Let me save you some time: if you are a fan of Spider-Man and Mile Morales then you are going to love Marvel's Spider-Man 2. You probably already pre-ordered it. If you are a fan of Sony’s third-person, open world, narratively strong first-person games, you are going to love this game. For everyone else who isn’t a fan, you will still enjoy this game. Simply put, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is not only more of what you enjoy about PlayStation first-party titles, but is also something more satisfying in many ways. Basically Sony and Insomniac Games have, to borrow an American-ism, hit it out the park.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 picks up an indeterminate amount of time after Miles Morales. Peter and Miles are the dynamic duo of New York, with apologies to all the DC fans out there. Things are going almost okay for the duo; Miles is struggling with his responsibilities as Spider-Man while trying to plan for his future, while Pete is stuck in that age-old quandary of balancing his hero life with his personal. Basically, both characters are trying to figure out who they are and who they feel they should be. It’s an interesting dynamic, but one that doesn’t really pay off through the story as there are many opportunities for this to be explored that aren’t taken.



The story really kicks off when Kraven and his hunters, with obligatory South African, Australian and Eastern European members, arrive in New York. Kraven is bored, feeling as if there is no challenge left. However, New York has a veritable smorgasbord of super-powered beings to challenge him and sate his bloodlust. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 starts with a spectacular opening sequence as Sandman goes on the rampage. Driven seemingly mad, he grows to titanic proportions and it is up to the Spider-Men to bring an end to his insanity.

All these plot threads seem disparate, but like the best comic storylines, they all come together.

What quickly follows is a sequence of seemingly unrelated plot threads that will culminate in the final battle. Harry Osborn makes his return, seemingly cured of his non-specific yet fatal disease. As it turns out, he has a new suit developed by Dr. Curt Connors that manages his disease - without it, his body will succumb. Miles has to put aside his day-to-day wants and needs to help Peter take down Kraven, but during the course of the game, a major villain has escaped and Pete has a personal reason for wanting to capture that villain. All these plot threads seem disparate, but like the best comic storylines, they all come together.



That was my first pleasant surprise. The story for Marvel's Spider-Man was good (long-time Spidey writer Dan Slott wrote it), but it felt hastily put together. The emergence of Doc Ock and the Sinister Six felt rushed and the Mr. Negative story was resolved somewhat quickly and in an unsatisfying manner. That happily is not the case here. Even with two protagonists, Kraven and finally Venom emerging in the story over the 25 or so hours of the main campaign, it never feels rushed. However, I do think that there is a compromise made that maybe could’ve been less so.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 splits your focus between Miles and Peter and here is where you'll find that compromise. Pete’s story feels functional, a way to move the main plot forward. From him trying to sort out his life, to Harry’s return, to the black suit saga to finally fighting and defeating Kraven and the new Venom villain, there is nothing that makes the player and observer feel like Peter is a fully-formed character. Even his relationship with MJ and Harry is a missed opportunity as besides one sequence of three old friends indulging in a bit of nostalgia, the story doesn’t take the time to delve into who they are versus who they were before Harry’s disappearance.



Miles, on the other hand, has time spent on who he is outside the suit, but also as a member of his community. The story does well to illustrate the challenges he faces as he tries to be everything. His interactions with his closest friends, particularly Hailey, reinforce that. Even the uneven screentime he gets with his mom does that, showing the tension between wanting to be a good son and a hero. In particular, there are well-designed Spidey side missions that place Miles in his community and show that not only is he New York’s hero but he is also Harlem’s hero. One particular side story doesn’t even star him, but that does not take away from its importance and just rounds out his character.

Miles, on the other hand, has time spent on who he is outside the suit, but also as a member of his community. The story does well to illustrate the challenges he faces as he tries to be everything.

Other than this, the story is engaging, intriguing and overall satisfying. The way it weaves in elements from the comics, Kraven particularly a seminal story from the comics, the black suit saga, emergence of Venom, Harry’s return and the relationship between Peter and Miles is masterfully done. There are enough easter eggs for comic fans, the design of the first use of the black suit will remind anyone of the Flash Thompson Agent Venom run and the use of the suit should stir memories of the Ultimate Universe symbiote. But the easter eggs don’t make the story too insider-ry for less fastidious comic book readers.



With the improvement to the story comes a complimentary improvement to the mechanics. First of all, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is much larger than the first game. They have expanded beyond the island of Manhattan and to enable travel around the world as effortlessly as the first did; not only is the swinging back and faster than ever, but now you have a wingsuit to use that makes things particularly thrilling when you hit a wind tunnel. There’s a side mission that makes effective use of the wingsuits but becomes little more than an updated version of Howard’s Pigeons, an activity I hated.

But this is where Insomniac have taken the time to listen to critics and to iterate on the well-worn Sony template. At first, in the first two hours, I was dismayed to find a flashback gameplay sequence where you sneak around Peter’s high School with Harry to avoid a security guard. We saw this in Uncharted 3 and Uncharted 4. However, that concern soon faded. The open world is still there, but the feeling of check-listing activities is nearly gone. The awful base-clearing missions that were in every district are almost gone. I say almost as they are now hidden and feel more organic. You have these smaller sub-bases to clear that lead to clues about a bigger one.



Also, thank goodness, if you are patient and stealth your way through, there are no multiple waves to get through. If you make a mistake and get caught, then reinforcements appear, but only then. Things like crimes just happen, and you don’t magically create a crime-free zone by completing a set number. Collectables also have to be found, ensuring you explore the world instead of looking for a map marker to go to. All in all, the open world feels more organic than the first game and it is more satisfying to find these things than to swing from map marker to map marker.

The open world is still there, but the feeling of check-listing activities is nearly gone.

Combat has also been refined. The first change is to the gadgets. Gone is the wagon wheel, allowing you to choose from multiple gadgets. You now have access to four gadgets whose use is more intuitive. Instead of R1 to bring up a wagon wheel, you simply press R1 + a face button to use it. This makes fights more challenging as you can’t just call up any gadget to assist you against the multiple enemies, particularly in base-clearing. Gone are the trip wires and impact webbing that make taking down enemies from on high so easily; now all you are left with is the takedown from a perch and the webstrike that requires more patience.



Like the previous game, new unlockable suits are available. These are great to customise your character and most suits, except iconic ones like the movie ones, allow you to choose from four preset colour and design schemes. However, you no longer have the suit powers activated by pressing R3+L3. Now Peter and Miles have a specific power mapped to that button combo that's unlocked through the story. I was very disappointed that my favourite web tornado thing that cleared a group of enemies in short order was gone.

This is not to say that all combat has been made challenging by taking away tools of the trade. Mapped to L1 + face buttons are fours active abilities/special attacks that are great for getting you out of sticky situations. Peter has his mechanical spider legs to help him and Miles his Venom powers. Again, the use is intuitive and while the cooldown is a bit too long, it is far less rhythm-breaking than using the old wagon wheel of gadgets.

For anyone worried that the game is too difficult now, you can adjust difficulty on the fly, however, combat is more challenging...

And you are certainly going to need these tools and upgrades. Henchmen are harder and the variety more challenging, but when special brutes appear wielding axes, spears and shields, you know you have a fight on your hands. They can easily overwhelm you and with sword-wielding bad guys able to break through your defences, you will need all the gadgets as well as the new parry mechanic to stun them.



That’s right, Insomniac has taken inspiration from From Software and added unblockable attacks that require a parry. If you can dodge out of the way, great, but you will need to parry to stagger so you can land a flurry of blows. This mechanic becomes increasingly important in boss battles as they have a double health bar and unblockable attacks to contend with. For anyone worried the game is too difficult now, you can adjust difficulty on the fly, however, combat is more challenging as I died far more due less to carelessness and more to failing to recognise patterns and deal with hordes through effective gadget use than the first game.

Performance-wise, and this is before any day one patch but post- two review release patches, the game is rock solid. I mainly played on performance mode and framerates were smooth with some RT enabled to ensure the game looked as good as it runs. The swinging is as satisfying as ever with the wingsuit a great addition that is fun to use, easy to get started in, but challenging to master. The aforementioned side missions will challenge you and you will be restarting the challenge more than once.



Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is another great Sony exclusive and well worth the wait. The story is more coherent and less rushed and the improvements to the overall world design and combat will ensure that players will be challenged and entertained for the full playthrough. The updates to the open world design reduces the rote nature of the activities, but the variety ensures that you will always have something to do. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is another Playstation must-have.

*PS5 Review code provided by PlayStation