The long awaited sequel of the superhero Action RPG, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has arrived! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Review Overview
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Superior Gameplay Loop Spectacular Traversal and Combat Amazing Story and Setup Uncanny Visuals and Characters |
Enemies WILL Overwhelm You Tough Plot Armor Feels Jarring Bugs May Hurt Your Experience Campaign Is A Little Too Short |
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Overall - 88/100
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 builds upon the foundation set by its predecessors and even adds on top of it. The addition of new traversal mechanics like the Web Wings as well as new combat features with the abilities add a certain level of “new-ness” to the game while keeping it familiar to those who have played the previous iterations. While the game runs smoothly at “Performance Mode” at 60 frames per second, bugs and crashes may hurt the overall experience as well as having a couple of things in most aspects that don’t elevate the game to a perfect score.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Story - 8/10
In classic Spider-Man fashion, the game shows the story of the man behind the mask in both the action and the hardships that come with it. Both Peter and Miles struggle to find the balance they desperately need as they take it upon themselves to always be there for the citizens of New York. They must become the best Spider-Men that they can be while being able to keep themselves grounded in the process. In the story, they face multiple villains like Kraven the Hunter and Venom, as these adversaries will test their limits to see just how far they are willing to go to protect the city and the ones they love. In the end though, not everything is perfect as some segments in the story feel jarring at times and the campaign may be a little too short and could've added a little more to add more context for the rest of the cast.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Gameplay - 9/10
"Same, but VERY different," is what I’d call the experience so far, but even that I think is an understatement. Using the previous games as its foundation with its slick animations and snappy gameplay, the new mechanics they introduce improves the game’s core gameplay loop immensely. With all new traversal tools like the Web Wings and new combat features like abilities and web-lines for stealth, the game just added more to an already great gameplay experience. However, while all the new mechanics are great, the bugs and crashes in the game does stall the momentum since a reboot or reload is needed to resolve these issues.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Visuals - 9/10
The game is visually stunning and I can definitely see that it looks way better than the previous game. While I am not one to prioritize graphics over performance, even playing on Performance mode shows off the game’s graphics while being able to keep a stable 60 frames per second. Insomniac did a great job of the character designs in the game, from the Symbiote, to Kraven’s goons, and of course, the Spider-Men and their multiple suits. Although all the visuals and designs look great, some characters, especially ones with human faces sometimes look off compared to the rest. The main offenders are generic goons that are included in cutscenes as well as some side characters shown in the game.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Audio - 9/10
Like the previous games, the sound design overall is well made and polished. From the well made sound effects of combat and movement, great voice acting of all the characters including random civilians, and dynamic switching soundtrack between Peter’s classic heroic trumpets and Miles’ modern-sounding tunes to differentiate the two. With these however, there is nothing groundbreaking with the current game, as they already did these before in the previous games with some improvements along the way.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Value for Money - 9/10
The game is well worth the wait and the money as a whole. Being able to use either Peter or Miles is already a treat in itself and builds on the previous game’s collectathon aspects as well. The game offers a lot of things to explore, collect, and experience to satisfy the player’s experience. While the game is a tad shorter than expected, everything is wrapped up short and sweet in this amazing experience.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Review: Amazing, Spectacular Even!
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was able to achieve something that I thought could not be achieved. I thought the gameplay loop of fighting crime, solving puzzles, and mindless web-swinging was going to go stale, but here I am still wanting to do more of the mundane things. It’s not uncommon for a game to want you to do the side missions and everything, but when it does it’s definitely a thing of beauty. So much so, that I enjoyed the game to get the Platinum trophy for the game which includes doing the side content and additional challenges to its totality. The game lets you explore and do stuff on your own very early on that sometimes you don’t even feel like you’re only doing side missions.
The game doesn’t mess around with pacing either. Similar to the first game, the game starts heavy with the introductory phase as you fight Sandman and it makes you feel ready for the game as it sets up the arrival of Kraven the Hunter. They also explore the vulnerabilities of both men behind the mask. Both Peter and Miles have already faced the hardship and struggle of being able to balance being a superhero and being an actual person in their previous games. They explore their experiences even deeper as they tackle both mens’ relationships with their friends and family, as well as their inner struggles on loss, forgiveness, and acceptance.
Insomniac’s take on Spider-Man is not necessarily an innovation to the open world superhero genre. Arkham City, the second installment in the Batman Arkham series, is the gold standard for capturing the open world superhero essence while staying true to their characters in my humble opinion. The next few releases of the Batman Arkham series struggled to make things bigger with every iteration afterwards as making the map bigger doesn’t correlate making it more fun. With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 however, Insomniac was able to double the size and scale while being able to keep the superhero aspect fun and engaging without it feeling like a chore.
While I'm not the biggest comic book Spider-Man fan, their depiction of the characters from the "Spider-Verse" is really well made and spot on. Insomniac also graced us with possibly one of the best, if not, the best depiction of Venom of all time. Furthermore, they introduce Venom as a different being altogether and even explores this briefly, which could potentially open up even more avenues to expand Insomniac’s branch of the Spider-Verse. The set-up and introduction of future heroes and villains are also well executed as they could explore and add more of the unique characters in the mix.
It may be fair to say that Insomniac has been able to perfect the Spider-Man formula and even go as far as to prove that with all the older Spider-Man games out there, they’re the ones that have been able to capture Spider-Man as a whole to its fullest potential.
Pros of Marvel's Spider-Man 2
| Things Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Got Right |
|---|
|
Superior Gameplay Loop Spectacular Traversal Amazing Story So Far Uncanny Visuals and Characters |
Superior Gameplay Loop
Beat up bad guys, use your abilities, collect materials, and upgrade your arsenal. In a sense, we’ve all seen it done before but Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is able to keep it fresh from the get go without it feeling stale. The snappiness and speed of the gameplay makes sure that you are never left wanting something to do and makes you appreciate the downtime offered in story segments.
The gameplay loop is similar to games like the Arkham series, the Shadow of War duology, and the Assassin’s Creed series. Where it introduces numerous side content and integrates them in the main story one at a time, then leaves it for the player to experience on their own. While the movement is mainly the cause of the satisfying way to access the side content, the side content is satisfying to do while setting up the story of the downloadable content similar to how they did in the previous two games.
Spectacular Traversal and Combat
Building on the foundation of the web-swinging they showed in the first game, they added a new mechanic to account for the doubled map size with the introduction of the Web Wings. With different movement options, traversal in this game never feels like a chore. The game even offers an instantaneous fast travel that is seamless if you choose to not swing around instead. The speed of how you go around the map paired with the overall visual of how fast you’re going perfectly encapsulates the experience and satisfaction of how Spider-Man would go around New York.
The combat of the game offers multiple varieties of enemy types that keeps the skirmishes interesting and engaging. The amount of options that you have to subdue adversaries are also numerous ranging from abilities, gadgets, attacks, and many more. The game encourages you to use these tools as they refresh each other with the skill tree that enhances your passive abilities. Additionally, using these tools avoids the player getting overwhelmed in combat as they will try to gang up on you multiple times. Being able to use either Peter or Miles is also a treat that while they play similarly, they have access to their own skill trees and abilities that make them unique in combat.
Amazing Story and Setup
The story of Spider-Man 2 is a direct sequel to the previous games and tackles the events head on. Peter dealing with the death of Aunt May and Miles struggling with own issues on the loss of his father Jefferson Davis, follows the Spider-Man formula to a T. They also show the friendship between the Parker trio of Harry and MJ, and the Morales trio of Hailey and Ganke. It is evident that it was important for them to show these aspects of them as Spider-Man is always depicted to be relatable even in the comics. To add to this, the characters introduced in the side quests also function to set up the games’ upcoming downloadable content and possible sequels of the series.
The game does justice to their comic book counterparts, as the portrayal of Kraven, Venom, and many more characters are iconic in their own right. Kraven’s desire to have the greatest hunt of his life to offer himself a satisfying end was both a call back to one of the famous Spider-Man comics dubbed “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” and ties his character well to his reputation to being the greatest hunter. Venom, on the other hand, is also depicted quite well as his existence opens up more stories and characters for Insomniac to use as source material with other characters tied to the Symbiote. The game even has slight horror aspects in the game in some sections where I think they are done quite well given that they are fighting stealthy and elusive villains.
Uncanny Visuals and Characters
The animations and visuals of the game are great, especially when executing abilities and finishers. Some story segments show off tag-team finishers between Spider-Men and other characters, to show a grand spectacle of cooperation. They definitely show off the different abilities that each character has as they are well-animated with their unique powers. An example of this would be how well animated and smooth Peter’s Symbiote abilities are and how it moves around as it's depicted in older games and comics. While most of the characters show off amazing designs, the villains have the best character designs in the game. Venom’s design is probably his best character design that I’ve seen in recent memory. Insomniac shows off how truly monstrous Venom is in his appearance and power.
There are a LOT of available suits in the game to be used as well. Ranging from the old comic book designs, current movie designs, and even totally new designs for both Peter and Miles. Most suits come with colorways as well. The game even reminds you to switch suits from time to time to keep you from getting bored of the same old look.
Cons of Marvel's Spider-Man 2
| Things That Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Can Improve |
|---|
|
Enemies WILL Overwhelm You Tough Plot Armor Feels Jarring Bugs May Hurt Your Experience Campaign Is A Little Too Short |
Enemies WILL Overwhelm You
The game does not skimp on the number of available enemy types. They quickly show off the basic enemy types and how to deal with them, but mix in the new types of enemies as well. It may be annoying to juggle multiple options around while keeping track of how to fight certain enemy types. It is easy to get overwhelmed as well due to the sizable numbers advantage that the enemy has on you as it may be common to be fighting eight to ten enemies at once with varying weaponry and type.
Later on in the game, the encounters become harder especially with how much variety there is in enemy types as well as their attacks. As said before some attacks like "Crush" attacks and "Heavy" attacks can only be dodged and parried respectively. While this is entirely a skill issue, getting overwhelmed is normal in this game as enemies will constantly gang up on you and will force you to use your tools a lot.
Tough Plot Armor Feels Jarring
Similar to the first few games, there will be segments in the story where you will not be using Spider-Man. They do this again with Mary Jane being put in different scenarios where you are forced to use her. While these missions are done miles better in this game than in the previous ones, seeing Mary Jane withstanding hits that could possibly gravely injure someone is pretty jarring. These incidents include but are not limited to getting shot by an arrow through the shoulder and skidding and rolling out of a motorcycle at full speed. Her resistance to injury alongside stealth makes for a weird experience. The thought of a civilian armed with a taser sneaking past highly trained hunters and single handedly taking them down is quite crazy to say the least.
Bugs May Hurt Your Experience
During my playthrough I experienced a number of bugs in the game. Most of which are visual like clipping through finisher animations, various effects staying on Spider-Man’s model, and even turning into a white cube. There were some bugs that had to force a restart to checkpoint or fast-travel where Spider-Man or even enemies clip through impassable structures and are unreachable. Another bug I encountered was being credited for the mission being finished while still doing the encounter for the quest I was doing. While bugs are nearly improbable to avoid on release, they still halt the momentum quite a bit especially with needing to reboot or restart the game.
Campaign Is A Little Too Short
My full playthrough on the "Amazing" difficulty lasted for a grand total of 24 hours, which includes doing all the side content and getting the platinum trophy for the game. Some may find this quite short especially with all the hype riding on the game. While personally I don’t think this is a con as the story does not extend itself to the point of dragging, a single playthrough for a $70 dollar game can turn a lot of people off. The game was clearly made to have bonus content later on similar to the first game and making more money out of it downloadable content and future patches.
Is Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Worth It?
Definitely Worth It Despite the Short Completion Time
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is not quite a perfect 10/10 but is easily one of the great games of this year which is already full of great games. The game is a great follow-up to what was already one of the best, if not, the best game adaptations of Spider-Man and they even improved on it which I thought was difficult to do. While the total playtime may be short, the game’s compelling story, well-written characters, and overall gameplay is great enough to warrant a $70 price tag. This along with future content coming for the game will want you to finish the game and pick it up again later when they are inevitably released.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Overview & Premise
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 follows Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they valiantly try to save New York, each other, and the ones they care for. Facing multiple iconic villains like Venom, Kraven the Hunter, and Lizard, their strength and resolve will be tested as they face these dangerous threats.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 FAQ
Question 1: How long does it take to beat Marvel's Spider-Man 2?
As Insomniac announced, the game’s length will take roughly 15 hours to complete the story and around 30 hours to get the Platinum trophy.
Question 2: Who are the voice actors in Marvel's Spider-Man 2?
Here is the list of voice actors in the game:
● Peter Parker - Yuri Lowenthal
● Miles Morales - Nadji Jeter
● Mary Jane Watson - Laura Bailey
● Harry Osborn - Graham Philips
● Kraven the Hunter - Jim Pirri
● Venom - Tony Todd
● Norman Osborn - Mark Rolston
● Rio Morales - Jacqueline Pinol
● Ganke Lee - Griffin Puatu
● Martin Li - Stephen Oyoung
● Mac Gargan - Jason Spisak
● J. Jonah Jameson - Darin D. Paul
● Aaron Davis - Ike Amadi
● Black Cat - Erica Lindbeck
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Product Information
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| Title | MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2 |
|---|---|
| Release Date | October 20, 2023 |
| Developer | Insomniac Games |
| Publisher | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Supported Platforms | PS5 |
| Genre | Action, Adventure |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Teen |
| Official Website | Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Website |
