Imsoniac did again with Spider-Man 2! Now we have a new great super hero game and a solid sequel!
Starting with the visuals, they got that perfectly right once again! Everything in this game looks stunning. The city, cutscenes, the many beautiful suits you can unlock and the enemy design. While both Spider-Men look amazing in every single one of their costumes, the villains take the cake! They look menacing, sound convincing and they're tough to bring down. It's hard to notice, but this is actually a step up from how the Miles Morales game looks.
And while I don't think the story hit me as strong as the first one did, it sure managed to pack quite a punch. Especially since character motivation and evolution is such a potent point of the whole plot. Even more than the first one, it seems. We're out of the "introduction zone" by now. I also loved the team-ups we got. I'm not going to spoil how things go, but trust me, there are some great surprises in this sequel. There were moments I thought "they're not gonna go there", and they totally did.
One thing I loved were the setpieces. That's what makes me gush about this game. It's way more action-packed than the first one, and this just leaks during main missions. Even during sidequests. Not all of them were great, but you get cool moments like The Flame and Mysterio missions.
But if you're here for the story and visuals, I know that what'll definitely make you stay will be the gameplay. Not much has changed since the 1st one, but quality of life improvements made it so much fun to just battle around the city. Peter and Miles' combat and stealth mechanics were tweaked to near perfection. It made boss fights highlights for me. Some of them were actually kinda tough to beat. And, hey, Even MJ missions are better!
Not to mention traversal. This is the name of the game. Fast travel in this game is probably the best one in the industry right now, but I probably only used it twice due to how COOL it feels to roam around with the spiders.
I think that what holds this game back is pretty obvious, though. Playing in the same environment as previous both games does bring the surprise factor down, even if webbing through the city is a blast. Puzzles are still just as annoying and out of place as they were, soundtrack is pretty generic, not all sidequests were fun, QTEs should be gone by now and enemy variety is still quite shallow. Even collectibles were just 'ok'. Some of them were very rewarding, like the Prowler stashes and the unidentified targets, but others were hit or miss.
One last thing I want to talk about is the ending. The story is good and does go into some dark and emotional places sometimes, but the ending was kind of a letdown. On one side, we have Peter's ending, which was a real bummer. On the other, we have Miles' ending, which was fine, and an actual development, but rather predictable as well.
Spider Man 2 is a great game. Not only for fans of super heroes, but for action game fans, in general. It's a fun sequel that doesn't manage to exceed its predecessor, but really does a solid job of gripping you, while evolving its own thing to a new direction.
Starting with the visuals, they got that perfectly right once again! Everything in this game looks stunning. The city, cutscenes, the many beautiful suits you can unlock and the enemy design. While both Spider-Men look amazing in every single one of their costumes, the villains take the cake! They look menacing, sound convincing and they're tough to bring down. It's hard to notice, but this is actually a step up from how the Miles Morales game looks.
And while I don't think the story hit me as strong as the first one did, it sure managed to pack quite a punch. Especially since character motivation and evolution is such a potent point of the whole plot. Even more than the first one, it seems. We're out of the "introduction zone" by now. I also loved the team-ups we got. I'm not going to spoil how things go, but trust me, there are some great surprises in this sequel. There were moments I thought "they're not gonna go there", and they totally did.
One thing I loved were the setpieces. That's what makes me gush about this game. It's way more action-packed than the first one, and this just leaks during main missions. Even during sidequests. Not all of them were great, but you get cool moments like The Flame and Mysterio missions.
But if you're here for the story and visuals, I know that what'll definitely make you stay will be the gameplay. Not much has changed since the 1st one, but quality of life improvements made it so much fun to just battle around the city. Peter and Miles' combat and stealth mechanics were tweaked to near perfection. It made boss fights highlights for me. Some of them were actually kinda tough to beat. And, hey, Even MJ missions are better!
Not to mention traversal. This is the name of the game. Fast travel in this game is probably the best one in the industry right now, but I probably only used it twice due to how COOL it feels to roam around with the spiders.
I think that what holds this game back is pretty obvious, though. Playing in the same environment as previous both games does bring the surprise factor down, even if webbing through the city is a blast. Puzzles are still just as annoying and out of place as they were, soundtrack is pretty generic, not all sidequests were fun, QTEs should be gone by now and enemy variety is still quite shallow. Even collectibles were just 'ok'. Some of them were very rewarding, like the Prowler stashes and the unidentified targets, but others were hit or miss.
One last thing I want to talk about is the ending. The story is good and does go into some dark and emotional places sometimes, but the ending was kind of a letdown. On one side, we have Peter's ending, which was a real bummer. On the other, we have Miles' ending, which was fine, and an actual development, but rather predictable as well.
Spider Man 2 is a great game. Not only for fans of super heroes, but for action game fans, in general. It's a fun sequel that doesn't manage to exceed its predecessor, but really does a solid job of gripping you, while evolving its own thing to a new direction.