With great power comes great responsibility! Spider-Man 2 gives you a chance to live through not one but two of Spider-Men’s powers and responsibilities. Is it worth it? Here’s a quick “Before You Buy” review of it.
Insomniac is back with yet another Spider-Man game, following the original 2018 Spider-Man and the spin-off game Miles Morales, which were full of excitement. Insomniac had the difficult task of overpowering those two with Spider-Man 2, and the question becomes what else could be added to make it better? Well, its answer is to double Spider-Man, double the size of the map, and double the explosive action. Here’s a review before you buy without spoiling much of the game to keep your experience as thrilling as possible.
Key takeaways
- Story Description
- Combat and Skills
- Villains and Final Boss
- Conclusion
Storyline
Spider-Man 2 takes place just a few months after Miles Morales, so the story starts with two, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, in full swing together, with the main story mission being broken up with the game asking you to go out in the city and play open world. An interesting addition is the fact that on the fly you can swap between the two during open world.
It’s filled with a lot of the standard stuff we have already seen, hidden collectibles, taking down enemy bases, and stopping car chases but things have been shaken up to feel less repetitive. Aside from the usual stuff, there are compelling side missions this time too, which are often simple, light-hearted, and sweet. They have their own stories and are specified to one of the Spider-Men, with few familiar faces and a couple of surprises.
There is also a return of Harry Osborn, Peter’s old bestie, and of Mary Jane just thrown into a few generic sections that were not much of a standout, unlike the previous game which had a good MJ character arc. It’s not a huge part of the game, but it was a negative.
Gameplay
Combat-wise, it is pretty similar to the last one with a few new tricks and power abilities. Whether you are Peter or Miles you are able to use powers with great effect, zipping up enemies in the air, stun-locking them, etc. Miles has the ability of on-the-fly use of spidey gadgets and a big cinematic electric wave that clears the map while Peter is dependent on his spider arm tech or symbiote suit powers. The symbiote suit feels really cool at first but then becomes a bit of a problem for him.
The rhythm of precision dodges, the new perfect parries are made so you’re not only swerving and striking now, and acrobatic finishes are hugely satisfying as is chasing high-hit combos to keep the fight as stylish as possible.
Moving onto unlockables, the skill trees are solid this time around. Where other things are streamlined, the process of unlocking and upgrading is a bit more in-depth. Peter and Miles get their own separate skill trees to work through, both with their own branches into different avenues for their respective abilities. They do have a collective shared tree too and the main thing you get out of this tree are some new abilities and upgrades. There’s also a suit tech tree for the characters, that you can dump open-world exploration stuff into – health upgrades, damage upgrades, etc.
Villians
Avoiding spoilers, of course, the basic premise revolves around Kraven the Hunter who is, well, craving a hunt. For those not familiar with the character, he’s essentially the predator, an apex hunter blessed with super strength who has chosen New York as his next hunting ground. Other than him we’ve got Venom who plays a great role in the game, Sandman too makes his presence felt, Mr. Negative is back, and a few other adversaries from the previous titles too to make Spidey’s life more interesting. There are several other minor villains and vigilantes like Scream, Grizzly, Wraith, etc. All of these add up to make the side missions really exciting to play through and not something that you have to do but want to do.
Conclusion
As a sequel to a spectacular series, Marvel Spider-Man 2 is both blessed and cursed. Its story of two Spider-Man is a great time and a spidey fan’s dream to play through as comic book pages are brought to life. They did a really good job weaving Miles into a Spider-Man story, without making it feel like he’s a side character, involving these classic villains, and shaking things up a bit while also keeping the relationship between Miles and Peter interesting. Insomniac found a successful formula of combat and web-swinging without changing either in major ways, making them comfy and familiar with just enough new tweaks and abilities to elevate them to fun new heights.
