Spider-Man 2 is the perfect example of why new isn't always better.

Throughout my playthrough, I experienced 3 crashes and 9 softlocks. Couple that with one of the trophies being impossible to get in the post-game (Slack Line) and I concluded that this is hands down one of the most unpolished, rushed current-gen games from Sony's first-party studio.

The story is also just mediocre all around. The first Act is just extremely boring with nothing of note happening besides finding out a bunch of villains getting killed off-screen by some jobber named Kraven. Speaking of which, having Kraven be one of the central antagonists of the game had to have been one of the worst decisions they could've made because Kraven just so happens to be the most uninteresting and flat villain in Spider-Man's rogues gallery.

Venom could've saved this story and to be honest, he almost did. Unfortunately, the entire symbiote invasion just turns the last two hours of the game into complete and utter babble where the main goal turns into retrieving some thingamajig so that the other guy can't have the thingamajig.

Now as for gameplay, it's one of the most positive things I can say. It is fundamentally just the gameplay of Spider-Man Miles Morales which was already solid. New combat abilities are great and the new traversal techniques are fine additions. However, what is dull are the side activities which somehow feels like has less content than the first game despite having a bigger map, which just makes New York feel unnecessarily empty. The villain side quests are especially disappointing. They either A) End with you kicking their ass once and then fucking off, never to be brought up again, or B) End with you not even fighting them at all, the villain escaping, and then unexplainably is never a threat again.

I wanted to like this (and trust me I fuck with Marvel comics and Spider-Man media heavy) but this is just immensely disappointing. Makes sense why this shit didn't win any awards now. 💀💀💀