Spider-Man 2 was my most anticipated game of the year easily - as a big fan of Venom and just Insomniac Games knocking it out of the park every time I knew it was gonna be great. It's too early to say if I like this or the first game better but it's impossible for me to not give them both the same rating; each have their own strengths. Spider-Man 2018 just felt huge as the first incredible Spider-Man game in years that actually nailed everything about the character/villains/setting/gameplay, and Spider-Man 2 just gives you more of the same but bigger, with better graphics and framerate, and the smooth/fast performance of the PS5.
This was so good that I ultimately ended up blasting through the story way faster than I expected, which made it feel shorter. I didn't wanna take my time and got really wrapped up in it. It just begged me to keep going when things got heavy, dark, and intense - as much as some of the side content was fun, I couldn't imagine stopping to hunt for spider-bots, do science experiments and help students with their school spirit when there were these insane city threats on the go. And some of the side content was really cool, with rewarding endings to most of them. Those goddamn neighborhood Spidey missions with personal interactions with people, some of them quite heart-wrenching, nailed the whole Spider-Man as a man of the people thing that the character is known for. Just the best dude, he cares for everyone and it really shows.
I'm not gonna go into spoilers just so anyone can read this, but yeah some story beats REALLY worked for me. Kraven was great, what a beast he was, I was never a huge fan of him but they really make him a force of nature here; he's legit scary in some scenes. There's a battle with him in this that will go down as one of the best gameplay segments of the year for me. All of the bosses really have standout fights, and test your skills with lots of attack patterns, dodging, and uses of the environment.
The story and performances I expected once again to be great, with Peter/Miles/MJ/Harry and more all getting big moments to shine time and time again. I really like how Peter and Miles refer to the villains as their real names, it shows Spider-Man understands most of these guys are just angry and gone bad because the world either fucked with them, they're down and out, or they just can't help it. Lizard is a great villain but Dr. Connors can't control himself and Spidey refuses to stop until he can save him safely. And Sandman, who starts the game off with a bang, is going on a tear and it's clear something set him off; Peter knows he lost his cool and needs to understand why. The dialogue during these battles is pretty constant and sometimes distractingly so when the fights are so flashy and explosive and you're hammering out attacks, but there's so many character moments during that flesh our their motives and emotions.
Platinum trophy here is easy peasy if you're gonna do everything, the Spider-Man games have established that by now pretty clearly, and if you love the game you're gonna do it all anyway. Leaving a lot of the collectibles and side missions til last does feel a bit grind-y, but getting to swing and fly around the city is such a blast that it doesn't get tired at all. And speaking of flying, holy hell is the wing-gliding fun as shit. The wind tunnels feel incredible, and the heights you can reach in this game is breathtaking; I feel like I was doubling or tripling the height of the some tall buildings with how high I was getting with the wings!
Finally, the suits here are both some of the best and coolest suits they've ever featured, and also have some of the worst that I never used once. All of the color variations were really really nice though.
Def one of the best games of 2023 and along with the first one, pretty damn perfect Spider-Man experiences in general. I'm actually excited for a NG+ to come out to experience the story again, and really hoping for DLC like the first game had.
This was so good that I ultimately ended up blasting through the story way faster than I expected, which made it feel shorter. I didn't wanna take my time and got really wrapped up in it. It just begged me to keep going when things got heavy, dark, and intense - as much as some of the side content was fun, I couldn't imagine stopping to hunt for spider-bots, do science experiments and help students with their school spirit when there were these insane city threats on the go. And some of the side content was really cool, with rewarding endings to most of them. Those goddamn neighborhood Spidey missions with personal interactions with people, some of them quite heart-wrenching, nailed the whole Spider-Man as a man of the people thing that the character is known for. Just the best dude, he cares for everyone and it really shows.
I'm not gonna go into spoilers just so anyone can read this, but yeah some story beats REALLY worked for me. Kraven was great, what a beast he was, I was never a huge fan of him but they really make him a force of nature here; he's legit scary in some scenes. There's a battle with him in this that will go down as one of the best gameplay segments of the year for me. All of the bosses really have standout fights, and test your skills with lots of attack patterns, dodging, and uses of the environment.
The story and performances I expected once again to be great, with Peter/Miles/MJ/Harry and more all getting big moments to shine time and time again. I really like how Peter and Miles refer to the villains as their real names, it shows Spider-Man understands most of these guys are just angry and gone bad because the world either fucked with them, they're down and out, or they just can't help it. Lizard is a great villain but Dr. Connors can't control himself and Spidey refuses to stop until he can save him safely. And Sandman, who starts the game off with a bang, is going on a tear and it's clear something set him off; Peter knows he lost his cool and needs to understand why. The dialogue during these battles is pretty constant and sometimes distractingly so when the fights are so flashy and explosive and you're hammering out attacks, but there's so many character moments during that flesh our their motives and emotions.
Platinum trophy here is easy peasy if you're gonna do everything, the Spider-Man games have established that by now pretty clearly, and if you love the game you're gonna do it all anyway. Leaving a lot of the collectibles and side missions til last does feel a bit grind-y, but getting to swing and fly around the city is such a blast that it doesn't get tired at all. And speaking of flying, holy hell is the wing-gliding fun as shit. The wind tunnels feel incredible, and the heights you can reach in this game is breathtaking; I feel like I was doubling or tripling the height of the some tall buildings with how high I was getting with the wings!
Finally, the suits here are both some of the best and coolest suits they've ever featured, and also have some of the worst that I never used once. All of the color variations were really really nice though.
Def one of the best games of 2023 and along with the first one, pretty damn perfect Spider-Man experiences in general. I'm actually excited for a NG+ to come out to experience the story again, and really hoping for DLC like the first game had.