RATH'S REVIEWS: Spider-Man 2

Sometimes a game comes along that just kicks so much a**, and is so much pure, effortless fun, that it's hard not to get wound up about how amazing it is.

Several years ago, when PlayStation announced that Insomniac would be turning its attention to the famous superhero as a PS exclusive...well suffice it to say I was giddy. The first game was a rather safe "copy" of the Arkham series (from borderline defunct developer, Rocksteady), and was AAA in every sense of the word. I eventually got a tad bored of it by the end - as is the case with nearly all open-world games - but as a "new", exclusive IP for the PS brand, the future was bright. And Insomniac, like many other PS developers, deserve success and are responsible for great Resistance-based gaming memories for me early on. Side note: can we get a Resistance Remastered trilogy? Pleaaaaase?

Following the success of the first game, Insomniac decided to take an ever-so-slight detour by introducing the other Spider-Man protagonist, Miles Morales (he's having quite a year, isn't he?). That shortened, but incredibly awesome game was an improvement on the first and grew the world more. It was clear what Insomniac was doing: building their own superhero universe, MCU be damned.

Now, with Spider-Man 2, they've crafted their Spider-Man masterpiece. For comparison's sake, this is the Assassins Creed 2 or the Arkham City of this series, thus far. I'd argue the jump in quality wasn't as significant because the first 1.5 games were highly rated, but Spider-Man 2 just oozes epic, story-driven, well-earned, bombastic, and awesome moments at every turn. I'm several hours past the story at this point too and I'm still not bored.

It's just that good.

Photo mode, again FTW

My favorite element of this game is the dual-protagonist focus. They may both be Spider-Men, but Miles and Peter feel like distinct individuals and play like them too. Their behavior, brought to life by incredible voice acting, mimics their playstyle. Their powers are not the same. Their hero journey is not the same. Their challenges in real life are not the same. The combining of their narratives is a strong pull into this world because they're both compelling characters, while also both being wildly fun to play as. It also gives our narrative a lot of heft. There are many different relationships that we care about. Peter and MJ, Miles and Peter's mentorship, Miles and MJ's friendship, Miles and his friends, and several more with various other characters. These feel like real (for a superhero story) people with genuine connections. Much like past games, this bleeds into our villains as well. Kraven is an epic, stoic, and violent villain with different motives than you might expect, commanding the story with his looming presence for a significant portion of the game's length. Venom - and it's here I'll avoid spoilers - is properly menacing, evil, and apocalyptic. Other villains (or half-villains) get some limelight too, all well written characters that interact with Peter and Miles on their journey. The stakes feel gargantuan, especially near the endgame, and much of that is due to the effective build-up and characters we care about.

One of my main complaints is that the final third of the game feels too boss-heavy. It could have been related to the way I played (perhaps too many story missions in a row?), but I found the 5, 6, 7th+ boss during that timeframe to be a lot...BUT this is also a "good" problem to have. One of my "biggest" complaints of Spider-Man 2 is too many awesome boss fights? Oh no! Whatever will I do?

What an amazing game intro

Side note: what a YEAR
Miles Morales is having...

Previous installments of this franchise presented me with varying degrees of boredom by the time the credits rolled. This isn't unique to Spider-Man and is more my gaming style that, once I'm done with a game, I often know it right then and there. Spider-Man 2 has yet to have that and I fully plan on keeping it to purchase the eventual story-driven DLC. Missions are more varied both in the main quest and side ones, the dual protagonist nature of the game gets a lot of mileage (even Mary Jane's segments are better), and the "extra" stuff around New York City is almost always fantastic, if not a fun mini-game diversion. Surprisingly, New York City isn't even boring (though I am curious if future games remain here?) even though it's virtually just the same map, maybe slightly bigger and better looking. That's another point of praise that while the map isn't all that different from what came before, Spider-Man 2 feels like a PS5 game. It looks sharp as hell - especially when certain powers are used, New York City is gorgeous through various times of day, load times are non-existent, and DualSense control features are implemented wisely. Music and sound effects (especially those utilized through the controller) are fantastic, as always too.

But obviously there's an element of this review missing here...gameplay. And this is where small tweaks have truly pushed this series forward without needing to completely overhaul anything. Stealth still remains the "weakest" element, but I enjoy it a good amount and found I utilized it whenever I could. Perhaps it never surpasses Arkham in that regard, but it doesn't need to as it's what I'd label "very good" and the new ability to create multiple weblines to walk across any setting adds a lot to the strategy. Combat is - sorry for the French - f**king awesome, and easily surpasses Arkham (to keep to comparison). Both Miles and Peter have a slew of the same moves, but each moves ever-so-slightly different and each of them have 2 distinct "powers", giving you 4 total for those keeping track at home. Every element of combat is satisfying from webbing up enemies, grabbing them with gadgets, swing-kicking them into oblivion, and MY GOD the takedowns are so cool. It all controls so smoothly that part of me wonders what black-magic Insomniac is working with over there, and then you get to traversal. Traversal has always been a high point in Spider-Man games. Web swinging through buildings is a blast. With Spider-Man 2, the traversal has been perfected creating an intoxicating combination of web-swinging, wall running, web zipping, web-wings, wind tunnels, and more. It sounds like a lot, but it becomes so effortless and second nature thanks to perfect control mapping. Basically after a couple hours, anyone playing Spider-Man 2 can make it look like they're the most sophisticated Spider-swinger on the block. It's gorgeous and it's incredible.

Dual takedowns are. Just. The. Coolest.

I could continue to get really specific and heap on praise to this sophisticated sequel, but it would take time away from you going out and playing it. Whereas both iterations were great/fantastic before, Spider-Man 2 is the mic-drop version of them combined, refined, and very nearly perfected. That I'm still having fun with it so many hours later - in a very strong gaming year, no less - and that perhaps my biggest complaint is "too many back-to-back boss fights" should tell you all you need to know: Insomniac has created the best superhero game of all time.

CONS

Final third pacing with bosses made it feel like I was fighting a boss almost every 15-20 minutes
Some of the minigames/side activities work better than others
Very few handful of moments where it felt like the controls were not responding to what I was inputting
Not a Con at the moment, but I do wonder how much more life NYC can get as a map. It would be cool to see the locale change up in future games

PROS

Peter and Miles are fantastic, distinct dual protagonists with a strong mentor/mentee relationship. Their motivations, friends, decisions, and styles make them feel genuine and real
Other characters shine - particularly Harry and Mary Jane - thanks to being well written and everyone has top-notch voice acting
Menacing, yet very different villains in Kraven and Venom. The game feels appropriately BIG in its consequences and the story packs an emotional heft
Well designed missions, side missions, side activities, and collectibles. Some are meaty entrees while others are brief snacks, but almost everything is delicious

Side note: why am I crying with some of these side missions?!?

Appropriately robust upgrade system for Peter, Miles, their powers, and their gadgets
Holy s**t(!) there are so many [awesome] suits to unlock!
Stunning graphics (and yet another amazing photo mode) that runs smoothly
Music, sound effects, and controller sound is all AAA-quality
Perfected controls and use of the DualSense controller
Gameplay is varied and some of the best you'll ever encounter