the comics giant. Avengers didn’t come close to meeting that high standard and was generally inferior to that debut title, but with the inclusion of the Spider-Man DLC, that inferiority just got a lot more specific in a way that can’t simply be overlooked.
Avengers’ Spider-Man is the best character in the game so far. He’s more acrobatic and nimble than the entire cast and that is at the core of his kit. His webs allow him to zip to faraway enemies, given that the lock-on works. Juggling opponents isn’t particularly deep but it is relatively satisfying and webbing up enemies gives him a unique and fitting status effect. Traversal is similarly effortless as he’s able to grapple around every environment with ease. Walking around as the other more grounded Avengers is hard to go back to after web slinging through Wakanda.
With a mobile hero and more cohesive combat mechanics, he’s a standout in the cast. But it’s impossible to ignore Insomniac’s two Spider-Man games as they put Crystal Dynamics’ iteration to shame in just about every way.
Spider-Man’s melee combat is deeper than others, but it’s still mashy, at the mercy of the inconsistent lock-on system, and wonky in some spots. Hits also sound pathetic because of their underwhelming sound effects and suck the impact out of brawls. Avengers‘ core problem of making superheroes feel weak as they pummel away on grunts is still true here. It’s a stark contrast to Insomniac’s titles where the combat is fast, fluid, involving, and acrobatic while still making Spider-Man feel like a strong force to be reckoned with.
The discrepancy is even greater with the traversal. Spider-Man swings around sluggishly with such little momentum and can’t turn quickly in midair, making him feel heavy and like an out-of-control amateur on his first day of training. Webs also don’t attach to anything, which does make him more versatile but is also unimmersive as the web ropes stick to clouds and bits of dust instead of buildings. Zipping to structures also falls victim to the inconsistent targeting, but at least bounding off of them can yield some speed (although sometimes not even that works). Compared to the greatest web swinging in any game, it comes up short.
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The DLC also doesn’t delve into Peter Parker much, as Avengers’ Spider-Man never shows his alter ego. Peter’s thoughts are held almost exclusively in the optional audio logs. While they do give some insight into his less crawly half and speak to his insecurities being a lonely, secretive hero, it’s disappointing to see Peter completely disappear into the background; it’s just almost exclusively Spidey’s quips with almost none of Peter’s heart. As 2018’s Spider-Man also showed, the best Spider-Man stories utilize Peter and don’t leave him on the sidelines or, in this case, the pause menu.
Putting the two side by side is not the most fair comparison. Insomniac got years to create its Spidey and only had to focus on making one superhero. Avengers and Spider-Man are different types of games with different goals. This is also just a piece of free DLC only on two platforms, so its story probably couldn’t have gotten much more involved for the sake of the neglected PC and Xbox users. But Insomniac raised the bar for Spider-Man and playing a lesser version of the character is going to stick out; the quality of that game dissolves away almost all caveats. Even though he is the best character in this Crystal Dynamics game, it’s all relative, which speaks a lot to both the undeniable strengths of Insomniac’s title and the utter banality of Avengers.
