I was a big fan of the PS4 Spider-Man game, despite its AAA crud. Swinging and combat were both fun, and the story was a solid Spider-Man tale.

Unfortunately, almost everything has gotten a little worse with the second go-around:

• The new gadget and skills system is a big downgrade from the first one, particularly in how in limits your options during stealth encounters.

• Collectibles and side-missions just aren't very interesting or rewarding. The Spider-Bots are no replacement for the backpacks which gave a look at Spider-Man's past — you get a most a cute one-liner, and your reward is a small cutscene with a character who was cut from the Spider-Verse movie. Okay.

• The randomized crimes are far less varied than the first game. They've cut a bunch of crime types, and there's less mixing of what's there. And they aren't required for completion, so there's no reason to engage with them. Maybe they knew they made them boring?

• Why introduce Kraven and then just make him a boss of a yet another occupying force? His whole thing is hunting, yet he does not do any hunting in this game. I was hoping for a Mr. X-like ever-present force that changed up the core gameplay loop, but no.

Top it all off with a story that is pretty messy and doesn't do justice to either story they're kind of adapting (Kraven's Last Hunt + the symbiote/Venom arc) and you're left with real disappointing followup.