HerrDirector
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Completed
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Time Played
--
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
December 3, 2023
Platforms Played
Does a lot to improve on the original without tinkering too much with the formula. Web wings change the entire traversal dynamic, allowing you to scope out the city at greater heights and speed. They also smartly approached the world with a BOTW mentality of having activities and objectives open up through exploration rather than following map icons, Ubisoft style. Street level interaction gets sadly diminished as a trade off. You can still walk around and high five citizens. But you can't take the subway, theres no newspapers to find, and citizens don't tip you off to crimes anymore. Not as friendly or as neighborly of a Spider-Man this time.
Combat is the same, for better and for worse. I appreciated the escalating skill sets becoming more and more OP as the game goes along, because at least with the mob battles increasing in size, I had options to end things faster. The new bird/beast enemies are probably the best addition, as they add a tactical element, turning off your gadgets and abilities until you handle them. Combat forms the spine of almost all the side activities, and it gets kind of stale after awhile. The first Mysterio activity had me excited that this might include a rhythm minigame, but they quickly throw that away for more beat-em-up's. Disappointed.
Mary Jane's back, and it still kills the flow. BUT, there are fewer instances of her stealth sections, they're short, and the later occurrences drip with so much horror themed atmosphere that you can trick yourself into thinking you're playing a lite RE game.
Story and set pieces are where it's at, and Insoniac delivered something spectacular here. Probably the best take on Venom ever? Scary yet also holding great emotional stakes for Peter. Miles's quest for revenge against Mr. Negative hits some powerfully authentic highs, and Kraven is a fantastic force of selfish chaos, pushing NYC towards calamity as he seeks his own myopic destiny. Even a lot of the side quests are amazing, with one in particular almost brining me to tears. IYKYK.
"Balance isn't the destination, it's a process." Insomniac mostly follows the advice of its own script, delivering a game that strives to be an accessible blockbuster adventure, overall doing enough right to be seen as superior to SM1/SMMM. The inevitable 3rd game is gonna have to deliver the best comic book adaptation ever, or reinvent the wheel on a lot of mechanics, because I don't know if more of the same will cut it next time.
Combat is the same, for better and for worse. I appreciated the escalating skill sets becoming more and more OP as the game goes along, because at least with the mob battles increasing in size, I had options to end things faster. The new bird/beast enemies are probably the best addition, as they add a tactical element, turning off your gadgets and abilities until you handle them. Combat forms the spine of almost all the side activities, and it gets kind of stale after awhile. The first Mysterio activity had me excited that this might include a rhythm minigame, but they quickly throw that away for more beat-em-up's. Disappointed.
Mary Jane's back, and it still kills the flow. BUT, there are fewer instances of her stealth sections, they're short, and the later occurrences drip with so much horror themed atmosphere that you can trick yourself into thinking you're playing a lite RE game.
Story and set pieces are where it's at, and Insoniac delivered something spectacular here. Probably the best take on Venom ever? Scary yet also holding great emotional stakes for Peter. Miles's quest for revenge against Mr. Negative hits some powerfully authentic highs, and Kraven is a fantastic force of selfish chaos, pushing NYC towards calamity as he seeks his own myopic destiny. Even a lot of the side quests are amazing, with one in particular almost brining me to tears. IYKYK.
"Balance isn't the destination, it's a process." Insomniac mostly follows the advice of its own script, delivering a game that strives to be an accessible blockbuster adventure, overall doing enough right to be seen as superior to SM1/SMMM. The inevitable 3rd game is gonna have to deliver the best comic book adaptation ever, or reinvent the wheel on a lot of mechanics, because I don't know if more of the same will cut it next time.