Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Review)

Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Available On: PlayStation 5

Few games have been released with a greater sense of confidence than 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man. Insomniac Games (the studio behind Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, and more) crafted a stunningly detailed New York City that served as the ultimate playground for the friendly neighborhood Web-Head. From perfect controls that made web-swinging feel like an exhilarating dream, to a heartfelt story that truly captured the essence of the character, Insomniac proved they were the right team for the job. Following up with a smaller spin-off centered around Miles Morales at the launch of the PS5 in 2020 (along with a remaster of the first game), Insomniac then went on to release a brand new Ratchet & Clank adventure just a few months later, making a name for themselves as one of the fastest working studios in the industry. With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, it’s made apparent that Insomniac is using everything they’ve learned from the previous releases on the console to deliver an absolute showpiece that not only proves the power of the PlayStation 5 as a next-gen system, but the power of their team as well.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 finds our heroes in a rough spot. While Peter Parker and Miles Morales are still protecting the city of New York from the safety of their masked costumes, the responsibility they hold is starting to cost them heavily in their personal lives. Peter is struggling to keep a job and make ends meet, and the stress of the superhero gig is starting to get in the way of his relationship with his longtime love, Mary Jane Watson. At the same time, Miles is beginning to let his role as a Spider-Man come before everything else, including school, friends, and family. One of the major themes of the games is losing yourself and trying to find balance, and throughout the course of the story, we see several characters in different parts of that journey. For the most part, it does a terrific job of handling these themes, but as the story progresses and throws in more characters and plotlines it can begin to feel like there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Things eventually come together in a mostly satisfying manner, but I thought the first half of the game was a little unfocused and trying to do too much at once.

Of course, the other big thing story-wise is arguably what most people are going to be most looking forward to, which is Venom. As has been heavily shown in all of the trailers for the game, Venom plays a large role in this story, most notably in Peter’s arc. While Insomniac’s vision of the Spider-Man universe takes inspiration from the comics, films, and games that have come before, they’ve largely been their own thing. Sadly, I think the way the Venom storyline plays out is an exception, and ends up feeling too familiar to what’s come before. Don’t get me wrong, it’s done well and I think the performances in this game do it justice, but if you’re already familiar with this storyline you’re probably going to be able to predict how it plays out, although there are few twists and turns to keep things interesting.

Unfortunately, another one of the villains added in this game, Kraven the Hunter, is kind of boring. I understand he’s a fan-favorite villain from the comics and cartoons, but this was my first time experiencing a story with him in it and I found him underwhelming. He comes to New York to hunt the heroes, villains, and vigilantes that call it home, and minus one reveal about his character, I felt absolutely nothing whenever he was on screen. His whole schtick is “I love hunting” and while he does eventually play a part in the larger narrative he ultimately feels like a forgettable one-note villain. There are a few more iconic bad guys that show up, but the roster feels a lot smaller this time around, and most of the attention is directed towards Venom and Kraven.

I do want to clarify that while some of what I’ve said is a little negative, I still think this is a solid story and that the majority of the characters are still compelling. A lot of this comes down to the main cast that does a terrific job of selling the emotional weight of this story. Yuri Lowenthal brings the wit and morality of Peter Parker to life, making you laugh alongside him one minute and feel his compassion and pain the next. Likewise, Nadji Jeter is once again fantastic as Mile Morales, allowing his sensitivity, sense of community, and occasional awkwardness to shine. However, Laura Bailey might be the secret stand-out here, taking MJ to a place that practically puts her on the same level as Peter and Miles in terms of the danger and responsibility she has to deal with. Without giving too much away, Bailey captures the pain someone goes through while seeing a loved one hurt in a way that feels realistic and relatable. I don’t want to give too much away, but there are a few smaller roles (especially in side quests) that I found powerful, most notably one performance involving a man and his pigeons that made me tear up.

As for the actual gameplay, if you’ve played either the 2018 game or the Miles Morales spin-off, you’ll probably notice some familiarity with the systems and mechanics, although they’ve been polished to a fantastic degree. Web-slinging around town, beating up bad guys, and even sneaking around in stealth have all been greatly touched up and refined. Thanks to only releasing on the PS5, the game isn’t held back by older hardware and is able to take advantage of the PS5’s power to make this sequel feel like a true evolution. From a purely technical standpoint, this might be the most impressive game of the year. Fast travel is literally instantaneous (the map just zooms out and then zooms in to where you want to go), swinging speeds have been improved to let you move faster since the SSD can handle loading things in seamlessly, and the size of the map has been increased to include Brooklyn and Queens, giving you more room to play around in.

My personal favorite addition is the ability to swap between Peter and Miles at will. While there are a few certain points where you’re locked into a specific character for a mission, you can freely choose which Spider-Man you play as for most situations. Just like fast travel, swapping Spider-Men is blisteringly fast and zooms out and then zooms in on the map to wherever the other one is. What’s really fun about this is that sometimes whichever Spider-Man you aren’t playing as will suddenly show up and help you with a random combat encounter, letting you fist bump, hug, or do the classic “Spider-Man pointing” meme before parting ways. Being able to switch between them is a lot of fun, and since some activities found throughout the world can only be done by one Spider-Man or the other, being able to swap between them so efficiently makes exploring New York a breeze.

Combat and leveling are handled a bit differently than in the previous games, but it’s still just as fun. Since you can swap between Peter and Miles, you now have multiple skill trees to fill out instead of just one. Peter and Miles each have a skill tree centered around their unique abilities and attacks, but they also have a shared skill tree that upgrades their basic movement and combat abilities, such as how fast they can web-swing or what kind of techniques they can perform in a fight. Leveling up is really fast in this game, and it feels like you’re constantly unlocking new skills and filling out your trees. My only complaint is that since the rate at which you unlock things is so quick you just end up with everything without ever having to make a build or specialize for your playstyle. That won’t bother most people, but I would have liked to have to consider how I’m spending my skill points instead of having enough to blow through the skill trees easily.

Combat is largely similar to what’s come before, but when it’s this good there isn’t much you have to change. Most of what you’re doing in combat is punching and kicking enemies while dodging attacks and building up combos high enough to unleash finishers to take out enemies instantly. You can also swing around, wrap up enemies in webs, use gadgets to pull them together or blow them away, or use character-specific abilities like Pete’s mechanical spider legs and Miles’ invisibility. What makes combat so addicting is that the rhythm of attacks, movement, and dodging create a zen-like flow where you actually feel like Spider-Man taking down criminals and supervillains. Combat can be intense with goons swarming in from all sides, but once you get in the zone it’s hard to get out. I will admit that I’ve played a lot of games with this type of combat (previous Spider-Man games, the Arkham series, etc.)and feel super confident with it, but I do feel like as a whole this game is very easy. I played on the hardest setting available from the beginning and still mopped the floor with bad guys in most scenarios. This largely comes down to having a ton of abilities and gadgets at your disposal that allow you to gain complete control of the battlefield, but I also know this is a genre I have a lot of experience with, so that might not be the same for others. I’m not saying that to brag, but I think people with experience in 3D-action games like this are going to find it on the easier end of the spectrum.

Stealth is also fairly similar to the previous games, but there are a few new tools to play with. For starters, the ability to create perches out of webs virtually anywhere allows you to stay above everyone and pick them off one at a time without ever being detected. Sometimes you might have to cause a distraction to split a group up, but you can get through just about every stealth section with almost no real effort. The range at which you can perform takedowns has also drastically changed, allowing you to quietly wrap foes in a web from further away, or perform a flying kick that works as an instant takedown. The noise from the kick seems to make a lot less noise than in previous games, so you can either be loud or quiet without really worrying about breaking stealth. However, if stealth isn’t your cup of tea then don’t worry. There isn’t a single section where being alerted causes a game over or checkpoint restart. Just like the first game Mary Jane also has a handful of playable stealth sequences, but this time around she has a powerful stun tool that’s a one-hit knockout and makes her sections a cakewalk. Despite stealth being too easy, it’s still fun and I found methodically taking out bases of enemies to be a blast, even if there was no fear of being caught making me have to restart.

In between story missions, combat, and stealth, the way the open world works has also changed. While the freedom to explore is largely the same as what’s come before, this time around it’s all killer no filler. The amount of activities has been drastically pared down, as have the amount of each type you need to do for full completion. Every time a new side activity became available I would immediately go out and do each and every instance of it at once, and with the exception of one (timed combat challenges) it never took more than 30 minutes or so. There’s also a greater variety, with some optional content being one-off missions where you do something unique that you’ll never do elsewhere in the game. It also does a great job of parceling out all of this bonus content as the story progresses instead of bombarding you with a hundred icons at once, making it all feel easier to tackle and not as daunting.

Even if you decide to just go off and have fun without engaging in any content, there’s still a ton of fun to be had. The Web-wings are an absolute game changer (no pun intended) that allow you to build up speed while swinging around and then deploy them to glide great distances quickly. From the very first time I used them near the start of the game, I had a huge grin on my face. They feel so good to use that I found myself occasionally going off to just zip and glide around town because I could. I had a blast just looking for the tallest buildings I could find, getting to the top, and seeing how far I could glide when I jumped off. There are even wind tunnels throughout New York that you can glide into to keep your momentum going, allowing you to move from one end of the city to another insanely fast. It’s actually now impossible to imagine playing without them, and it makes the thought of returning to previous games feel a little less enticing. Combined with the thrill of web-slinging from building to building, I truly believe Insomniac has come up with the greatest feeling movement in video games, and playing around in this one feels like fulfilling my dreams of being a superhero as a kid.

Unfortunately, I did experience a handful of bugs that could occasionally get in the way of enjoyment. Twice I encountered a bug where I would get a new power, the game would put a prompt on the screen to do it for the first time, and nothing would happen. Time slows to a halt in these moments so you can do the move for the first time in a cinematic manner, but sometimes it wouldn’t register I was hitting the buttons, forcing me to do a checkpoint restart, although it would always work without a hitch after that. I also had a boss fight where the boss seemed to be spamming an attack they probably weren’t supposed to, found an enemy that fell through the ground and became impossible to take out, and I even got stuck in a giant wooden box at one point. These were all easily fixed with a checkpoint restart, but they were annoying and easily pulled me out of the experience for a minute whenever they happened.

Despite those issues, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is one of the best games I’ve played all year. It’s impossible to deny Insomniac’s love for this world and its characters, and nearly every aspect of the game is a delight. If you played the previous games and enjoyed them then you’re going to enjoy this one as well.
And lastly, thank you to my parents for gifting me this game for my birthday!

FINAL VERDICT

Insomniac have done it once again with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Playing as both Peter and Miles presents plenty of opportunities to delve into what makes each of them tick, and giving them both an emotionally resonant arc helps the story stay riveting from beginning to ending. While the main draw of this game is seeing Insomniac’s take on the Venom storyline, those who are already familiar with it from the comics, films, or elsewhere are probably going to find it a little predictable, even if it is told well. Regardless, refinements to combat, traversal, stealth, and the open world make this a tight and satisfying experience that easily stands as one of the best games of the year.

– Zack Burrows