Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Review: Your Friendly Neighborhood Masterpiece

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 isn’t just a video game about superheroes. It’s an opportunity to live in Spider-Man’s shoes, and gallivanting around New York City with the most satisfying web-shooting and wall-crawling abilities of any Spider-Man game ever made is an experience you shouldn’t miss.

I will never forget slinging my first web after the opening scene of Marvel’s Spider-Man back in 2018. When Peter Parker jumped out of his apartment window in Manhattan and passed me full control of Spider-Man, my mind was blown. Web-slinging across the city felt more tactile and incredible than in any other Spider-Man game before it, and I finished the game convinced that it was one of the best I’d ever played. The narrative was gripping, the voice actors were cast perfectly, and the bombastic, slow-motion combat moments truly made me feel like a badass superhero. Now that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is here, I maintain that this series is a triumph that does not disappoint.

Spider-Man 2 isn’t just for Spider-Man fans

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is an action-adventure game set in a gorgeous open-world rendition of New York City after the events of the first game and the subsequent Spider-Man: Miles Morales spinoff. You don’t need to be familiar with the previous Spider-Man games to enjoy the latest entry. But we don’t recommend skipping them, either: They’re brilliant, they’re less expensive these days, and they still play beautifully, so you’ll get the best experience and value if you start from the beginning of the series. The new game begins with an optional cinematic recap of the events from the previous titles, but it’s only a brief refresher that may still leave you with some questions.

In the sequel, Peter has taken Miles under his wing as a second Spider-Man, and you swap between the two characters as they team up to protect the city, utilizing their distinct fighting powers and abilities. The primary gameplay centers on hand-to-hand combat, where you use various melee combos, tech gadgets, and special abilities to defeat mobs of bad guys. At times, you also infiltrate larger spaces in stealth using Spidey’s web-takedowns to knock enemies out or quietly wrap them up in silky cocoons. When you’re not beating people up, you have tons of slower narrative moments to enjoy, and you can navigate the game at your own pace.

One of my favorite parts of playing this sequel is spending hours traversing New York City. I’m not a native New Yorker, but taking Spider-Man to watch the boats in Central Park, swing across the Brooklyn Bridge, or jump off the Empire State Building brings back all of the wonderful memories I have of the city. And although Spider-Man 2 has a fast-travel system to zap you from one point to another, I never opt to use it because web-slinging around feels just as fun as participating in the game’s most eventful moments.

Some major story missions require you to stay on track until you finish them, but otherwise you can wander and take on side quests at your leisure. As you explore, spontaneous crimes such as robberies pop up throughout the city, and you can intervene if you wish. Citizens also request Spider-Man’s services directly via the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man app, and if you choose to complete those quests, you earn different tokens that you can use to unlock suits and tech upgrades.

The main campaign is designed to be completed in roughly 20 hours, but your completion time can easily take longer depending on how many side activities you do and how much time you spend meandering.

A game for all skill levels

Spider-Man 2 is approachable for all players because the combat and the basic controls are introduced gradually, and button prompts frequently pop up to remind you what to do. Combat calls for a little more finesse as you unlock new gadgets and special abilities over time, and if you don’t have a lot of free time for gaming, jumping back in after a few weeks off can feel disorienting. However, the game has four difficulty settings that you can toggle through at any time, and you can reference the controls from the pause and touchpad menus.

If you own a PlayStation 5 and you like superheroes or epic action-packed games, or if you simply enjoy web-slinging around Manhattan, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a blast to play. It expands on all of the things that made the previous games magical, putting a spin on the already-great combat system and adding fresh New York streets to explore.

This article was edited by Caitlin McGarry.