Some games are generation-defining. Uncharted 2. Red Dead Redemption. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Insomniac Games arrives with their own Uncharted 2 moment; a game characterized by blockbuster action scenes and deep dives into the characters of the world, stories you’ll be thinking about for years to come.
A disclaimer as I start this review: I’m not as well-versed in Spider-Man’s comic lore as some are. I fired up Insomniac’s Spider-Man in 2018 as a fan of Ratchet & Clank and an even bigger fan of Sunset Overdrive (RIP). I liked Spider-Man, I enjoyed Miles Morales, and now that I’ve finished Spider-Man 2, I can’t stop thinking about it. It may become the first game I’ve made the effort to Platinum in a long time.
Not just a new coat of paint
I won’t be spending a lot of time talking about how the game looks, because everyone has seen the videos. It’s breathtaking, and I spent so much of the game in Photo Mode (more on that later) capturing what I was seeing. There’s so much detail around New York City that I encourage you to spend some time swinging and flying around the map, taking in the sights and listening to the NPCs populating the world. I guarantee you’ll find something to marvel at and laugh at.
Insomniac changed how traversal works, namely with the introduction of web wings. The web wings made flying around so much fun that I was nearly halfway through the story before I started caring about fast travel. The new fast travel mechanic became one of my favorite upgrades from the previous games. The video clip below shows how fast travel works in the game.
A New York City that truly feels alive
It’s been ten months since the events of Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Peter is starting a new job, and low and behold it’s at Brooklyn Visions! The action starts extremely fast, and we’re into the main story even faster.
Pete may be jobless, but his BFF Harry is back after undergoing mysterious medical treatments for two years, seemingly healthier than ever. And he gives Pete a job! Miles is dealing with college applications, his mom dating again, and his (adorable) crush on Hailey.
Yuri Lowenthal, Nadji Jeter, and Laura Bailey do a magnificent job of reprising their roles as Peter, Miles, and MJ, but Graham Phillips was a real standout as Harry. It was also great to see and hear Jacqueline Piñol back as Rio, Griffin Puatu as Ganke, and a few others that I won’t mention because of spoilers. (But they’re all fantastic.)
Kraven, voiced by Jim Pirri, is even better as a villain than the trailers gave him credit for, even though in the grand scheme of things, he has a shorter role in the story than I figured he would.
It was interesting to see how Venom entered the Insomniac universe, and I thought it was smart how they did it. It was nothing like the Tom Hardy Venom movie, and utilizing it how they did brought another level of emotional/personal storytelling to the mix.
The ‘Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’ app returns in Spider-Man 2, featuring some can’t-miss sidequests that do a remarkable job of reflecting on the themes and what the main characters were going through as a result of the main quest. There’s a bevy of other side quests with collectibles to find, bases to clear, and crimes to stop, which is how I’m going to be spending my time in the game waiting for New Game+ to drop.
I was dreading hearing that MJ stealth missions were returning in this game, but they were a night-and-day difference from what I had played in the first. We knew from the events of the DLC from that game that MJ was headed to Symkaria to report on the civil war there and trained with Silver Sable. Her missions focused on stealth, sure, but in Spider-Man 2, she’s more capable and even wields her own weapon, a stun-gun type device. Some will say that it’s a little weird that one hit from her stun gun would take down one of Kraven’s Hunters, but it was just so satisfying that, to be honest, I didn’t care.
In-Game Details
The menu design for Spider-Man 2 is very similar to the previous two outings, which were clean and polished. Having dual Spider-Men in this game, the Skills tab was split between Peter, Miles, and a third tab with shared attributes.
Photo Mode deserves a special mention in reviewing Spider-Man 2. I spent a ton of time in Photo Mode in Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and when I got into it in Spider-Man 2, I was excited to see that it was still robust and full of great ways to customize your shots. Too dark? Head to the lighting menu and brighten it up. Cool shot, but terrible angle? Switch from the orbit camera to the free camera. There was a plethora of filters available, though admittedly I found myself only using a handful that became my favorites.
With the emphasis on how great Photo Mode was, I wished that even a tenth would have spilled over to the side missions where you snap photos of the “real New York City.”
A Heroic Soundtrack
John Paesano’s musical score deserves to be nominated for a GRAMMY, now that there’s a specific category for video game soundtracks. Greater Together, the lead song from the soundtrack starts as Peter’s theme did for the first game, but gets really interesting as he layered in more electronic and hip-hop sound, representing Miles. It’s a great balance of grand, orchestral pieces and slower, quieter tracks; just like the game itself. I mentioned Greater Together, but other standout tracks for me included Symbiotic Relationship, Fighting Back, and Healing the World.
…That thing we should touch on
We’ve all seen the “bug hunters” on social media. My time with the game was relatively bug-free, and I could count on one hand the amount of issues I had. I got stuck on a random box or ledge once or twice. Not a big deal, as loading the most recent checkpoint would maybe send me back a minute or so. My cape also went nuts in a couple of cutscenes, but that’s dependent on what suit you’re wearing, as only a few have something like a cape.
You could choose from either a Fidelity mode or Performance mode, and I chose Fidelity at 120Hz because my television was capable of it. For most of the game, I experimented with having the Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) set to uncapped, but needed to change it to smooth near the end of the game. There’s A LOT happening on the screen during the last few missions of the story, so this wasn’t entirely surprising. This is a polished game, and you can tell the team at Insomniac put a lot of time and love into this final product.
Is it worthy?
Uncharted 2 put Naughty Dog on another level, and Insomniac has done the same with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. While nearly every level had a blockbuster-esque set piece, it was the personal stories between Peter, Miles, MJ, and Harry I kept coming back to, stories expertly told and performed by everyone involved, not just the core four. New York City was truly an epic playground, with a world full of activities to keep you busy, but not overwhelm you. Side stories don’t feel like side stories, I encourage anyone picking up the game to play as many of them as possible.
This team has nailed what makes a great superhero experience. Great superhero stories aren’t about the out-of-this-world feats they accomplish. They’re about the person under the suit and the people around them.
I’m honored to award Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 a 10/10.
