This, along with Spider-man and Spider-man: Miles Morales, are some of the best superhero games I have ever played. NAY! Best games in general. Spider-man 2 easily takes the crowning glory of all three so far for me with it's amazing game-play, incredibly rich story, a plethora of side-quests to keep things fresh, well balanced Spidey humour and a surprising amount of emotional impact.
The (main) Plot
Many spoilers ahead so, if you're late to the party like me, don't read this plot bit...
Like with Spider-man and Spider-man: Miles Morales, Spider-man 2 takes place in New York. Peter and Miles each have their respective challenges trying to be Spider-man and maintain some kind of prosperous social life. Miles juggles school, applying to college, managing his anger towards Lee after the death of his father, and trying to support Pete as a fellow Spidey. Peter tries to hold down a regular job but is forever thwarted by Spider-man business, he's trying to pay the mortgage on his home inherited from his Aunt May, his relationship with MJ is rocky, and his best friend, Harry, has re-appeared in his life having survived the same life threatening condition that killed his mother with the help of an extra terrestrial symbiont (not so spoiler spoiler, it's Venom!). No quiet days for either of them, basically.
For a short time, Harry ends up fighting crime alongside Peter as Spider-man, after an incident winds up revealing to Harry who Peter's alter-ego is. When Peter suffers a life threatening injury, the symbiont jumps to him and saves his life, but now we have multiple issues as a result. Harry's life threatening health condition begins to worsen while the symbiont's hold on Peter gets stronger and stronger, making it impossible to transfer back to Harry between the symbionts unwillingness to do so and the effect it begins to have on Peter's state of mind, resulting in him not wanting to give it back. Peter gradually becomes unrecognisable and it becomes the mission of MJ and Miles to free him from it's hold.
Eventually Peter is released from the grasp of the symbiont and events lead to it eventually re-unifying with Harry, who is so emotionally distraught after believing that Peter had abandoned him and being on death's door, that the symbiont is easily able to brainwash him further and irradicate any hint of resistance.
Cutting quickly to Miles! Miles comes face to face with Lee, after finding him being held captive by Craven, a hunter who has been in New York hunting Spider-man's previous enemies, which is one of the side stories in the game. Lee was among those captured and subsequently freed by Miles after they're forced to fight each-other. Miles realised that he must overcome his anger towards Lee, and facilitates his escape to find Spider-Man (Peter) and rescue Miles from the Hunters. When Lee finally finds Peter, after the the symbiont has been removed, it's discovered that a piece of Venom is left behind which Lee is able to transfer his powers to and allow Peter to tap into those powers again without need of Venom itself to be joined. And it's with these enhanced powers that we're able to team up as Peter with Miles and MJ to remove Venom from Harry. Before passing out, Harry expresses his thanks before being whisked off by his father, Norman Osborn.
The main story is accompanied by side stories that are either separate from the main story or intertwined a little throughout. The story writing is incredible and had me more invested than I can ever remember being in any other videogame story, as well as helping to keep things fresh and engaging throughout.
The main story ends leaving the heaviest hints you ever did see for the continuation of the story with the Green Goblin, showing Norman's despair over his son now in a coma clinging onto life, intense anger towards Spider-man, and making reference to a G Serum!
Gameplay
The gameplay is intuitive and allows you to perform so many cool Spider-man moves without being overly complicated. I loved the ability to swing my way through the city and glide fore miles as well! You unlock an incredible amount of moves throughout the game, but you obviously don't need to use all of them. The skills tree for both Spidey's and each respectively are easy to understand and offers a nice amount of skill customization without feeling overwhelming.
Activities are varied between out and out beat-em-up, stealthy take downs, finding collector items throughout the city, and carrying out other cool little bits keeping the game feeling fresh if you fancy stepping away from the main stories for a bit.
Re-playability is about the same as any linear story game in that once you've played it, you know the jam and nothing's a surprise anymore. That said, the game is so much fun to play, that I really wouldn't mind swinging around the city doing it all again and seeing if I can do things a little better! If you 100% it like I did, there's still the option to swing around fighting crime casually if you have a short window of time to kill.
I have no criticisms of this game. It's one of the best games I've ever played! The price tag is still one that stings nearly a year after it's release, but there's such an incredible amount of content to keep you occupied, it's almost like having two or three games in one.
Platforms | PlayStation 5 |
Game Type | Role-Play |
Modes | Single |
Studio | Insomniac Games |
Release Year | 2023 |
Should I play it?
All the yes!
Get your PlayStation 5 copy here!
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