When it comes to genres, there will always be a set of titles that stand above the rest. The ones that everyone looks to and go, “That’s the best of the best!” Every genre has it, and for the superhero genre, that title used to be something that no one could really claim. After all, while superheroes have been popular in gaming since the early console days, their quality was always debatable. However, when Batman Arkham City came out, everything changed. Fast forward to 2023, and one review says Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the new standard bearer for the superhero genre.
So, who would make such a bold claim on things? That would be GameXplain, who posted that they felt the new game with Spider-Man topped the best Batman adventure in gaming. Here’s the tweet that says it:
Now, it’s important to remember that this is just one person’s opinion. Many likely thought the first Spider-Man foray from Insomniac Games was as good or better than Rocksteady’s second Batman title. But the implications are still something to think about because of what it means for the game that releases next week.
Specifically, if you invoke the name of Arkham City, you must truly believe that it stands up to the storytelling, the gameplay, the sidequests, the expansiveness of the world, and more. Many of those things were already great in the first Insomniac title, and they did promise that things would be bigger this go around, and that seems to be the case.
The story and voice acting might be the key “definer” of whether one game is better than the other. The reason Rocksteady’s second title was held in such high regard was the story that took many twists and turns over the course of its campaign. Batman intentionally locked himself up in prison to figure out what was happening inside Arkham City. Then, he was poisoned by The Joker, who forced him to try and find the cure for the two of them. All the while, Batman had to figure out the truth behind Protocol 10.
All this led to a dramatic climax where Joker died despite Batman trying to save him, which would lead to lasting damage to the Dark Knight later on.
The two Spider-Men will face great and powerful threats in their upcoming sequel, but will it be enough to match what’s come before?
We’ll find out when Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 arrives on October 20th.
