Spider-Man 2 Review
“A Superior Sequel” Written by: Ethan (@ChaoticAether)
It’s been five years since we first got our hands on the original Spider-Man from Insomniac Games, and almost three since Miles’ standalone game at the launch of the PS5. I love both of the original games quite a bit, and despite some reservations on the black suit story and being burned out on the formula, I have been eagerly anticipating the launch of the full-blown sequel since its announcement in 2021. With various villain reveals like Kraven and Venom, to the abundance of trailers that may have shown too much; Spider-Man 2 set itself up for a bigger, bolder experience with a darker tone. It doesn’t disappoint.
Spider-Man 2 may look like a more iterative sequel at first glance, but it feels like Insomniac Games has truly mastered its craft. Spider-Man 2 manages to take everything that worked about the first two games and cranks it up to eleven, creating a game filled with fluid traversal, engaging combat and a blockbuster story; only faltering with its various bugs and its messy conclusion to the narrative. It truly is a rollercoaster from start to finish, but is it worth that increased $70 price point? Let’s find out.
Image Credit: Insomniac Games, Marvel
Set ten months after the events of Miles Morales, Spider-Man 2 picks up with Pete struggling to find work and pay off Aunt May’s debts, while Miles is struggling to get into college; you know, just normal Spider-Man things. After an epic battle with Sandman results in Pete losing his job, his childhood friend Harry Osborn finally returns. Seemingly cured from his illness, he has started the Emily-May Foundation, and asks Pete to join him on his pursuit to change the world for the better. There’s only one small problem: Kraven the Hunter has made New York his new hunting grounds.
From here the story goes down various paths, with Kraven hunting down foes one by one and the symbiote coming into play down the line, and that's just the main story. From the return of friendly faces to the appearance of new villains like Mysterio, there’s some equally awesome moments to be found in the many side quests the game has to offer. That’s one of my favourite things about Spider-Man 2: It really values your time. Over the course of my 25 hour playthrough, there was rarely a moment or story beat that fell flat for me; bar the end of the story.
I honestly found the whole scenario with the black suit and Venom to be underwhelming. Venom shows up rather late in the story, and even though I liked the twist they took on the character, what's done narratively feels rushed and doesn’t really fit the character. It’s clear they were trying to match the stakes of the first instalment, but I feel a more personal and grounded conclusion would have suited the characters and story better.
Besides this small gripe though, there’s plenty to love with the characters and story, with Kraven being a stand out villain who is probably the strongest antagonist the series has had so far. Insomniac has nailed the balance of significance between Miles and Peter during the story, and the secondary narrative between Miles and Martin Li is possibly my favourite continued storyline the series has offered.
Side content is just as engaging as the main story, and it creates a great back and forth that simultaneously keeps you engaged while also developing new and returning characters at the same time. From Mysterio struggling with his mysterium’s going rogue, to a cult uprising and the introduction of Yuri’s wraith; there are plenty of additional villains to discover. Match this with the return of smaller requests from the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man app and Miles helping his fellow students at Brooklyn Visions and there are plenty of side narratives to discover that all feel worthwhile. Bases return in the form of blinds and nests. Some require a stealthy approach while others require you to defeat waves of enemies for a certain period of time, and are both quite engaging. There is also the return of collectibles, which require a bit more effort this time. Spider-bots ping to reveal their location and require some acrobatic manoeuvres to collect. Hunter drones require you to web wing through an obstacle course to download missing persons data. They are all a ton of fun and provide a lot of variety to the gameplay loop.
Image Credit: Insomniac Games, Marvel
Speaking of gameplay, there have been a variety of additional mechanics added to give both combat and traversal a new lick of paint; one of which being the web wings. With a push of the triangle button you can now easily glide and maintain momentum over large distances. I originally thought this would limit my use of regular web swinging, but the real fun of the traversal in this game is how seamless both modes of transport are and how fun they are to interchange between and use. Air tunnels and vents found throughout New York also help keep your momentum high at all times, and the sheer speed you now have while traversing the open world makes the original look archaic by comparison. Add a few more tricks like catapulting from the ground, boosts in mid air and additional movement animations and you have one of my favourite modes of transportation ever found in a game.
But what’s the point of all the speed if we didn’t have more of the map to zoom through? Well Spider-Man 2 has you covered by almost doubling its map size, adding both Queens and Brooklyn. The lower buildings and parks add a great sense of variety to the map design and really put those new web wings to work. That, and the addition of iconic areas like Coney Island make for an amazing expansion to what was an already incredibly fun map to explore.
The same care has been put into the combat, with each Spider having two sets of unique abilities on cooldowns and an ultimate move, similar to the mechanics seen in Miles Morales. Miles keeps his set of abilities from his standalone adventure, and obtains an additional set of blue electricity abilities that are really fun to use. From pulling enemies in to dropping in from above they provide a lot of additional options, and his ultimate explosion move is a joy to use. Peter has two new movesets this time around: his Iron Spider arms and his symbiote abilities. Peters extra arms can do some serious damage if upgraded, but feel weak when compared to miles’ alternate moveset. On the other hand, his symbiote abilities are crazy. From punching people from far away, to turning into a pile of goo and charging into enemies, there’s plenty of fun to be had with this more brutal moveset. There are plenty of surprises to be found in Peter’s combat, and he was really satisfying to play by the time I reached the endgame. Match all of this with a gadget wheel that allows you to fire ricochet webs or pull all enemies together and you have the recipe for a really satisfying combat system.
All the quality of life added to combat is matched in the subtle changes to stealth too. You can now create your own tightrope with webs to give you more flexibility and upgrade your stealth takedown to take down two foes simultaneously. This and the refined design to play spaces make stealth more feasible and fast than it was in prior entries.
Of course, everything in the game gets better with upgrades, and this game has a plethora to choose from. From three skill trees between Peter and Miles, suit upgrades for increases of your major stats, and gadget upgrades there is plenty to choose from. These require tokens which can be earned easily from completing the various tasks available in the open world, and despite being overwhelming at first is easily completable by the time you wrap the available content. And this doesn’t even include the dozens of suits available for both Spider-Men. Both Spiders have over 64 suits between them and many have three additional colour variations; totalling over 200 possible costumes to wear by the time you finish the game. There are so many references from comics to movies and are all incredibly detailed.
Image Credit: Insomniac Games, Marvel
The same can be said for the game's overall presentation. The attention to detail is stunning, with both a resolution and performance mode that include ray traced reflections. I had a few performance hiccups in the 60 fps mode, but nothing that hindered gameplay and I was honestly astonished at the level of detail Insomniac has managed to create while still providing a performance option. The streets are bustling more than ever before and the sheer size and scope of some set pieces had me smiling with glee.
This quality is matched with the character performances which are even better than prior entries. Yuri Lowenthal and Nadji Jeter still steal the show as Miles and Peter, with other characters like MJ and Harry having wonderful moments as well. Tony Todd as Venom is great for how little he was used, and Kraven, Li and Norman Osborn are all standout performances that I thoroughly enjoyed. I did find issues with some characters' faces looking stiff and uncanny. New Peter never bothered me in the remaster but he looks a bit off this time, and MJ and Harry also suffer stilted facial movements. It’s nothing that threw me out entirely, but it was much more noticeable than in prior entries.
I do have to say however that this has been the buggiest Insomniac game I’ve played in a while. I’ve had audio and dialogue refuse to play, subtitles were out of sync or played in the wrong order entirely, and I even became a cube for a small period. Nothing game breaking and nothing I don’t think will be patched in the next month or two, but it’s something you should be aware of.
Image Credit: Insomniac Games, Marvel
Summary
Spider-Man 2 once again shows why Insomniac Games is quickly becoming the best first party studio at PlayStation, and one of the best developers in the industry. Spider-Man 2 is exceptional through and through, from its incredible writing and performances; to its refined and near perfect swinging and combat systems. Other than its messy ending to its otherwise engaging narrative, there’s not a second of downtime in its 25 hour runtime. Its world is filled with quests and collectibles that all manage to feel impactful, and it all culminates together to create what I believe to not only be the best Spider-Man game to have ever been created, but the best superhero game of all time.
Despite my reservations on the games ending, Spider-Man 2 is still a must play game for PlayStation 5 owners. If you are a fan of the original two games and are ready for step-up in every conceivable way I cannot recommend this game enough. Insomniac Games has become a beacon of hope in what seems to be an internal games as a service obsession for PlayStation. With four titles already under their belt this generation and another already announced, I feel like many other studios at Sony should take note. Insomniac are on fire at the moment and have back to back created two of my favourite titles of the generation so far, and I personally cannot wait to see what's next for the spiders, the lombax and even that short guy with claws.