Fixed the tedium overflowing in the first one with smarter traversal, purpose to mechanics that lacked previously, and removal of the time filler. People complaining too short, probably forgot how many hours were spent redoing stealth missions because they were spotted once, missions where MJ/Miles play walking sims, or the taskmaster challenges that were more frustrating than fun most of the time.

This isn't even getting to the story, which unlike the first game, is truly a world unto itself. The first was really just a rehash of various brand new day stories with one or two twists. Spider-man 2 really plays with pieces and becomes a breath of fresh air for the franchise in much the same way that Ultimate Spider-man (the comic) was in 2000.

This is barely a knock and truly didn't change the rating, but Venom is as fun to play as here as he was in 2005 (not) and if they really want to make a spinoff featuring him, they need to COMPLETELY fix that.

The best one hands down. 4 tries and they made a good game that, while linear, had path choices. I actually cared about the story this time, which was helped by long, but unobtrusive cut scenes. The climbing and gun play were tweaked from the broken mess they had slipped into by 3, and the open driving sections were genuinely fun. Slight gripe on the random mechanics added in the third act for mere moments: looking at you flashlight controller smack. I love that there are crash bandicoot inspired sections (car chase) making that house section in the beginning actually tie in literally, not even mentioning thematically with Elena's quieter thirst for adventure.

Maybe the best of the genre? This time it was even a game!