Insomniac Games are one of the greatest game developers of our time — this is evident. They’ve successfully carried our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man across two generations of consoles, and now they’ve done it again.
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In just a few days, the best superhero video game ever made will make its way to the PlayStation 5. That may sound like a huge call, but when it comes to superhero games, aside from the Batman Arkham series we’ve been lacking.
Insomniac faced a big question: ‘How do we make a third Spider-Man game that’s different from before?’
You make it bigger and better, and that’s exactly what they did.
This game doesn’t take you to the multiverse, to another global city or into space — so wipe that from your mind. You can’t shift Spidey and friends off to another city; NYC is simply the perfect playground.
Instead, Insomniac Games has expanded, doubling the size of the game’s playable area. They’ve invited players to explore new subsections of the city, namely Queens and Brooklyn.
They’ve built upon incredibly established characters, granted players exciting new abilities, boosted graphics and performance, and told a comic book hero story of epic proportions.
Navigating the World
The spider crew can now spread their wings and glide around town. Who would’ve thought…
And this isn’t even a late-game ability, they do not stuff around. Within minutes of picking up the controller, you’re making use of this game-changing upgrade.
It’s a traversal overhaul, but thankfully doesn’t take away from classic swinging. The two abilities work quite seamlessly together.
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The world is now full of wind tunnels and powerful exhausts on rooftops, allowing you to keep up the momentum as you glide across the city.
It’s satisfying to complete a wind tunnel’s path, flying through all the highlighted rings grants you a speed boost. There’s a fun PlayStation Trophy that asks you to travel from one side of the map to the other using web wings.
Much like the previous games, there are many collectibles to find.
This time we’re looking at mysterious spider bots, hidden caches, new photography locations and more.
Tech crates are most common, these can be found in laneways and rooftops and give you parts that can be used to upgrade your gadgets and suits.
You’re going to need a lot of them, so grab as many as you can. Thankfully there’s no prize for finding them all, as it’d be nearly impossible.
Overall the collectibles felt not too dissimilar to 2018’s Spider-Man game, but with new challenges and mechanics at hand.
There’s plenty more to discover, but for spoiler sake, I’ll say no more.
Story
From the opening sequence, I was blown away — figuratively and literally in-game. There’s a fight of epic proportions from the get-go.
The entire story was full of jaw-to-the-floor moments. I caught myself quite literally with my mouth open wide, shocked at what I bearing witness to.
There are varying stories being told in Spider-Man 2, with Miles Morales struggling with the death of his father and facing the prospect of going to college.
Miles has some adorable moments with his crush, Hailey, in fact, Hailey features in some of the game’s best side missions. Hailey is deaf, and you must help her navigate an area and discover who has been plastering graffiti across a couple of buildings. You walk through the world and hear and she hears. It was surreal, and the DualSense really came into play here.
A more mature Peter Parker on the other hand is trying to juggle working a new job, his relationship with Mary Jane, and of course, being Spider-Man. There’s a wonderfully relatable sequence where MJ announces she’s coming around and Peter is caught completely unprepared. He swings home as fast as he can and, as the player, you desperately need to try to clean up food and rubbish while MJ is distracted.
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There’s some incredible human interest stories to be told in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and not one of them felt out of place in Marvel’s New York.
The overall story of the game has many dark twists and turns and just when you think it might be over, things are just warming up.
Hunters, lizards and aliens, oh my!
Venom and Kraven the Hunter are front and centre, you all know this from the marketing materials, but there is so much more to discover.
No spoilers here, but the game’s opening sequence alone puts the MCU films to shame.
Some familiar baddies are back, with many new faces greeting our heroes as well.
Kraven is ruthless, he isn’t giving up until he gets what he wants. As I slowly learned about Kraven’s purpose, his mission, the more frightening he became.
But Kraven’s brutality has nothing on the horrors of Venom.
Finally, a medium that respects and flaunts the true beast that Venom becomes.
You’re not ready.
Combat and Gameplay
If you’ve played the previous games, combat will come naturally. Other than some new animations and refinements, it’s Spider-Man’s new abilities that elevate the sequel.
Peter Parker’s new symbiote abilities are phenomenal. Exploding tendrils in every direction, picking up and slamming enemies to the ground.
Embracing the power is the only way to go.
Miles also gets a bit of an upgrade to his Venom Powers quite early on. I’m personally more of a fan of his original abilities, but blue electricity looks cool too.
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MJ stealth missions are back, I know this will set some people off. But Mary Jane Watson has truly been redeemed.
She’s now armed and ready to rumble.
A later mission, without spoilers, was straight-up Resident Evil with MJ at the helm – I thoroughly enjoyed her sequences.
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There’s a Spidey suit for every occasion, not alone can you unlock new suits, but the bulk of these new fits feature alternative styles, animations and colours.
My personal favourites are the Into the Spider-Verse related suits, which also offer a new character framerate similar to the movies.
To break apart the swinging and punching, there’s a stack of random mini-games throughout.
Including a few occasions where you’re given the opportunity to ride a bicycle. It’s random, but it takes you down to ground level and offers a new perspective on the game’s world.
Peter and Miles’ scientific education also comes into play throughout the world, with gene sampling puzzles and robotic bee challenges thrown into the mix.
I never got bored of these, but if anything they were a little too easy.
Graphics and performance
With ray tracing enabled on every graphical setting, no matter how you choose to play, the game is going to look amazing.
It also runs like a dream. Finally, a true PlayStation 5 experience.
The SSD is truly on show here, from powering through the city demanding every building load at once, to swapping between Peter and Miles on the go.
There’s been an attempt to allow players to see through every building window, and while that’s incredible, I feel like some buildings could’ve gone without.
You can see people sitting inside skyscrapers, mostly watching TV. But it was strange looking through an office tower to see a series of bedrooms and home kitchens.
The DualSense Controller is no gimmick.
Feeling the haptic rumble of Mary Jane’s motorbike and she pulls up to Peter’s family home, the strain on the triggers as you attempt to find the right power frequency to unlock a prowler stash — that final push through in a swing. It can all be felt.
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Throughout my entire playthrough, I didn’t encounter one bug, at least nothing worth noting. This game is polished like a mirror.
The devs have confirmed a day-one patch will be available to address a couple of minor glitches, but they’re not even worth mentioning.
Even the infamous boat people have their faces sewn on.
Final conclusion and score
In my 50-odd hours with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, I’ve completed it all – Platinum Trophy included. It’s an easy Platinum, but one particular Trophy I did need to seek the help of game director Ryan Smith (you can check out my interview for that one).
There’s seemingly no New Game+, unlike the previous games, but for reasons I won’t go into, I can understand why. I’d be keen to see them add it in the future.
Now that I’ve finished the game, I’m itching for more. Many of the side missions are open-ended, pointing to an exciting future of the franchise. And it’s not just the Spider-Man franchise to be excited about, after this I have very high expectations for Insomniac Games’ Wolverine (pressure is on).
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the best superhero video game I’ve ever played.
It refines and expands on everything great about the previous games, grows characters, offers new adventure and takes gaming to new heights. It’s a true marvel.
Quest Daily scores Spider-Man 2:
10/10
Quest Daily’s Julian Price was granted early access to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 thanks to Sony Interactive Entertainment Australia.
