"Let's heal the world."
2018's Spider-Man was really my first big introduction to the universe, shortly before thoroughly digesting the Sony Animation and MCU endeavors. Maybe it was my expectations staying low going in, mostly because of the lack of info we had leading up to this sequel, but I gotta say that I was pretty damn impressed with Marvel's Spider-Man 2. For a Sony first-party sequel, I was more worried it would lean towards a direction similar to The Last of Us Part II and God of War Ragnarok, both of which seemingly focused more on their runtime and fluff than their overall gameplay experience. That's why I'm glad Insomniac took this sequel with the best approach possible; fix (mostly) what was broken, add fun additions, and keep it the same length as the first one.
The gameplay here is actually quite a surprise to me. It builds upon certain additions introduced in both The City That Never Sleeps and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, including AI companions, special abilities, and finding missions through the FNSM app, by doubling up with two playable protagonists. Combat is much more fluid with the new hotkey-style UI that I was initially turned off by it being away from the sides, but it centers well on the player's eyes to make abilities and gear way easier to use. Encounters also focus heavily on blocking and parrying, which helps build up these abilities and meters more quickly. And when a companion AI shows up to help you out, the world feels more alive. The only adjustment that I wasn't a big fan of conversely was how the focus bar works this time, where you can only heal yourself once the bar is filled up, making boss encounters in the later half of the game a bit more challenging. Even the new MJ sections (yes, they brought them back) are improved to account for some of these changes.
Other than combat, traversal is improved a lot as well, with the most notable addition being the wing suit that I found myself instinctively using a lot. Slingshots and wind currents allow you to get to your destination in a near instant, almost like the devs implemented these to flex on the powerful internal SSD. On the other side however, fast travel has also been changed to account for the selection of traveling at any point on the map; the ability is unlocked by stopping crimes and doing activities within the vicinity, rather than finding some satellite dish to fix. This sure does incentivize doing more activities (which there are a lot of), but story missions are typically triggered to start a bit quicker than in the first game. It all just feels like a different, yet improved game.
I really enjoyed the narrative here too, although I can see arguments against it being the best in the series thus far. This is ultimately what you'd expect from a sequel; a direct continuation of events and character arcs established from the previous main entry and its interlude. The main story focuses heavily this time on loss and vengeance, with Peter's childhood relationships conflicting with his abilities to be a hero. Every character here feels significant, and I feel for them through their toughest moments. Setpieces don't get as high as they did in the first game (which I won't spoil), but the villains at play here, namely Kraven The Hunter, make for a darker turn that I really appreciated. Side stories are also implemented much better here, with certain optional missions acting as their own arcs as if they're their own small piece of DLC. Whether or not you choose to experience every narrative piece here, there are certainly a lot of surprises set up that make me really excited for the inevitable DLC and sequel(s).
The only issue I had with this narrative is not with its pacing, but its structuring. Transitioning from the second to third act feels like you're shifting into a continuation of the first act, rather than feeling like a culmination of everything that came before it. Also, the second half of this game has an odd abundance of boss fights and nothing else, with pretty much every other later mission being just 5 minutes of cutscenes. Not a bad choice, but just wish it was laid out a bit better; maybe sticking to a boss fight at the end of every few missions or so.
I've recently been describing these new PlayStation Studios titles as "popcorn games", focusing heavily on the cinematic quality from visuals to soundtrack of which this game truly does have. ("The Great Hunter" is a badass theme for Kraven that plays often.) But Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is on the side of a popcorn game that I was constantly entertained by, from its human-focused themes to the fun and surprising action setpieces. On one side of Sony, you have the deep, complex narratives found in something like Horizon or The Last of Us. On the other, a game so accessible that you can shut off your brain for a bit and just enjoy yourself. What a ride.
2018's Spider-Man was really my first big introduction to the universe, shortly before thoroughly digesting the Sony Animation and MCU endeavors. Maybe it was my expectations staying low going in, mostly because of the lack of info we had leading up to this sequel, but I gotta say that I was pretty damn impressed with Marvel's Spider-Man 2. For a Sony first-party sequel, I was more worried it would lean towards a direction similar to The Last of Us Part II and God of War Ragnarok, both of which seemingly focused more on their runtime and fluff than their overall gameplay experience. That's why I'm glad Insomniac took this sequel with the best approach possible; fix (mostly) what was broken, add fun additions, and keep it the same length as the first one.
The gameplay here is actually quite a surprise to me. It builds upon certain additions introduced in both The City That Never Sleeps and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, including AI companions, special abilities, and finding missions through the FNSM app, by doubling up with two playable protagonists. Combat is much more fluid with the new hotkey-style UI that I was initially turned off by it being away from the sides, but it centers well on the player's eyes to make abilities and gear way easier to use. Encounters also focus heavily on blocking and parrying, which helps build up these abilities and meters more quickly. And when a companion AI shows up to help you out, the world feels more alive. The only adjustment that I wasn't a big fan of conversely was how the focus bar works this time, where you can only heal yourself once the bar is filled up, making boss encounters in the later half of the game a bit more challenging. Even the new MJ sections (yes, they brought them back) are improved to account for some of these changes.
Other than combat, traversal is improved a lot as well, with the most notable addition being the wing suit that I found myself instinctively using a lot. Slingshots and wind currents allow you to get to your destination in a near instant, almost like the devs implemented these to flex on the powerful internal SSD. On the other side however, fast travel has also been changed to account for the selection of traveling at any point on the map; the ability is unlocked by stopping crimes and doing activities within the vicinity, rather than finding some satellite dish to fix. This sure does incentivize doing more activities (which there are a lot of), but story missions are typically triggered to start a bit quicker than in the first game. It all just feels like a different, yet improved game.
I really enjoyed the narrative here too, although I can see arguments against it being the best in the series thus far. This is ultimately what you'd expect from a sequel; a direct continuation of events and character arcs established from the previous main entry and its interlude. The main story focuses heavily this time on loss and vengeance, with Peter's childhood relationships conflicting with his abilities to be a hero. Every character here feels significant, and I feel for them through their toughest moments. Setpieces don't get as high as they did in the first game (which I won't spoil), but the villains at play here, namely Kraven The Hunter, make for a darker turn that I really appreciated. Side stories are also implemented much better here, with certain optional missions acting as their own arcs as if they're their own small piece of DLC. Whether or not you choose to experience every narrative piece here, there are certainly a lot of surprises set up that make me really excited for the inevitable DLC and sequel(s).
The only issue I had with this narrative is not with its pacing, but its structuring. Transitioning from the second to third act feels like you're shifting into a continuation of the first act, rather than feeling like a culmination of everything that came before it. Also, the second half of this game has an odd abundance of boss fights and nothing else, with pretty much every other later mission being just 5 minutes of cutscenes. Not a bad choice, but just wish it was laid out a bit better; maybe sticking to a boss fight at the end of every few missions or so.
I've recently been describing these new PlayStation Studios titles as "popcorn games", focusing heavily on the cinematic quality from visuals to soundtrack of which this game truly does have. ("The Great Hunter" is a badass theme for Kraven that plays often.) But Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is on the side of a popcorn game that I was constantly entertained by, from its human-focused themes to the fun and surprising action setpieces. On one side of Sony, you have the deep, complex narratives found in something like Horizon or The Last of Us. On the other, a game so accessible that you can shut off your brain for a bit and just enjoy yourself. What a ride.