Review: Marvel's Spider-Man 2
by Moises Espinal
As one of the most anticipated sequels to a highly acclaimed game from the PS4 generation, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 had a lot to live up to. With perfectly-fitting gameplay and a compelling personal plot, many didn't think that Insomniac (who has had quite a run with their Spider-Man games as well as Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart) could possibly mess things up. So that begs the question, did the sequel live up to all the hype? Is it everything that people dreamed of or does it just lazily continue upon the solid foundation created by the first game?
Enjoyability: 11/12
If you enjoyed the first game, it's hard to say that this game isn't an improvement in almost every single way. The traversal around the city was made far, far faster with new techniques like the Loop-de-Loop and corner tethers making the swinging feel smoother. The main addition, however, in my opinion was the web wings. Although these seem to be a controversial addition to the game, I believe that providing more opportunities to remain in the air and ergo reducing the time on the ground actually proved to enhance the experience. Besides this, the story is captivating and the combat continues to be good which will be talked about more in depth in the next section.
Gameplay: 11/12
The combat is still practically the same which means consistent fun; although, I did feel that the game throws way more enemies at you than before that don't really accomplish much other than being an extra annoyance. I played the game on Spectacular difficulty (the hardest difficulty on launch) and the game would surprisingly feel super easy until a Flame enemy would almost one-shot Spidey in a random crime. Even an ordinary, stray bullet from an enemy in a wave of foes could accomplish the same level of danger out of nowhere. Another thing about the combat is that certain gadgets and upgrades from the first game are no longer available that would've made things feel much smoother. Was there really any reason to get rid of these things? Sure some suit mods were way too broken (looking at you, Web Blossom), but gadgets like Impact Web and the upgrade where you can instant KO ranged enemies after perfect dodging had no real reason to be removed. The new Iron Legs, Symbiote powers, and Miles' evolved abilities look visually stunning, but feel as if they pack none of the punch that the animations would lead you to believe that they have. Every enemy is basically just a damage sponge and it only gets worse when you face the symbiotes that can take even more hits. Another controversial part of the gameplay comes regarding the stealth which felt like a much more natural inclusion this time around thanks to slight design changes. The stealth in Spider-Man 1 wasn't exactly some high tier gameplay so the claims about things being skilless now seem wholly unfounded. Although this all seems like a bunch of complaints about the combat specifically, it's working off the great base of Spider-Man 1 and Miles Morales, meaning it's still an impressive experience. It just didn't really innovate itself in a way to make you feel like these two characters actually evolved and improved in this world that they've set up.
Atmosphere: 12/12
They did it for the third time. Insomniac has managed to make New York feel even better than before and the set-pieces that take place throughout the city look amazing. I can't say that the score stood out to me as much on an initial playthrough, but the music was still definitely good as well. One thing in particular, though, that did stand out during my playthrough was the fact that the sand from the Sandman fight actually stays in the city. The same holds true for some of the damage that the city takes from the water battles with Kraven's hunters. They stay present throughout the game and it really makes the story feel like it has an actual flow to it. An actual impact. The emphasis on the nighttime during Peter's struggles with the symbiote is amazing. When the city starts to get more and more corrupted by the symbiote, it really feels like the city is facing an extreme crisis and that the Spider-Men are the last hope in figuring out how to stop Venom.
Design: 10/12
Beginning right from the Sandman fight, you can see that this game is a lot more focused on the set-pieces and is concerned primarily with showing off the PS5 hardware instead of making sure that all the sections are consistently fun. For every interesting and plot-progressing story mission that Peter has, Miles has an equally irrelevant-to-the-plot side mission that is more focused on being that "friendly, neighborhood" superhero that we know Spider-Man to be. Half the time that something insane is going on in Peter's story, Miles is thrown aside and feels like an afterthought. It takes a really long while for Miles to show up and feel like the important, relevant character that players knew he already was all along. In terms of generic crime in the city, I would say that the enemy variety wasn't increased enough to warrant the hordes of enemies that are present in any given mission; although, certain locations really did feel like a major improvement. Most things related to Kraven like going through his NY apartment with Peter, stealthing through his manor, and escaping his Queens hideout with Miles all felt like peak gameplay moments and all highlighted different gameplay elements to keep the game fresh. When the game had a clear focus on what it wanted to do, it was definitely at its best.
Direction: 11/12
One final thing to say about the game is that it was genuinely hard to stop playing it. Insomniac did a great job in making a main plot that had impactful story beat after story beat. It just encourages you to continue playing because you want to see how the symbiote story unfolds and how Kraven will push our heroes to their limits. You unlock abilities at relatively frequent rates which make it feel like you are actively growing as a hero (even if some of those abilities feel undertuned). Side content felt very rewarding in terms of the little stories they told. Oh, and the combat challenges, which there aren't enough of!!! The game will also remind you of where you need to go if you spend too much time doing other content so it's hard to miss what you have to do next when a push of the middle button will show you. It may be easy to get sidetracked, but it's even easier to find something important to do.
