Batman and Spiderman, both juggernauts in the comic book industry in their respective universes have gone through various adaptations and interpretations over the years. Rocksteady in 2009 started the Arkham franchise with “Batman Arkham Asylum” and Insomniac started the Sony Spider-Man games in 2018 with the release of “Marvels Spider-Man” on PS4 both single player superhero games that would revolutionize story games and superhero games while also bringing a fresh depiction of beloved superheroes, however the question that many superhero fans and gamers alike find themselves asking is “Which one is better?”.
Release dates of Spider-Man Marvel’s Spider-Man | Marvel’s Spider-Man Wiki | Fandom
Release date if Batman games Batman: Arkham Asylum | Arkham Wiki | Fandom
Story
Rocksteady and Insomniac developed amazing stories for both characters that each explored a different aspect of the characters while also remaining faithful to the comics. The story from a simple lens for both franchises is playing as the hero to defeat the villain, but it’s the interactions in said story that make both spectacular. The story throughout the Spider-Man games is more focused on the inner conflict of the Peter Parker having to balance his life as a superhero and learning to grow as a person. The main strength of the Insomniac story is that undeniable human connection you feel to Peter and getting to see him develop throughout the games. The Arkham stories usually take place in one night so there is no balancing alter persona of Batman and Bruce Wayne, instead the character you play as, Batman, is already a well-established and fully developed character by the time you start the games. Rocksteady opted to focus on how Batmans side characters/villains interacted and developed because of him. Notably, Spider-Man 2 suffers from many rushed plot points, rushed character arcs, and the issue of the main internal conflict for the main character being relatively the same. Both stories are great retellings of the character with one not really being better but just entirely on dependent on which kind of story the gamer prefers.
Gameplay
The gameplay for both games is unique yet and entertaining. Batman’s style of combat is a beat em up style of gameplay focused on increasing momentum through extended combos and executing quick counters while attempting to not get hit. The Insomniac Spider-Man games are more of a hack and slasher style of combat similar to games like “Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order” where the focus is overpowering your opponents to unlock more abilities in your skill tree to beat more enemies easily. Both games are great in terms of combat by immersing you into gameplay that feels like the characters however the Spider-Man games are quite disappointing when it comes to stealth. For starters in many cases stealth is pretty pointless because in many of the levels after a few of the enemy grunts are missing the game will just give them your location and you switch over to free style combat anyways. There is also no added advantage to using stealth in the games as it doesn’t make a level any more difficult since Spidey can just dodge bullets whereas Batman cannot. and the game even goes as far as you tell you when a takedown is safe or dangerous which in of itself takes away the tension of the player making a mistake in their decision making and being punished for it like you would be in the Arkham games. The AI is where it really stands out to me. The grunts in the Arkham games feel like real people. They’ll place mines, pare up, and use technology to counter you add more of a challenge to stealth gameplay. They even go as far as to talk and react like a real person would such as slowly becoming more paranoid once they notice their numbers are thinning or flinching when they spot you up close. Some of the AI even have rivalries and taunt each other. In the Insomniac Spiderman games, it is obvious that you’re fighting bots and not bots intended to act like a human would. Enemy grunts will quite literally see a one of their friends webbed to the wall and turn away like nothing happened. There’s interesting tactic employed, no sense of urgency, or consequence to a downed enemy being discovered. The issue with stealth in the Spider-man games is its lack of challenge and purpose making it a pointless system in the game that only adds padding.
Arkham Batman stealth gameplay from Stealthy channel https://youtu.be/_RNy4x5park?si=m3ljyT-9bO2EQrGZ
Boss Fights
A good boss fight will challenge the player by testing their knowledge of the game fairly. One of the examples of how the Arkham does this is the Mr. Freeze boss fight. During the boss fight Mr. Freeze learns from his mistakes after you use a takedown meaning one takedown cannot be used more than once. This forces the player to be a lot more creative than usual and its all the more challenging as he’s tracking you down through the room. The Spider-Man games don’t present this level of thought or challenge however it makes up for it with grand scale battles. The opening boss fight of Spider-Man 2 has Peter and Miles battling Sandman as he tears through New York as a giant sand monster. Both are great with one being better entirely based on your preference.
Tone
Both games without a doubt present mature themes that wouldn’t be considered too child friendly however The Batman presents a much darker tone than Spider-Man does naturally. There’s more cursing, drug abuse, and both present in the Arkham games compared to the Insomniac games. When you play the Arkham games it’s like playing a horror beat em up. There are enemies and nightmares around every corner, you are always being watched, and you never feel truly safe. This sub level of horror present throughout the games is just difficult to compete with and even harder to replicate.
Man-Bat jump scare https://youtu.be/qSKQjwY1RHc?si=cPyP12UlCAB2jRGf
Designs/Art style
The Insomniac Spider-Man games and the Rocksteady Batman games both set out to do something different when it came to adapting their respective hero’s. From the realistic depiction of the New York to the techier appearances of some of Spider-Man’s rouges and even Spidey himself sporting a more advanced suit than usual, it’s obvious Insomniac wanted to develop a more modern depiction Spider-Man somewhat inspired from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, utilizing flashy gadgets and sporting a massive array of weapons and suits. The Arkham games, especially in the earlier games like Asylum and City remained very faithful to many of the cartoony designs, even the design of the map and characters appear weirdly misshapen and unnatural as if you’re looking at a cartoon or a comic. Insomniac wanted to bring Spider-Man to life in our world, while Rocksteady wanted to take you to Batman’s corner in the world inside of Gotham. One isn’t inherently better; it just comes down to preference.
Conclusion
Rocksteady and Insomniac did a phenomenal job of adapting comic book characters to the video game. The Spider-Man and Batman games are definitive ways to experience these characters for both newcomers and fans. Overall, I believe that the Arkham Batman games are better than the Insomniac Spider-Man games. The series had an incredibly strong start with its initial release in 2018; however, the Spider-Man games suffer from taking one step forward and two steps back. For example, Spider-Man Miles Morales removing the slow MJ stealth missions, but having much shorter story that mimics a similar message from the first game but much weaker, or Spider-Man 2 adding iron spider legs for Peter to use in combat, but removing all of his gadgets from the first game, remaking the gadget system instead of building off of what Miles Morales and the first game set up, and not adding any DLC to finish up the loose plot ends of the second game whereas the first Spider-Man game did. While the Arkham games definitely have flaws, the games consistently improve upon themselves with more upsides than downsides, while also delivering a more challenging, and memorable experience.
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