took everything from the first game that made it great and refined it, albeit a lot shorter, which i didn't mind since the first game had way too many collectibles and stupid puzzles. tying finishers to combo chains and replacing the og finishers with venom moves do So Much to make combat way funner, and there's a lot more 'action' happening around you - prime example being the rhino fight at the beginning where you're zipping through buildings and getting used to the combat system all the while police cars crowd around and peter faces off rhino in real time next to you. this is 'cinematic' gaming at its finest, where you're actually playing through these awesome set pieces that feel alive and reactionary instead of just watching mindless cutscenes, much aided by the amazing sound and graphics design.

new york city is as fun as ever to swing through, this being one of the few games where i actually use photo mode regularly and actively seek out cool shots like right in the middle of a finisher move or in the middle of a dive off avengers' tower, and even more than the first game the city seems to brim with life and culture, which makes sense because miles morales is a spiderman all about identity. in the first game there was a neighborhood in greenwich with a bunch of pride flags that made my heart warm, but in this game representation is tied into the story explicitly, with hailey using asl and a side quest reward being a blm mural, and down to the little things like the soundtrack reflecting miles' afro latino identity.

overall this is basically the perfect superhero video game to me, and i can't wait to see how spiderman 2 improves even further on their formula. well played, insomniac.