2018 brought one of the best games ever made with Marvel: Spider-Man, the game was spectacular and not only made an incredibly great game but also left room for sequels, In 2020 the sequel, Spider: Miles Morales released, and just like the first game continued having great gameplay and story, which led to further critical and financial success. After 3 more years Insomniac Games brings forth another sequel. Spider-Man 2 is the newest addition to the long-running and well-known Spider-Man video game franchise. Insomniac brings together both Peter Parker and Miles Morales to team up and fight villains together. The first two games are incredibly well made with a lot of passion for Spider-Man, with the newest installment it not only takes the amazing aspects of both previous games but it also improves upon it making it easily one of the best games of 2023.
Insomniac Games adds in some familiar characters from the Spider-Man universe. Two antagonists share the spotlight, Kraven the Hunter and Venom. Kraven’s goal is to become the greatest hunter in the world, so he decides to challenge New York’s greatest foes. One character that many fans have wanted shows up, Harry Osborn accompanied by a symbiote known as Venom who wants to “Heal” the world. Progressing through the game’s missions reveals well-known characters that most likely will make an appearance in future DLCs or a future game. These characters are essential to the story and leave a major impact.
The game provides a spectacular story for anyone playing. Peter and Miles both have to deal with New York’s issues, whether it’s fighting a villain or helping the citizens with everyday problems. When they’re not helping the city, the heroes must focus on the personal issues they struggle with. Peter has many financial problems since he can’t keep a job while also having to disappear to save the city. Miles’ issues revolve around writing an essay for college and maintaining good personal relationships because, like Peter, also has to focus on saving the city. Both Spider-Men end up taking on Kraven, who loves battling strong enemies for sport. Kraven brings the attention of the Spider-Men after taking down their other villains. After Kraven starts noticing the Spider-Men more, he decides to make them his next target. Another Major villain comes with the return of Harry Osborn and a developing symbiote issue in New York. Peter and Miles fight to resolve this and many other issues, and many things go down.
In Spider-Man: Miles Morales, new animations were introduced for swinging, making Miles’ style as Spider-Man different from Peter’s, Spider-Man 2 similarly introduces new animations, for both characters. These new animations give more personality to Peter and Miles as they swing through the city, mingle with NPCs, or stand idly. The game is also visually beautiful, with the power of the PS5 allowing for much more realistic and stunning visuals, the night sky is entrapping while the day gives additional satisfaction by soaring and swinging through the streets of New York. The map has also been extended by introducing Queens and Brooklyn as new exploration locations, both are large areas that contain a lot of missions, collectibles, and side quests.
With a larger map, some changes had to be implemented to traverse the map faster. What was introduced was a much better fast travel system as well as a character-switching system that instantly takes the player to whoever and wherever they want to be. The other change was with the swinging mechanics. To create faster movement, web wings have been introduced to glide around the city, accompanying the wings comes the slingshot. To create more speed the Spider-Men will launch themselves through the air which can then be transitioned into the use of web wings. The new mechanics not only make the already amazing swinging even more fun but they also create an incredibly fun time for the player to mess around with the abilities outside missions.
It wouldn’t be a Spider-Man game without combat, and Spider-Man 2 brings a lot to the table. Miles’s abilities are similar to his own game however there’s much more room for combos. Peter has much fewer gadgets compared to the first game, however like Miles, many new attacks can be utilized. However, Peters’s abilities do not end with basic Spider-Man powers, with the introduction of Venom, new special attacks have been introduced that deal heavy damage once he latches onto Peter. Venom creates a lot of fun gameplay, not only through Peter but as himself. Throughout many sections of the game, the player takes control of Harry Osborn, who possesses the symbiote before Peter. In the sections you play as Venom who battles with many who want to capture him.
A major issue with the 2018 game was the inclusion of Mary Jane, specifically the missions revolving around her. The Mary Jane levels in the 2018 game were mostly stealth missions, really bad stealth missions, however Spider-Man 2 changes things by giving Mary Jane fewer missions and giving her more to do within those missions. Mary Jane now carries one of Silver Sable’s stun guns that allow her to take down enemies making her gameplay incredibly fun, especially in comparison to the 2018 game.
On the Miles and Peter aspects of the game, new characters have been introduced and many returned to create a lot of fun missions. Like beating Mysetrios Challenges, stopping street gangs, and amazing side missions with likable characters from the previous games.
While the runtime is short with only 16 hours of main story gameplay, the game manages to compile a lot without it being too much to take in. Spider-Man 2 is an amazing sequel, taking everything that worked in the first games and bringing more while introducing so many more new things. The Score for the game is stellar, as well as the voice acting, with some of the best of the year and all time. Spider-Man 2 is not only a great game but also an amazing story with a lot of heart put into it by the developers.
