I love Marvel’s Avengers, but his Spider-Man problem bumbles me out

On Monday, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix made a major Marvel‘s Avengers announcement: Spider-Man is coming to the game, but it will be exclusive to PlayStation systems. Understandably, parts of the internet brought out in anger. Nobody likes it when they are told they can not play with a new toy – especially if that new game is Spider-Man, one of Marvel’s most popular superheroes.

After playing the Marvel’s Avengers beta, we ran pretty much under the impression. Each hero feels unique to play, which alone makes the Spider-Man console exclusivity that much worse for PC and Xbox gamers.

How different are the heroes in Marvel’s Avengers?

Image: Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix

The first mission in Marvel’s Avengers took me through the A-Day mission, the same shown at E3 2019. The mission takes place primarily on the Golden Gate Bridge, as a mysterious disaster takes over San Francisco.

I play as Thor, then Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and lastly, Black Widow. Each gameplay section gives me a little taste of each hero, their abilities, and their playing style. It’s the first look at my favorite aspect of Marvel’s Avengers: Each hero plays as they should in another game.

Thor immediately releases Kratos vibes God of War’s restart franchise. I throw my hammer, grab an AIM soldier in a truck, and punch the remaining baddies with my fist. When I’m ready, I call Mjölnir back to me, and take a few more enemies on the way.

Iron Man improves on some of National anthemGood ideas, which forced me to mix melee and ran in the air as on the ground. And when it comes to my heavy attack, I can switch gadgets between my repulsors, lasers and missiles.

Black Widow plays like a typical action-game hero, like Dante in the Devil May Cry series – but each hit sends opponents into a small juggle animation. In a one-on-one fight, it’s hard to imagine you ever taking a hit.

Image: Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix

Captain America feels inspired by Rocksteady’s Batman games, as I fight fast melee hits, jump over enemies, and often perform takedowns – an ability that all heroes have access to, but I use it more often than Black Widow and Captain America. And when enemies get too far away, I shake my shield off my arm and watch it ricochet against the AIM soldiers.

And Hulk … plays like Hulk. I pick up enemies and strike them in the ground – as in each other. I hit things and they fly. As a Hulk, I am incarnating chaos, unable or unwilling to contain my destruction. And although I also use big fists and stumps like Mrs. Marvel, who plays the same as Hulk, I can direct that anger in a different way.

I can already imagine how Hawkeye will play when he gets there Marvel’s Avengers post-launch. But I do not see any reskin of Black Widow with arrows instead of bullets. I imagine he will play more than Aloy fan Horizon Zero Dawn, as Lara Croft of Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider games.

Such different playing heroes may sound like uncontrollable dissonance, but it works in Avengers‘favor. Each hero brings something unique to the table.

The Spider-Man problem

Insomniac Games / Sony

The unique nature of each of the Avengers makes me that much sadder about the exclusivity of Spider-Man. If the heroes all played equally, with a few possible tweaks – as in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 or the LEGO Marvel games – I could make the exclusion a lot easier. But with Marvel’s Avengers‘, Xbox and PC players accept access to Spider-Man as Blizzard announced that the Barbarian will only be on Xbox consoles when it launches Diablo 4.

Players love the personalities of these characters, yes, but they are also effectively whole RPG classes. Each hero has unique skill trees, different abilities, their own sense of mobility, and different stories. But non-PlayStation users will not see that one for Spider-Man. And that sucks for Spider fans who do not have PlayStation or want to play on another console to be with friends. Fans on the Marvel’s Avengers subreddit expressed frustration over the exclusive deal. One player with a physical disability notes that they can only play on PC, and were saddened not to play their favorite Marvel character.

It’s unclear whether Spider-Man is a permanent or timed exclusive PlayStation. Crystal Dynamics ‘explanation of Spidey’s exclusivity did little to diminish players’ concerns. A ComicBook interview with Crystal Dynamics co-head Scott Amos revealed that Sony has certain rights for Spider-Man, and that Crystal Dynamics created Spider-Man only for Sony players. Amos concluded by saying “we make this game for everyone.” But it is not. Most Marvel’s Avengers is for everyone, it’s all for PlayStation players.

In a live game like Marvel’s Avengers, with raid-like activities, the biggest hope players can have is that Spider-Man is not worth playing. Otherwise, PlayStation players will have a separate advantage over PC and Xbox users. It’s a deal that on its face is nothing more than exclusive exotic weapons in the Destiny games, a deal that Bungie has taken away after its split with Activision.

Image: Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix

However, there are important differences between the Spider-Man situation and Destiny Exotics. With Destiny, Exotics remained exclusive for only one year, though it is possible that Spider-Man may never reach PC or Xbox players – a PR representative for Marvel’s Avengers told us it has no additional information to share about Spidey. And Destiny characters are more than one weapon. Guardians have a whole toolkit of abilities and several other weapons to equip – one weapon does not define a style of play, even if it is very powerful.

Spider-Man is like a whole class unto itself, like making the popular Hunter class exclusively for Destiny players on PlayStation, instead of as one weapon.

Marvel’s Avengers‘First glance did not show much promise, and this weekend’s beta is an opportunity for it to show players why they should care. But it’s hard for news about this deal not to sour the mood.