Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - Review

Editor's Note: Sony India shared a copy of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 with IGN India for this review.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has long been one of the most anticipated PlayStation games since its initial announcement. The hype for the game reached a new level when Sony revealed that Venom will be part of the title. Arrival of the iconic Spider-Man villain in the third title of Insomniac's award-winning action-adventure franchise was a significant move. This was an early sign that the game developer may take things to the next level in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

As the same time, Insomniac had the work cut out for them as one of the most difficult challenges was to live up to the expectations of Spider-Man fans with Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Both the previous games in the series, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales were undeniable success stories. So, has Insomniac managed to meet the expectations of the fans? How does Spider-Man 2 fare against its predecessors? Let's find out in our review of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 here.

Graphics Modes and Performance

First up, let's get the obvious out of the way, Insomniac has done it again. The developer has gone for the hat-trick and provided us with yet another blockbuster. I reviewed the game on PlayStation 5 as it isn't available on any other platform at launch.

In terms of graphics quality, the title features 2 game modes. First is, "Fidelity" which provides players with a performance of 30FPS at 4K resolution along with ray tracing, and second is "Performance" which provides players with 60FPS at upscaled 4K with ray tracing.

During my time with the game, I stuck with the 30FPS fidelity mode as the world looked much livelier and more vibrant along with extremely high-quality in-game textures.

Furthermore, the game offered top-notch performance in both the modes with close to no frame drops during my playthrough. I did not encounter any major bugs or glitches while playing the title. Everything was silky smooth, right from the start till the very end.

Familiar Feeling with Visible Improvements

The game starts off strong and meets the expectations that players might have right away. From the familiar and beloved mechanics to new and innovative traversal techniques like the web wings, you feel as if you have gained powers of the Spider-Man all the way.

At the same time, Insomniac has managed to make all the new mechanics look a lot flashier too. They nailed the swinging and movement mechanics right from the first game in the franchise. But it is commendable that they have always managed to improve on the traversal system with each new title.

The game does an excellent job in conveying that there are two different Spider-Men in New York instead of just one. Both, Miles, and Peter have established themselves as superheroes in the city. This translates to the missions and sequences being at a much larger scale, with significantly higher stakes. Right off the bat, players find themselves throwing punches at Sandman, who is the height of a skyscraper. You end up dealing with a sinking freight ship. This makes you realize that these Spider-Men can handle a lot more now than they used to in the past.

Gameplay feels similar but I could feel the improvements. In fact, it reminded me of what I experienced while playing God of War: Ragnarok after the 2018 title. Developers have made sure that all the good things that we liked from the previous games stayed as they worked on adding some extra bits. The game has decreased the gadgets that Spidey had in the past games. Instead of more gadgets, we get swappable special abilities with each Spider-Man sporting a unique set of special abilities for distinct gameplay experiences.

New York Gets Much Bigger and the Spider-Men Get Faster

A sizeable portion of the in-game world stays like what we have seen in the previous games. But that does not mean that things have not changed. In fact, the more you explore, the more changes you will notice in the game. You can easily see that the map is much bigger with the addition of the two new boroughs, Queens, and Brooklyn. These areas are not filled with the usual skyscrapers that New York is known for, hence, our Spideys have been outfitted with wings to traverse through these new regions.

The crimes that you fight in the city have also changed as the previously seen crimes have become much easier for Spider-Men to stop. To keep the game engaging and in-line with the improving skill and power level, a variety of new crimes will pop-up across the city for you to fight. Moreover, traveling across New York feels much faster than the previous games, thanks to the inclusion of the Web Wings and Wind Tunnels that send you racing across the map. These new elements help you in reaching areas faster than you ever could in the previous titles. This really adds to the adrenaline and motivates players to explore more and be a little more adventurous.

The city is also dynamic now, as it reacts to the events that happened in the main story missions. This means that some events in the main story can drastically affect the environment of the open world that the Spider-Men travel, adding a layer of authenticity to the mind-boggling fights you get into during the game. This impact on the in-game world from the chaos and havoc after battling a big, bad villain in the main storyline also added a layer of authenticity and visible stakes.

While it is easy to say that Insomniac has also taken the performance of the game to the next level in the game without any evidence. This is more than evident with the fast-travel mechanic of the game. Fast travel is now almost seamless, and players just need to choose the spot they want to fast travel to in the city. Within seconds, they will find themselves swinging or gliding across that area. There is no fade to black or loading cutscenes whatsoever and this makes things feel instantaneous. It is almost unbelievable to see this live in action.

Spider-Man 2’s Darker Background

The story starts from where you would expect it to, with two happy Spider-Men going along their adventures, solving crimes, and kicking criminal assess. However, things go awry as soon as Kraven steps into the picture and starts going on his hunts. These hunts cause all the other villains to panic and create even more problems for the Spider-Men.

Insomniac has also done an excellent job in including the Symbiote to the story along with its psychological impact on Peter. You get to clearly see how his character and personality change as he starts embracing the symbiotic nature. The game also clearly shows all the events that make him reach that tipping point.

On the other hand, Miles also has his troubles that he needs to face, such as writing his essay for his college application and balancing his superhero and personal lives. The game makers have balanced the story pretty well as we get to understand the perspectives of both Spideys including their motivations and backgrounds. One is struggling with the life of unemployment and the other is preparing with the beginning of their new college life.

The mentor-student dynamic between the two Spider-Men is also interesting to see. At the start of the game, Peter is guiding Miles in the ways of being a superhero and this dynamic starts changing as the impact of villains and the chaos across the city starts stressing this relationship.

Main story has great pacing and manages to hook the players throughout the journey. The introduction of new characters such as Harry Osborn, Kraven, Venom, and others also helps keep things fresh. The dialogue is well-written, and you can relate and understand the emotions the protagonists are feeling at any given point in the story. Other returning characters include Rio Morales, Norman Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, Hailey and Ganke.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 also has a bunch of puzzles spread across the world as part of the main and side quests. These puzzles include some that we saw and in the previous games and some completely new ones. Some of them can be hard to complete but provide an immense level of satisfaction when you get through them.

When I say the game has become darker, I mean that it explores a darker theme right from the music to the setting and even the events happening in the story. This is something new to this Spider-Man franchise but felt necessary for the type of villains introduced in the game. Overall, the main story of the game is packaged perfectly with a whole bunch of emotion and even more action. This balance keeps the game captivating till the last moment.

Side-missions are a breath of fresh air too with most consisting of both the Spideys helping different citizens of the city with their troubles. However, the helping citizens aspect does not mean they are not exciting at times. There is one side-mission that takes you on an adventure with a new vigilante in the city. Another one explores the introduction of an iconic villain to the franchise and there are more fun ones too.

Spider-Man’s Combat Never Gets Old

They have managed to incorporate both heroes perfectly in the game, without one overshadowing the other. Peter has received his own new tools to match Miles’ Venom abilities, so no Spider-man feels more powerful than the other the entire time. The game also keeps providing you with new abilities and upgrades to existing ones throughout, which offers you more freedom in combat. These constant changes and improvements also offer new things to try out during almost any point in the game

The Venom powers of Miles have a new twist, and Peter’s symbiotic powers are as amazing and overpowered as you would expect them to be. The game has several epic showdowns that really make you feel like a Marvel superhero, especially in the battles against the major villains of the title. The game also sets up some great villains for the next installment of the series including some popular names from the comics and the movies.

Overall, the combat is fast-paced and offers you with plenty of variety on how you want to approach it. These options include going with stealth or an all-out assault. The game also introduces a variety of villain factions, each with their distinct strengths and weaknesses. You must overcome these factions strategically by lining up moves to exploit the weaknesses of the faction you are facing to do the most damage.

However, the game did not feel the least bit difficult even on medium difficulty. So, if you are looking for a challenge then I would advise you to choose a higher difficulty right from the start.

Traversal, Spidey Suits and Stupendous Speed

I needed to discuss these two things in a separate section. The new traversal mechanics with the webbed wings and slingshots are the charm of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. These moves really encourage the player to traverse across the world they have been exploring for the past two games one more time. And this time it is much more exciting and fun than the last two games. Not just the web wings, but the swinging and other existing mechanics see some upgrades too with faster speeds and more flair in movement for both the Spideys.

Spidey Suits are back again with the new game, bringing us even more variety, ranging from comics to movies. The cosmetics also receive an added layer of customization as players now get to decide colorways for most of the suits they unlock. Moreover, both the Spider-Men, Peter, and Miles have their own range of unique Spidey suits.

Another thing that really stands out about the game is its speed. Every aspect of the game is stupid fast, like unbelievably fast ranging from combat, traversal, or even load times. Talking about the traversal, players will be gliding through everything at super-fast speeds. The fast load times really stand apart when the players use the fast travel option or switches between the two Spider-Men, which can be done at any time in the game except for when the main quest is only focusing on one of the Spider-Men. This helps keep players immersed throughout the story as there are no wait times and they are always doing something.

Value for Money

Coming to the most important question, is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 worth your hard-earned money? Insomniac has made it extremely easy to answer this question as you cannot afford to miss Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

For the price of INR 4,999 players get to play as two extremely powerful Spider-Men, get a solid story and adventure that lasts for around 30 hours along with new and innovative mechanics, and most importantly a top-quality game.

The only reason for you to not buy Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 would be if you have not played the previous two games. If you fall in this category, then I would urge you to quickly finish the previous games and jump into this one as soon as you can. You will definitely feel that playing the older games is worth it to experience Marvel's Spider-Man 2 to its fullest extent.