Gaming Ramble Weekly

When it released in 2018, Spider-Man was a truly remarkable achievement from Insomniac, capturing the magical feeling of swinging through New York in a game that didn’t just play well, but was by far the greatest looking Spider-Man game the industry had ever seen.  Ask most superhero fans who their top 3 would be, and I would wager that Spider-Man sits in about 90% of people’s rankings.  There’s something so relatable about Peter Parker as a character that makes it easy to immediately root for him, not just as Spider-Man, but as the man himself.  In 2018’s outing, Insomniac delivered a Spider-Man that captured the fantasy of being Spider-Man, while also delivering a far more compelling story than anyone thought was possible.

Following that, Miles Morales released alongside the PS5 in 2020, scratching the itch for more Spider-Man goodness, while also setting up Miles’ story before Spider-Man 2.  Spider-Man 2018 acted as Miles’ origin story, introducing his relationship with his Father, who would ultimately die during the City Hall bombing, setting up Miles’ “Uncle Ben moment”, before he would even be bitten by the radioactive spider.  Spider-Man Miles Morales would then allow the player to gain a deeper insight into Miles’ character, as well as his Spider-Man alter ego.  

With Spider-Man 2, Insomniac were bringing both Spider-Men together, and both were announced from early to be playable characters, making Miles Morales an essential play for anyone who was planning on picking up Spider-Man 2.  With Venom being a key part of the advertising for this game, hype was extremely high in the lead up to this game’s released, and with great hype comes great responsibility.  Having finished the story of Spider-Man 2 and all of the side stories, I come to you today with my review of PlayStation’s biggest release of 2023.

One of the first phrases that comes to mind after finishing Spider-Man 2 is “bigger and bolder”.  This game expands on everything from the first two games and does more, and in pretty much every instance, does it better.  The world is bigger, combat is flashier and more rewarding, the side stories bring more life to New York and are more fleshed out, and there is just more to do (and I say that positively).  Some of the set pieces in this game would finish pretty much any other game in existence, and the first 45 minutes in this game had me wide-eyed and in awe of what Insomniac were going for with the story.  The gaming industry is filled with hyperbole, but I promise you when I say that for me, the introduction to this game is undoubtedly the most impressive for me in any game I can remember.  This story starts with a bang, but often relies on its biggest and flashiest moments to carry the player from act to act.  Let’s break this down into three areas: Story, World, and gameplay.

“One of the first phrases that comes to mind after finishing Spider-Man 2 is ‘bigger and bolder’.”

Story

I’m not going to give any spoilers for this game’s story, other than mentioning characters that we already knew would feature from trailers and gameplay presentations and discussing some of the relationships this game investigates and develops.  In short form, I think that Insomniac have once again proven that they can deliver a compelling and at times, deeply emotional Spider-Man story that I feel are better stories than those told for the character in the MCU (my caveat here is that games have much more time to tell a story than a movie).  Most interesting for me was how both Spider-Men were presented, especially with both being at different stages of life (this is immediately highlighted in the first two minutes of the game) and how the relationship between the two develops as the story progresses.

This game is very much a Peter story, he is central to the main pillars in this story, and the majority of the focus is on the struggles he is facing as a 25 year old.  For both, the responsibility of being Spider-Man weighs heavy on their personal lives.  Often we are shown instances of them living their everyday lives, before having to quickly excuse themselves to sort another problem in the city.  The introduction of Harry back into Peter and MJ’s lives adds another wrinkle into Peter and Miles’ relationship and allows us to explore a bit more of Peter’s character as a teenager, while Peter and MJ are in a much more committed and serious relationship now, with Peter wanting MJ to move into Aunt May’s with him.

These core relationships result in a highly emotional and tense finale to the game, and the settings of the final sequence add all the more to the tension.  I won’t go into details just now, but this impacted me more emotionally than the final acts of the previous two games, and shows that Insomniac knows how to craft a well told story that hooks you in and tugs on all your emotions.

Where the story really struggles for me, is with one of the main antagonists in this game, Kraven the Hunter.  For me, he is largely uninteresting and really only comes across the Spider-Men initially by chance, and for me, he acted as a placeholder until Venom’s arrival.  The biggest difficulty I had was that the fight between Kraven and the Spider-Men never felt personal.  Where Insomniac’s first outing delivered so many iconic villains, these also felt personal.  Shocker, Vulture, Rhino, Mr Negative and Doc Oc all had problems with Spider-Man (let’s not mention Sable, that was a strange part of that game…), but Kraven was really just coming to New York to hunt these villains, and the Spider-Men got involved and made themselves targets.  Even the climax of the rivalry felt more like a placeholder before the main event.

The last three hours of this story are absolutely INSANE, and I mean that when I say it.  Venom is genuinely terrifying and a brilliant brilliant antagonist, his spawn as regular enemies are difficult to fight and also pretty terrifying, and the overall story is compelling and gut-wrenching.  There were moments in this final act where my mouth was open in awe, and I played the final act in one sitting.  I could not pull myself away to stop.  The introduction of Venom brings the biggest legitimate threat in the game, and its (his?) presence feels like a threat to New York as a whole.  The pace of the game quickens and I found myself playing out the story as quickly as possible, almost as if I needed to.  However, even during this final act, there are moments where the game pauses as Spider-Man “sees what else needs solving in the city”.  I understand why these breaks are mandatory in the game, but in this final act it completely destroys the pacing as well as breaking the immersion in the story.  Would Spider-Man really go hunting for Spider Bots while Venom tears the city apart?  I’m not so sure.

The conclusion of this game is extremely satisfying, and as the player you feel rewarded for your efforts in finishing this game and playing through the story from the final scenes.  All in all there’s about 15 minutes of cut scenes to round out the game and the acting performances all round are quite superb (Yuri Lowenthal as Peter is a particular highlight throughout the entirety of the game’s playtime).  The game ends with two post credit scenes, both of which tease the story of Spider-Man 3 and set-up what is likely to be a thrilling finale to Insomniac’s Spider-Man story.

World

While very very familiar, New York as a setting continues to deliver fast and exciting traversal and provides an iconic backdrop for an iconic character.  A lot of the chatter online would say that New York as a setting almost acts as a core character of the game.  It’s familiarity makes it easy to navigate and enjoy, while also maybe lacking in a newness that often helps a sequel in packing a punch.  The addition of Brooklyn and Queens is a welcome one, however these do very little in adding a “newness” to the city.  No region really feels much different to the other, the biggest exception is probably Astoria, where Peter lives.  This is a much more residential area than the others, but for me was nothing more than window dressing.

The side activities around the world continue in the same vein as the previous titles as tick box exercises, however these do offer much more depth and can feel more rewarding when completed.  The game does a great job of introducing each of these activities in early parts of the story, giving them an added level of importance, and as you complete each activity, you begin to unravel a through line that adds a bit more intrigue to completing these tasks, rather than doing so just to get rid of a number on a checklist.

The biggest improvement to the world is the side stories told within it, bringing more life to the city and showcasing different elements of both the characters of the Spider-Men.  Miles has a set of favours that he completes at his school, and as Spider-Man he is named early as their official hero.  Helping fellow students out while also trying not to give away his identity gives a nice change of pace to the game, as well as deepening our connection to Miles and those closest to him, Ganke and Hailey.  Peter has a great side story that I won’t give away, but what I will say on this is that this group he tracks down and is up against genuinely feels like more of a threat to New York than Kraven and his hunters, which ultimately added to my disappointment of Kraven as a character. 

Gameplay

How good a Spider-Man game is, is largely dependant on how well it plays, and this is an absolute joy to pick up and get stuck into.  Graphically, this game is stunning, and feels like one of the first games to truly utilise the power of the PS5.  The Dualsense is used in a way that very few games have managed to tap into, and the fast travelling in this game completely blew my socks off.  I can’t think of a time that I’ve seen it done as fluidly as it’s done here.

Traversal is still exciting and enjoyable, and really nothing beats swinging through New York at high speeds while the world moves slowly beneath you.  The addition of the web wings allows for higher speeds to be achieved and adds a breath of fresh air to what was already a brilliant traversal system.  Catapults are also scattered around the city, which gives the Spider-Men a launch point into the city at high speeds, adding a new level of exhilaration to the gameplay loop.  Overall, all of these improvements and additions will likely make going back to the original Spider-Man a bit more difficult and make the traversal feel primitive.

“Traversal is still exciting and enjoyable, and really nothing beats swinging through New York at high speeds while the world moves slowly beneath you.”

One of the biggest improvements for me is undoubtedly the combat.  At times, I felt that combat was a bit repetitive in the previous titles, and “button-mashy” in nature, often mindless.  Some of that does remain here, but with character animations improved, and a wider variety of finishing moves, combat feels much more rewarding.  A huge quality of life improvement comes from “special moves” triggered using L1, and gadgets triggered using R1, adding to the fast-paced and frantic nature of the combat.  Both Peter and Miles have their own unique power-ups, with the story adding more and more interesting special abilities that continue to be introduced right up until the penultimate mission of the story.  The biggest compliment to the style of combat is how strong the game allows you to feel from the very beginning, and then expands upon your powers throughout.

Enemy variety is improved upon with a wider variety of moves for you to memorize, and the addition of the parrying mechanic rewards the player for good timing and creates openings in busy combat encounters.  No longer does combat rely on spamming the O button to dodge, but careful examination of enemies and their moves.  Combat definitely feels more difficult here, but in a way that requires players to improve upon the use of the gadgets they have available to them, and pick and choose where and when to use abilities.

Boss fights are greatly improved from the previous titles, and have a wide variety of strategies and settings to overcome them. The biggest fights have up to four phases, each of which get more and more difficult as it goes.  I will not spoil any of these, as you definitely need to experience these for yourself, but I do have one major criticism that I want to mention briefly.  There are two fights in particular where Peter spends his time pleading with the boss in a way that, to me, lacks sense, and completely took me out of the fights.  I spent my time getting frustrated with the game, feeling that Peter’s totally serious dialogue didn’t make sense in the moment.

Verdict

Spider-Man 2 is a hugely ambitious title that Insomniac have, in almost all departments, managed to knock out of the park, delivering a game bigger and better in scope compared to the previous titles in the series.  The story, while emotional and impactful, suffers at times from a poor antagonist in Kraven and some poor pacing moments.  It is clear that this is the middle chapter in a mainline trilogy of games, and so at times, it feels as though there is a lot of set-up that doesn’t yet get paid off (one of the side stories ends with Peter telling an unnamed companion that he will be ready for the next stage, whether that be in a few months or a year’s time).  An intriguing conclusion sets up what is likely to be a thrilling final installment, and there is plenty to look forward to in Insomniac’s Spiderverse.  Combat has improved greatly, and side activities, while divisive, help to spend some time in a very well crafted, and alive New York.

My Rating: 9/10