Two posts released relatively close to each other?
OMG, he’s back baby.
Listen, a long time ago, I used to post once a week. Now, I’m lucky if I even post once a month, sometimes I just don’t know what to write, I’m sorry.
Anyways, always and forever, I hope y’all are doing well. The backlog is building, but I’m chopping away at it, so I’m doing something right, I guess?
It doesn’t help Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 vaulted over all the games on my list. It’s no secret I’m a bit of a fanboy, as I’ve raved about them every chance I get. I didn’t think I’d have time to play this, but a career change is all it took for me to play one of this year’s hottest titles.
I beat the game three days after launch, and it’s the quickest I’ve ever beaten a game in a long time (not a flex, I was just really excited). Rather than rush through a review and push out my immediate thoughts, I’ve taken a step back and gathered myself while I go through the side content.
I think Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a damn fine title, as it evolves on nearly every pillar the previous titles were built on. The combat is incredibly addicting, with smart changes made to the core, making it quicker, more accessible, and rewarding. Traversal is at its absolute peak, as the introduction of Web Wings makes navigating NYC the fastest and most enjoyable it’s ever been. The game looks stunning in nearly every frame, and I don’t know how Insomniac does it.
It’s all capped off with a big screen-esque plot as you navigate between Peter Parker and Miles Morales’ plight to protect their city from Kraven the Hunter and Venom while balancing their struggles.
Yet, it’s the plot and the open-world that left me a little on the fence. The open-world is bigger, with the addition of Queens and Brooklyn, but it feels the same with the core formula with a few reskins of familiar side content. The plot’s pacing starts off well, but then drastically speeds up towards the end of the game.
Overall, I don’t think those detract from an absolute stellar package here.
What’s it About?
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 picks up almost a year after the events of Miles Morales’ story. Peter is trying to find a balance between being Spider-Man and finding a full-time career, while Miles is trying to get into college and balance his duty as Spider-Man.
The stress both Spider-Men endure only gets worse when Kraven the Hunter shows up with his army of Hunters, looking to partake in one last big hunt. There’s also the impending evil in the background, Venom, who does a number on our heroes.
You don’t need to play the first two titles to understand the setup here, as there’s a decent recap you can watch before you play. However, I’d recommend you do since they’re damn good games, and the DLC for the first title contains canon events I didn’t know about since I didn’t play said DLC. If you don’t play ’em, at least be familiar with them.
The Technical State of New York
Preface: I played with Performance Mode on.
We’re going to start off with the technical state of the game, and while I don’t have much negative to say, I will shine a light on what I’ve seen/experienced.
Firstly, while my playthrough was relatively clean, some people have had their fair share of bugs. Some have been comical, Tofu-Man, and others have caused players to reload checkpoints, which is the category I fell in once or twice. I don’t think I’ve seen anything game-breaking, but I feel like I should mention this here to warn players bugs may occur.
Secondly, there are quite a few missing features here. No New Game Plus, no podcast collection, and the lack of changing the weather system are just a few absent features at launch. I’m sure this will get addressed, and while it doesn’t bother me, it might bother a few.
Now, as far as the game goes, it’s a graphical spectacle. Insomniac continues to pull out the absolute best from PlayStation consoles, and Spider-Man 2 is no different. The cutscenes in this game are so beautiful, with extensive love and care given to character models. Impressive lighting, incredible draw distances, visible damage being done to your suit in combat, and so much more highlight Insomniac’s efforts here.
Again, I have no idea how Insomniac manages to pull so much out of PlayStation consoles. I’ve spent countless hours raving about the team’s previous works, with Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart proving to be absolute graphical showcases.
I’ll drop more photos at the bottom!
New York’s Finest… x2
The first Spider-Man created a near perfect blueprint for a Spider-Man game, with high-flying combat, sneaky spider segments and an open world full of collectables and side quests to partake in. If you’ve played the first game, you’ll feel right at home, with Insomniac doubling down on these tenets….
Get it… since there’s two Spider guys?
I’m going to break it down into smaller subsections that way it’s easier to find what draws you in the most.
Combat and Stealth
Marvel’s Spider-Man introduced a near-perfect blueprint for Spider-Man combat as Insomniac created a high-flying combat formula, capped off with cinematic finishers and a handful of gadgets that could help out in a pinch.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales introduced a new layer, Miles’ Venom Powers. Miles doesn’t have the resources for gadgetry, but he made up for that with his powers, which created a faster pace of play as you relentlessly supercharge foes with Venom. Safe to say, Spider-Man 2 leans more towards the sequel’s gameplay loop of being faster.
Gone are the inventory systems you’d pull up to use different gadgets. Both Spider-Men have four usable gadgets in combat with no stoppage of time. Each also has a set of power abilities usable during combat, where holding L1 will pull up moves on a cooldown. It’s much faster and so much more seamless, I was genuinely in awe.
Heading into this game, I was a little nervous about how they’d handle Peter not having the same skillset as Miles, but it’s safe to say the reworked approach to combat brings him up to par. He also gets a sick boost from the Symbiote, with some of his moves looking very hard-hitting.
As for the villains, the enemy types here are your typical tropes: grunts, guys with weapons, guys with shields, etc. New enemy types do pop up to switch up the flow, such as Kraven’s Hunters who can use grappling hooks to navigate to height, or Brutes with shields who are assholes. There’s also a new parry mechanic that lets you block and counterattack foes with a well-timed block. You’ll need to master it and fast because you’ll get melted if you don’t. I played on Spectacular (Hard mode), and I died way more than I did in the previous two games combined.
Stealth is more of the same this time around, but since there are fewer gadgets, with the removal of the Trip/Remote Mines, you’ll need to think a bit more. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it’s more challenging.
Spider-Man 2 introduces the Web Line, a gadget that connects two points with a line of web you can traverse on. It breaks the stealth portions even more since you can tightrope anywhere and reach anyone without penalty. It’s freaking cool, but it makes it way too easy.
I know it seems like a silly complaint, but I wish the team would delve more into foes who’d challenge you in stealth, such as Thermal Vision baddies (who were present in Miles Morales btw). AI behavior has been improved, with foes doubling up the more you pick off, but they’re only minor compared to what I wish we would’ve gotten.
Open World and Traversal
Spider-Man 2 closely mirrors the open-world setup the first two entries created; New York is full of collectibles and side missions to partake in, along with crime that needs handling. It’s very familiar, somewhat to a fault, but I will say the plot points introduced in the side missions are some of the best I’ve experienced in these games. You’ve probably seen clips circling the internet, but you have to experience them.
That said, if you didn’t like the first two entries’ approach to open-world activities, you might not like this one. However, there are two big differences, and it’s two Spider-Men.
Similar to Grand Theft Auto 5, whenever you want, you can switch between both Spider-Men. It seems silly, but it’s cool, as you’ll switch to Miles, who’s chitchatting with a civilian. Switch to Peter, and a flock of birds made him drop his coffee.
Along with switching between both Spider-Men, you can run into them when you’re fighting crime. Head to a crime scene, and whichever you’re not playing as is present, cleaning up. You join in, clean up, and then go your separate ways after a solid handshake.
Much like the first game, you’ll gain XP you can invest in a skill tree. Each Spider-Man has a skill tree, but they also share one with added benefits to movement, air combat, and more. I enjoyed leveling up the skill trees since they were very creative, with a healthy mix of new and returning perks.
Lastly, I don’t know how they did it, but the traversal in this game is insanely fast. I thought the first two games were fast, but Insomniac juiced it up here. With the introduction of the Web Wings, which I loved, Super Slingshot and traversal speed upgrades, you’ll cover the map in seconds.
Insomniac’s Civil War
I won’t talk about the whole story, but I will talk about the parts I disliked. This may include spoilers so be wary.
Alright before you come at me, this is in reference to a quote Creative Director, Bryan Intihar, said regarding the narrative of the Spider-Man titles. He said:
“If Spider-Man 1 [was] like our Iron Man, and Spider-Man 2 was like our Civil War… Where logically do we go from there? It could be pretty epic.”
Looking back at the narrative of both “mainline titles,” his words make sense. Spider-Man 1 wasn’t an origin story; it was a lighthearted introduction to Insomniac’s version of Spider-Man, a more experienced version of the Web-Head, trying to find his way amidst relationship and life struggles. I probably described it poorly, but if you watched Iron Man 1 and watched the movies after it, you can feel the tonal shift.
We’re here at Spider-Man 2, and Intihar’s words hit home. The sequel’s tone is much more mature, this time encompassed by two Spider-Men. On one hand, Miles is struggling with college applications while balancing Spider-Man and his feelings of anger towards Martin Li, the man who killed his father. On the other hand, Peter’s trying to balance his relationship with MJ, finding a stable career (which includes massive house debt), and easing back his duties as Spider-Man.
These issues reach even greater heights when Kraven the Hunter arrives, a ruthless hunter in search of his last hunt, and then Venom. These two villains are ruthless in their pursuits, and while I liked how Insomniac portrayed them, I feel Insomniac missed a few swings here.
Spoilers start now.
Let’s start with the “lead” villain, Kraven the Hunter. He’s been the villain the game marketed the most, yet I feel like he was mishandled just a bit.
Kraven’s big spiel here is that he’s dying, so he wants to go out his way, aka the “last hunt,” where if he wins, the loser is too weak, but if Kraven loses, he gets a fulfilling death. He sees the Spider-Men as his opportunity to fulfill that goal, but before he fights them, he goes after the rogues from Peter’s previous fights: Rhino, Scorpion, Vulture, Shocker, etc.
I liked this concept, and there’s a cutscene where Kraven murders Scorpion, and I’m like, “Oh crap, this is happening.” Yet, the rest of the killings happen off-screen, making this plotline feel like an afterthought. You learn that he killed the others through an audio log and a makeshift prison, and I was left feeling a little bummed, as these are massive deaths told off-screen.
This leads me to our next bad man, Venom.
Venom and the symbiote were teased at the end of the first game, and we learn that it’s attached to Harry Osborn. After that, the rest is par for the course, as it jumps to Peter, makes him a bully, and then Peter removes it with the help of Miles.
That’s all fine, but what bothered me is when Venom appears, the game goes into overdrive. If Kraven was the climb, Venom was the astronomically fast-paced fall to earth as the game’s over just as quickly as he appears. I feel like there could’ve been more here to make this feel not as rushed as it felt while playing it.
It doesn’t help that most players hopped in expecting 15-20 hours of Venom, but that’s not here. Kraven’s that dude who got an A on the group project for not contributing anything, and while that’s not the case, it feels that way looking back.
Not going to lie though, Venom was cool as shit in this game.
Spoilers End.
Fancy Concluding Headline
I’ve run out of fancy headlines, and this post is incredibly long, so I’m sorry to ya’ll!
Overall, I think this game is phenomenal, and despite certain story elements feeling rushed, I think it sets up for some damn good future content. That said, I imagine Insomniac is taking the time to digest fan feedback, pass through updates and brainstorm what’s next.
The team has mentioned they might look into a Venom spinoff, which would be insane since his section was incredible. I’m hoping for some DLC that fills in the gaps since there’s easter eggs a plenty in this title, but until then, it’s back to the backlog I have to clean up.
But yeah, that’s Spider-Man 2. Does what a Spider can x2.
Let me know what you thought below, either here or on Twitter (I’ll never call it the letter before Y in the alphabet, sorry Elon).
Johnnysworld 