4.5/5 ★ – UpwardBoss's review of Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Okay let's talk about how I handle spoilers in this review. I do not spoil what hasn't been revealed already in trailers. I *do* talk about the events of the game in the context of the overall narrative structure, meaning using the parts that have been revealed in trailers, I talk about the overall pacing of the game and what part of the story is used at what point. Some will consider that a spoiler. But for the critiques I have of the narrative it's frankly unavoidable. Make your own judgment as to whether you read on or not. So, with that in mind, SPOILER WARNING. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is Familiar, But Still Fantastic. I consider the first Marvel's Spider-Man game my favourite game of all time. Spider-Man: Miles Morales was a worthy followup to that game, even if it was incredibly similar to its predecessor. So naturally, I was incredibly excited for Spider-Man 2. And... it delivers, with significantly improved traversal, combat, and a much larger open world. BUT... I have mixed opinions on the story, its technical state leaves a lot to be desired, and it's a very safe sequel in many regards. Let's start with what they improved the most. Spider-Man 2 has the best traversal in gaming. The first two Spider-Man games already had excellent traversal, but Spider-Man 2 adds web wings, and being able to glide across the city is incredibly fun. Adding the ability to jump and dash, and mix those abilities with web wings and web swinging, makes traversal in Spider-Man 2... pure bliss. Combat is also much improved, with new powers for both Peter and Miles, including Black Suit symbiote powers for Peter. These powers significantly help spice up combat, and are incredibly fun to use. Enemy encounters are also much improved here, with improved boss fights and a parry mechanic that gives you more ways to defend yourself. On a technical level... this game feels like it was rushed out a few months before it was ready to take advantage of holiday sales. While far from unplayable by any means, it's significantly less polished than the previous games. Most of the bugs I encountered were visual glitches or minor mission bugs that could be fixed by reloading a checkpoint. Annoying, but never game breaking. I did, however, have 3 crashes. And for a game that takes less than 30 hours to get the platinum trophy (more on that later) that is... not great. Graphically, the game looks fantastic in certain areas, while also looking a bit worse than Spider-Man Remastered (and the Miles Morales game) in others. In particular, the Sandman sequence that opens the game looks... really bad in certain areas. Other parts of the game look great though, including the details of the open world and the main environments in later missions. Facial animations are a mixed bag, with Peter, Miles, and Kraven the Hunter having very detailed animations, while characters like Mary Jane and Harry Osborn's facial animations look downright unfinished. The game really feels like it needed a few more months of polish to iron these issues out. The good news is performance is rock solid, hitting a flawless 60 FPS in performance mode (which I obviously played on because... why on earth would you play at 30 FPS if you can avoid it). I only had a frame drop *once* and it was in a cutscene. Gameplay performance was rock solid. I adored the story of the first Spider-Man game. As a longtime fan of the character, Insomniac adapted Spider-Man faithfully while also being unafraid to take risks and surprise the player. The decision to focus the majority of the game on Mister Negative, a relatively new villain, helped make the narrative feel fresh, and the twists of the third act were pulled off brilliantly. When it comes to Miles Morales, I enjoyed it as an origin story, and the characterization of Miles was superb, but the lack of villains and short length meant it didn't really connect with me as much as the first game did. I... have mixed opinions on the story in Spider-Man 2. The characterization of Peter and Miles continues to be superb, the parts of the game focusing on Kraven the Hunter are *superb*, the voice acting is fantastic all around, and I liked the Black Suit arc where the symbiote was corrupting Peter (while it lasts). However... there are some serious pacing issues here. You don't get the Black Suit until about halfway through the game, Venom doesn't turn up until the final act, and the story of the Black Suit corrupting Peter is over almost as soon as it starts. It feels like parts of the main story were removed entirely. As I said before though, the first half of the game focusing on Kraven the Hunter is incredibly compelling, with Kraven being a genuinely formidable foe (although some of Kraven's story happens off screen, which is disappointing). The relationship between Peter and Harry Osborn, while very familiar to previous adaptations (in particular the Sam Raimi movies), is very compelling and it's incredibly well acted by both Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker and Graham Phillips as Harry Osborn. The final act of the game however, and the one shown off most in trailers as it focuses on Venom, feels very rushed, and it could've used more time to develop both Venom himself and the conflict with the Spider-Men. Also the boring Mary Jane missions are back from the first game. While slightly improved here, they're still very basic and, frankly, uninteresting. If I am playing a superhero game, I do not want to be playing as someone that does not have super powers. Side note here, why on earth are these games so short? I could understand it with the first Spider-Man, as that game was Insomniac's first attempt at making a game like this. While the Miles Morales game was even shorter, that game was marketed as a spinoff that was smaller in scope. Spider-Man 2 is... a full sequel, marketed as such, and it's no longer than the first game is. The main story is about 10 hours long, and it took me 28 hours to get the platinum trophy. For how good these games are, it's a shame that the main story of each one is, at most, the length of two Call of Duty campaigns. The open world of New York City is twice as big as in the last two games, with Brooklyn and Queens now explorable. This is great, as it adds more variety to the open world and provides you with a bigger playground for traversal. However, the side content isn't improved from the first two games at all. One of my biggest criticisms of the first game was its boring, mundane open world side content. How this hasn't been addressed, five years later, is utterly beyond me. There's very few actual side missions, and the vast majority of side content is boring, monotonous enemy bases and collectibles. This leads to a larger point that is probably my biggest criticism of the game. It plays it far too safe. It doesn't take any major risks in the main story, doesn't fix some of my biggest critiques of the first game (a game that, again, is my favourite game of all time) and largely coasts on the success of its predecessor. The largest improvements are in regards to combat and traversal, and those are welcome improvements, but 5 years later, I really expected more risks to be taken, more improvements to the game's faults, and a longer length to the overall experience. It's so safe, in fact, that *multiple times* when I was streaming, I said "I haven't played this game in two years" completely unintentionally, only afterward realizing I meant the first game and Miles Morales... not the new game that had just come out. This has been a very critical review in a lot of aspects, so let me be unequivocally clear at the end here. I love this game. I do. I think it's a blast to play, the story (while rushed and underdeveloped at points) is compelling and engaging, and the improvements to traversal and combat are very welcome. But I also think it's important to be critical of the negative aspects of the games you love, because if no one criticizes what's *not* done well, nothing will improve. And, frankly, I think this is a bit of a step back from its predecessor, with a weaker story, a lack of innovation, and a lack of polish. But this is still a *very* good video game, and I strongly recommend it. 9.5/10.