2011’s Spider-Man: Edge of Time isn’t without its flaws, but hidden within this forgotten title was the potential for one of the best video games to come from Marvel. Before Insomniac wowed Spidey fans with the excellent Marvel’s Spider-Man and its 2020 spin-off Spider-Man: Miles Morales, mega-publisher Activision owned the publishing rights to Marvel’s most iconic crimefighter - resulting in a wide range of multiplatform Spider-Man games ranging from the beloved Spider-Man 2 tie-in film to the less-fondly ed Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
Eventually, developmental duties for Spider-Man games shifted to Canadian studio Beenox, who scaled back the open-world format of previous Spidey titles in favor of the more linear approach of Spider-Verse precursor Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. The main draw of this game was its story, which explored Marvel’s multiverse and let players control four different Spider-Men (Spider-Man Noir, Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, and Ultimate Spider-Man) in a battle to stop Mysterio from reshaping all of reality in his image. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions drew high praise from critics for its novel-for-the-time storytelling and diverse gameplay styles for each playable Spider-Man, and it wasn't long before Beenox went to work on a follow-up that would build upon its predecessor in some areas while scaling things back in others. The result was Spider-Man: Edge of Time, a timeline-warping superhero action title that stands as one of Marvel’s most unique interactive adventures - even if it doesn't rank among the best Marvel games with a playable Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: Edge of Time’s plot was written by Peter David, a prolific Marvel comic book scribe renowned for his run on The Incredible Hulk in the 1980s in addition to work on titles like Aquaman, Supergirl, and - appropriately enough - Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099. This narrative dialed back on the number of playable Spideys from Shattered Dimensions, leaving fans in control of the traditional Peter Parker/Amazing Spider-Man and the futuristic Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 across two separate yet interconnected time periods as they worked to prevent the death of the former and the world being taken over by a sinister mega-corporation named Alchemax. Seeing these two Spider-Men interact with each other was a strong point, as they were both voiced by veteran Spider-Man voice actors. Christopher Daniel Barnes from the classic 90s Spider-Man cartoon lent his more seasoned tone to Spider-Man 2099, while Josh Keaton of the mid-2000s’ Spectacular Spider-Man played the more youthful and impulsive Amazing Spider-Man. However, while this premise seemed like a solid prospect for a Spider-Man video game, it was felt at the time that Beenox squandered its potential.
Spider-Man: Edge Of Time Had Potential To Be Better Than Shattered Dimensions
Just like 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, Spider-Man: Edge of Time takes place almost entirely inside one location - in this case the Alchemax building Peter works in across two visually different eras, with the main draw being the ability to alter the game world in one time period by taking action in the other. Aside from the traditional Spider-Man abilities to web-swing and climb on walls, each Spidey had his own fighting style, and there were plenty of unlockable moves and alternate Marvel costumes for Spider-Man to wear. However, being confined to two different versions of the same building led to a lack of variety in Spider-Man: Edge of Time, and this game world arguably didn’t play off of Spider-Man’s signature abilities as well as Arkham Asylum’s titular bedlam house did for the Dark Knight’s many gadgets. Edge of Time’s boss encounters were also quite lacking, as there were only a small handful of recognizable villains available in contrast to the more robust casts of Shattered Dimensions and the Insomniac Spider-Man titles.
Given that Spider-Man: Edge of Time was released just a year after Spider-Man's previous Marvel multiverse adventure Shattered Dimensions, the case could be made that Beenox was rushed in developing the game - explaining its less-refined gameplay and lack of variety. This also means that if the team had been granted more time to iron out Spider-Man: Edge of Time's game world and add more content, the result could have been much better than what fans were greeted with in 2011 - and Spider-Man: Edge of Time could have gone down as one of the better Marvel video games.