I enjoyed it, but it's very much More of the Thing - they tried to be very safe here. Some improvements over the previous games but also some baffling decisions and missing features that just end up seeming reductive. Web-swinging and city traversal looks incredible and feels less assisted than the first game, and combat has some more juice with an added parry and more variation in enemies. The story is all over the place, though, and makes me think that it went through several reworks - it feels like a whole lot of filler for most of the game until we reach Venom, and Miles Morales is effectively sidelined for the majority of it, continuing in the grand tradition of nobody having any idea what to do with this character. It's weird, it's choppy, parts that should have a strong sense of urgency don't, the events up until the finale feel disconnected from the city in a way that the first game handled well...I dunno what's going on here. At least they recognised Web of Shadows rules!
I hate that we lost a bunch of suits from the comics but every movie outfit is present and accounted for alongside all the horrendous original creations. Including the outfit from that heinous Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider run but no Sensational suit is a crime I cannot forgive and nor should anyone else. If they put it in a DLC, yes, I will buy it, obviously.
I guess this screed sounds pretty negative, but I did enjoy it! I am a sucker for Spider-Mans. I just expected Insomniac to aim higher than they did here, really. I will be playing the real endgame - Photo Mode - for at least the next week!
Last gripe: very funny to me that Miles gets a brand new suit to make his visual identity more his own and less like Peter's, and...they just tried to make him look like Spider-Gwen instead. Come on, man...I mean the suit looks good, sure, I like it, but come on...