At first glance, I thought Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was gonna be more of the same as the previous games when I first saw gameplay footage, but having fully 100% the game & getting the platinum trophy. I wasn’t prepared for how much of a transformation it is from previous games and its so many little improvements that I consistently noticed that it eventually morphs into a refined sequel that feels familiar but doesn’t sit on its ass and barely improves on anything like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (in my opinion).
Traversal movement feels so much faster than Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4 that it looks like slow motion in comparison due to new moves like a slingshot, loop-de-loop, or corner tether which makes web swinging so satisfying to do, and web wing is also a nice addition that I was worried about outshining the web-swinging mechanics, but they thankfully balanced it because just using the web wing is so slow that I needed to use web-swinging mechanics if I want to main decent speed or flow. I can confidently say that this is my favorite traversal movement in any Spider-Man game.
The combat was something that I wasn’t anticipating to see such a big glow up. I love the combat flow in Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4, but everything else surrounding it such as the difficulty, enemy variety, or bosses was pretty easy or lacking even when the spectacles looked impressive. At first, I assumed Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was gonna do more of the same, but I was proven dead wrong. The combat is so much more aggressive with the difficulty ramping up, enemy variety is much better, boss fights feel like actual boss fights, and having the new parry mechanic has made me finally have to pay attention to what I’m doing instead of mashing buttons to win.
Lastly, the side activities feel so much more personal this time instead of feeling like I’m checking off a list. Don’t get me wrong, what you are doing is nothing mind-blowing, but each side mission as I dig through it becomes less about me getting the rewards and rather me wanting to see how each of the stories wraps up and most of them have a satisfying pay-off. I want to say as little as possible because they are so worth going through if you fall in love with Insomniac’s take on the Spider-Man universe in terms of the narrative & characters.
These 3 key pillars of the mechanics or content that I wanted to highlight have made me so happy that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 despite having a similar structure & familiar map is so much more fresh & refined compared to Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4 or Miles Morales game than I was expecting when just looking at it. I didn’t even mention other things like much better pacing, non-Spiderman sections not making me depressed, or the skill tree being more rewarding to fill up.
The game isn’t perfect. Despite many improvements that I have noticed, the stealth unfortunately feels left behind because it is still so half-baked or pointless like the previous games. The new gadgets are just so lame compared to Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4 & wall-crawling still feels so sluggish.
For the story, I’m mostly satisfied with it. However, I do feel most of the returning villains get shafted too quickly compared to the new ones appearing in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for the first time that do get enough screen time or dialogues for me to care about then when a big moment happens to then, it feels impactful to me. It isn’t as effective as when they pull the same card with returning villains except for one or two. I wouldn’t complain about this much if they already had a decent impact in Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4, but most of them didn’t and the sequel didn’t do anything to make me care about them this time.
Overall, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is an incredible experience that I wasn’t expecting to grab me this much since it looked more of the same at the surface level. I thought that luster would vanish for me eventually like I felt with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but Insomniac games have proven me wrong. I strongly recommend it if you want to play an engaging superhero game
Traversal movement feels so much faster than Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4 that it looks like slow motion in comparison due to new moves like a slingshot, loop-de-loop, or corner tether which makes web swinging so satisfying to do, and web wing is also a nice addition that I was worried about outshining the web-swinging mechanics, but they thankfully balanced it because just using the web wing is so slow that I needed to use web-swinging mechanics if I want to main decent speed or flow. I can confidently say that this is my favorite traversal movement in any Spider-Man game.
The combat was something that I wasn’t anticipating to see such a big glow up. I love the combat flow in Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4, but everything else surrounding it such as the difficulty, enemy variety, or bosses was pretty easy or lacking even when the spectacles looked impressive. At first, I assumed Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was gonna do more of the same, but I was proven dead wrong. The combat is so much more aggressive with the difficulty ramping up, enemy variety is much better, boss fights feel like actual boss fights, and having the new parry mechanic has made me finally have to pay attention to what I’m doing instead of mashing buttons to win.
Lastly, the side activities feel so much more personal this time instead of feeling like I’m checking off a list. Don’t get me wrong, what you are doing is nothing mind-blowing, but each side mission as I dig through it becomes less about me getting the rewards and rather me wanting to see how each of the stories wraps up and most of them have a satisfying pay-off. I want to say as little as possible because they are so worth going through if you fall in love with Insomniac’s take on the Spider-Man universe in terms of the narrative & characters.
These 3 key pillars of the mechanics or content that I wanted to highlight have made me so happy that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 despite having a similar structure & familiar map is so much more fresh & refined compared to Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4 or Miles Morales game than I was expecting when just looking at it. I didn’t even mention other things like much better pacing, non-Spiderman sections not making me depressed, or the skill tree being more rewarding to fill up.
The game isn’t perfect. Despite many improvements that I have noticed, the stealth unfortunately feels left behind because it is still so half-baked or pointless like the previous games. The new gadgets are just so lame compared to Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4 & wall-crawling still feels so sluggish.
For the story, I’m mostly satisfied with it. However, I do feel most of the returning villains get shafted too quickly compared to the new ones appearing in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for the first time that do get enough screen time or dialogues for me to care about then when a big moment happens to then, it feels impactful to me. It isn’t as effective as when they pull the same card with returning villains except for one or two. I wouldn’t complain about this much if they already had a decent impact in Marvel’s Spider-Man PS4, but most of them didn’t and the sequel didn’t do anything to make me care about them this time.
Overall, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is an incredible experience that I wasn’t expecting to grab me this much since it looked more of the same at the surface level. I thought that luster would vanish for me eventually like I felt with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but Insomniac games have proven me wrong. I strongly recommend it if you want to play an engaging superhero game