Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023) Game Review- Insomniac Games’ Magnum Opus

Marvel’s Spider-Man was one of the most celebrated games that came out in 2018 and for very good reason! It took the Spider-Man gameplay that has been a template from past Spider-Man games and was able to modify and perfect it in every way, giving you the best Spidey experience you can possibly imagine. While I could have done without the MJ/Miles stealth missions, almost everything else is done so well that it doesn’t even come close to bringing down the rest of the game. In a way, it’s that core key flaw that has grown accustom to games developed by Insomniac Games.

To be sure, Insomniac Games is easily one of the most consistent and reliable gaming companies out there but their games have often had one stand out flaw or two that made it fall just short of perfection. Marvel’s Spider-Man had the MJ/Miles Morales stealth missions, Spider-Man: Miles Morales felt too short, Sunset Overdrive had a needless multiplayer mode, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart was missing one final boss fight for Ratchet. With what is a sequel to arguably their most successful game to date, Insomniac Games was clearly aiming to go all out with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, with a follow-up that’s bigger, better, and more of a personal journey for their two Spider-Men on the front cover than before. Does Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 live up to those high standards or does it perhaps fall short on those heavy ambitions?

Plot:

(Reminder: I’m only going over the overall premise of the plot that only covers about a quarter or third of the game. I promise there are no major spoilers here! But if you want to go in completely blind, then perhaps skip over the plot section of the review.)

Taking place 10 months after the events of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, we see the two Spider-Men in Peter Parker and Miles Morales struggling to take the next step in their personal lives while also committing to their duties as crime fighting superheroes. There’s Peter who is looking to start his career as a physics teacher at Brooklyn Visions Academy, with Miles among his students oddly enough. There’s Miles who is struggling to write his college application essay and thinking about a career outside of being Spider-Man. However, the pairs’ first day in school is interrupted by a widespread city attack from Flint Marko, A.K.A. Sandman. While both Spider-Men are able to subdue the longtime sympathetic crook, it comes at a cost for Peter as he was forced to abandon his class all together. Because of that, the principal fires Peter and our hero finds himself without a main job yet again.

Peter finds himself living at his Aunt May’s and Uncle Ben’s old house in Queens, which he moved in after May died. He meets up with his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson, who is also having issues with her job at the Daily Bugle which might put her in jeopardy of being out of work. The dire situations that they are in is brightened up a bit with the arrival of their longtime friend in Harry Osborn, who had been very sick with a terminal illness but has somehow miraculously recovered from it. As the group is reunited, Harry offers Peter a job to work at his new startup, the Emily-May Foundation (EMF), so they can fulfill the promise that Harry made to his mother to “heal the world”.

Of course, things can never go too right in Spider-Man’s world. There is the arrival of a wild hunter named Kraven, a strong man who is looking for worthy opponents to fight that can challenge him physically and hunt them down for sport. And what better place to go do that than New York City, a city that is full of criminals and scumbags! However, unlike Spider-Man, Kraven likes to take things one step further and straight up kill those that he fights and believes is not worth his time. This puts well-known villains and associates of Spider-Man in serious danger.

What also is put in serious danger is Peter’s relationship between those he cares about in Miles, MJ, and Harry. This is largely due to a strange alien-like substance known as the Symbiote, the substance that is basically responsible for keeping Harry alive. It eventually finds host to Peter Parker, which despite increasing his strength and velocity as Spider-Man, it’s also makes him angrier and he beings to lose himself. Peter’s bond towards the symbiote is not only turning those that he loves against him but it might also just be bringing back the sickness that was slowly killing Harry before!

When it comes to what is going on with Miles Morales, he is beginning to look at his future in college and what career will suit him best in the future. He is also looking to spend time with his best friend Ganke and new deaf girlfriend Hailey, help out his own Uncle Aaron once again, who is now living in his post-Prowler days, meet the mysterious man that his mother Rio is supposedly, and wonder if there really is a live for himself without Spider-Man or Peter at his side.

With more at stake than ever before in terms of personal drama and the endangers of New York City, Peter and Miles must overcome everything once again to save the city, themselves, and the ones they cared about before losing anyone or even themselves.

Just like with the previous two Spider-Man games developed by Insomniac, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is written by the folks at Insomniac Games themselves, which they were apparently giving more creative freedom than last time around. I can’t name all the writers on the top of my head but this is still clearly their story that they themselves wanted to tell from the long-running comic book mythology of Spider-Man that felt new but also truthful to the character. And just like with the previous two Spider-Man games, they are able to succeed spectacularly!

Similar to the first game, it’s able to take plot elements from well-known Spider-Man media and not only find ways to make it fresh and new that fits the overall narrative but even go as far as to improve these plot elements that were either scratched the surface on or absolutely butchered in other Spider-Man media. Just like how the first game was able to better flesh out the relationship between Peter and Otto from Spider-Man 2 (which was still done great btw), this game is able to better flesh out the relationship between Peter and Harry along with doing the whole “Harry is dying” subplot from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 much better. And heck, it’s even able to take a step further in showcasing the personal dilemmas of the symbiote better than not just Spider-Man 3 but even Web of Shadows. It almost feels like Insomniac Games understood the criticisms of prior Spider-Man medium and is not looking to fall into the exact same traps.

There are times where it feels like the story is on repeat from the first game with perfectly timed beats in the narrative but with some spins to it. We have a brand new villain that threatens to wreck all off New York, we have a main character that has a connection with Peter whose heads might turn for the worse, we have typical personal drama going on in Peter and Miles’s life that is affected by their duties as Spider-Man, and there’s even a *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*! Even so, they never become much of a problem when you are playing through the game because not only does it all still work but it somehow works even better than the first game. The aspects that feel a tad forced and predictable from the first game’s story is made more inclusive and natural here.

Peter’s relationship with Harry works even better here than his relationship with Otto did in the first game, perfectly displaying the history the two had one another in this universe and makes every moment with them all the more bittersweet if not tragic. His relationship with MJ and Miles are also taking to more interesting measures here, especially in regards to the symbiote and what Peter aspires to do with them outside of his Spider-Man persona. We get to see Peter in a more vulnerable state this time around, how the things that have happened with those he cares about have changed the way he goes about being Spider-Man and how the villains he fights are threatening to push him beyond his limits.

Miles isn’t nearly as important to the story as Peter but he still has a solid arc throughout. Not only having to overcome the same obstacles that Peter was forced to do during his age as Spider-Man but how his time might come to either focus strictly on being Miles Morales or focuses strictly on being Spider-Man. I can only imagine this was appropriate so Miles is rightfully step up for the future in case the inevitable eventually happens and Morales will likely find himself as the only thing standing between New York and crime.

Similar to the first game, there are a handful of villains that are focused on while others are mostly for side missions. The three main villains this time around revolves around Kraven, Venom, and Mister Negative, all three which have very interesting story turns to them and makes for perhaps one of the better versions of their respected characters. It’s hard to describe what makes them work without spoilers but I was very satisfied with the way they are handled, even if certain characters like Venom are given different portrayals than other Spider-Man medium which might not to be fans’ taste.

For the most part, just about everything that I thought worked well about the story in the first game still works just as well if not better here. There are certain plot beats you will likely see coming from a mile away and the different angle they take Venom might make comic book purists bark but when all is said and done, these game still remain as some of the most engaging stories that have ever been told in Spider-Man’s history.

Gameplay:

Once again, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is an open world action-adventure game that takes place in New York City. As with the first two Insomniac Spidey games, you take control as Peter Parker and Miles as the two Spider-Men for the majority of the game with other characters such as Mary Jane and he who shall be named later playable for certain missions that moves the story forward.

The core gameplay from the first two games is still present here but with more abilities you can acquire and various Spider-Man suits that you can collect. Peter and Miles are able to be freely swapped at any point when they are free-roaming New York and both have dedicated missions to themselves in regards to the main campaign along with side content that shows off their individual traits. It’s similar to what Insomniac Games did with Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart where you got to switch between Ratchet and Rivet except here, there is not as much restraint and allows for more freedom to chose which Spider-Man you want to be to advance to the next story or side mission.

The game is able to greatly expands upon the open worlds of the first two games and somehow make them even bigger. You are able to get a better sense of the main well-known cities and locations that New York is known for such as Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. You are able to explore specific locations such as Coney Island, Midtown High, the Avengers Tower, and even some sports fields such as football and baseball. It’s about as big as New York City as ever looked in any Spider-Man game that I have ever played. This is aided greatly because of the specific cities that both Peter and Miles live at. If you were somehow one of those folks that thought New York didn’t seem as massive as before, you will certainly be eating that crow here and enjoy that sweet taste of it.

What also makes New York exploring all the more great is the addition of the Web Wings. Similar to the feature that was added in the film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, the Spider-Men now has wings of their own that they can use to fly and glide across New York City as much as they please. They are aided by wind tunnels that pop up while using the web wings that can help increase the speed and momentum of Spider-Man as he is gliding throughout the city as fast as you can. Even those that find this feature to be absolutely ridiculous and unfitting for Spider-Man (Y’all just hate fun!) will likely find yourself using this move more often than not because of good it is to control and keeps the game going at a fast clip. That being said, the web swinging is still present here and controls just as good and smooth as it did before for those that don’t care to use that when given the choice to.

The combat is also expanded on even further with both Spider-Men given the ability to parry physical attacks, a feature that was created to combat certain enemy types that are impervious to dodging, along with the gadgets you are able to unlock by collecting enough skill points. Each gadget wheel has been upgraded with additional equippable mods for the web shooters. There’s the ability to cast a Web Line across pillars for additional footing during stealth sections and the Web Grabber which allows multiple enemies to be pulled into an isolated spot for Stealth Takedowns and can be performed on two enemies at the same time. Both Spider-Men have individual Skill Trees with additional unlockable abilities for both of them once they accumulate enough Skill Points in accordance with their experience level, as well as a third Skill Tree dedicated to shared abilities between them.

Of course, the main new addition in regards to gameplay is being able to play in the symbiotic black-suited Spider-Man suit. It’s with this feature that Peter is given tendrils that he can use in combat and unique web-based abilities. As it always is with the symbiote, it helps makes Spider-Man feel stronger and more op than he was previously, making the enemies you face all feel like their absolute worst nightmare.

When it comes to gameplay, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is about as perfect and polished as it can be. It’s able to take everything people loved about the first two games and not only trim any sort of fat from them but builds upon it even further to make the experience somehow even better than before. Everything just feels right here. The controls feels right, the combat feels right, the web swinging and gliding feels right, and being Spider-Man hasn’t never felt more right. Whatever minor flaw you could possibly think off with the gameplay of the first two games will likely be fixed here. It’s about as well executed as it can be that it makes you wonder where else Insomniac Games can go from here.

Even the Mary Jane missions, which was the most infamous aspect of gameplay from the first game, are improved here and even quite fun to play through. They are able to make them feel less like more generic and slow stealth sections and more of like a third person shooter and that’s not an exaggeration. Does it make sense for MJ to turn into John Wick all of a sudden? Probably not but it’s cool as hell so who cares. Although, even if you aren’t impressed with them this time around, they are few and far in between and don’t get much in the way of the story as they did last time around.

The other kind of gameplay elements that are added in mostly consists of missions that is just meant to drive the narrative of either the main story or side mission. This mostly involves doing things such as riding a bike or solving a lab puzzle, which are different than the ones in the first game along with different music. It’s not too much of a bother but if I had the option to not play them that wouldn’t affect my PS5 trophies, I probably would have just skipped them and headed to the next part of the story. And as for that one other gameplay element that I won’t spoil because it’s very late in the game but all I will just say though is that Insomniac BETTER consider a spin-off with that character and gameplay, I will buy it in a HEART BEAT!

Gameplay wise, there is very little you can pick apart of it unless you are constantly going out of your way. I guess I could have done without the parry attack as I found myself barely using it and just web enemies to death that I couldn’t dodge against but aside from that, there is no complaints to be found here. It’s the kind of gameplay that is so good that it will make it difficult to go back to the first two games and get adjusted to it without the marvelous features added for this game.

Graphics:

The graphics in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is quite frankly AMAZING! This is easily one of the best looking games on the PlayStation 5 and probably even rivals Batman: Arkham Knight for being the greatest looking superhero game that has ever been released. While not everyone might be in love with the characters models (some who have took that WAY too personally), the characters themselves fit well within the New York that this game is established in.

With the game offering a much more expansive look on New York City, there clearly had to be more time and polish put into the presentation and the way that each separate distinct location looks. I’ve never been to New York before but I would imagine this looks about as faithful to that city as it possibly can.

The game itself also runs damn near perfect at full 60 FPS. There’s no obvious frame rate drops, no distracting pops in, and I can’t even recall one actual loading screen that lasted more than a second. This is about as technologically advance as a game can get on not just the PlayStation 5 but practically any gaming system in general. While those that look too far will be able to find a glitch or two (which why the hell would you want to unless you are a loser), everything else about the way the game looks and runs is simply stellar. If this is not as perfect as a game can look, then I’m generally curious to see how we can progress even further than here.

Sound:

Once again, we have John Paesano doing the score for the third time in a row for Insomniac Games. Just like how the game itself acts as Insomniac Games’ highest point, the same thing can be said for Paesano’s score for this game. Just like the gameplay itself, it’s able to take the best tracks from the first two games, mix them together, and also creating genuinely unique pieces of it’s own to stand out as easily the strongest work of his career thus far.

The biggest stand out tracks includes the new main theme, which masterfully combines the themes of the first two games and make it all come together, truly giving the indication that both Peter and Miles are one of the same whole, and Kraven’s haunting theme which makes you feel presence in every single scene that he is in. While I did miss the presence of some tracks from the first game, mostly the original iconic theme and lab music, the tracks that replaces them are also so well done in their own right that it’s genuinely hard to care.

We also have the strong voice acting that’s able to greatly compliment the score that helps makes the sound of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 stand out as one of the best elements in the game. Just about every returning cast member are now clearly very comfortable in their roles, both from a voice acting perspective and a motion-capture perspective, that it’s genuinely hard to come up with new things to say about them because they are just as good here as they were before. However, there are two main standouts that are worthy of numerous game awards.

First off, Tony Todd as Venom is about as perfect as a casting that it can get. He deliver every single one of his lines to absolute perfection, masterfully combining the menace and charisma that the character has always had. He’s so good here that you almost forget that Venom is not actually Eddie Brock this time around but actually *SPOILERS*. (Btw, NO revealing Venom is not Eddie Brock isn’t a spoiler. Insomniac already confirmed that months before the game came out!) Almost everyone was excited when Todd was casted as Venom and they had every right to be excited. This is easily one of the very best that the character has ever sounded.

The second main mention goes to no other than Peter Parker himself with Yuri Lowenthal. Not only is this the best Spider-Man performance of any Spider-Man media that I’ve seen but this might be one of the best performances in any video game. Lowenthal is absolute EXTRAORDINARY here as Peter Parker and Spider-Man, perfectly showcasing the character’s quippy nature and stages of vulnerability that he displays throughout the games. You are perfectly able to buy Peter’s relationship with everyone he is attached to and a big part of that has to do with Yuri Lowenthal, who is probably now the definite Spider-Man voice as far as I’m concerned. (Still love you too, Josh Keaton!) Lowenthal was robbed last time around with awards shows with his performance but if he gets scrubbed this year, then all hell shall break loose.

Bonus Content:

I should also mention the new editions that were made available for this game, most notably in terms of editions that were either pre-ordered, digital deluxe, or included in the collector’s edition.

The digital deluxe edition features two sets of unique suits for Peter Parker and Miles Morales, both sets include five different suits along with additional frames, stickers for the in-game Photo Mode, and two extra skill points for ability unlocks. All editions that were pre-ordered come with early unlock bonuses: the “Arachknight Suit” for Peter and a “Shadow-Spider Suit” for Miles, the Web Grabber gadget, and three additional skill points. And there will be a collector’s edition later on down the road which will include a download voucher for the Digital Deluxe Edition, a steel bookcase, and a 19-inch display statue depicting the Spider-Men fighting Venom.

All those special bonuses are all well and good and just like the game as the whole, is worth full price but I sure am hoping for more DLC on the rise. I would like to see characters such as the Wraith and Silk be playable if that is possible. It’s likely not in the works at the moment and will probably only get made in response to certain criticisms of the game. Until then, we will likely have to wait for the new game plus mode to come out to further the replay value and create more trophies to unlock.

Conclusion:

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is as every bit as good as you were expecting and hoping for it to be. This is Insomniac Games reaching a new level of peak, being able to achieve the kind of greatness they have come so close within reach but now have finally got it. The story is more engaging and worth following, the gameplay is as polished and perfect as ever, the combat and web swinging has never been more satisfying, the graphics have never been more of a treat to the eyes, the soundtrack is a new definition of peak, and the voice work is some of the best performed in any video game.

What makes things even more exciting is that there are still plenty of doors left to open for this series. By the time the game concludes and the loose ends are established, you still get a sense of interest to see where this all goes from here. There’s still plenty of different storylines to tell and new characters to play as that can help expand the Insomniac-verse of Spider-Man even further.

Whether it’s the very best superhero game of all time is still up for debate but no doubt, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will satisfy fans that have been waiting five years with eagerness to see the follow-up to the 2018 hit. If anything, this game basically confirms that Insomniac Games is my favorite gaming company working to date. With them finally reaching their Magnum Opus status, they have gain my complete trust for what they do in the future!

I’m eagerly awaiting the next chapter in this franchise but until we get there, bring on Wolverine!