Spider-Man Proves That Getting Around Can Be Half the Fun
Drop from a Manhattan rooftop in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and, just before Peter or Miles reaches street level, the city becomes part of the movement system. Fire a web at the right moment, swing low between the buildings and release near the top of the arc and the next block disappears beneath you. The mission marker might still be another kilometer away. It barely matters. Insomniac’s Spider-Man games make crossing the map enjoyable enough that traveling rarely feels like dead time.
When Fast Travel Feels Like the Boring Option
Web-swinging works because it asks for just enough input. Diving builds speed, releasing at the right moment preserves momentum and point launches fire Spider-Man moved forward from rooftops and ledges. Wall-running gives another option when a building breaks the line.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 adds Web Wings for wider gaps, but they work alongside swinging rather than replacing it. A taller building can provide a better launch point. A low swing might build enough speed to carry Spider-Man into the next street without touching the ground. PlayStation itself describes Web Wings as something players can chain with conventional swings rather than a replacement for them.
Sony Interactive Entertainment’s company timeline records that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 had sold more than 11 million copies by 20 April 2024. The figure cannot explain why people bought it, but it does show the scale of the audience experiencing a game that gives movement this much attention.
A Good Gaming Experience Is More Than the Games on Offer
Games are usually sold on their biggest attractions: the races in Forza Horizon, the tricks in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater or the missions and combat in Spider-Man. But players also spend a lot of time interacting with everything around those headline features. Getting from one activity to another, finding the next thing to play and moving through menus, maps or game libraries all become part of the experience.
That is particularly obvious on platforms built around a large choice of games. An online casino might offer slots, blackjack, roulette and live dealer tables, but the size of the catalog alone says little about how easy it is to use. Game categories need to make sense, different formats need to be easy to locate and practical details such as payment options and licensing need to be accessible without digging through the site.
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Spider-Man takes the same principle and applies it inside an open-world game. The story missions and fights may be the obvious attractions, but players still have to cross Manhattan to reach them. Insomniac made that supposedly secondary part enjoyable enough to stand alongside the main activities, turning web-swinging, launches and gliding into gameplay rather than simple transport.
A Bigger Map Needs to Be a Better Playground
A rooftop collectible is a small thing, but the route towards it can still be fun. Gaining enough height, changing direction around a tower, or landing a point launch cleanly gives a simple marker more texture.
Street crimes interrupt an existing journey rather than pulling the player into a separate mode, while side missions send Spider-Man through districts he might otherwise skip. The movement system keeps those trips from becoming another run towards an icon. Combat offers another useful comparison. PlayBattleSquare’s look at the 30-year evolution of RPG combat systems traces how familiar actions have changed across generations of games. Spider-Man gives traversal similar attention, with enough variation in swinging, launching and route choice to stop repeated journeys feeling identical.
Open-world size gets an easy headline number. What those kilometers actually let the player do is harder to measure. Spider-Man’s New York works because its geography changes the route. Tall buildings create long swing lines and elevation. Wide roads interrupt them. Rooftops become launch points and corners invite sharper changes of direction. The city is not just space between map icons. Its buildings, streets and rooftops actively shape how Spider-Man moves.
Newzoo’s April 2026 analysis of PC playtime found that it took 79 games to account for 80% of total PC playtime in 2025, compared with 52 games in 2022. That says something more useful here than the sheer number of games released: a relatively limited group of titles still takes up a very large share of playtime. For any individual game, repeated actions have to hold up. A huge map adds little if crossing it means holding a direction until another marker appears.
Getting Better Without Thinking About It
Spider-Man’s movement is usable almost immediately, yet a familiar route starts to look different once the controls settle in. A player releases a swing earlier, dives for speed, or recognizes that one rooftop offers a cleaner line than another.
There is no score attached to that improvement. You notice it when a route that once felt clumsy suddenly becomes one uninterrupted sequence of swings, launches and turns. Once crossing Manhattan is enjoyable on its own, the mission marker stops being the only reason to travel. Sometimes it is simply an excuse to swing towards another part of the city.
