Marvel's Spider Man 2 review

It’s a familiar story. If you’ve seen the gameplay trailers and have a fair idea of who Spider-Man is (duh) there are not many big surprises for the keen eye. It’s like watching Spider-Man movie reboots. You know what’s going to happen because you’ve read the comics, watched the cartoons and even followed the cautious crawler to another dimension in other mediums. That’s always been the case with a Marvel game but the acting and gorgeous cinematic fights will capture your attention faster than the air currents of NYC (we’ll get to this in a bit).

Insomniac Games are masters of creating the most entertaining opening action sequences and Spider-Man 2 will instantly grip you for a good few hours the first time you get past the title screen. The starting bits of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is still my personal favourite but Spider-Man 2 does justice to your time and frankly, the game approaches the initial bits of teaching you the ropes (webs) very tastefully.

Venom is here, you get a black suit, Kraven the Hunter is doing justice to his name (and hobby) and a lot of emotional and personal problems show up. Terrible time and money management is why everyone relates to Spider-Man and you’ll see that here. Yes, the superhero stories of both these web crawlers are intertwined and relatable at their climactic moments but the softer and personal side of it hits harder. There’s a bit where Spider-Man learns about the careful act of balancing work, life and relationships which has been a core pillar of Spider-Man’s journey in the comics and cartoons, but only now as an adult I relate to it better. If you’re a 90s kid, the story is nostalgic. And having two Spider-Men only brings variety to these tales so it still manages to keep it fresh. Also, kudos to the Insomniac Games for including Hailey’s hand-sign conversations with Miles and Ganke.

Kraven’s depiction here is so incredible that we’re not sure if the upcoming movie will be able to beat this version of Kraven. Even Venom has been given the attention to detail that was missing from the old Spider-Man games.

Peter and Miles fight with the same acrobatic flair and slippery footwork. However, the abilities are slightly different. Some abilities do similar things but look different like rushing into your enemies or lifting a group in the air to strike them in the air. However, Miles will start using the Venom powers (the electric ones) and Peter has robot spider arms and the symbiote suit to change the fighting style a bit. Miles can also disappear so stealth missions are particularly fun with him but this time there’s a bigger focus on action. Particularly more ‘public property damage’ action and less tip-toeing.

You also have gadgets which are shared between both Spider-Men. Pushing enemies upwards or into each other with a gadget and then striking them with abilities is usually the best way to manage large groups. And enemy management during combat is critical. Insomniac Games has increased enemy types this time which makes combat a lot of fun and challenging. Many archers and long-range enemies will hide and move from pillar to post to make your life difficult meanwhile close-range enemies are aggressive and some have attacks that require a parry than a spidey somersault. Yes, there’s a new parry mechanic and both Spideys can do it. We can’t wait to jump in again on a higher difficulty level.

Moving around the city is as fun as the combat. Dare I say, this is the most satisfying traversal mechanic I have seen in a long time. Your web-slinging only days are numbered because the web wings open up a new way to move around the city. It’s also a larger city now with the addition of Queens and Brooklyn. It’s very similar to Batman Arkham games’ gliding mechanic but much, much faster and zippier. You can jump off a skyscraper, nosedive into the traffic and web sling into a circular roll and shoot off into the sky again and maintain the momentum with the web wings. Or you can catch wind drafts moving through the city and whiz past buildings like Superman. It’s very thrilling!

Mary Jane missions are back but don’t worry, they’re not as boring or pace-breaking as before. It’s barely 3-4 missions stealth missions which are very interesting too. Enemies behave less aggressively around these missions but that’s to be expected. 

Side missions on the other hand are fleshed-out stories on their own. Each with a unique tale to tell about either the villainy of the Spider-Man universe or the heart and soul of NYC. The ones that focus on the humans of NYC are exemplary. Some missions only require one of the Spider-Men and one of the missions where you have to recover stolen musical instruments is truly insightful in understanding the rich history of black artists who pushed the medium of music and culture.

There’s a patch that will come on the day of the game’s release which adds a Dolby Atmos-specific audio mix. We will update this review when we try it out after the launch. Technically, the game is flawless. We faced no bugs and the game ran at a smooth 30FPS with Ray Tracing on. We didn’t want to forego the shiny suit and pretty lights of NYC so 30FPS was fine but if you want 60FPS then their performance mode works perfectly fine too. 

It looks much better as well and takes full advantage of the speedy insides of the PlayStation 5. Jumping into any street or lane is instantaneous and you never see a loading screen. Although in reality you will never actually use fast travel (I forgot it was there) because web-slinging and using the wings is so much fun that you might as well make your way there, spidey style.

The game also makes proper use of the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller’s haptics. Each vibration is fine-tuned to every movement and material. Moving the Spider bot through the metal air ducts has a different effect than moving Spider-Man through the city. Combat and mini-games also make full use of the PS5 DualSense haptics. Some of the hacking mini-games, quick time events and button prompts make use of the adaptive triggers and the gyro in full measure. Even the touchpad on the controller is put to use here. Swiping left brings up the smartphone for side missions, up and down swipes bring out the camera.

Spider-Man 2 respects your time with the most fleshed-out story and action-packed gameplay. It took us barely 11 to 12 hours to complete the main story with a few side missions as well but it’s the best 12 hours you’ll spend your time doing. If you want to 100% the game then it should take you 18 to 20 hours.

It’s not perfect though. You cannot swap between the Spideys in combat like Final Fantasy 7 Remake games. And the story about the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man to a not-so-friendly one is told many times before. It’s a good game which won’t surprise you, but will definitely make you smile and relate to its most human emotion as you did when you first flipped through the comic book pages of this oh-so-chatty superhero (Ya, the perfectly timed one-liners are better than before).