Sony has published its 7th cinematic, open-world, 3rd-person brawler/shooter stuffed with bandit camps, flavor-of-the-week collectibles, and shoehorned RPG mechanics within the past 5 years: Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
This current flavor of a Ubisoft game stands above several of its contemporaries in a few key ways, yet they cannot entirely salvage this rinse-and-repeat game structure I have gotten tired of years ago; a great story bogged down because we are arguably playing the same game as we did in 2018 but with a few new characters and narrative. The core structure of Spider-Man 2 remains exactly the same, except for the addition of a few new bells and whistles. These new abilities for both combat and traversal help expedite the process of moving and punching around familiar territory.
Spider-Man 2's biggest issue is that we are on the third entry of a series that is mostly spinning its wheels on game design. Since 2018 the general gameplay formula has not evolved since the open-world structure coined in the 7th console generation, and "perfected" in the last. You want bandit camps? We got bandit camps! You want over 40 of this current flavor of repetative collectable to comb through the map for? We have that too! You want the same, Simon Says gameplay that we've only slightly iterated further from when we slightly iterated it from the Batman Arkham series? You betcha!
Paint-by-numbers design runs rampant throughout this entire Spider-Man series, but not all of it is as boring or repetative as the majority of these games populate their worlds with. While Insomniac indulges on the trite and repetative in a good chunk of the side content (and several main quests just being glorified tutorials for the checklist busywork), there are significant and impactful side missions to chase both cathartic action, and friendly-neighborhood activities. It's within the more story-centric side content that Spider-Man 2 shows its truly impactful and interesting content. Not every side quest is "mindblowing" or gives any big reveals, but it stands above collecting spider-bots over and over again.
When looking at Spider-Man 2's structure in a vacuum, it's completely innofensive and honestly the preferred formula for these kinds of games. The only thing is that we have not only been bombarded with these sorts of games from third parties for the past several console generations, but we've gotten over 7 published by Sony, themselves within the past 5 years. If it wasn't for the fact I spent a lot of time playing this game while on the phone with people, I wouldn't have gone out of my way to get the platinum trophy. I can admit that it's sometimes cathartic to turn off your mind and just keep your hands busy with the game's provided busywork; that being said, it is not replacement for more meaningful content, nor ignores the fact that a lot of what we are doing in Spider-Man 2 is what we were doing in both the 2018 original and Miles Morales.
Having just complained more than enough about the structure of Spider-Man 2 and modern AAA game releases as a whole, we should speak on the positives.
I have harped on the side content and glorified tutorial missions in the story as hard as I have, because Spider-Man 2 has something spectacular to offer on small and large scales. Missions range from prison breaks and gladitorial battles, to doing science with your best friend and witnessing some great character relationships between Peter, Miles, and their friends and family. Around half of the total playtime is truly engaging in meaningful, interesting stories that yes, are familiar in the broader Marvel Universe context, yet is executed so well that the game often rivals some of my other favorite adaptations of these characters. Story missions do have their snags aside from the glorified tutorials, with Miles not receiving as much to do or impact as I'd hope, and those god-awful MJ sections return but with a new gimmick that doesn't really make these boring sections any better or worse than they've been in the past.
When I take a step back and look at Spider-Man 2 in the broader context of its previous series entires, what the genre has been for a while, and my predictions/fears for what the Wolveriene game is going to turn out like, I can't find the magic like I did back in 2018. There is so much recycled content here that I feel like I'm spinning my wheels until I get the next major story reveal, and when enough of the main missions feel as rinse-and-repeat as they do, I have to say I would've much rather watched this story than have taken 30 hours to play it. If it wasn't for the fact I was able to borrow this off a coworker, I wouldn't have bothered with this until it was deep in the discount bin.
This current flavor of a Ubisoft game stands above several of its contemporaries in a few key ways, yet they cannot entirely salvage this rinse-and-repeat game structure I have gotten tired of years ago; a great story bogged down because we are arguably playing the same game as we did in 2018 but with a few new characters and narrative. The core structure of Spider-Man 2 remains exactly the same, except for the addition of a few new bells and whistles. These new abilities for both combat and traversal help expedite the process of moving and punching around familiar territory.
Spider-Man 2's biggest issue is that we are on the third entry of a series that is mostly spinning its wheels on game design. Since 2018 the general gameplay formula has not evolved since the open-world structure coined in the 7th console generation, and "perfected" in the last. You want bandit camps? We got bandit camps! You want over 40 of this current flavor of repetative collectable to comb through the map for? We have that too! You want the same, Simon Says gameplay that we've only slightly iterated further from when we slightly iterated it from the Batman Arkham series? You betcha!
Paint-by-numbers design runs rampant throughout this entire Spider-Man series, but not all of it is as boring or repetative as the majority of these games populate their worlds with. While Insomniac indulges on the trite and repetative in a good chunk of the side content (and several main quests just being glorified tutorials for the checklist busywork), there are significant and impactful side missions to chase both cathartic action, and friendly-neighborhood activities. It's within the more story-centric side content that Spider-Man 2 shows its truly impactful and interesting content. Not every side quest is "mindblowing" or gives any big reveals, but it stands above collecting spider-bots over and over again.
When looking at Spider-Man 2's structure in a vacuum, it's completely innofensive and honestly the preferred formula for these kinds of games. The only thing is that we have not only been bombarded with these sorts of games from third parties for the past several console generations, but we've gotten over 7 published by Sony, themselves within the past 5 years. If it wasn't for the fact I spent a lot of time playing this game while on the phone with people, I wouldn't have gone out of my way to get the platinum trophy. I can admit that it's sometimes cathartic to turn off your mind and just keep your hands busy with the game's provided busywork; that being said, it is not replacement for more meaningful content, nor ignores the fact that a lot of what we are doing in Spider-Man 2 is what we were doing in both the 2018 original and Miles Morales.
Having just complained more than enough about the structure of Spider-Man 2 and modern AAA game releases as a whole, we should speak on the positives.
I have harped on the side content and glorified tutorial missions in the story as hard as I have, because Spider-Man 2 has something spectacular to offer on small and large scales. Missions range from prison breaks and gladitorial battles, to doing science with your best friend and witnessing some great character relationships between Peter, Miles, and their friends and family. Around half of the total playtime is truly engaging in meaningful, interesting stories that yes, are familiar in the broader Marvel Universe context, yet is executed so well that the game often rivals some of my other favorite adaptations of these characters. Story missions do have their snags aside from the glorified tutorials, with Miles not receiving as much to do or impact as I'd hope, and those god-awful MJ sections return but with a new gimmick that doesn't really make these boring sections any better or worse than they've been in the past.
When I take a step back and look at Spider-Man 2 in the broader context of its previous series entires, what the genre has been for a while, and my predictions/fears for what the Wolveriene game is going to turn out like, I can't find the magic like I did back in 2018. There is so much recycled content here that I feel like I'm spinning my wheels until I get the next major story reveal, and when enough of the main missions feel as rinse-and-repeat as they do, I have to say I would've much rather watched this story than have taken 30 hours to play it. If it wasn't for the fact I was able to borrow this off a coworker, I wouldn't have bothered with this until it was deep in the discount bin.