Are two spiders better then one?
Spider-Man 2 is a hectic game. You not only play as two Spider-Mens with different things going on in their private life but also Mary-Jane is a prominent character who has her own struggles. You’re mainly following Peter Parker reuniting with his friend Harry Osborn who is suddenly healed from his illness just in time for Kraven the Hunter to arrive in New York to hunt down all the reformed villains. That is until Venom shows up and takes the spotlight.
With dual protagonists you upgrade them separately, since they are both working with different abilities. You can also upgrade combos they can do when together which is honestly not that often. Both Miles and Peter have different side stories going on, throughout the map there are side quests that will cause you to switch which Spider-man you are using. You can also just switch them in the menu. Although some quests can be done by both Spiders and you may hear different dialogue depending on who turns in the quest.
I love that all optional side quests have beautifully animated conclusions. After helping someone out by running around the city solving puzzles and collecting things you get to see the actual outcomes of your good deeds, instead of just a quick phone call. Most of those conclusions are teasers for characters in the next game. The extra effort to finish the side quests ends with a narrative pay off.
I can tell the people who made this game really care about these characters. They spent a lot of time exploring their relationships and trepidations. They really wanted you to care about Peter and Harry’s relationship. They wanted you to know that Miles is still struggling with the events of his previous game.
Like the previous two entries there are lots of new and interesting suits to unlock for both Spider-men. There are suits from Spider-Man’s past along with newly designed ones just for this game. All the suits are unique and fun with great animations. I only wish that the suit you picked for swinging around could be in all the cutscenes.
The mini-games in Spider-Man 2 are some of the best uses of the haptic feedback in the PS5 controller I’ve seen yet. In some of the mini games you have to hold down the triggers to a certain point before your web snaps and the struggle to pull it down paired with the release was so cool. The noise the controller makes when you’re playing as Venom is guttural and absolutely terrifying, I loved it.
I felt that early on in the game both Miles and Peter were hard to control when swinging around the city. Apparently you have to upgrade their mobility with skill points and once that was fully upgraded that was more manageable. Either that or by the time I upgraded them to max I had played long enough to understand the controls. Swinging is faster than the previous titles and they added web wings so you can glide around New York.
This game can be played on its own however it is filled with spoilers for the previous two games so if you plan on playing them it’s best if you play this one last. Having knowledge of the previous two games helps but it’s not necessary, same goes for knowledge about Spider-Man himself. Overall it’s a pretty chaotic sequel. I felt like they were trying to put way too much in. Some things felt a little out of place and it seemed like certain storylines got pushed aside or resolved too quickly to make room so that more important storylines can breathe. I’m interested to see what they plan on doing with the next entry since they teased a lot of characters in this one. Don’t get me wrong I do think this game is good I just hope the next one is a little more focused.
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