REVIEW – Last year, we celebrated four decades since the debut of the first basic Spider-Man video game on the popular Atari 2600 retro console, which laid the foundation for a wide range of future games that sought to recreate the great adventures of “friendly neighborhood” Spider-Man in the streets of the concrete jungle of New York in ever more detailed and ambitious ways.

While many other superhero games had various obstacles that prevented the realization of appealing gameplay systems (the most prominent being the excessive raw power of Superman, which prevented the creation of a satisfactory performance in the game), the adventures of Peter Parker always gave entertainment software designers a chance to experiment with innovative techniques for fast movement around the city, combat challenges, and a wide range of bombastic fights with a large number of famous villains. The culmination of this wave of games came in 2018, when the well-known studio Insomniac Games, in cooperation with the PlayStation and Marvel Games divisions, managed to deliver not only the best Spider-Man game to date, but also the arguably best superhero game of all time, which, thanks to its many excellent gameplay solutions, visual presentation, action spectacle and emotional story, surpassed the critical and commercial success of the legendary Batman Arkham franchise.

The worldwide popularity of this Spider-Man game and its impressive 2020 expansion, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, gave Insomniac Games the opportunity to fully commit to creating an ambitious sequel built exclusively for the powerful PlayStation 5 hardware. Fortunately, the result of their years of work is an open-world action game that dramatically improves on every single element of the original, giving players the chance to experience an even more emotional and visually spectacular game that will blow them away.

Studio Incominac Games has once again proven that it is a true master of its craft

Picking up less than a year after the explosive events of the Miles Morales expansion, the latest Spider-Man game introduces us to new stages in the lives of our two heroes, who once again have problems in their personal lives that they cannot easily solve because superhero problems are constantly pushing them to don their distinctive spandex uniforms and save the lives of innocent civilians throughout New York City.

While Miles is busy trying to get into the local university, Peter and his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson are both struggling to find steady work that will allow them to settle down from the superhero life. Just then, Peter learns that his best friend Harry Osborne has finally returned to town after recovering from a serious illness and has offered him an incredibly lucrative job at a humanitarian science foundation. But Peter Parker’s fate is about to be repeated with the arrival of a major new villain in New York who plans to put the entire city in danger. The mysterious hunter Kraven is searching the streets of Manhattan for an “honorable” opponent strong enough to defeat him.

Kraven craves more than the two Spider-Man

While at first they are various villains we have met in previous games, Kraven quickly realizes that even the two Spider-Men are no match for him. This forces him to turn his attention to a great mystery that has appeared in the city – Harry Osborne has been cured by the powers of a mysterious “symbiote” being that has given him superhero powers far beyond anything seen on the streets of New York. Facing armies of Kraven’s mercenaries, villains released from the Raft prison, and many other dangers that have begun to threaten the safety of civilians throughout the city, Peter and Miles embark on an adventure that far surpasses the ambitions Insomniac Games had in store for their two previous Spider-Man games.

The bloodthirsty hunter Kraven unleashes an avalanche of destruction in search of an opponent strong enough to defeat him.

Like its predecessor, Spider-Man 2 is a completely single-player, open-world action game, but this time players can choose to play as either Peter Parker or Miles Morales as they freely explore the city. There is no direct two-player co-op, although in many parts of the game, two heroes can meet on the streets of the city (the partner is AI-controlled) and help each other eliminate various threats.

Only during the long central campaign, which lasts on average as long as the first Spider-Man game (about 15 hours of gameplay), are players forced to lead the heroes chosen by the developers. The campaign is full of truly impressive action sequences that show the level of destruction, superhero abilities and innovative “blockbuster” situations that rise in quality far above the events of the first game, and an interesting upgrade system allows players to dramatically improve the combat abilities of their heroes.

Level up your Spider-Men!

Hero progression focuses on up to three separate systems – improving the status of the superhero suit (impact strength, improved health, stealth, and movement speed), developing combat devices, and purchasing skill points in three separate skill trees (Peter, Miles, and Common Offer). The resources to purchase these upgrades are scattered throughout the city and can be collected by completing core missions, side challenges, and even by simply finding resources in various hidden locations throughout the city.

While the previous Spider-Man game was slightly criticized for the presence of slow and awkward stealth sections where players could take control of side characters, this game has completely removed that drawback. Players will be able to briefly take control of MJ, but this time she is much more capable, moves more dynamically, and her sections directly affect the flow of the scenario in key situations when Peter and Miles are not present.

One of the things that made the previous Spider-Man game from Insomniac Games so easy to play was the fast-moving city system. This part of the game is now even more advanced in the sequel, and the very capable PS5 hardware now allows players to move even faster and more impressively through the dramatically visually improved environment of the Manhattan peninsula, as well as the equally large neighboring boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, located just across the Hudson River.

Open your wings!

The most dramatic improvement is the use of small wings that both Spider-Men can open once they get a little higher off the ground, and when they move fast and high, they can use their momentum to really fly freely over the rooftops and streets of New York. Flying is further enhanced by the presence of horizontal and vertical air currents through which players can fly and gain additional momentum. There are also very useful air corridors that allow players to fly over large swaths of the city, fly over the Hudson River, and get to distant markers quickly without having to use spiderwebs (which are also a lot of fun in this game). We especially commend the addition of a new “slingshot” move that allows players to launch themselves from the ground and rooftops with a simple L2+X move.

In addition to all of these fun movement options, few players will choose to use the integrated fast-travel system, which is a huge compliment to the gameplay designers at Insomniac Games for making this large open world so attractive and easy to explore. A new visual style for nearby side missions (presented as floating holograms over many parts of the city) allows players to focus on collecting optional resources and rescuing civilians without having to frequently call up the map screen. However, it is important to note that the game does not force the city to be crowded with different holograms, and will even completely ignore locations in parts of the city that are too far away or that the player has not yet visited.

An unforgiving combat against more aggressive enemies

The game’s combat system offers a wide range of options, but aggressive enemies are unforgiving and can often surprise the player with effective attacks. Indeed, Just as the game has developed fast movement around the city, the combat system has also undergone significant development. And with the game filled with battle arenas and various combat situations that can trip up the unwary, it is imperative that everyone familiarizes themselves with the new offensive options this game offers.

The flow of combat is a mix of Spider-Man’s traditional quick movement around the battle arenas and the use of the many sneaky moves that these nimble heroes have to offer. In this game, it is now almost completely free to build cables to walk over the heads of opponents, giving players the opportunity to reduce the number of bad guys before jumping into open combat. As in the previous game, combat in this title is very frenetic and fast, forcing the player to pay much more attention to combat tactics than in the Batman Arkham series, for example. Success in combat depends not only on defensive moves (where the new “Parry” move stands out, which is crucial against many stronger opponents), but also on the tactical use of special Abilities (called by pressing the L1 button) and Gadgets (R2).

In the last third of the campaign, the game will be very willing to throw at the player a really impressive number of enemies who will always try to destabilize our hero with a large number of attacks that they can perform from a distance, special moves that prevent the use of Abbility power, etc.. However, if you level up Spider-Man at a good pace, you’ll always have special moves at your disposal that can easily take out a large number of enemies. Healing during combat sequences is similar to the original (hitting an enemy fills up the health bar, which can be activated as needed), and there is also a special L3+R3 move that is best used when there are a large number of enemies on the screen.

The full power of the PlayStation 5 is on display in this stunning open-world title

Another area in which the game excels is, of course, its visual presentation. The excellent engine that has powered previous Spider-Man games has been significantly improved here, giving players the chance to see many new details in every part of the city. Open areas are now much more populated with civilians and a variety of different objects, and the overall presentation of the game is helped by the fact that advanced ray-tracing reflections are now turned on in every visual mode of the game. This drastically improves the look of the game in almost every urban part of the game (all windows, cars and glass facades of buildings now give realistic reflections) and especially with water surfaces, which now reflect light realistically.

The main characters of the game have of course received a lot of attention from the developers, and now all of them look really impressive and well animated. The long script of the game’s main campaign puts the characters in many interesting situations, and the game does not hesitate to tell part of its story with realistic facial movements, which can say much more than the direct sentences of the actors on the set. Secondary characters appearing in the campaign received similar attention, and the large scenario was enriched with narrative elements that can be encountered in side missions and open exploration of the map.

The game also brings two core rendering modes to the PlayStation 5 console, but they may have different rendering performance depending on the capabilities of your TV. Primary modes include 30 FPS and 60 FPS, 120Hz TV owners will automatically receive 40 FPS mode, and TVs that support VRR variable frame rate technology can remove the FPS limit for the smoothest version of the game. Performance mode with the framerate limit removed often runs above 80fps (with good preservation of the general appearance of the game), and in closed areas the framerate is pushed to an impressive 120fps, making those parts of the game (especially action sequences) really great to play.

On the audio front, players can expect full support for Tempest 3D Audio, which perfectly positions sound sources in a 3D environment around the current camera position. The current Dolby Atmos soundtrack has been optimized to take full advantage of the best equipped home sound systems, including speakers placed above players’ heads.

One of the best superhero games ever made

Overall, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has dramatically improved all the elements that give players the freedom to personally participate on their TV screens in one of the best superhero games ever made. A phenomenally fluid way to move around the city, new combat abilities, a wide variety of interesting enemies, memorable main villains, an emotional storyline, and a fantastic visual presentation make this action title a game that every fan of superheroes and open world games should play as soon as possible.

With this game, Insomniac Games left the possibility of telling new adventures set in New York, but after such a spectacle with two dynamic heroes, we are now most interested in how the next game from this studio will turn out, which will be centered around a hero who has a completely different style. fights, a short temper and unbreakable adamantium claws that show no mercy.

-BadSector-

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Developer: Insomniac Games

Style: Action-adventure

Release: October 20, 2023.