Wow. I gotta say, I was expecting this game to be pretty great, but Insomniac have truly impressed me with Spider-Man 2. It feels like they've improved every possible aspect of the previous games, or at the very least, improved everything around it to rid it of any tedium.
While they've definitely exceeded expectations on the gameplay front, I had no doubt they'd be able to do so. What did surprise me here, however, was its story. Spider-Man 2 has a lot to juggle with, between Miles and Peter as well as Kraven and Venom. It's unquestionably difficult to create a story that balances all of them equally without some arcs inevitably falling by the wayside. However, Insomniac has done the improbable and crafted a story that pays equal dividends to all of them, tying them together with compelling individual arcs and a thrilling central plot that never lets its foot off the gas.
I realize many will take umbrage with the story not being entirely original or merely borrowing elements from other existing Spider-Man storylines, but for my money, this is probably one of the better, if not the best, Spider-Man stories ever told. Like I said, it juggles a lot, but does so with a deft hand and manages to weave a deeply emotional tale of grief, friendship, and finding your place in the world without ever feeling corny or ham-fisted, and doing so with excellent pacing throughout.
They definitely also listened to the complaints about side content in the previous games, delivering some truly S-tier side missions here that each have something different to say or show off. Without spoiling, the particular ones to look out for are the Howard, Graffiti, and Museum missions, as, in my view, these were far and away the best of an already great bunch.
In terms of the core gameplay, there's not all that much new here—at least anything that radically changes the formula from the previous games. Instead, all the existing elements are fine-tuned and enhanced thanks to the PS5's SSD, which makes it feel faster and more fluid than it ever has. Traversal, in particular, is incredibly fast and dynamic thanks to the new web wings, a much faster swing speed, and new acrobatic animations that never stop being fun to play around with.
Again, I could go on all day about what a triumph Spider-Man 2 is, but suffice it to say, it's probably Insomniac's best game and certainly an all-time contender for best superhero game overall. Outside of the odd glitch and a touch of tedium in some of the repeatable side content in the open world, there's really nothing I have a qualm with when it comes to this.
If you're even marginally interested in Spider-Man as a character, you owe it to yourself to give this game a shot.
10/10
While they've definitely exceeded expectations on the gameplay front, I had no doubt they'd be able to do so. What did surprise me here, however, was its story. Spider-Man 2 has a lot to juggle with, between Miles and Peter as well as Kraven and Venom. It's unquestionably difficult to create a story that balances all of them equally without some arcs inevitably falling by the wayside. However, Insomniac has done the improbable and crafted a story that pays equal dividends to all of them, tying them together with compelling individual arcs and a thrilling central plot that never lets its foot off the gas.
I realize many will take umbrage with the story not being entirely original or merely borrowing elements from other existing Spider-Man storylines, but for my money, this is probably one of the better, if not the best, Spider-Man stories ever told. Like I said, it juggles a lot, but does so with a deft hand and manages to weave a deeply emotional tale of grief, friendship, and finding your place in the world without ever feeling corny or ham-fisted, and doing so with excellent pacing throughout.
They definitely also listened to the complaints about side content in the previous games, delivering some truly S-tier side missions here that each have something different to say or show off. Without spoiling, the particular ones to look out for are the Howard, Graffiti, and Museum missions, as, in my view, these were far and away the best of an already great bunch.
In terms of the core gameplay, there's not all that much new here—at least anything that radically changes the formula from the previous games. Instead, all the existing elements are fine-tuned and enhanced thanks to the PS5's SSD, which makes it feel faster and more fluid than it ever has. Traversal, in particular, is incredibly fast and dynamic thanks to the new web wings, a much faster swing speed, and new acrobatic animations that never stop being fun to play around with.
Again, I could go on all day about what a triumph Spider-Man 2 is, but suffice it to say, it's probably Insomniac's best game and certainly an all-time contender for best superhero game overall. Outside of the odd glitch and a touch of tedium in some of the repeatable side content in the open world, there's really nothing I have a qualm with when it comes to this.
If you're even marginally interested in Spider-Man as a character, you owe it to yourself to give this game a shot.
10/10