Why have just one Spider-Man when you can have two? Enter a new wild adventure with Peter Parker and Miles Morales in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Since its inception in 1996, Insomniac Games has been an integral part of PlayStation Studios, producing groundbreaking games like Spyro the Dragon and Ratchet & Clank. They’ve never wavered from their commitment to making games that PlayStation fans love year after year. Apart from their Ratchet & Clank series, the Spider-Man series has been nothing but remarkable, with releases of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
And the wait is finally over, published by none other than Sony Interactive Entertainment, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is now available for fans to enjoy a sequel that has been talked about for a while. And it’s most certainly a blessing that we get to play as our friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man, once again. But wait a minute, why have one Spider-Man when players can have two? Not only are they playing with Peter Parker, but also his close friend, Miles Morales, and they will be fighting crime together and be greater together.
Five years since the Game of the Year contender, Spider-Man made its mark in the gaming world and cemented its legacy. And it’s expected that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 honours that legacy by being a greater successor. Or at least, just as great. They are relishing with delicious, eye-grabbing, and overall finer detailed visuals. And it’s not enough to just look at them; there’s the photo mode for players to capture picture moments.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 takes place ten months after the events of Spider-Man: Miles Morales. As both heroes try to balance between their personal lives and save the city, a number of villains await both web-slinging superheroes, including Sandman and the 19 inches of Venom. Sorry, but had to get in to lighten the mood a little.
As I was saying, with these many threats that lie ahead, it may be too much for even one Spider-Man to handle – so why not add another one into the mix to even things out? And they do say that two heads are better than one.
But the most significant threat, Kraven the Hunter, leads an army of hunters to take down any and every super-powered beings – including both Spider-Men. This is going to be a ride that players won’t ever forget. Players can toggle between Peter and Miles at any point when free roaming but are automatically swapped depending on the stages of the story.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has the most exciting, engaging, and best-written story, but it’s short. It hurts having to say this, but don’t expect to go on a very long ride with the main story. Thankfully, the side quests and activities are almost as thrilling and immersive and will keep players around with the game for much longer, even after finishing the story missions.
With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, you can do almost anything. Whether it’s to fight crime, save people from burning buildings, investigate fireworks, and much more. You’ll be kept busy throughout your experience in an incredibly large, open-world New York City environment. I say larger because players can now explore other boroughs in the city, such as Queens and Brooklyn.
But when you’re not saving New York City, you’re doing many other exciting activities such as puzzle solving and mini-games, including shooting hoops or even helping a student with their master plan to ask their significant other to a homecoming event. Also, did you know that in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, you can surf on water? Honestly, go to a river and check it out for yourself.
Peter and Miles’ abilities, gadgets, and suits have been expanded from the first Spider-Man and Miles Morales. They both have their own combat attacks, in which most of them can be unlocked by either progressing the story or purchasing them in the skill tree. Both Spider-Men’s gadget wheels have been upgraded to feature more mods for their web-shooter. One example being the ‘upshot’ that sends multiple enemies in the air, allowing players to perform air combos or yank them down.
Peter and Miles have their own unique skill trees in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and a shared skill tree that contains both of their abilities for players to unlock. Plus, brand new stunning unlockable spidey suits for Peter and Miles. And if players don’t want to take the scenic route, if they haven’t already, they can simply pay extra for the deluxe version and will get all available costumes without having to do all the grinding.
Peter’s special abilities feature four very long mechanical spider arms that unleash a series of different special strikes on enemies, such as the ‘spider barrage’ that involves producing a rapid wave of spider arm attacks. And Miles’ abilities feature venom specials, with the likes of the ‘venom punch’ that induces a fatal bioelectric punch. It can also apply venom stun to marked enemies and those that are right behind them. Honestly, this ability is lethal. Each of these abilities requires you to fill their bars by defeating enemies.
It gets crazier in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 when Peter Parker has his own abilities and inherits Venom’s powers after bonding with the symbiote, intending to affect Peter’s life negatively. And there are a few of the relentless extraterrestrial abilities you’ll love to see. Especially with the tendrils used for combat and his web-based abilities.
There are more additional melee combos, air combat, and finishing moves consisting of many exhilarating solo and duo takedown animations having enemies begging for mercy. Players will have to fill both Spider-Men’s focus bars to perform the finishers or heal themselves, as well as the spidey senses, which tingle either white or red to signal how close an enemy is to attack, which should prompt players to dodge.
There is a new ‘perfect dodge’ ability where if the spidey sense tingling is red, their Spider-Man will automatically shoot a web that’ll wrap their attacker, leaving them temporarily nullified. This seems quite similar to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s parrying mechanic. Still, the difference is that if the latter is executed perfectly, it’ll block their attacks, leaving them staggered, and players can follow it up with strikes.
When players are not fighting, they engage in other activities, such as stealth. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s stealth has taken things up a notch, as players are now able to perform stealth takedowns on two enemies simultaneously. Furthermore, Miles’ suit enables him to camouflage to avoid detection from enemies.
And there’s the new indicator that informs players on if and when it’s best to perform stealth attacks on enemies and will also advise on when it’s risky to do so. These are danger icons that are placed on enemies. If players perform stealth attacks on enemies with danger icons, then nearby enemies will be alerted and will completely blow your cover. This new feature encourages players to move strategically and take advantage of their gadgets.
As mentioned, Peter and Miles have new suits for traversal, and because of this, they come with an additional method of traveling. These are called web wings and can be upgraded, just other traversal abilities. Web wings are simply gliders that enable players to fly through the city.
That’s not all – for an increased thrill, players are able to switch between swinging and gliding – not only to get to destinations much faster but to help combat against enemies and specific boss fights. The speed of the web wing is significantly increased when players enter the blue-ringed areas surrounding the wind, called wind tunnels. Or if they go to vertical gusts of winds called updrafts, they propel players in the air.
But speaking of swinging in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, you’ll be happy to know that it’s better than ever – not just because there are more fluid and smoother swinging animations, but also because players can perform impressive tricks whilst airborne. There is a new setting that may be a hit or a miss, and web-slinging will be more realistic if players either choose to lower the unique web steering assistance setting or shut it off completely.
Let’s say that the setting is all the way down to zero. What’ll happen is that players will achieve better and more authentic movements when swinging. Situations such as more collisions with the ground if you’re near it and much more interruptions when near certain areas will occur with the new setting.
This new feature will give players the most accurate feeling of being Spider-Man, and that’s all that we want. But the only issue is that it can reduce the speed and momentum of your swings if you’re not more careful. And all of these facets beg the question of if realism is worth it.
But the much more concerning problems are the bugs and glitches. You can let Some of which slide, whilst others cannot be ignored, no matter how hard you try. There are reports of other issues that many other players have experienced, but this review will address the ones I’ve experienced personally.
Sometimes, a character’s voice doesn’t sync with the subtitles, or the voice doesn’t make a sound at all. Fortunately, either going to the main menu or shutting off the game “fixes” these problems. Moreover, there are instances when my character simply goes through an object. Now, these don’t necessarily affect the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 experience drastically, but most of these problems that occurred are definitely bothersome. It’s quite a shame that a game of this caliber has these many errors.
However, despite these problems, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is still arguably in the top 3 best games of 2023, the best Spider-Man game of all time, one of the best in modern gaming, and possibly one of the best games of all time. This is definitely five years worth the wait, and it’s great having to play one of the most iconic superheroes once again.
The story is short, but it’s amazing, and it features the best features in a Spider-Man game ever. But if you’re too fussed about the story’s length, you’ll also be very impressed with the exciting side quests and activities, combat, stealth, and plenty more, giving you the most actual experience of being Spider-Man. This is, hands down, Insomniac Games‘ most outstanding project.
