Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023)

One thing is clear from the get-go: This is probably the best Spider-Man game ever In terms of playability. Insomniac has perfected the Arachnid action game to the T, and all the upgrades and battle abilities and speed feels so great and complex and fun. It is a straight up upgrade from the first game while also adding the particular improvements/mannerisms from Miles and his game. I can only wish for future installments to include more Spider-People, I want to swing through New York as Penny Parker and her giant-ass robot, or Jessica Drew and OH DEAR JIMINY CRICKET PLEASE BRING SPIDER-GWEN, I WANT GWEN STACY'S IN INSOMNIAC SO BAD. I know we are probably getting Silk, but still I can dream.

Story was probably the weakest part of the game, but actually I think it was just fine, I guess. I felt there were some minor contrivances and I was not entirely sold with the third act... I don't know, the part of Peter getting all edgy with the Symbiote influence was cool but the payoff was a bit underwhelming. I really like the darker tone of the story though, with Kraven actually murdering people and being an irredeemable, messed up villain that is actually satisfying to beat. And having the chance to kill him as Venom? Awesome choice, I wish we could have played as him for a little longer.

Narrative wise there is one thing that really bothers me and it's when you win a fight in-game but lose it during the subsequent cut-scene. I hate this crutch in general with a passion and this game abuses this in almost every single major battle. Hell, in the last fight of the game happens THREE TIMES with two different Spider-Men. Don't make me participate in a fight that I will immediately lose via plot-sequence, I am sure there are tons of clever narrative devices to bring the player the point you want them to be without making us waste our time in a meaningless fight. Come on.

It was really fun, I can wait to play the third installment whenever they put it in PS Plus, because I am not paying more than one hundred bucks for a game, fuck that.

Loved the first game, had little to no expectations going into the second.

First of all, the controversy around the character design is pointless.

Moving on, the story is great. Focusing on the venom storyline and the relationship with Peter is fantastic.

Overall, I felt this game was lacking compared to the first. I felt it built well from the first but didnt expand enough to make this an RDR vs RDR2 classic.

All in all, a great sequel and game!

This review is for the PC version. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and the trilogy so far.

The mary jane portions was better because you can be offensive as well as be stealthy. I also found the Hailey portion, which I thought would suck, actually thought provoking.

Overall, I love it, and although I have not 100 percent this game yet, just like I did with the previous 2, I must 100 percent it.

Just overall bravo.

EDIT: Knocked out the remaining missions, however these last little spiderbots are keeping me from 100%, 96 is ok.

Overall damn good game, lol prototype 1 and 2 were literally the prototype to these games, I guess you could extend it back to the incredible hulk game in the middle aughts.

Any who I recommended it, and its definitely a game I will replay along with the whole trilogy.

RIP Howard :{

2nd EDIT: So it seems that incredible hulk game and prototype 1 and 2 are made by radical entertainment, not insomniac games. I was quite surprise because these spiderman games play exactly like prototype 1 and 2, all mechanics in the latest spiderman 2, is also present in prototype sans swinging fully. So very interesting indeed.

I wonder if any one else came to this conclusion.

Es un buen juego. Es mi primer platino de PS5 y estoy contento de que sea este juego. Respecto al Spiderman 1 tiene muchas mejoras notorias y satisfactorias que hacen del gameplay épico y entretenido. El lore de las misiones secundarias no estaba mal, lo llegué a disfrutar, pero si le tengo una pega es a los pequeños bugs que me he ido encontrando que no me permitían avanzar en la historia y que muchas veces las misiones eran repetitivas: Sigilo, mata a estos y ahora ve aquí, fin de misión. Pero hay misiones que están muy bien montadas y te hacen dar 4 backflips de la epicidad que se maneja ahí.

No es un mal juego, lo recomiendo si quieres saber como se siente sacar un platino ya que en este juego es muy facil.

I knew I wasn’t going to love this - the only reason I played was I’m kinda in a game drought.

There’s definitely things to like - the city looks fantastic. The combat is quick and exciting. The venom/Harry storyline is sometimes interesting.

But of course there’s tons of junk. The way every single event breaks out into a fight becomes tedious and predictable. Venom is just not an interesting villain whatsoever - neither is Kraven. The typical tedium of open world arpg’s is here.

It’s fine to fill in a gaming gap but not something I would ever implore someone to play. It may be slightly less tedious than the first though.

What can I say? Loved the first one. Loved Miles Morales. And now? A great follow-up where you get to play both characters. Some of the action sequences was like I was playing a scene in a movie and verbally said "that's so cool!" more than once.

Great storytelling. Good balance between characters and was infused with the right comedic relief here and there.

The gameplay was solid and loved the new gadgets and upgrade system (both individual and shared) - including the web wings). I felt the dialogue wasn't too heavy, but could've moved along in a few spots (the carnival being one of them). It got more challenging as the game progressed and really made you think about how and when to use your abilities - another win.

The first two games are among the very few that I finished 100%, but this one will be added to that small collection. It was totally worth they wait and lived up to the hype.

Well done!

Another great Spider-Man game!

A game that focuses entirely on bombast and sheer entertainment through constant set-pieces and events, and mostly succeeds! All the character moments you get are pretty much universally great, including some really terrific side-quests that are more poignant than I expected from the game, but the focus is clearly on the Big Story.

The focus isn't on the script or the story, but in classic Insomniac fashion it's all about how this story is delivered -- with action and unique area/design after another, but all-told it's an extremely predictable series of events that goes about just exactly the way you think it does at every single stage.

For me the game peaks in the middle with the black-suit Peter stuff, and while I had a good time with the stuff that came after, it never hit the highs of that. It also served as a great way to give Miles something to do, as he mostly hangs out in the first half being the slice-of-life character that stays at home doing his essay and complaining about Martin Li. I never disliked this smaller-scope stuff with Miles, but it felt out of place after the Miles game to basically sideline him through so much of the game. This is still Peter's story and game first and foremost.

Kraven is a little underserved as a villain. I could really see where they were coming from with the Kraven's Last Hunt pitch -- but I think where they lost me is they spent so much time making Kraven seem Big and Scary that they didn't give him any character at all. Spider-Man villains are meant to be tragic figures, and he was sort of just Goku during the Android Saga.

The main villain of the game has a much bigger presence, but it often feels like it's carried by the voice performance and visuals/design. I wish we got more emotion with the character inside of Venom and not just Venom himself. The finales of these games have historically been emotional bouts between competing ideals, and this wasn't necessarily that even though it's what it tried to do, just because there wasn't enough tragedy and sadness built in there to really make you feel it as much. It was too easy to just point a gun directly at the symbiote -- I wonder if maybe this would have been more interesting making the alien an actual character with goals and a past?

This is probably the best the side/map content in these games have ever been, with the least annoying amount of tedious objectives to complete. The FNSM app quests were also a huge step up from what they were in Miles game. It really felt like a breeze clearing these up for a cushy 24 hour playtime platinum, and I really appreciated not needing to full-clear the side objectives in a base, or crime, or even need to get gold to do so. Keep it like this!

There's a few very strange step-backs, such as lacking a codex of characters in the game, not having any interesting writing attached to the collectables, and having a complete and utter lack of a way to listen to podcasts that are frequently destroyed by events in the open world (which, isn't such a bad thing, when the novelty of these podcasts is very much the weakest they have ever been). It's also the jankiest one of these games, with at least 2 hard-crashes in my playthrough, a handful of bugs and just a bunch of movement/combat jank.

Overall, I had an extremely good time every time I was playing Spider-Man 2, but when I wasn't playing Spider-Man 2 it didn't really live in my brain much. It's an incredibly fun experience, but not one that's very deep or new at all. It fills the role of just being a big popcorn superhero experience, with the difference that this one is actually good. Even when you see every twist and turn coming, the rollercoaster is still extremely fun to ride and I'll come back for Spider-Man 3...and the DLC.

Gameplay: 8.5/10

Presentation: 8.75/10

Story: 8/10

Overall Score: 8.4/10

Gameplay= Mechanics, gameplay options (freedom), repetition, goals, difficulty

Story= plot, engagement, characters, world-building

Presentation= graphics, animation, environment/character design, Art direction, Script, music

An improvement in many ways on the first two games. The game contains much more content with a much larger map and a bit of a longer storyline with lots of side activities to accomplish. The game can like its predecessors start to fall off a bit after around 10 hours or so. Many side missions become a bit repetitive, though they add a bit of variety every once an a while. New abilities are unlocked all the way up until almost the end of the main campaign adding a hint of freshness to gameplay styles all the way to the end. The only issue is that as new moves are added the tasks required remain about the same thus not truly adding a substantial freshness to the experience.

Stealth in the game is really fun, but being able to play as Miles pretty much makes it a really easy process that just requires some patience. I never felt like there was a complex way need to draw away groups of enemies that I had to really be creative to figure out even on the hardest stealth encounters.

Having played on Amazing difficulty I actually found the game a bit hard. I don't mean that in I would be stuck unable to make progress for hours kind of hard just that I had to always be hyperactively responsive in combat. The web grab and swing move is almost impossible to pull off as about every 2 seconds a ranged enemy will be shooting at you. This kind of ruins the flow of attempting any real combos or unique moves unless you are in a one-on-one fight.

The amount of suits that can be unlocked is mind-blowing, especially for how well done every single one of them is. All of the presentation aspects are really well done however at times the newer more high def character looks feel a bit lifeless at times in some cutscenes where you would think they would be pushing clear strong expressions.

If you are a fan of the other games I highly recommend this one. If you are just a fan of shorter cinematic action game experiences I also highly recommend this as well.

Spider Man 2 Needs To Make Miles Morales The Villain

This is 100% the direction this game should not head. We don't need a third game with a third person of colour as the villain, least of all Miles, someone who already has a better grasp on community responsibility as a teen than adult Peter has shown so far. I know this is purely an opinion piece, but I hope this is not where Insomniac plans to go with this.

I’m excited for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 because Insomniac knows how to take conventions of AAA games that I typically find tedious and infuses them with fun. Yet, despite my excitement I do have a laundry list of things I’d love to see Insomniac change, remove or include in this sequel:

1. A reduction in the staggering number of side missions and collectables that were present in Marvel’s Spider-Man. While I’ll admit that I thought the first game handled this well, my recent stint replaying the game immediately after replying Miles Morales revealed a game that is too bogged down in meaningless side activities that detract from the strengths of the game. While Insomniac has a talent for making all of the content count, they arguably did a much better job balancing the side content with the main content in Miles-Morales. Furthermore, Miles Morales’ side content is frequently deeper, more meaningful and contributes to Miles’ overall growth in ways that the first game simple doesn’t muster. A lot is taken for granted about Peter, and his growth as a character is typically only the stuff of main missions, with side missions contributing little to his personal growth as a character. There are exceptions, like Howard’s pigeons and Harry’s research stations, but the latter feels excessive in repeat play-throughs because it barely grazes the surface of Harry’s story, and his relationship to Peter. Marvel’s Spider-Man is best when it’s exploring real character connections and this feels like lip service to Harry. Similarly the Task Master challenges feel like mechanical relics of older open world games matched with Marvel’s need to shoehorn as many characters into a property as possible. Compare this to activities like collecting sound samples with your Uncle or postcards and audio messages from your dad in Miles Morales. These activities are central to Miles’ development as a character and add depth to the overall game. They are joyous to interact with because they add that depth while not simply meant as busywork. That content pairs up with main story content in a perfect balance that never leaves the game activities feeling tedious or excessive.

2. Focus on character interaction and relationships rather than rote action. Marvel’s Spider-Man thrives on its characters and their relationships. Although swinging through town is incredible, even better are the moments when Pete’s actions drive character development forward rather than simply driving plot alone. Again Miles-Morales enacts this and balances it with the main story much better than the first game. I hope Insomniac has learned from both Miles-Morales and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and brings a similar increased emphasis on character to Spider-Man 2.

3. A humble more mature Pete. Despite Pete’s difficult childhood, he remains a man of certain privilege and that is painfully obvious in the first game. Sadly it’s not something I think Insomniac set out to critique. But with some of the nuance employed in Mile-Morales I’m hoping they are more aware and willing to explore maturing Pete. His willingness to work with the police is born out of this privilege, and I’d like to see Pete recognize that and reject the power structures that enable the status quo. If he is fighting for the people he needs to fight the status quo. I hate that something that is often the burden borne by minority communities is thrust upon Miles while Pete is blissfully ignorant. Miles already carries the weight of fighting the status quo alone, and it would be nice if Pete is able to take responsibility for his own part bolstering existing power structures. I’d like to see Pete reject institutions like the Police. I’d like him to question many of the assumptions he blindly makes in the first game about criminality, crime, drugs and other things his privilege has led him to pass judgment upon. I’d like the game to explore Pete’s relationship to power structures and institutions of authority in ways he fails to do in the first game, and ways that Miles automatically challenges in his game. At the very least I’d like a return of community over authority as represented by the Friendly Neighbourhood app in the second game. No more Spider-Cop because Spider-Man should be a member of the community that is working with the community, not policing it.

4. A more nuanced exploration of authority and policing related power structures. Both of the first games use mercenaries to stand in as representative of corrupt power and institutions. Sable and Roxxon mercenaries are the bad cops. I want to see an explicit critique of regular municipal police forces and abuses of power. I don’t want the cops exempted from that, I want the game to rightful include them among the groups that threaten the community, as they do in real life. I hope Insomniac has it in them to critique power structures and the status quo maintained by police forces rather than pinning everything on one bad-guy or one bad private corporation.

5. Mainstream minority characters, especially BIPOC members that are not always relegated to the role of vengeful, retaliatory villains that are often depicted ignoring the people they care about due to personal trauma, or that are fridged or killed off as motivation for other character actions. Both Spider-Man games contain a host of visible minority characters, yet less than a handful have pivotal roles within the story. Martin Li is a central villain in Marvel’s Spider-Man. His back story is that trauma inflicted on him by Norman Osborn leads him to kill his own parents and then eventually risk all the good he’s ever done for revenge. Phin Mason is the central villain in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Her back story is that trauma inflicted by the murder of her brother by Simon Krieger leads her to risk all the good she’s ever done for revenge. Both Martin and Phin choose to harm everyone close to them in a crusade against one man. Both disregard the fact that a Spider-Man would probably help them bring the subject of their vengeance to justice. I know this is a common trope among comic book villains, and we see this with Octavius in the first game, but the fact that two of the few Black or Asian characters in the game are given this treatment ties a great deal of the villainy in the games to racial minorities. Second to that is the death of Jefferson Davis, a Black character that sticks around for one and a half main story missions in the first game before dying to advance the plot. Both games don’t have the best track record for characters of colour that aren’t either villains, dead or relegated to minor roles like Yuri Watanabe.

6. Equal screen-time for Miles and Pete or the ability to choose Miles for the bulk of the game. I either want something structured like Rift Apart where you alternate between Mikes and Pete or have the ability to pick Miles for all content save for some key story missions that require Pete.

7. A shorter game. I know it won’t be as short as Miles Morales, a game that basically hits the sweet spot of story and length, but I hope that Insomniac trims a bit of the excess of the first game.

8. Keep and expand on the mechanical improvements made in Miles Morales, a game that vastly refined almost every aspect of the first game for the better.

9. Spider-Gwen. This might seem like a pipe-dream addition but it isn’t such a far fetched idea. Gwen doesn’t need to be from another universe. Comic book miles is from Earth 1610. In that universe Parker is dead and Miles is the only Spider-Man. Marvel’s Spider-Man takes place on Earth 1048 where Morales and Parker are both Spider-Man. Spider-Gwen is from Earth 65 where Parker is also dead and there is no Miles. Insomniac’s decision to set the game in Earth 1048 means that there is no established canon and they can essentially play with character backgrounds. So if both Miles and Peter exist on Earth 1048, so can Spider-Gwen. And if that’s true Insomniac can replicate what they did with Miles in the first game, introducing Gwen as a regular character and slowly foreshadowing her eventual powers. Then boom, we get Marvel’s Spider-Gwen.