There's nothing really bad here, especially not in terms of gameplay, which is generally fantastic. The fluidity of motion across the city is still so good that I only fast-traveled once, something I would never do in a normal 7 hour course of gaming.
But the characters and writing just leave something to be desired. The way pretty much everyone is written, Miles himself, Prowler, Phin and Krieger is just missing a little something to round them out. They're too one-dimensional, and in a way almost cartoonishly short-sighted? I know we're dealing with comic book characters, but I think you can still write comic book stories that respect the intelligence of the characters and audience. Someone lies, someone manipulates, people try to save their friends/family by doing ridiculous things, it's just all very well worn and tired. There's nothing wrong with well-trod stories, but if you're going to do it, the performance and presentation better absolutely knock my socks off. And it didn't here. It's a mid story with a mid presentation.
The "You ARE Spider-Man" and "Be Yourself" aspect of the story in particular really struggles because it's been done better with Miles in the recent Spider-Verse stories. And considering this game has way more time to ruminate on the theme (I beelined the story in 6.5 hours), it doesn't even remotely use that time to develop a story and character arc that is half as compelling as two movies with a combined run-time that's only about 4.3 hours.
I played this with very fond memories of the original base game and thinking it was prep for the sequel. I ended it wondering if I wouldn't love the original game as much if I revisited it now, and wondering if I'll actually spend $70 to play the sequel.
But the characters and writing just leave something to be desired. The way pretty much everyone is written, Miles himself, Prowler, Phin and Krieger is just missing a little something to round them out. They're too one-dimensional, and in a way almost cartoonishly short-sighted? I know we're dealing with comic book characters, but I think you can still write comic book stories that respect the intelligence of the characters and audience. Someone lies, someone manipulates, people try to save their friends/family by doing ridiculous things, it's just all very well worn and tired. There's nothing wrong with well-trod stories, but if you're going to do it, the performance and presentation better absolutely knock my socks off. And it didn't here. It's a mid story with a mid presentation.
The "You ARE Spider-Man" and "Be Yourself" aspect of the story in particular really struggles because it's been done better with Miles in the recent Spider-Verse stories. And considering this game has way more time to ruminate on the theme (I beelined the story in 6.5 hours), it doesn't even remotely use that time to develop a story and character arc that is half as compelling as two movies with a combined run-time that's only about 4.3 hours.
I played this with very fond memories of the original base game and thinking it was prep for the sequel. I ended it wondering if I wouldn't love the original game as much if I revisited it now, and wondering if I'll actually spend $70 to play the sequel.