Marvel's Spider-Man 2

Take any possible aspect you liked from the first two entries and multiply it by 10; Insomniac absolutely nailed this. Everything from the story to the characters to the gameplay is greatly improved upon and expanded here, even MJ's stealth missions are great to play through this time around. I loved just about everything they did here, and I could not be happier with my time spent on this.

7.5

Spiderman 2 is the best playing game of the series that Insomniac started in 2018. The moves, fluidity, controls and traversal are top notch. The combat is fun and engaging and while it does fall into spectacle over skill at times, it’s still great fun. On most every aspect I think the 2 previous games outdo it. It falls into Forbidden West and Ragnarok territory where the sequel is bigger and bolder while losing the charm and originality of the original. Now that is expected to happen as a sequel but games like The Last of Us 2 are able to separate themselves from the first game by developing in all aspects and keeping things fresh and subversive. Now it’s a completely different type of game, but the story and writing had me rolling my eyes all the time while the gameplay and controls kept me pushing through. Very nice game that didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Some great quality of life improvements on traversal (already the best part of the last game) and the Symbiote suit combat for Peter makes you wonder how you ever tolerated the combat before make it a good playthrough but frankly I can't help but feel that it's less than the sum of its parts.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt knowing this: Doc Ock is my favourite Marvel villain. Not just Spider-Man, but the entirety of Marvel Comics. As predictable as it was in Spider-Man 1, the nuance and character driven drama in a multi-faceted approach tying all the different overarching story beats together made it the best adaptation of the character. Once you know Harry has the Symbiote, you know exactly what is going to happen beat for beat. No really, just take ten seconds thinking about what could happen: it's very likely you got 90% of the main story correct. Then once you get that down, do the same for the side missions. Once you know the Symbiotes are in and you do the Flame side mission and see that ginger psycho, you know it's Carnage. Once you see that Coney Island is basically super villain parole central, you know that Mysterio really is trying to redeem himself and being framed. Kraven was also a let down given that he is central to one of Spider-Man's greatest story arcs, how the hell they just left out so much of Last Hunt is beyond me. Hunters weren't even fun to fight, but it was great to hear Sandman's memories foreshadow the ultimate plan (even tho, again, it is obvious if you have more than three functioning brain cells).

The best story parts of this game are in the more "inconsequential" side missions imo. The whole Brooklyn Visions side missions brought back Spider-Man being a high school dork back to the spotlight and the entire thing was cute as hell. You go Miles, help that kid with his promposal. The Emily-May Foundation stuff wasn't always fun to play, but in context it's sweet. Then there’s the Seabird section which I am very glad seems to have the consensus as one of the best, if not the best part of the game. Mundane activities like these that Spider-Ma(e)n go out of their way to help New York City with >>>>>> constant world ending scenarios.

I'll play it again when DLC and NG+ come out, but I replayed to Platinum the first game in significantly less of that timeframe.








Also "PETER PARKER WOULD NEVER WANT TO STOP BEING SPIDER-MAN" he gives up on being Spider-Man like every other week since the 90s lmao.

Incredibly fun for the most part and the fact that the third act is basically a Spider-Man: Web of Shadows remake just gives me more reason to want to call this my favorite spider man game. Unfortunately, the plot does start off on a rough note and some of the non-webslinging missions feel tedious. I get that The Last of Us is a great game and is one of gaming's biggest success story but that doesn't really warrant every PlayStation exclusive having long exposition heavy walking missions, especially when they clash with the more fun and free wheeling tone that the moment to moment gameplay provides when you are playing as one of the titular characters in-costume.

Nevertheless, this is hands down the better of the two Insomniac Spider-Man games and when the plot gets out of the way the game becomes pure unbridled fun. It manages to strike a great balance between making combat feel satisfying without it becoming too easy and the open world feels lively thanks to the random interruptions that you run into while traversing through New York.

i definitely very much enjoyed this game. traversal has never been better in a spiderman game (maybe any game lowkey swinging around too fun) and combat with the symbiote abilities is insanely fun. the set pieces and the boss fights were all INCREDIBLE, i almost couldn't pick a favorite between them all. gameplay wise i think this game is pretty perfect: flying around and swinging through new york has never been faster or felt better, and is the most refined it's ever been, and combat is equally very well done, from miles electric abilities to peter's awesome ass iron spider arms/symbiote abilities. I have to say a personal favorite is the perk that allows you to do that wall kicking move, this move gives me endless joy to use over and over on enemies. watching that final kick up the jaw is so satisfying hahahh. my gripes with this game are few but glaring: mostly that miles has absolutely nothing to do in this story. you can definitely tell he was written by white people (wtf was that end suit bruh) and more than that while peter is going on this crazy fucking alien invasion and dinosaur hunt arc, miles is fucking around trying to get a girlfriend. another thing i have to say is i really don't like how miles is written this time around. he's very boring and uninteresting and has almost nothing funny or banter-y or spiderman-y that he says throughout this whole story. MJ missions are better for sure, especially the missions where you're walking in symbiote peter's wake: HORRIFYING! kraven is very very cool when he's around but most of the time he lets his goons do everything which feels very out of character for this guy who killed someone who didn't catch him hunting him in the opening of the game. Compare this to the hundreds of goons you beat up as spiderman and it kinda leaves you wondering how half of these guys were allowed to stay in his army. but the actual kraven fight is lit as hell and his presence earlier in the story was way cool, i just wish he was actively HUNTING the spidermen. this game is incredibly short but makes up for it with quality teeming from every second of this campaign. my breath was genuinely taken away during the opening sandman boss fight. I love spiderman and i love this game, and i've spend hours upon hours purely swinging around new york already. i can feel they are so close to creating the ultimate perfect spiderman experience, and i'm ready for spiderman 3 to deliver!

While the gameplay has never been better, the story is very flawed. The end goal for Miles' story arc in this game was supposed to portray how he's capable of taking over from Peter. But it feels absolutely un-earned. Not only is Miles absent for a large chunk of the story, his side activities have him do absolutely inane things like organizing dates or helping on school projects. Meanwhile Peter is tracking down a literal death cult in his side-activites on top off dealing with Harry dying and being corrupted by the suit. Instead of the game ending with the message that Peter can take a break because Miles is capable, it unintentionally ends with the message that Peter has to take a break because Miles has been slacking. The game is also lacking in a plethora of things that the first two games had, like the social media app and a more varied assortment of things to do in the open world. Hopefully Insomniac hires better writers for the sequel, because this time around they felt spread too thin with only two Spider-Men, and the situation could get even worse with adding a third web slinger in the third game with the Silk tease.