I originally wanted to wait until the NG+ update was released before talking about this game's story, but given that it's probably not being released for a while and I've had a month now to reflect on my thoughts about the game I just wanna write about it.
As a lifelong spider-man fan, I love this game. I had a big grin on my face throughout the entire time playing it and no matter what I end up saying about the story, that doesn't change how much I enjoyed playing through it.
Starting with the positives, technically this game is great. It really feels like it was designed with the PS5 hardware in mind and warrants being on the new system.
Almost everything from a gameplay perspective also feels like a step up from the first game. The swinging feels even better, the new movement options are all fun and being able to pulls off long movement and trick chains to keep your speed and momentum just feels really good.
I also think the non spider-man missions were a lot better than in the first game. For the most part, they all felt faster paced while still making you feel vulnerable to whatever threats you had to deal with. I think they're spaced out well enough and fit within the story to not completely detract from the spider-man play style and it feels like they're designed in a much more open ended way that would allow you to just run through them and get them over with if that better matches your play style. By the end of the game Mary Jane feels like a resident evil character, and I mean that in a good way.
I'm kind of mixed on the combat. For the most part it still feels good, with the symbiote combat in particular feeling perfect. My biggest issue is with the gadgets. For the most part, they just felt like a step down from the original game and I found myself missing my go-to gadgets from the first game a lot. I understand the lack of the gadget wheel in terms of trying to streamline the combat, but the new system never fully clicked for me and I had to constantly remind myself to use gadgets during combat and never really experimented with them like I did in the first game. I also feel like the devs chose the strangest gadgets to bring back and I really ended up missing the impact webs, trip mines and web bombs in particular.
The side content ranged from good to ok for me. In general I really liked the smaller scale side missions and think they effectively show what makes spider-man unique from other super heroes. Other than those side missions it feels like a majority of them were overly reliant on combat and enemy beat em ups, and I think the game could have benefitted from a larger variety in the side content.
The voice acting is also great. Yuri Lowenthal really goes all out as Peter and is quickly establishing himself as one of my favorite actors to play the character. If he didn't convince you before in the previous games he will now.
My biggest issues with the game are story related. In short, the story just feels rushed and the game lacks the character work that made the previous 2 insomniac spider-man games so memorable.
As far as set up goes, I think the game nails this down very well. The opening set piece is fun and feels like a step up from the first game, while also serving as a good set up for Kraven. Kraven in general is really good in this game too and the new take worked for me. The game sets up Harry and Peter's relationship really well too and for the most part, I think everything story related feels consistent with the first game up until Peter gets the black suit.
Once Peter gets the black suit, the story feels like it's put on fast forward. It has most of the key moments required for an effective symbiote storyline, but it lacks the character moments to tie it all together and as a result it just feels rushed, the characters feel underdeveloped and the game never reaches that "O crap this thing is bad" moment that they story is building up to (at least from an emotional standpoint). Then when Venom is introduced, he feels very underutilized and does aspects from a lot of more recent interpretations without incorporating anything that made him interesting from the comics and other source material.
Something I've heard more recently that has stuck with me is also the thought that it's ironic how the game has themes of rehabilitation, but doesn't commit to that with spider-man's original enemy turned ally in venom.
All this results in a story that feels like it jumps from scene to scene around the 1/3 mark that doesn't check in with the characters in any meaningful way. It just kind of happens without having the emotional highs that the first game's story had.
The podcasts weren't as fun as the previous games for me either. Jonah's felt consistent to me, but I don't remember hearing it that often to really compare it to the previous games. The Danika one ended up getting on my nerves because she seemed to know too much about what was going on with the spider-men to the point of clairvoyance. I prefer how they were handled in the previous games and I hope the devs just stick to using the podcasts as fun world building and character interactions in the third game instead of using them as a way to re-explain the plot that we just experienced.
As far as the flame side story goes, I think it's alright. I think it sets up a really interesting take on and set up for a big character, but I can't say anything more than that because it doesn't amount to anything more than setup for a third game or future dlc. If that storyline continues with the same level of quality of the setup and concludes in a satisfying way, then it has the potential to the be the best take on that character though.
I don't want to give the impression that I dislike the story or the game because I still had a lot of fun with it. The gameplay is still great and feels like a step up from the previous games. The story just feels rushed and lacks the character moments that made the previous games so memorable and impactful for me which is disappointing because I consider the first game's story to be the quintessential spider-man story. This creates a weird contrast for me since the game doesn't have any major story or emotional moments that stand out to me like the previous games, but I still have a pretty vivid memory of fun little gameplay moments I had while playing through it.
At the end of the day, I'm still a biased fanboy though and I based on how happy I am that this game exists and how much fun I had while playing through it, I can't help but rate it highly. I know it's a game I'll come back to again at some point, but probably not until NG+ is actually released.
As a lifelong spider-man fan, I love this game. I had a big grin on my face throughout the entire time playing it and no matter what I end up saying about the story, that doesn't change how much I enjoyed playing through it.
Starting with the positives, technically this game is great. It really feels like it was designed with the PS5 hardware in mind and warrants being on the new system.
Almost everything from a gameplay perspective also feels like a step up from the first game. The swinging feels even better, the new movement options are all fun and being able to pulls off long movement and trick chains to keep your speed and momentum just feels really good.
I also think the non spider-man missions were a lot better than in the first game. For the most part, they all felt faster paced while still making you feel vulnerable to whatever threats you had to deal with. I think they're spaced out well enough and fit within the story to not completely detract from the spider-man play style and it feels like they're designed in a much more open ended way that would allow you to just run through them and get them over with if that better matches your play style. By the end of the game Mary Jane feels like a resident evil character, and I mean that in a good way.
I'm kind of mixed on the combat. For the most part it still feels good, with the symbiote combat in particular feeling perfect. My biggest issue is with the gadgets. For the most part, they just felt like a step down from the original game and I found myself missing my go-to gadgets from the first game a lot. I understand the lack of the gadget wheel in terms of trying to streamline the combat, but the new system never fully clicked for me and I had to constantly remind myself to use gadgets during combat and never really experimented with them like I did in the first game. I also feel like the devs chose the strangest gadgets to bring back and I really ended up missing the impact webs, trip mines and web bombs in particular.
The side content ranged from good to ok for me. In general I really liked the smaller scale side missions and think they effectively show what makes spider-man unique from other super heroes. Other than those side missions it feels like a majority of them were overly reliant on combat and enemy beat em ups, and I think the game could have benefitted from a larger variety in the side content.
The voice acting is also great. Yuri Lowenthal really goes all out as Peter and is quickly establishing himself as one of my favorite actors to play the character. If he didn't convince you before in the previous games he will now.
My biggest issues with the game are story related. In short, the story just feels rushed and the game lacks the character work that made the previous 2 insomniac spider-man games so memorable.
As far as set up goes, I think the game nails this down very well. The opening set piece is fun and feels like a step up from the first game, while also serving as a good set up for Kraven. Kraven in general is really good in this game too and the new take worked for me. The game sets up Harry and Peter's relationship really well too and for the most part, I think everything story related feels consistent with the first game up until Peter gets the black suit.
Once Peter gets the black suit, the story feels like it's put on fast forward. It has most of the key moments required for an effective symbiote storyline, but it lacks the character moments to tie it all together and as a result it just feels rushed, the characters feel underdeveloped and the game never reaches that "O crap this thing is bad" moment that they story is building up to (at least from an emotional standpoint). Then when Venom is introduced, he feels very underutilized and does aspects from a lot of more recent interpretations without incorporating anything that made him interesting from the comics and other source material.
Something I've heard more recently that has stuck with me is also the thought that it's ironic how the game has themes of rehabilitation, but doesn't commit to that with spider-man's original enemy turned ally in venom.
All this results in a story that feels like it jumps from scene to scene around the 1/3 mark that doesn't check in with the characters in any meaningful way. It just kind of happens without having the emotional highs that the first game's story had.
The podcasts weren't as fun as the previous games for me either. Jonah's felt consistent to me, but I don't remember hearing it that often to really compare it to the previous games. The Danika one ended up getting on my nerves because she seemed to know too much about what was going on with the spider-men to the point of clairvoyance. I prefer how they were handled in the previous games and I hope the devs just stick to using the podcasts as fun world building and character interactions in the third game instead of using them as a way to re-explain the plot that we just experienced.
As far as the flame side story goes, I think it's alright. I think it sets up a really interesting take on and set up for a big character, but I can't say anything more than that because it doesn't amount to anything more than setup for a third game or future dlc. If that storyline continues with the same level of quality of the setup and concludes in a satisfying way, then it has the potential to the be the best take on that character though.
I don't want to give the impression that I dislike the story or the game because I still had a lot of fun with it. The gameplay is still great and feels like a step up from the previous games. The story just feels rushed and lacks the character moments that made the previous games so memorable and impactful for me which is disappointing because I consider the first game's story to be the quintessential spider-man story. This creates a weird contrast for me since the game doesn't have any major story or emotional moments that stand out to me like the previous games, but I still have a pretty vivid memory of fun little gameplay moments I had while playing through it.
At the end of the day, I'm still a biased fanboy though and I based on how happy I am that this game exists and how much fun I had while playing through it, I can't help but rate it highly. I know it's a game I'll come back to again at some point, but probably not until NG+ is actually released.