Game Review: Spider-Man 2

When Insomniac Games developed and released their own interpretation of Spider-Man back in 2018, they took the entire industry by surprise.  Spider-Man is no stranger to video games, he’s had a long-storied history ever since the days of the Atari in the 1980’s. With each new entry in the web-head’s portfolio, he’s been subject to some truly excellent titles as well as some major stinkers. Resilience is the key word that comes to mind with this character’s video games though, because no matter how far he might fall, there’s always a game that’s ready to bring him swinging back.  Insomniac proved this, as their interpretation broke sales records and defined a highly recognizable version of Spider-Man which has made appearances in other Spider-media to this day. That credibility that Insomniac drew with their 2018 entry was now at it’s peak, to a point where many are calling Insomniac the flagship studio of PlayStation.  With Spider-Man and the spin-off title Miles Morales both done and delivered, it was only fair to ask how would this studio deliver when it came to creating a proper sequel? We all saw the after-credit scene at the end of the first game, we saw that Symbiote and Harry suspending in a glass cage, as players we all wanted to know how Insomniac were going to put their own unique spin on Venom and Harry Osborne.  Well they did what they always do, they deliver.

Spider-Man 2 was developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The title was released on October 20^th 2023 on the PlayStation 5 and features as the latest in PlayStation’s line-up of excusive titles.  The title was announced during PlayStation’s titular PlayStation Showcase in September 2021 alongside Insomniac’s B-Team project; Wolverine.  The marketing approach behind the game was clearly focused on Venom and the darker narrative that was going to intertwine between both Peter and Miles as they would have to team up to take him down. As time passed more glimpses were shown on the other big-bad in this game; Kraven the Hunter. On release the game didn’t too long to break records; selling over 2.5 million units within the first 24 hours, making it the fastest selling PlayStation exclusive in history.

The story of Spider-Man 2 takes place around 10 months from the end of Miles Morale’s mission to stop the Tinkerer in the prior game.  We see Peter still struggling to retain a job as he tries to balance his life around being both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Alongside him Mary Jane Watson is also trying to find her footing at the Daily Bugle writing articles for the ever-controversial J.Jonah.Jameson. As both Peter and MJ are trying to define a new life together, we see Miles is also coming to his own crossroads with his school life. With his time at Brooklyn Visions soon coming to an end, we see him struggling to write an application essay for college and he’s using his duties as Spider-Man as an escape. It’s not too long before both Miles and Peter are swept into a confrontation with New York’s newest threat; Kraven the Hunter.  Kraven has come to New York in seek of prey for his Great Hunt, and both Spidey and his rogue gallery are in Kraven’s crosshairs.  As they struggle to oppose the hunter and his army, Peter is hit with another shock when Harry Osborne turns up on his doorstep, the picture of health.  We soon learn that Harry’s health and strength is a result of a mysterious organic Symbiote that has bonded to him. While initially the Symbiote seems innocent in its function, as the story develops, we see the dark hold this sentient organism can have on its host.  Miles is also finding his resolve tested as well when Kraven’s actions cause him come face to face with his father’s killer; Martin Li, aka Mister Negative.  With Kraven’s hunt at risk of destroying New York in the crossfire and Harry unintentionally messed up in events, Peter and Miles must face potentially their biggest challenge yet if they are to save the day this time around.

When looking at the narrative scope of this game, it’s easy to see how much bigger it feels from the offset.  This isn’t like the prior two games where both Spider-Men have their own dedicated narratives to flesh out, here they have to share the spotlight with one another. That was an initial worry I had when it came to judging the story because I was concerned how Insomniac were going to be able to utilize both Miles and Peter in a singular narrative while ensuring they both get the appropriate exposure.  I think on that account the game does somewhat struggle when it comes to Miles.  Miles’ dedicated narrative here besides his college essay is his inability to get over his resentment of Mister Negative. While I feel the game does a far better job in addressing those aspects on the latter end of the game, it does feel like Miles feels a bit sidelined for the majority of the narrative, which is a bit sad because I do consider Miles an incredibly relevant character and when the narrative does decide to integrate him it’s great. I suppose it’s some conciliation that if Peter’s portion of the narrative takes precedence, it’s worth noting how incredibly written his parts are.  Peter Parker in this game feels like he has the chance to finally have everything he ever wanted, but the proceeding events puts everything at stake for him.  Peter is struggling to balance his life as Spider-Man while also being there for the people he cares for as Peter Parker. With Harry back in his life, Peter is made even more venerable and it’s in that vulnerability that the use of the Kraven and Venom is capitalized.  Kraven is the key catalyst for the narrative, his presence in New York is given all the weight it needs to make the hunter a truly credible threat.  His motivations are clearly defined throughout the course of the story so you understand why Kraven is so undeterred in his quest for the Great Hunt. I consider Kraven to be one of my favorite Spidey villains, so it’s so liberating to see him given a major spotlight here with all the seriousness he deserves. Then there’s Venom’s inclusion, while I won’t go too into detail about his presence, I will say the way Insomniac worked him into the story is brilliantly realized and captures the pure essence of the characters imposing nature.  When I look at the narrative of this game I see an almost perfect picture, all of the major plot beats cross over one another in some very interesting and relevant formats and in the end it all leads to a narrative worth true recognition, minor gripes and all.

It's not just in the narrative that the game feels bigger and bolder.  Insomniac aimed to deliver when it came to the gameplay end of things as well.  Let’s talk about world design firstly.  Utilizing the PlayStation 5’s internal SSD for real-time processing, you can tell Insomniac did everything they could to make the map of New York feel larger in scale and deeper in scope.  Manhattan island is still there, but now the game allows you to explore both Brooklyn and Queens as a new fully realized portion of the map.  This not only helps the world feel much grander, but it gives the player a bigger impression of New York with its varied locales and subdivisions.  Navigating this map is made a lot more seamless too with the inclusion of the Web Wing feature. With these wings both Miles and Peter can freely glide across the city using wind tunnels and swing momentum to carry them from point to point.  The functionality is fast and responsive and when included with the refined web swinging mechanics; not to sound cliché, but it just makes you feel like Spider-Man in the best of ways.

But what good is all this space if the game doesn’t utilize it right? Well, the game does try to give the player a fair bit of side-content to keep both Peter and Miles busy throughout the main course of the game.  For Peter, he has the EMF missions in which he helps Harry and his new foundation with scientific experiments. He also has the Flame sub-story, in which he has to team up with a familiar vigilante called Wraith as they attempt to take down a murderous cult obsessed with fire.  Miles has the Mysterio sub-plot in which he must help a supposedly reformed Quinten Beck work out why his new Mysterium attractions are going haywire.  He also has Prowler stashes to clear out at the request of his uncle Aaron who is also reformed.  Both of their individual side content is interesting if not slightly underwhelming, besides the Mysterio and Wraith sub-missions, it feels like a lot of the personal side content narratives doesn’t really flourish into anything all that interesting.  Same can be said for the side content that both Miles and Peter can do together. A lot of them are what I consider busy-work activities and I wouldn’t mind doing them if there was something substantial in the form of payoff for doing them, but I feel the game doesn’t really deliver too well on the climax to these elements sadly.  There are the FNSM requests which help give both Miles and Peter some individual and joint missions to do on the side. These missions are where the side content has a bit more depth, because you’re diving into nice narrative led distractions which give the Spider-Men and the city they are in chance to flesh out.

What helps progressing through the game and it’s numerous content is it’s controls, specifically it’s combat.  We’ve experienced in prior games how fun and unique Peter and Miles are to play as.  Spider-Man 2 aimed to take their unique combat abilities and refine them further.  Both Peter and Miles approach combat fundamentally the same but they each have unique abilities which help separate them.  Miles’ Venom-charge abilities feel as stylish and as powerful as ever but Peter also brings some weight to the game with his Spider-Arms and their own abilities.  Combine these induvial abilities with a joint gadget pool, you end up with a lot of opportunities for fun and varied combat encounters. Apart from their new abilities though, combat remains very familiar as it appears Insomniac isn’t out to fix what is essentially not broken.  It’s a very intuitive combat system which is easy to get addicted to, and it’s nice that the game continues to tier enemy classes up in difficulty the more you progress throughout the game for the added challenge.

From a visual and technical perspective, the game also nails it.  As they did with Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Insomniac utilized the PS5 hardware to the full extent when building this game.  Graphic wise, the world and its characters look so sharp and well-realized. Color and lighting flare in all the right moments to really make this game pop in all the right places visually. On a technical level the game also exceeds expectations, there’s literally no load times between sequences in this game, I don’t recall seeing a single loading screen during my time playing the game. Another feat of the SSD technology too is the way you can fast travel. Unlike the prior games, there’s no more fast travel points, you can simply load the game up and highlight any street within the map and within less than 5 seconds the game will load you there.  That seamless transition is beyond impressive and helps the player keep engaged without any need to break their immersion.  Special credit should also be given to the game’s composer John Paesano as well. His tracks here are some of the best the franchise has had. His main theme which incorporates both Miles and Peter’s main theme is an excellent standout, as is all of the Kraven suite.

It feels like Spider-Man 2 set out to exceed its predecessors at every avenue. While I don’t really feel it did achieve that objective, I cannot deny the effort. What we have in Spider-Man 2 is a product of great value. It’s narrative while imperfectly structured, is still filled to the brim with quality and memorable moments. It’s world design, while lacking captivating payoff, has substantial variation to justify your time behind it. It’s a game which you can give real credit for the effort and despite all my minor grievances I cannot deny how fun an experience this was by the time the credits rolled. Insomniac really are earning their title as Sony’s flagship studio and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this studio’s next major project.