Video Games Vs. Films
On the one hand, it’s obvious that people will have different preferences for different versions of Spider-Man, in the same way that we gravitate towards certain flavors of ice cream. It’s part of being human. But on the other, whilst it may seem logical to compare two iterations of the same character, on two separate visual platforms, it’s not as straightforward as that. In the same way that the detail and introspection of novels and comics often don’t translate well to film, games and movies have contrasting freedoms and limitations.
Depending on how good of a gamer you are, you can spend twenty-odd hours getting to know Spider-Man, as opposed to a two hour runtime with Tom Holland’s portrayal. Also, fantastical worlds and situations can be created far easier in games than in movies, where actors’ schedules, budgets and the laws of physics play a huge part in determining potential plots.
Speaking of stories, a game’s narrative is simply not scrutinized in the same way that a film is. This meant that the writers behind Marvel’s Spider-Man had free reign. As such, the game tells a new story which cherry picks aspects from all manner of Spidey media. In opposition to this, a Spider-Man film has to work in a completely different arena. It has to make sense to newcomers (who aren’t as au fait with the character) and it has to be divorced from what came beforehand.
