Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is the Batman Arkham City To Marvel's Spider-Man 1
This is a statement in which I do not say lightly, this is a near perfect video game superhero sequel, but it is not quite perfect, falls just short of reaching that perfection, simply because, no game is perfect, much like Arkham City.
Marvel's Spider-Man 1 is a masterpiece of superhero storytelling, writing a story that felt like it could have been perfectly fit on the pages of a comic, Insomniac knocked it out of the park, despite some pacing issues. This game as a result lived in the shadow of the first in regards to how it would always be compared. So how does it compare to its first and spin-off Miles Morales?
Really well, I'd say very similarly to be honest. I am very happy with how most of these systems turned out. So with this, lets start.
Story:
To begin is story, the crown jewel of the first game was absolutely its strong and empathetically emotional tale of grief and triumph.
Spider-Man 2 on the other hand writes a different style of narrative, that focuses less on the emotion and more on the character building and relationships between Peter, Miles, MJ and the newly added from a lot of build up in past 2 games, Harry Osborne. This was an utter triumph, it made us feel connections better than Spider-Man 1 had accomplished.
This story goes so heavy on go big or go home, every 2 hours in story there is something new going on, and I believe the game absolutely has the best intro in any superhero media. and it only goes bigger from there
On the other hand was the Villains of the game compared to the first do not reach the heights of Dr Octopus, but are better than Mr Negative, who himself was really great.
Kraven himself was absolutely incredible, shocked me just how they changed a one note villain who works only in comics and made him fit this Games story impressively, each of his boss fights were impeccable, especially the final boss fight of his. His entire character being someone who paralleled another character in this game in his own way was well executed. he was the villain for the majority of the game, much like Martin Li and this is very evident, and is amazing for it, however I believe he certainly missed a connection to the main characters that makes him empathetic like what Martin Li had accomplished in the first.
Venom... Wow. They were absolutely incredible. Do not go into this game thinking Venom will be comic accurate, he is not, he is instead a new take on the character from Insomniac and I am happy for it, best Venom outside of comics yet, however I know absolutely that A LOT of comic book fans are not enjoying this version, I must say I definitely do. From the bond the host had to peter, making it even closer than what Doc Oc had, to the incredible build up from Symbiote Spider-Man to venom making the suit feel personal to peter and even us, as we get to experience the suit and how it changes peter, but not even peter, It changed me, when I had the symbiote power I felt so strong and powerful and amazing, it's connection was perfect. There is a section, when we first see venom that introduces something we hadn't seen in nearly 20 years now, it was an amazing time and I was shocked all throughout. The Final Boss with Venom on top of that, as jaw dropping to put it plain and simple, the multiple stages and the sheer set piece of it, I would have personally switched the way it starts to the opposite to how it did in this, for a more personal fight, but otherwise this was amazing. Now I must mention this part will have SPOILERS just so I can comment on my main criticism of the final 25% ---------- So here we go, I believe that this game would absolutely have benefitted from having 3 more missions where we play as Venom, it doesn't make the game worse that it was only once, but it would have made the game better if we did, simply due to how strong this would've made Venom feel, even when he already did from the get go. overall this game can be seen that the final 25% felt rushed and I absolutely see the possibility, but this was the same in Spider-Man 1, I have no issue with this in both of these games.
The Side Quests, are easily a massive step up from the first and even Miles. Miles had better side quests too, with the building of community of Harlem, but this game built on the community of New York, of Kraven and of a returning wraith from spider-mans past.
Overall this story is roughly on par with the first if not just under, but very close, The first is a masterpiece in superhero storytelling
Gameplay
The gameplay here, is absolutely a 150% step up, even with it getting rid of gadgets, because what e do have, have absolutely more use in combat and are more fun than the first, with an everchanging skill tree for Miles, Peter, Both and the gadgets, which allows for a great showcase of progression.
The Games combat is vastly more difficult than the first with the implementation of parry, and thanks to this and updated boss fights create a more fast, fluid and engaging combat, rather than the button mashing first two games, alongside the absolutely fluent animations which improves upon even Miles Morales' animations. Combos are so much more fun, with more ways to get combat in air, implementation of the spider-arms, Symbiotes and Miles' Venom.
Traversal has been vastly updated with, web wings, loop-de-loop, turns and much faster swing speed and further jumps. This makes traversal a huge step ahead of the first. However at some points due to the wind tunnels, if you use web wings a lot you can definitely over rely on them, however, I fully believe that because these are optional free-roaming that it isn't a criticism, but something to be wary of.
Stealth is genuinely worse in this game due to how easy it becomes with the web lines, I love the idea but it wasn't balanced well, I would rather have had that as a gadget that can have an upgradable amount, further the lack of gadgets like trip mines for stealth really weakens the gameplay in this regard
The suits are absolutely beautiful and have a mix of great an terrible suits, although I am sure people will love the suits I hate, especially with the suit variations. Although, they removed so many suits from the first game which definitely feels lame and lazy from the devs.
Replayability is a huge issue due to having no replayable missions and NG+ right now, although insomniac did say this will happen in an update by the end of this year, which for business reasons will drive Replayability so I understand, but I still find it very annoying.
To add, the game has some really bad bugs from really minor artifact culling issues to some genuinely atrocius music muting for no reason and crashes, which happened to me onlh once but more people very often
World
Spider-Man 1 but bigger and better, yet still more concise as you are not forced to defeat 5 crimes for each faction in every district.
Queens and Brooklyn are such a great and thankful addition that just fits perfect and seamlessly into the game perfectly, they both feel different, especially queens with its bungalows and regular houses.
Genuinely absolutely beautiful with its Ray Tracing, Its fully redone traffic and pedestrians. on top of how the world changes times and weather and the overall setting throughout the game, feels a lot more impactful than the first games looks, it definitely is a HUGE upgrade for what it is. However, a huge minus to this game is how there is no changing weather and time post launch, it is quite frankly a joke it is not in the game when it was in the firs and Miles Morales.
I love the side activities in the game, from finding bots that lead to an awesome secret ending to taking photos for Robbie Robertson, the bases as their is not too many that it overtakes the gameplay and makes it a slog like Spider-Man 1 and not too little like Miles Morales, it is a perfect sweet spot, they even continued how Spider-Man 1 added more things to do as you progress. There is so many side quests, from combat challenges, to a story one based on a cult, they are marvellous and set up hopefully DLC or Spin-offs.
Finding Miles Morales, and other heroes throughout the city doing crimes or coming to help you do a crime is a huge point in making this game feel much more alive.
Finally, I feel the removal of taking photos of easter eggs in the cities from Spider-Man 1 in place of pictures ruins the immersion and fun of the city, why couldn't they do this again, with new easter egg locations?
Overall, This game, is far from perfect, much like the original Spider-Man, and like the other best series of superhero games in the Arkham Tetralogy.
However, this game takes most of what Spider-Man 1 introduced, condences what was needed in great ways, and generally improves everything else, other than stealth and perhaps story (only in a small way, they're very close). So with this in mind, I must absolutely note that The trilogy of games here are all marvellous, with Spider-Man 1 being a masterpiece for its story, despite Miles being the same score and not a masterpiece. This game IS a masterpiece, alongside the first for its sheer improvements to the formula whilst keeping an amazing story. Although its flaws of not including things that the other 2 did have, really definitely takes away points that could have been awarded had they been there right now, alongside some other issues like not being able changing the colour of a certain unlock post launch.
With all of this in mind I will give this game a 9/10 like the prior 2 games, however a high 9 5 starts out of 5 as I believe it is Just a little better than Spider-Man 1.
A definite must buy if you have a PS5!!
This is a statement in which I do not say lightly, this is a near perfect video game superhero sequel, but it is not quite perfect, falls just short of reaching that perfection, simply because, no game is perfect, much like Arkham City.
Marvel's Spider-Man 1 is a masterpiece of superhero storytelling, writing a story that felt like it could have been perfectly fit on the pages of a comic, Insomniac knocked it out of the park, despite some pacing issues. This game as a result lived in the shadow of the first in regards to how it would always be compared. So how does it compare to its first and spin-off Miles Morales?
Really well, I'd say very similarly to be honest. I am very happy with how most of these systems turned out. So with this, lets start.
Story:
To begin is story, the crown jewel of the first game was absolutely its strong and empathetically emotional tale of grief and triumph.
Spider-Man 2 on the other hand writes a different style of narrative, that focuses less on the emotion and more on the character building and relationships between Peter, Miles, MJ and the newly added from a lot of build up in past 2 games, Harry Osborne. This was an utter triumph, it made us feel connections better than Spider-Man 1 had accomplished.
This story goes so heavy on go big or go home, every 2 hours in story there is something new going on, and I believe the game absolutely has the best intro in any superhero media. and it only goes bigger from there
On the other hand was the Villains of the game compared to the first do not reach the heights of Dr Octopus, but are better than Mr Negative, who himself was really great.
Kraven himself was absolutely incredible, shocked me just how they changed a one note villain who works only in comics and made him fit this Games story impressively, each of his boss fights were impeccable, especially the final boss fight of his. His entire character being someone who paralleled another character in this game in his own way was well executed. he was the villain for the majority of the game, much like Martin Li and this is very evident, and is amazing for it, however I believe he certainly missed a connection to the main characters that makes him empathetic like what Martin Li had accomplished in the first.
Venom... Wow. They were absolutely incredible. Do not go into this game thinking Venom will be comic accurate, he is not, he is instead a new take on the character from Insomniac and I am happy for it, best Venom outside of comics yet, however I know absolutely that A LOT of comic book fans are not enjoying this version, I must say I definitely do. From the bond the host had to peter, making it even closer than what Doc Oc had, to the incredible build up from Symbiote Spider-Man to venom making the suit feel personal to peter and even us, as we get to experience the suit and how it changes peter, but not even peter, It changed me, when I had the symbiote power I felt so strong and powerful and amazing, it's connection was perfect. There is a section, when we first see venom that introduces something we hadn't seen in nearly 20 years now, it was an amazing time and I was shocked all throughout. The Final Boss with Venom on top of that, as jaw dropping to put it plain and simple, the multiple stages and the sheer set piece of it, I would have personally switched the way it starts to the opposite to how it did in this, for a more personal fight, but otherwise this was amazing. Now I must mention this part will have SPOILERS just so I can comment on my main criticism of the final 25% ---------- So here we go, I believe that this game would absolutely have benefitted from having 3 more missions where we play as Venom, it doesn't make the game worse that it was only once, but it would have made the game better if we did, simply due to how strong this would've made Venom feel, even when he already did from the get go. overall this game can be seen that the final 25% felt rushed and I absolutely see the possibility, but this was the same in Spider-Man 1, I have no issue with this in both of these games.
The Side Quests, are easily a massive step up from the first and even Miles. Miles had better side quests too, with the building of community of Harlem, but this game built on the community of New York, of Kraven and of a returning wraith from spider-mans past.
Overall this story is roughly on par with the first if not just under, but very close, The first is a masterpiece in superhero storytelling
Gameplay
The gameplay here, is absolutely a 150% step up, even with it getting rid of gadgets, because what e do have, have absolutely more use in combat and are more fun than the first, with an everchanging skill tree for Miles, Peter, Both and the gadgets, which allows for a great showcase of progression.
The Games combat is vastly more difficult than the first with the implementation of parry, and thanks to this and updated boss fights create a more fast, fluid and engaging combat, rather than the button mashing first two games, alongside the absolutely fluent animations which improves upon even Miles Morales' animations. Combos are so much more fun, with more ways to get combat in air, implementation of the spider-arms, Symbiotes and Miles' Venom.
Traversal has been vastly updated with, web wings, loop-de-loop, turns and much faster swing speed and further jumps. This makes traversal a huge step ahead of the first. However at some points due to the wind tunnels, if you use web wings a lot you can definitely over rely on them, however, I fully believe that because these are optional free-roaming that it isn't a criticism, but something to be wary of.
Stealth is genuinely worse in this game due to how easy it becomes with the web lines, I love the idea but it wasn't balanced well, I would rather have had that as a gadget that can have an upgradable amount, further the lack of gadgets like trip mines for stealth really weakens the gameplay in this regard
The suits are absolutely beautiful and have a mix of great an terrible suits, although I am sure people will love the suits I hate, especially with the suit variations. Although, they removed so many suits from the first game which definitely feels lame and lazy from the devs.
Replayability is a huge issue due to having no replayable missions and NG+ right now, although insomniac did say this will happen in an update by the end of this year, which for business reasons will drive Replayability so I understand, but I still find it very annoying.
To add, the game has some really bad bugs from really minor artifact culling issues to some genuinely atrocius music muting for no reason and crashes, which happened to me onlh once but more people very often
World
Spider-Man 1 but bigger and better, yet still more concise as you are not forced to defeat 5 crimes for each faction in every district.
Queens and Brooklyn are such a great and thankful addition that just fits perfect and seamlessly into the game perfectly, they both feel different, especially queens with its bungalows and regular houses.
Genuinely absolutely beautiful with its Ray Tracing, Its fully redone traffic and pedestrians. on top of how the world changes times and weather and the overall setting throughout the game, feels a lot more impactful than the first games looks, it definitely is a HUGE upgrade for what it is. However, a huge minus to this game is how there is no changing weather and time post launch, it is quite frankly a joke it is not in the game when it was in the firs and Miles Morales.
I love the side activities in the game, from finding bots that lead to an awesome secret ending to taking photos for Robbie Robertson, the bases as their is not too many that it overtakes the gameplay and makes it a slog like Spider-Man 1 and not too little like Miles Morales, it is a perfect sweet spot, they even continued how Spider-Man 1 added more things to do as you progress. There is so many side quests, from combat challenges, to a story one based on a cult, they are marvellous and set up hopefully DLC or Spin-offs.
Finding Miles Morales, and other heroes throughout the city doing crimes or coming to help you do a crime is a huge point in making this game feel much more alive.
Finally, I feel the removal of taking photos of easter eggs in the cities from Spider-Man 1 in place of pictures ruins the immersion and fun of the city, why couldn't they do this again, with new easter egg locations?
Overall, This game, is far from perfect, much like the original Spider-Man, and like the other best series of superhero games in the Arkham Tetralogy.
However, this game takes most of what Spider-Man 1 introduced, condences what was needed in great ways, and generally improves everything else, other than stealth and perhaps story (only in a small way, they're very close). So with this in mind, I must absolutely note that The trilogy of games here are all marvellous, with Spider-Man 1 being a masterpiece for its story, despite Miles being the same score and not a masterpiece. This game IS a masterpiece, alongside the first for its sheer improvements to the formula whilst keeping an amazing story. Although its flaws of not including things that the other 2 did have, really definitely takes away points that could have been awarded had they been there right now, alongside some other issues like not being able changing the colour of a certain unlock post launch.
With all of this in mind I will give this game a 9/10 like the prior 2 games, however a high 9 5 starts out of 5 as I believe it is Just a little better than Spider-Man 1.
A definite must buy if you have a PS5!!