Intro

”Marvel’s Spider-Man 2”, made by Insomniac Games,  is the third game in the series following “Spider-Man” and “Spider-Man: Miles Morales.” It expands heavily on the previous games by continuing the story of Peter Parker and Miles Morales with new changes to the map, gameplay, and many other things while still feeling familiar and new. The game is great overall, with jaw-dropping moments of quality. 

The game starts off with a big opener with a fight against Sandman. In a big chase through the city, the player can instantly see how the web swinging has been improved compared to the previous games with brand new tricks and overall smoother and faster speed. During the mission, the player is introduced to some new mechanics and brand new abilities including the spider arms for Peter and the highly requested Web wings.

Graphics

Since Spider-Man 2 is exclusive to the PS5 and no longer being held back by the PS4 like its predecessors, it doubles the size of the map from the first game by adding Brooklyn, Queens, and even Coney Island. The SSD of the PS5 makes the traversal faster and smoother with instant fast travel, super fast loading, and being able to seamlessly transition from Peter to Miles is very similar to switching characters in “Grand Theft Auto V.”

The graphics for “Spider-Man 2” are outstanding with improved realistic models, textures, and ray-traced reflections. Something I noticed while swinging through the city is how buildings reflect other buildings which helps the city look more real and less like a video game world. Along with some other small changes like added pedestrians and more vehicles on the road making the city look more alive. 

Gameplay

The cutscenes in the game are amazing with phenomenal voice acting and action sequences. Yuri Lowenthal, the voice actor for Peter Parker, does an amazing job portraying him especially after he gets the symbiote. His voice is much more rough and aggressive as the symbiote slowly takes over his mind. Another good voice actor is Mark Rolston in the role of Norman Osborn. His performance portrayed a lot of deep emotions like sorrow, especially after what happens in the story.

The game features 68 suits inspired by movies, comics, and TV shows while also having some original designs and even bringing back some classic suits from the previous games. With 34 suits for Peter and 34 for Miles, over half of them have Edit Styles that let you change the color and shading of the suit. These suits can be unlocked by completing certain missions or buying them with Tech parts and city tokens. In “Spider-Man 2” the symbiote suit for Peter is finally introduced after being highly requested since the release of the first game. The symbiote is first shown with Harry Osborn as his ”cure” for the sickness he had in the first game.

Story

Things you can expect in the sequel are more iconic Spider-Man villains like Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, Venom, and much more. The thing about Spider-Man 2 is that it features more than one main villain which I think keeps it interesting and leaves the player expecting more. 

Spider-Man 2 takes place around 10 months after “Spider-Man: Miles Morales“ which was an origin story for Miles after he got bit by a radioactive spider just like Peter in the first Spider-Man game. In Spider-Man 2 they work together in saving the city with the option to play as both of them. Both Spider-Men have different abilities: Miles has venom electricity and Peter has access to Spider-Arms. I found myself playing more as Peter in the game, his abilities and suits were more interesting.

There are a number of side missions in the game, with the quality of the missions being very good on average. There is a side mission in the game which is incredibly sad and genuinely made me gasp the first time I completed it. Avoiding spoilers, a mission involving Howard from the first game ended with a really emotional moment. Definitely the saddest thing in the game.

The writing in the game seems both predictable and unpredictable at the same time as the symbiote story for this game follows something similar to the movie ”Spider-Man 3” where Peter gains the symbiote and it slowly takes him over which makes him stronger but also very aggressive, arrogant and violent. There are several cutscenes in the game where I’m just in shock by the actions Peter takes during this story, and even several times where I have had to pause the game to comprehend what’s happening. The game makes you feel for the characters in many different ways, especially with Harry, Norman, MJ, Miles, and Peter.

There are missions specifically for Peter, and Miles, and some that can be started by both of them. Spider-Man 2 brings back the “MJ Missions“’ which were hated by the community in the first game for feeling slow and boring, but in Spider-Man 2 these missions feel fun and stealthy with the added ability of a taser and the option to sprint. There is also a certain segment in the story where you can play as Venom and just go on an absolute rampage. It takes nearly 15 hours to complete the main story and around 30 hours for 100% completion.

Glitches

Many people have reported glitches in the game such as subtitles being delayed or on rare occasions where Spider-Man doesn’t load properly and is just a floating white cube, and other reports of clipping through buildings and softlocks. There are also glitches that make the game easier like the glitch that allows you to launch yourself across the map or skip certain challenges. Personally, I think the cube glitch is funny but I see how it could ruin gameplay, especially in important cutscenes or battles. Overall, I did experience some glitches during my 27 hours of gameplay, but not enough to ruin the experience.

Conclusion

Overall, Spider-Man 2 definitely seems like the best in the series so far when comparing each game side by side. The game is so good that it makes the previous games look slow and old. I’ve had so much fun playing Spider-Man 2 and definitely recommend it, especially for any Spider-Man fans. If I had to give it a rating it would probably be a solid 9.5/10 which definitely seems high but I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this amount of fun playing a video game.