I loved the first one and felt like it had a very strong emotional core while fully understanding the character. There was still room for narrative improvement though, and I really hoped to find that here. The technical prowess on display is awesome to play around with, but after the new sheen wears off, you're left with a game that is largely a derivative, stripped down version of the previous two entries, in both story and gameplay. Miles and Peter play exactly the same, and combat being so gadget focused feels like the spider was taken out of Spider-Man. Bosses are HP sponges that exist to pad playtime and tire you of the combat mechanics.

The story being so incredibly fast-paced and haphazard gives no breathing room to let tension or attachments grow, really hurting the thematic focus of second chances and redemption. The weaker narrative makes the relatively simple combat and checklist-esque structure feel repetitive quickly, especially considering most people have gone through 30+ hours of it already in past entries. There are a few moments where the writing begins to stand out, and some side content is better integrated into the world, but it just never takes the full narrative leap or shows any teeth like the first game to make you truly care about what's going on.