Hogan Reviews

The first Spider-Man game took me by surprise because I assumed I’d like it and due to that didn’t really pay much attention to it until playing it, where I was blown away by not just the fun gameplay and open world but the new spin on some old favourites in the storyline. Spider-Man: Miles Morales was released alongside the PS5 but given I didn’t actually buy one until a few years later I never got around to playing it, despite it being on my “must get that at some point” mental list. Anyway, fast-forward to now and Spider-Man 2 was this time something I knew would be great, at the most it would more of the same with a few added bits and another great chunk of story, and … yeah, that was what we got! I think a Spider-Man 3 might have to at least change locations to freshen things up, but for now I was pretty damn happy with what we got! Let’s take a closer look.

Background:

They’re doing the thing!

Spider-Man 2, or “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” to give it its full name, was released as a PS5 exclusive on October 20^th 2023, though a Steam / PC port is due at some point down the line. Erm, not much else to write in this section this time!

Gameplay:

I suppose stopping a van is a bit different from all the bloody runaway cars…

The gameplay is once again an open world action adventure game, with the ability to freely web-swing around a now larger and even more accurate New York and stop criminals with some enjoyable combat while doing story missions and side quests. I guess I may as well start with the movement as now not only can you web-swing but you can also glide using the classic wing gliders and pick up speed with some Superman 64-style floating rings (sorry, the chance to compare the two games on the literal opposite end of the quality game spectrum was too hard to resist), otherwise you can run on the ground and vertically up the side of buildings, as well as use special launch pads to get really high up into the sky. I can’t quite explain just how fun traversal is, except maybe by saying at no point did I ever use fast travel, even if I was just going to a side quest that was on the other side of the city I went there by web-sing/gliding because it was so much fun. Plus this time you can control both Spider-Men, switching between them via a phone app menu much like GTA V but thanks to the PS5’s processing power its just instantaneous, just like the game as a whole: not a single loading screen in sight despite the size and detail of the city. There’s a mission involving a stolen magic item from Dr. Strange’s house that uses portals and they were just showing off at that point, having you jump through a portal to another part of the city instantly. Crazy.

It’s been around since the first Batman Arkham game, but damn it if it isn’t still really fun!

There’s lot of variety in combat as well, with standard melee combos, firing web at opponents and gadgets like a mass-web shooter, a stun machine, that sort of thing. You can parry strikes and counter, you can slide underneath them, you can air-combo them, throw them, with Miles you can zap them with electricity and with Peter in the Symbiote suit you can slam them violently into the ground. It’s all extremely smooth and varied enough that it never got boring. Much like the last game there are also moments where you can walk across the rafters and ledges and silently take people down and tie them up, but thankfully these aren’t forced stealth moments meaning if you fail you’re just thrust into another fun melee fight. Boss fights have some QTE moments but at least these weren’t as frequent as some and there weren’t any straight up cutscene QTEs, which are the worst offenders, plus some of them used the haptic feedback triggers really well, which is so often not used. As with pretty much everything nowadays there’s a skill tree to unlock things on (one for Peter, one for Miles and one for shared skills for both!), items to upgrade via collectables and unlockable cosmetics, though while the latter normally comes with an extra price the many different costumes in this game are unlocked as you level up or do specific missions, thankfully. One other fun little thing is that when you approach a randomly generated crime there’s a chance the other Spider-Man or another vigilante you meet during the story will already be there and help you, including some fun double team moves.

I mean… sure, I guess I can do this as well… If it also helps save New York.

Also like the last game the world is full of story missions, side quests, collectables and random crimes that generate while you’re just freely swinging about. The side quests are once again a mixed bag, you get some genuinely fun storylines with varied missions, some touching storylines with sometimes dull missions, and some stories that are packed with nothing but dull missions, often revolving around simple puzzle minigames and such. The random crimes do vary a bit more than last time though half the time it did feel like I was doing the same “stop the speeding car” or “thugs are beating someone up” missions. During the latter quarter of the game more random crimes get added but they were a lot less fun, though I can’t really go into those without story spoilers… Once again there are a couple of forced stealth missions with Mary Jane but at least this time you can defend yourself with a stun gun and therefore they weren’t the “you’re spotted so you’re dead” kind of missions, so I didn’t find them that bad this time round.

Basically as I said in the opening paragraph: it’s the first game but with added bits, and as I always say if something is great they’re allowed one sequel that is basically more of the same before I’ll get annoyed about it (though I still could’ve done without a lot of the dull minigames and QTE boss moments…)

Graphics and Sound:

There were so many screenshots I took that were stunning, but I ended up settling on this one.

What can you say about graphics nowadays? Especially something created specifically for the modern console generation. The lighting is stunning, the often-talked-about ray tracing is pretty nuts (especially swinging by windows and the like) and the interiors of most buildings are 3D environments rather than just 2D images behind windows. It’s a proper technical powerhouse and again, all of this without any load times. Madness.

The sound is good too, naturally. The soundtrack is bombastic but varied when needed, the voicework is outstanding by the whole cast, and they’ve even still got that thing where if someone is swinging while they’re talking to someone via the phone/radio then they sound like they’re talking while doing something physical, but if they’re stationary or just walking then they sound calm and normal. That means they recorded everything twice just for that effect!

Story:

Raising the controller in the air making Peter raise his hands was a … weird addition. Then again riding a bunch of fair ground rides was a weird addition in general, though it did cement the friendships of the main cast, I guess.

New York now has two Spider-Men as both Peter Parker and Miles Morales are active at the same time and things are looking up for both. Peter is about to start a new job as a teacher while Miles is looking at colleges to apply for, but after they both have to run to stop an out-of-control Sandman Peter loses his new job just as soon as he got it. He soon cheers up though when his school friend Harry Osborn appears before him and Mary, seemingly cured from his life-threatening illness. The three reconnect and Harry offers Peter a new job at his environmental lab, which he accepts and even thinks about stepping down and letting Miles handle everything himself. Sadly at the same time a mercenary group headed by Kraven the Hunter has appeared and in order to experience the ultimate hunt that will allow him to die in battle he’s freed several dangerous criminals from prison, including Mr. Negative, the man who killed Miles’ father. As Miles becomes narrowly focused on revenge Peter becomes impressed and then worried when Harry starts showing super-powers thanks to the strange alien substance that was attached to him in order to save him from his illness.

Things take a turn for the worst when Peter is gravely wounded by Kraven and the black alien substance jumps from Harry over to Peter, reviving him (and giving him his classic Symbiote suit!) but leaving Harry ill again. As I’m sure most of you are aware the suit slowly drives Peter to act more and more aggressive and dismissive towards his friends and even Mary…

*Spoilers for stuff that hasn’t appeared in trailers from here until I say otherwise!*

Miles is captured by Kraven and forced to fight Mr. Negative but manages to become a proper Spider-Man and realise there’s no glory in killing for revenge just in time to free his foe from Kraven and ask him to get the other Spider-Man, which he does. The still symbiote-controlled Spider-Man arrives and beats Kraven but is stopped from killing him by Miles, which leads to the two Spider-Men to fight each other. Miles manages to get through to Peter, who removes the suit and captures it. He realises its too dangerous to keep around so goes to Dr. Connors (who had another Lizard moment earlier in the story thanks to Kraven) to get it destroyed but all this does is allow Harry to take it and put it on, the symbiote becoming fully sentient and thus the Spider-Man game-universe’s version of Venom is born. Venom (as controlled by you!) goes on a rampage, including giving Kraven what he wants by killing him in a duel, and then begins to spread his seed across New York, turning innocent people into symbiote creatures and generally covering the environment in black webbing.

“*GASP!* … Our table! You git!”

With the help of the now reformed Mr. Negative both Miles and Peter have new abilities and together with Mary (who is briefly turned into a female Venom before being saved) they work together to take down Venom and free Harry from the suit’s power, though the experience very nearly kills Osborn, leading to his father blaming the Spider-Men for what happened to his son (Green Goblin coming up in Spider-Man 3!) For the record one side quest also sets up Carnage as a future foe but I wouldn’t be surprised if that ends up being a DLC story expansion as the whole Symbiote thing feels very much a this-game thing, but nothing announced as of yet. In a post-credits scene Miles meets his mum’s new boyfriend and his daughter: Cindy Moon, meaning Silk isn’t far from appearing as well, which I guess means Spider-Man 3 will have three Spider-people, much like 2 had two. Doc Oc in prison also gives some vague hints about stuff as well, so… plenty of set up for what I assume will be the final part of a trilogy.

*Spoilers for stuff that hasn’t appeared in trailers ends here!*

Once again the story is full of familiar Spider-Man plots and villains but often in a completely new light, all brilliantly fleshed out and well voiced. Their version of Venom especially is an excellent twist and much better than “random fellow photographer who Peter humiliated once” that it normally is (no matter how much of a classic Eddie Brock is after-the-fact). These guys should’ve been writing the Spider-Man films, honestly.

Thoughts Now:

I like how Symbiote Spidey looks more Xenomorph-y rather than just a black suit, given its a living thing and well, an alien…

Spider-Man 2 is another excellent superhero experience full of amazing graphics, fun gameplay and a gripping story full of familiar elements rebuilt in really fun and clever ways, with some great emotional beats as well. I’m sure the same yet again for SM3 will work but I do feel at least some change in level is needed, as well as side quests… then again given the current output quality I won’t doubt them either way at this point!