Spider-Man is definitely my favorite superhero, and I absolutely love everything about the character since he was relatable to me than most other Marvel heroes. Growing up I played all the Spider-Man games I could get my hands, and it has been amazing seeing how great the newer games have gotten as technology continues to improve. So needless to say I was extremely excited to see Insomniac Studios (one of my favorite developers) being the next studio to take a swing with Spider-Man, and they nailed it. I didn’t get to review Marvel’s Spider-Man or Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but I did have fun doing the “Villains We Would Like to See” articles for each game. Luckily, I get the chance to review the very much anticipated sequel, so let’s get swinging.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 takes place only ten months after the events of the Miles Morales installment and it starts bombastically. Right out of the gate we are hit with one of the best action openings ever, right in the middle of Peter’s first day of being a physics teacher. Sandman is on a rampaging destruction spree and the Spider-Men have to team up to take him down. This entire segment was a fantastic way to introduce you in how the main segments of the game will be played: both Spider-Men teaming up and swapping who you control. It’s also a fantastic intro to some of the new mechanics with the gliding and slingshotting.

After the huge battle with Sandman, we get to settle down a bit and get into the main story beats for Peter and Miles. We get a bit more on the relationship with Peter and MJ (which I’ll go into more later), and Miles getting situated with school and being Spider-Man. We also get the introduction of Peter and MJ’s old friend, Harry Osborn, who is back in town and miraculously recovered from his terminal illness. There are long segments of them reconnecting and Harry letting us in on what he has been up to. These parts were fine, but they were really dragged out where you’re spending a lot of time biking around and sneaking through your old school. 

I don’t want to spoil main story beats, but from what is already known from trailers, obviously we find out that Harry has been “healed” because of a symbiote that we know as Venom. Venom being the massive destructive beast that he is, Kraven becomes infatuated with him for a real fight. This creates constant conflict and heart wrenching moments with Peter needing to destroy Venom, but at what cost? It’s really hard to go into a lot of detail without spoilers, but I will say that the main campaign story has some extremely high high’s, but then it also has some low low’s that I just didn’t care for.

A lot of the low’s do come from Mary Jane and her roll in the story, as well as her gameplay. For me, I felt she was actually worse in this compared to the first game. They use her in that typical superhero trope where they try to show that you don’t need super powers to be a hero, but it just doesn’t work here. While her gameplay segments do offer better gameplay this time around, narratively it feels out of place. Mary Jane takes out enemies easier and faster than the Spider-Men, and at one point she reacts faster than Peter and jumps in front of him to take a full punch from Venom. I just wish Insomniac found a better use for MJ than basically making her a superhero without a suit.

Some more low’s for me came from most of the side content. Spider-Man 2 definitely feels less bloated than the first one, which is fine, but the side content quality did not benefit from this. Too many times I was stopping the action and trying to find old people or helping Mile’s classmates do mundane tasks like take drone pictures of the school or ask someone to prom. The more exciting side content was Mysterio, but he was cut down to combat challenge missions, that besides the final fight, didn’t really offer anything mind bending. The best side story is The Flame, with missions that are clearly setting up some DLC, but that was about it.

I know I’ve been harping on the things that I didn’t care for, but let me say that the main story content is absolutely a blast. Besides a couple spots from MJ and some questionable writing for the Spider-Men, the rest of the story missions are the blockbuster over-the-top Spider-Man moments you’ve come to expect. I don’t want to ruin the main story content, but my recommendation if you’re feeling bored of the side stuff, just hop back into the main story. The way they handled symbiote Spider-Man and the tension it brought between Mile’s was really well done.

Ultimately, what really kept me hooked to Spider-Man 2 was the gameplay. The first thing you’ll notice is that there have been some refinements in the gadget system. There are less gadgets available, but I think this makes the gameplay smoother. You aren’t relying on opening up the gadget wheel all the time trying to select the one you need. Instead, they combined some of the effects of the gadgets into a single one and this allows you to stay in the combat uninterrupted while still having the fun of the previous gadgets. Other than that the general combat remains the same albeit with some new finishing moves and power moves to use in-between the Arkham styled combo moves. This isn’t a bad thing though, since Insomniac really nailed the acrobatic nature of Spider-Man’s combat from the start.

While the combat and gadgets have had some refinements that I think make moment to moment combat better, what really steals the show are the new movement mechanics. Yes, I’m talking about the gliding. Something that seems almost redundant for a character who already swings through a city at breakneck speeds, yet it is still so satisfying. Mixing the already fun web swinging with the gliding is truly a fantastic combination that really elevates the exploration. I’d say the only real letdown for the open world gameplay/exploration is that the city feels less active than the first game. It’s definitely more dense with cars and civilians, but I felt like there was less random crime events. Other than that, the gameplay/exploration is top notch and I’m interested to see how Insomniac even tries to top this.

Unfortunately, this is the part where I have to talk about the myriad of glitches and issues I had through my twenty-seven hours to platinum Spider-Man 2. Clearly they did not completely ruin my experience or keep me from wanting to platinum the game, but this has been the buggiest AAA game I have played in 2023 and it needs to be discussed. My issues ranged from soft locking the game because of locked animations, like not being able to stand back up from sitting on the bench at the carnival chapter. Glitches like random city activities just vanishing right in front of me as I approach them. Then there were the multiple times it fully crashed to the PS5 dashboard. These issues happened every time I played and it’s just not acceptable in a AAA game.

This glitch wasn’t game breaking, but it’s a good example of the frequent bugs I would run into.

Visually, Spider-Man 2 is a treat and New York has never looked better. There is certainly an overall increase in fidelity, as well as total civilian density that really adds to the bustling city. Character models all looks fantastic and for the most part the texture work is well done, despite some nit picking on close ups of the water during The Lizard section, everything looks really clean. Insomniac did decide to always have Ray Tracing of some level on for all graphical settings, which I think may have impacted some LoD loading with certain objects around the city. I do wish there was an option to turn off RT completely and really boost the draw distance and other effects even more. Small things aside, this is a gorgeous game.

Sound design is also exceptional, with great vocal performances throughout. Yuri Lowenthal yet again absolutely kills it as Spider-Man, and I absolutely love how both Peter and Miles adjust their voices to be strained if you’re web swinging or fighting while there is dialogue. It’s such a nice touch. The only voice over work that is a bit wonky is from the side characters and random thugs; sometimes the delivery isn’t great, but it certainly doesn’t ruin anything. The general sound effects are also really well done from the “THWIPS” of the webs to the various combat sounds, it’s all accurately detailed and sometimes over-the-top reflecting comic book action. That also goes for the soundtrack.

Spider-Man 2 is a sequel that is superior to the first game in a lot of gameplay ways, but also falls short in the narrative and writing. It’s a more streamlined experience that still offers a ton of blockbuster action, but then it hits you with some head scratching character decisions and pace killing side activities. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man then it is still an absolute must play game, and I would hope that at this point a lot of the issues I had while playing have been ironed out.

 

Graphics: 9.5 A visual spectacle that looks beautiful swinging and gliding through the city. No dynamic day/night cycle or weather system feels like a step back.	Gameplay: 10 Fantastic and responsive gameplay that has been refined from the first game.
Sound: 9.5 Voice acting for all of the main characters is fantastic, as well as the sound effects and soundtrack.	Fun Factor: 6.0 There are some very high high’s and some low low’s in the story beats. Unfortunately, bugs and crashes were rampant.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is available now on PlayStation 5.