What I’m playing: ‘Spider-Man 2’ swings back onto PS5Date: 11/6/2023 Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Spider-Man. Starting with my first exposure with the wall crawler in the 1990s animated series, Spider-Man has been one of the most impactful pieces of media I have experienced in my entire lifetime. Since then, I have played a whole array of Spider-Man games, watched and loved every single film adaptation — yes, even the much maligned “Spider-Man 3” from 2007 and 2014’s “Amazing Spider-Man 2” — and even dabbled in some of the comics as well.
Everyone in the office remembers my excitement for “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” from me gushing about the movie to even wearing a Spider-Man shirt to the office the day I went to see the movie immediately after work at the earliest showtime on a Thursday. Following that one of our editors, Debbie Gardner, gifted me a Miles Morales-themed coffee cup for Christmas that I fondly still use to this day.
Through and through, I am a web head for life.
One of my favorite adaptations of the wall crawler is Insomniac Games’ universe, centered around both Peter Parker and Miles Morales, who in other adaptations are traditionally kept separate. Across “Marvel’s Spider-Man” and “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales,” gamers have been treated to one of the most faithful adaptations of any form of media I’ve ever seen. Insomniac knows Spider-Man and the source material extremely well and has done a tremendous job adding new wrinkles to the established Spider-Man lore. This trend continues with “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.”
One of my favorite stories for Spider-Man is the one involving the symbiote suit, the untraditional black suit that is actually a living alien, typically out for world domination. In terms of my favorite versions of this story, the 1990s animated series and the PlayStation 2 game “Ultimate Spider-Man,” both come to mind.
The suit also has tendency to alter Peter’s mindset and attitude, making him more aggressive and brutal, both with his loved ones and his enemies. “Spider-Man 2” leans heavily into the way Peter’s attitude changes, but not the goofy attitude you might expect after Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3.” Peter is angry, brutal and dealing with a whole boatload of baggage with an alien suit making it even worse.
As with any symbiote suit story, players can expect to see Venom, one of Spider-Man’s most iconic villains. Without spoiling much, players can look forward to a menacing showdown with Venom once Peter gets rid of the symbiote suit.
What’s different with this adaptation is Peter also has Miles, who through the first couple of games is a young Spider-Man trying to grow into his own in the shadow of Peter, to become his own, very capable Spider-Man. The interaction between these two and how their stories weave together were a high point in my experience playing the game.
Each hero has his own arc, trying to navigate their lives while also trying to juggle the life of a superhero. While Miles is preparing to apply for college, Peter struggles to hold a job and continues to deal with the fallout of Aunt May’s death at the end of the first game, including paying the mortgage for his childhood home.
If the threat of Venom isn’t enough, our two Spider-Men also have to tangle with Kraven the Hunter, another iconic Spider-Man villain, who has come to New York, looking for a glorious death in one final hunt. He, along with his hunters, act as some of the main villains you see roaming New York that the Spider-Men fight in the typical criminal activity you will find swinging through the city.
While “Spider-Man 2” has less tear-jerker moments in the story than the prior entries, it makes up for them with emotionally charged confrontations between different characters, all the while being backed with a darker tone. This game very much feels like the darker, middle chapter of a larger saga, think like “Empire Strikes Back.”
In terms of side content, players have plenty to look forward to. Many of the side storylines include subtle nods to other characters and other happenings in this Spider-Man universe. The Cult of the Flame and spider-bot storylines in particular, have satisfying conclusions, teasing more to come.
Once again Insomniac continues to push the limits of the PlayStation 5. In their previous game, “Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart,” Insomniac tested the PS5 with its multiversal approach, dropping players in and out of different environments without a single loading screen. Between set piece moments, including an opening chase with Sandman and a game of cat and mouse between Miles and Black Cat, Insomniac pushes the PS5 to its absolute limits with changing environments and fast-paced travel.
Speaking of fast travel, with the press of a button, players can instantly be transported across the city without a single second of loading. However, the web-swinging feels so good flinging across New York using web wings and other traversal improvements from prior entries in the Insomniac series, that I only fast traveled a handful of times, opting instead to make my own way across the city myself.
Swinging across New York is almost therapeutic, doing tricks and flips to make your way across the city’s different areas. Even after completing the game, just like the prior entries, I find myself coming back every few days just to swing around New York and fight some crime.
Combat is largely unchanged from the prior games, other than some new abilities for both Peter and Miles. The real gem in the combat are these new abilities both Peter and Miles dish out to subdue their enemies. For Peter, he uses a combination of the Iron Spider legs, which players will recognize from “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” as well as powers given to Peter by the symbiote suit. Miles, on the other hand, uses a combination of his venom and evolved venom powers. Not to be confused with the villain Venom, Miles’s powers are electricity based. Both Peter’s and Miles’s abilities offer players the opportunity to show off some fun and flashy moves.
In terms of performances, Yuri Lowenthal continues to bring my favorite version of Spider-Man to life. Between the softer moments as Peter, the times he has to serve as a mentor to Miles and even his radical change in personality with the black suit, Lowenthal puts together another excellent performance. Some of the typical Spider-Man one-liners he said were delivered perfectly with often hilarious results. Alongside Lowenthal, Tony Todd, who plays Venom, and Nadji Jeter, who plays Miles, each actor puts on an excellent performance.
While at sometimes Todd leans a little too much into Tom Hardy’s version of Venom, he still delivers some powerful, menacing lines as the oversized symbiote. The iconic “We are Venom” line stands out as one of his best. Laura Bailey, who plays Mary Jane Watson, also puts in one of her best performances. She is one of the more predominant voice actors and video games and in some cases I feel like just phones in some of her performances, but as Mary Jane she does an excellent job as her character is put into different situations, especially when dealing with the symbiote-infested version of Peter.
Unlike some of the other games I have talked about this year, “Spider-Man 2’s” story clocks in at about 20 hours for the main story alone. Like with the first game I wanted to complete everything the game had to offer, clocking in at a final play time of just over 28 hours to 100% the game. To me, this was a nice change of pace, sometimes I feel like some games are needlessly bloated to fill playtime, but “Spider-Man 2” never overstays its welcome with the shorter runtime.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed swinging through New York as the Spider-Man and eagerly anticipate the inevitable “Spider-Man 3” or any additional downloadable content that may become available, but has not been announced at the time of writing. I also eagerly anticipate Insomniac’s version of Wolverine, which is supposed to be released in the next few years.
“Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” is available for PlayStation 5.
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