Back in 2018, Insomniac Games released the first Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4 letting gamers experience first hand what it feels like to be Spider-Man. In 2020, they released Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a side story about Miles’ experience of being Spider-Man. Now that Spider-Man 2 has been released for a while now, this is my review of Spider-Man 2. Before we get started, keep in mind that I have platinumed the game on Playstation 5, meaning I’ve done all the missions, gotten all the trophies the game has, and I’ve also played it on the second hardest difficulty due to the first hardest being locked until you beat the game once before.
Story
The overall story of the game was amazing. It brought back several villains of Spider-Man like Sandman, Kraven, Mister Negative, and the main antagonist Venom. This story of Spider-Man stands out for being unique and having more twists and turns that most Spider-Man fans would not expect. The player can enjoy the game more by playing the side stories to see where familiar characters like Wraith or Carnage come to play in a possible sequel to this game. This Spider-Man has one of the best stories told in its history.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to both Spider-Man games prior to this one. What makes it stand out is access to switch to either (Peter Parker or Miles Morales) Spider-Man. With the addition of Peter’s symbiote suit and robotic arms and Miles’ evolved venom abilities, this allows the player to change and customize the abilities of both Spider-Men to their liking.
They have also improved the mobility of the game by adding slingshots and web wings to go faster across the map. With the improved fast travel, the player can pick an exact location on the map and will be teleported there almost instantly. This one of the best free roaming Spider-Man games to exist.
Cons
Although this game overall is an amazing improvement to the Spider-Man franchise, some people believe that players were ripped off in some aspects of the game. For example, in Spider-Man 2 Peter has the symbiote surge that allows him to take out enemies also instantly, but it takes awhile for it to recharge after use. In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (that came out in 2008), the player can switch between Peter’s normal red suit or the black symbiote suit and has access to more stronger and powerful moves as long as he wears the black suit, which requires no recharge at all. Another example are the suits in the game. Although they added many new suits for both Spider-Men, most of them were in the previous two games and just copied on to this one.
The biggest red flag that most players do not like in this game are the Mj missions. Mj (Mary Jane) had her own set of missions in Spider-Man (Ps4) where the player had to sneak around enemies and uncover the story. In Spider-Man 2, Mj has those missions again but now with the ability to fight back. The developers thought giving Mj the ability to fight back would change players’ minds, but in reality players didn’t want them to be added into the game at all. However with all these cons, this game is still one of the best Spider-Man games to play.
Conclusion
My overall experience with the game was enjoyable. It brought back my love for Spider-Man and why he will remain iconic to Marvel. This game is nominated for Game of the Year of 2023 and has a solid chance of winning. Spider Man 2 has improved a lot from its first two games and with a possible third game on the way, Spider-Man won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
