Marvel Spider Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a consistently entertaining superhero power trip and offers Insomniac’s strongest story to date, despite its open world falling short.
Marvel Spider Man 2 – Overview
With Marvel Spider Man 2, Insomniac has the difficult burden of following up two enthralling, heartfelt, and exciting superhero fantasies. Although having an issue like that may sound like a wonderful thing, what happens next? Its response is to intensify its efforts. Boost your Spider-Men efforts. Increase the map’s size twofold. Increase the number of intense action scenes.
In doing so, the studio has created the finest plot in the series’ history as well as another continually thrilling rollercoaster ride. However, when compared to the first Spider-Man game in other aspects, the sequel might appear to be two Spider-Man games heading in the same direction.
Despite the game’s wider geography, the most of the open-world activities available there are in serious need of adaptation. The game’s fantastic combat hasn’t lost any of its freshness, but it is still generally entertaining as before. The end product is a blockbuster in the truest sense of the word—unquestionably exhilarating for extended parts yet formulaic in other instances.
Spider-Man 2’s fighting is quite familiar, even though it has a few new tricks up its sleeve. It no longer has that new suit scent, but it still feels very cozy to snuggle back into.
In addition to seeking high-hit combos to make the battle as stylish as possible, the rhythm of precise dodges, the new flawless parries, and acrobatic finishers are immensely enjoyable. The attacks are crushing and the movement is fluid, like a hybrid of peanut butter that each of your enemies is allergic to.
Enemies are flung around like dolls, juggled in the air, bashed across concrete floors, and hurled into each other like body-armored bowling pins—but, of course, never killed—in a brick-to-the-face dance that combines power and beauty. Even if every organ is ruptured and a bone is shattered in their body, they will undoubtedly continue to live and perpetrate atrocities.
Overall, this time around, stealth encounters aren’t as heavily stressed as they were in Miles Morales or Spider-Man. This new, noisier approach is appreciated by someone who thought the stealth action in the earlier games was a touch too simple and repetitive.
The Gameplay
Spider Man 2 is much more eager for you to get into the action, with many abilities designed to let you group enemies and then deal big damage to all of them at once, rather than spreading them out to pick them off one by one. Of course, there are story missions where Miles or Peter have to slink across ceilings and take out thugs who never look up, but Spider Man 2 is much more eager for you to get into the action.
Playfully incorporating this principle is a new favorite device called the Web Grabber, which draws foes in from a distance and causes them to collide. Peter may now join in on the fun I had using this before launching a powerful burst of Miles’ Venom lightning upon a group of baddies.
It takes a little longer than I anticipated, but once Parker puts on the symbiote suit that has previously been seen in the trailers, the furious capabilities that it confers have a significant impact, giving bouts more of a brawler feel and providing Peter a set of tools to counter Miles’ pleasing electric skills.
They’re equally fun since I have the impression that the suit is attempting to escape from the quaking Dual-Sense controller in my hands. This aggressive playing style is rewarded because the sole method to heal is by filling up your focus bar, which you achieve by hitting strikes and timing precise dodges. It’s also a technique to make sure that the thrilling fighting pace never stops.
You won’t be whacking the same five balaclava thugs with baseball bats anymore thanks to Spider-Man 2’s increased adversary variety, which is one area where Insomniac made changes. You’re kept on your toes by new groups and troops like cultists with flamethrowers that keep you at a distance, flying drones, and hunters who set up laser grids above your head to prevent aerial strikes.
It also provides a fun new twist to battles when some adversaries are weak to specific sorts of assaults, like electric or symbiote attacks. It’s by no means ground-breaking, but it adds a nice layer of complexity that forces you to think about whether Spider-Man or power is optimal for a certain task.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t advantages to being cunning, especially if you’re playing as Miles and employing his invisibility ability to stealthily eliminate adversaries. There are several perch takedown options available, as well as brand-new playthings like the Web Line, which lets you build your own highwires over your opponents to pounce on them from above.
It’s a fun tool that lets you turn the battlefield in the intricately built arenas more to your liking while also redecorating the space with web-wrapped human pinatas. On the other hand, because you clear out foes using much the same strategies as in combat, stealth isn’t that different from the numerous warehouse confrontations you’ll have experienced in the prior games.
Regarding covert operations, the original playable MJ scenes come back, and while they are more involved this time and serve the narrative nicely, they never amount to anything more than straightforward stealth missions or brief bursts of third-person gunfire.
She is definitely not ignored, but it seems like more could’ve been done to make her gameplay parts more interesting or at the very least more consistent with her established persona as an intrepid investigative reporter than the assignments she is assigned here.
With additional spins and flips added to their arsenal, our Spider-Men may now swing around their friendly communities in more spectacular ways than before, giving them a Tony Hawk-like edge. Web acrobatics are still one of the most enjoyable methods to navigate any open area and are quite satisfying.
The new web wings, however, are unquestionably a standout feature. Like Batman before him, Spider-Man can now glide and soar through the city with ease, but there are still limitations. You’ll need to learn how to control your altitude and forward momentum with the help of the city’s windy corridors, which can quickly transport you from one district to the next.
The Story
The narrative gracefully transitions between comical antics and serious introspection. The ability to put on the suit and go into Kratos-like wrath mode, where you press in both thumb sticks and begin one-hitting everything in your way, is unquestionably entertaining, but the authors never once fail to focus on the humanity that exists inside these superhumans.
As Spider-Man 2 explores the motivations behind each character’s actions and the possibility of good lurking in the shadows of evil, the same can be said for both its heroes and villains.
As this is very much a sequel that incorporates both storylines and characters from the earlier games and related DLC, it is helpful to have a quick refresher of both Peter and Miles’ prior adventures accessible for those with fuzzy memories.
Since Spider-Man 2 builds on the original two games in both its gameplay and plot, you won’t want to jump in here for the first time. Of course, there’s little reason not to, given that those games were equally terrific.
To avoid giving anything away, let’s just say that Kraven the Hunter, who is, well, seeking a hunt, is the main character. He’s essentially The Predator, an Apex predator endowed with tremendous strength who has selected New York as his new hunting field, for those who are unfamiliar with the concept. As he sets his eyes on the largest prey imaginable, it’s a wonderful beginning point that upends the city’s hero and villain relationship.
Though they might appear less significant in the context of the general mayhem in the city, the smaller storylines in play feel like they might destroy the world to people who live there.
Both Spider-Men explore a variety of personal concerns, such as strained relationships and grief, that haunt us as humans, no matter how superpowered we may feel. They take on the most extreme examples of attempting to manage a work/life balance you can imagine.
Although somewhat clichéd, it’s the best-written narrative in the series thus far, and the actors provide performances that match the writing. That it covers such a broad range of topics without experiencing tonal whiplash is a true success. The film’s standout scene is a spectacular mission that takes place in front of the glistening amusement park attractions of Coney Island.
It successfully distills the emotional tension of the plot and captures its essence before emphatically crushing it. Spider-Man 2 is mostly a Peter Parker narrative, exploring his relationship with MJ and the reappearance of his boyhood best buddy Harry Osborne.
It’s always interesting to see him struggle with deciding which aspects of the past to let go of and who he wants to be in the future. I couldn’t help but see Uncharted’s influence more strongly than ever in parts of the missions when you play as regular, everyday Peter, both in the storytelling methods it employs and the jaw-dropping action sequences when he dons the suit.
However chaotic the situation becomes, he always has a snappy one-liner prepared to be delivered to perfection by actor Yuri Lowenthal. Even if some of the most intriguing explorations of Miles’ Puerto Rican/African American culture are saved for side objectives, Miles still gets his time in the limelight and has some excellent moments toward the conclusion of the main campaign.
Naturally, the lessons you draw from the narrative and its varied array of people will be particular to you. There are deeper undertones to be found in this story as well; on the surface, it’s just another exciting superhero tale full of shocks, cameos, and Easter eggs.
Themes of adolescence and puberty are addressed in Spider-Man 2 and, to a certain extent, in all great Spider-Man stories. Puberty is a period of uncertainty for even the most typical of youngsters struggling to manage body secretions. We pick off where Miles left off, when his relationships with his family and friends are fraying, and when he is faced with his first significant life decisions.
As we watch a younger Spider-Man develop in front of our eyes, actor Nadji Jeter continues to shine in the role and exhibits all the versatility required. These motifs take on a far more concrete form for Peter. Being in his early 20s, he has already experienced the trying times Miles is going through, but because of the symbiote suit, he is going through further physical changes.
This physical form also serves as a metaphor for the many mental health problems that each Spider-Man has experienced. The main protagonists are shrouded in black as if they are in a state of mourning while Venom looms over them like a specter of sorrow.
The narrative does a fantastic job of subtly examining these themes and how, if not dealt with appropriately, inner demons may consume us and cause us to unwittingly hurt and antagonize others we care about.
Of course, a hero would be nothing without his or her foes, and Spider-Man has an almost unrivaled cast of antagonists. Insomniac has many more tricks up its sleeve than the likes of Venom, Kraven, and Lizard featured in the trailers. The only thing I’ll say about any of these is that Spider-Man 2 begins with a boom and introduces a feeling of scale that hasn’t been there in the series before.
It’s a thrilling return to the franchise that challenges your memory of the combat while also imparting a few new skills. Additionally, it ushers in a fresh optional side-story villain thread. While they don’t provide much in the way of new gameplay mechanics, these do add valuable supplemental plot pieces. They offer these foes additional character depth, elevating them from being one-off boss fight props to whole people.
Speaking of boss fights, that are one aspect of the game that improves significantly from our early tangos with Kingpin, Vulture, and the others. One of the things I found lacking in the original game in Insomniac’s series was how many of the showdowns felt uninspired, with their quick time-heavy confrontations having little effect.
Miles Morales was improved, but in the full-fledged sequel, boss fights are brought to life. Even if you sometimes have to wait a bit too long for them, they never fail to thrill. They are constantly changing brawls full of peril that put your whole skill set to the test. Dodges and parries are essential, as well as making use of the many equipment scattered throughout the arenas.
The last part of the game effectively turns into a boss rush mode that will test even the strongest of thumbs – not necessarily because it ever gets too challenging, but rather because you’ll be pressing the Square button so frequently.
The majority of Spider-Man 2’s thrills, however, come in the latter half of the film because it finally finds its footing and decisively closes a story with enormous emotional depth that never once seems to be waning.
Before I reached 100% of the main tale, it took me around 18 hours to finish. After 27 hours overall, the platinum medal appeared to commend my efforts. Spider-Man 2 will toss you a lot of side activities to complete in order to get that prized trophy, and although not everyone must or should, it serves as a reminder that quantity doesn’t necessarily equate to quality.
This is still, unabashedly, an old-school approach to open-world game design, and nowhere is this more evident than in its optional tasks, despite whatever loftier intentions the tale may have.
To their credit, the right stick feature that allows you to emphasize side goals over simple map symbols is a good improvement. Even without it, you may tell there are activities nearby by looking for foreboding skies or blazing purple roofs.
Although this isn’t necessarily a world that begs for exploration or discovery, it is a step in the right direction toward enhancing immersion and, fortunately, decreasing the amount of time spent staring at the map screen.
Despite this, I couldn’t help but wish that New York had seen a few more glimpses of Gotham City. Although it always cheated by finding methods to keep people off the streets, Rocksteady’s superhero open world seemed more dynamic than what we got here thanks to things like the sudden shock of Man-bat leaping at you out of nowhere.
What’s not so Great
It’s a little disheartening to see Insomniac’s franchise trapped in the past when it comes to its side content and how it presents itself to you, especially when you consider the growth of open-world game design that the Arkham series underwent over the course of the trilogy and its deep villain side missions.
There are lots of standard open-world filler activities here, and that’s one area where Spider-Man 2 hasn’t kept up with the times or demonstrated any ambition. Despite having a few somewhat more intriguing oddities this time around, collectibles, picture opportunities, and very basic street crimes are still there and only very seldom thrill.
The button-mashing from past games is thankfully almost gone, so you’ll frequently be halting the same escapes with the same few button clicks or preventing a break-in by beating up the same few bad guys.
Although these activities now last a little longer before becoming monotonous than they did in the past, there isn’t quite a strong enough twist to make choosing to photograph a few amateur cosplayers over saving a house full of people from a raging fire seem reasonable.
The Brooklyn Visions mascot must be rescued from a rival school by completing a series of light and mirror puzzles. These cute, brief side quests add a touch of fun, but I’d want to see more life added to this world to match its visual magnificence. These people do give the planet and its mainly homogeneous population of NPCs—whom you’re obviously not supposed to look at too closely—a little bit more flavor.
What’s Awesome
However, there are several notable outliers, including a few longer and more intricate questlines that are far more satisfying—almost to the point of becoming a collection of mini-main plot tasks. My favorite quest line was The Flame, which starts out by just aiding the fire department but rapidly develops a complex and enigmatic web.
It stands out from the rest of Spider-Man 2’s optional time trials and straightforward puzzle minigames because it is full of twists, turns, and shocks like a fantastic, brief comic book run.
Rewards for performing these many tasks come in a variety of forms, from simple tech components to increase your powers, to really fascinating tale hints for what’s to come. I did, however, sometimes wonder if these tiny, celebratory tidbits were worth the grind they too usually turned out to be because the activities are frequently so boring and repetitious.
All of this helps New York, a metropolis now twice the size of what we’ve seen previously that includes the lush residential streets of Queens and the busy borough of Brooklyn, battle crime in every neighborhood.
There are 14 distinct districts, and you must accomplish the objectives in each one before you may access that area of the map quickly. rapid travel shouldn’t be easily accessible, but to be honest, I hardly ever used it since swinging and gliding across the city is so much more enjoyable. Despite the fact that load times are nonexistent and the rapid, swooping camera effect of transitioning between Peter and Miles is awesome, I hardly ever utilized fast travel.
Naturally, you’ll want to look your best if you’re going to be catching your ray-traced, 4K reflection so frequently in that glass (assuming you choose the 30fps fidelity setting). Fear not, there are countless outfits to unlock, each with a variety of vibrant skins to choose from. There are surprises in store for Spider-Man fans of all ages, from fresh takes on classics to returning fan favorites.
A clever separation of form and function means that choosing the talents and powers you equip are distinct from your choice of suit, making them all just decorative items as well.
The soundtrack is excellent, and depending on who you’re managing, Miles’ or Peter’s own hallmark songs will play. This is in keeping with Insomniac’s track record.
The theme that follows Kraven, however, is a standout since it strongly resembles Howard Shore’s Uruk-hai battle march from The Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Even when played in performance mode at a reliable 60 frames per second, as I did for the most of my playtime, it creates a really beautiful environment.
In actuality, Spider-Man 2 as a whole is a technological wonder. With the exception of the very odd NPC getting trapped somewhere they shouldn’t, everything fits together beautifully, from the nearly immediate load speeds to the ability to pick a fast-travel spot and be there in a flash.
I can’t claim that over the many hours I spent playing, I ever saw a dropped frame. This enables Spider-Man 2 to shine at its most breath-taking moments, of which the main plot delivers many. The screen is filled with exploding action, glittering electrical effects, and appropriately nasty symbiote action.
Final Verdict
Marvel Spider Man 2 is a sequel to a fantastic franchise that is both fortunate and cursed. Its two Spider-Men tale is a blast to play through and a Spidey fan’s fantasy as comic book pages are brought to life, deftly balancing light humor and deeper issues.
While doing this, Insomniac adjusts and adds just enough new skills and modifications to the combat and web-swinging formulas to take them to enjoyable new heights without fundamentally altering any of them.
The open environment of New York City, which has been grown larger but not better, with an exhaustive checklist of largely repetitive side activities, feels like it genuinely required a dramatic rethink. Although its open world falls short, it’s still a consistently enjoyable superhero power trip.
It’s safe to say that this is yet another exhilarating Spider-Man journey that provides Insomniac’s strongest story to date. And what about that? Ignore it. I actually experienced a Spider-Man-like feeling.
If you like my review, please leave a comment below, along with questions you may have. If you’re interested in starting your web slinging journey, then click here to purchase the game.
