Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - Review

When PlayStation Studios and Insomniac Games first revealed Spider-Man back at their last E3, it seemed to be the next superhero game to define what a superhero game could be. The Arkham trilogy from Rocksteady laid down that foundation and Spider-Man was set to thwip in and keep that momentum going and lo and behold they did. It's been five years since that first game arrived and now the sequel is finally here. With two Spider-Men, a far larger city and the power of the PlayStation 5 behind it, is this amazing, spectacular or just your average game?

Trying to think of the words to say here in order to provide context for the story is quite difficult, because I don't want to say anything that could spoil things down the line, so here's a very quick summary. The game starts out in a very similar way to how the first game ended, with Harry Osborne in a tank, quickly though the game cuts away from that and puts us in control of Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man. On a seemingly beautiful New York day, things take a turn when the Sandman stomps his way through the city that never sleeps. After an incredible fight, the words ‘he's coming’ are all that remain and it sets off a chain of events that you won't see coming.

Obviously, the big thing here is that you play as both Peter Parker and Miles Morales and that you can swap between them at any time. Unlike the first game where Miles was stuck to sneaking around and hoping for the best, here like his own spinoff title he's a full-blown Spider-Man with powers and everything. Mary Jane Watson is along for the ride again and just like the first game there are times when you take control of her, thankfully she isn't limited to sneaking around either she now has the ability to fight back. The game story has flashbacks moments, where you experience story elements from other characters perspective and because it's constantly providing different context for events, how things play out and may not be how you expect them to. At one point I was so sure the story was going in one direction because the game was eluding certain aspects of character and the more I learned about this character, the more I was convinced I was right and when it didn't happen, I was shocked. Clearly that doesn't make a lot of sense because I've not named any characters, but that's just how big this game is, there are so many characters that listing them would spoil a lot and it's definitely worth discovering them on your own.

As this is a sequel much of the gameplay has carried over from the previous titles, the big difference again is that you can swap between the two Spider-Men at any time. Regardless of who you choose they generally play the same, Peter is more brutal as he's got the size with him and Miles has his cloaking ability, so he can sneak around a little easier. But when you invariably get spotted by an enemy or just have to go in spider arms a swinging, the combat is the same. The combat was perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the first game, you could just punch enemies no problem or you could then web them up, use your abilities at will and make use of the environment, and all that's the same here. One of the biggest improvements, especially when you're tackling hideouts, is that if you don't alert the enemy, there won't be just a random wave of enemies you've got to fight one after the other.

In addition to the hideouts that you can take down, there are weapons caches to find, mysterious crystals to break open, robotic birds to track down, and then assortment of completely random crimes that take place. All of these provide you with various tokens which allow you to upgrade your abilities and to purchase new suits, if you're not worried about having a new suit to wear every two hours or how many times your web shooter can blast an enemy from across the space then they don't matter. They also help break up the story missions, there are some side events that are purely Peter and some that are for Miles only, for example one series of collectables are tied to someone from Miles’s past. The same can be said when you're talking about the friendly neighborhood spider requests, these are smaller missions that are ancillary to the main story, undertaking them will get you rewards and help boost your reputation.

I feel at this point though we need to talk about New York City, the character of Spider-Man is synonymous with the city and much like the first game there is a lot happening here. One of the big additions this time is that there's more than just Manhattan, with Brooklyn and Queens now added to the map. Of course, anyone who's ever looked at a map of the area will know there is a giant river in between them and this is perhaps the weakest point of the map. There are various ways to get around the city, obviously web swinging is one of them and depending on how much of the map you explore and how many activities you complete fast travel is another one. This time around though the game also provides you with web wings, which can be activated by simply pressing a button when any of the characters are in the air. These wings let you glide over long distances and there are specific launch points around the map to help you gain distance. My issue with them though is it plays very much like the Mario 64 hat does, and that you constantly fall down and eventually you'll just have no momentum to keep going. Whilst swinging through the financial district with its very tall buildings this is not a concern, however when you're halfway across a river and there's no way to gain more distance it's a bit of a worry.

That's the biggest issue with the gameplay for me is that there is not enough variety, yes you can take photos, locate mysterious buildings and even track down some micro Spider-bots, I always felt like I had to be doing that stuff. This is not a knock on any of that, all the side activities are fun and I will eventually find that last Spider-bot, however my issue is I feel like I've already done that in the first game and then again in the stand alone. I'm not saying that we need to have Peter Parker deliver pizzas, or have Miles attend his high school debate club, but they could have offered more to the game to make the city feel like it's actually alive. There's so much more I could be talking about in terms of gameplay, it is loaded with things to do I just wish there were a little more non Spiderman things.

In terms of the game's presentation though there's only one word that can be used to describe the game, spectacular. All the character models look incredible, the animation is flawless and the city is bright and vibrant during the day and looks even better at night. There are cutscenes that take place where you can see the pain on a character's face, the hesitation when they have to make a decision and even the joy when something good happens. The first game looked amazing and while early in the life cycle of the PlayStation 5, the standalone took that to new heights, but here it blows it away. The game does offer two visual modes, fidelity and performance and for my personal choice I stuck with the fidelity mode for most of my time in the game. Fidelity caps the game at 30 frames per second, puts up 4K resolution and enables ray tracing, the performance mode boost things up to 60 frames a second, remove ray tracing in some scenes and lowers the amount of vehicles and people in the city.

The problem is however that the game engine simply cannot keep up with just how detailed the world is. When I put the game in performance mode to test it out, while not a significant drop the amount of vehicles on the road and citizens walking around was quite a bit less than I was used to seeing. The only reason I swapped to performance mode, was that in fidelity I was getting constant pop up of textures and elements, swinging down towards the road would see line markings appear, trash at the side and more objects just adding in as I got close. I have also spotted many multiple instances of objects, characters and even myself at times, clipping through the ground and other locations. There were also times when crimes that I was swinging towards would vanish as I got near them, I had people spawn right in front of me and the worst thing is that the game crashed multiple times. Now there is a day one patch still to come that may fix some of those issues but if they don't just be aware of that.

With the visuals are spectacular the audio is amazing just simply amazing. Yuri Lowenthal shines again as Peter Parker delivering a lot of heart when he's not in the suit and plenty of quips when he is. In the debut gameplay we saw Spider-Man in his symbiote outfit and the growth that Yuri provides Peter as the symbiote takes more hold it's so subtle you may not notice it. Nadji Jeter also brings a wonderful sense of fun and heart to Miles, who is dealing with some typical teenage drama, but also provides a great sense of rage and sorrow at times. Laura Bailey made me care about MJ this time, she did a great job in the first game, but here there is more to enjoy with her performance. The callout role for me though is Tony Todd’s Venom, when you hear the voice, you will feel it as well. The rest of the cast is great, and there is a lot of characters to meet.

The games musical score is a little weak for me, mostly with its mixing, the actual music is incredible. As you start to swing the score kicks in and you can’t help but feel like you are a superhero, the problem is that if you swing for 1m down the street it kicks in. That wouldn’t be an issue if it stopped soon after you land, but it can maintain itself for quite a while. Perhaps the coolest part of the music is there are times when you gain serious air, the music just fades away and you enjoy the sound of rushing wind and then as you get closer to the ground, the rest of the audio starts to come back in. I do have to give special mention to the section where you take control of Hailey, a deaf artist and friend of Miles. In that sequence, the sounds are incredibly muted and the event vibe felt weird, which is what I imagine someone who is deaf deals with all the time.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is one incredible game, from the opening moments to the tease in the final cutscene, it just kept getting better. The characters, the city and everything in between was worth spending time with, I do just wish there was a little more to do in the city. Technically the game runs fine, but constant pop in in the fidelity mode is concerning, multiple crashes even more so. Spider-Man fans should not miss out on this one and if you are still on the fence about getting a PlayStation 5, this is the game that should convince you, it’s just that good.

The Score

9.5

Review code provided by PlayStation

The Pros

A story that takes some familiar turns, but also quite a number of new ones

The game looks incredible, from the city to the characters, everything is top notch…

The Cons

… which is why there being a lot of pop in and clipping issues is a letdown

The city has so much going on, just not enough for Spider-Man to do in his downtime