A gameplay upgrade in every way is let down by a slow start, uneven graphics and awful story.

Going through the city has never felt so good with the inclusion of the wing suit. It made a mostly recycled city from the first game feel new. The brawling felt concise, but not dumbed down from the first game. You can still pull off stylish combos for days and it feels impactful. Even the dreaded stealth missions feel better with the removal of instadeath scenarios. The gameplay is top tier, which is why I am so let down by the missions.

In the first few hours the game is a slog. The design for most of these (especially Miles parts) was shoving a lesson first and fun second. The game greatly picks up when the Kraven plot intersects with the symbiote. From there the story is interesting with Kraven hunting reformed supervillains and Peter acquiring the suit in a life or death scenario. It is a nice twist on the whole symbiote saga until the end. The Gears of War scenario is awful and profoundly stupid. I get they want to get MJ in the spotlight but the way its done here is abhorrent. At least come up with a bullshit reason to keep a bit of symbiote in her and not make a human who took some lessons fight an army of superhuman creatures. At least the stupidity is cut by the awesome portray of Venom and the Spider duo fighting it. Graphically its amazing every second the characters have their suits on. Every character thats not Peter or Miles look like a melted claymation error.

Heres hoping the third entry concentrates more on the comic book side of the Spider-man mythos because I think Insoniac got lucky with the first game's character relationships and story.

A western horror brawler that takes God of War's (2018) battle mechanics and mixes it with Xbox 360 era level design. Its a strange and fun 10 hour ride. The cool art style based on Old West horror genre is fantastic and the levels are varied. Story and characters are more of an excuse to go from level to level but they are never annoying. The world building does the heavy lift here.

The battles, especially in the second half, can become overbearing, forcing you to spam the lightning dash combo alongside your extensive arsenal. While this can invoke the spirit of the excellent Doom Eternal, the controls do not feel as tight in some situations. Using the D-pad to change weapons is just obtuse and the electric whip is downright unresponsive at times. Puzzles in each scenario are a welcome break from the constant brawling even if they are brain dead easy.

This is Flying Wild Hogs best game to date. Its a flawed gem with a memorable style and world.