Earlier this month, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 released it’s very first update on the game. This was an update to add features to the game that players have been asking from Insomniac since its initial release and also elements that the company perhaps couldn’t add in time to meet its deadline. These include new game plus mode, the ability to replay missions, day and night cycles, new suits to unlock, tendril color changes, photo mode action figure mode and new stickers, suit tech fusion, golden gadget styles, and ultimate levels. And if the new debug of this update that some players have discovered is any indication, there could be a change we could see actual upcoming story DLC in the near future! While there will plenty that will argue that these are all things that should have been in the game when it came out last October, at least Insomniac was able to make time to listen to the feedback and add in those elements to the game, in spite of all the recent events that has surrounded them.
I reviewed Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 around the time the game came out and I gave it a very glowing review! I claimed it was a triumph and basically Insomniac’s Magnum Opus, just a perfect culmination of everything we love about the Spider-Man games and movies up to this point. My score for it was a perfect five out of five stars. It was for me the best Spider-Man game, the best Marvel game, and my #2 favorite superhero game of all time, with my #1 still being Batman: Arkham City! However, when letting my thoughts sit for a while and keeping my distance away from it since it first beating, could there be a chance that I just let the hype get to me? Does this game really hold up? Well, let’s see!
I will say right off the bat that I still love the hell out of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and still think it’s a fantastic game! The gameplay is incredibly layered and immensely fun, with the combat in particular being even more polished and improved over it’s predecessors. The overall core story is still among my favorite Spider-Man stories in recent memory, with my favorite version of Kraven the Hunter and Harry Osborn in any Spider-Man medium to date. I love exploring the bigger and more open world of NYC, aided greatly by the quicker transversal and the excellent new addition of the web wings. The side missions have more variety than the previous game that don’t feel like as much busy work as it did in the first game. The graphics are very stunning and help showcased the power of the PlayStation 5. The voice acting is top notch from top to bottom of the main cast! And not to mention, YOU GET TO PLAY AS VENOM FOR 20 MINUTES AND IT’S AWESOME!
However, when playing this game again through New Game Plus mode, I did notice a few cracks in the armor for my experience that I glossed over in my review. First off, are the missions that mostly relies on walking around with the other characters during an exposition scene or a flashback sequence. While I didn’t necessarily hate doing them, the way they are implemented in terms of gameplay makes the pacing of the game come to a screening halt. It’s odd to have a game as action-heavy and fast-paced as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and then you throw these parts of the game in and it feels like the game stops completely just for the sake of having these sequences play out. It’s honestly makes me wish that those scenes were just animated cutscenes instead of part of the gameplay. Considering how much of a fast clip Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 moves at, it can be seen as a needed break where you can put your controller down and relax for a moment before getting back into action.
Even if the MJ stealth missions are a big improvement over the first game and I even admit to being that one guy who actually likes the puzzle sections of these games (The music is just so chilling during those!), I do think it’s for the best for Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 for Insomniac to just focus on the Spider-Men (and Spider-Woman) heroes themselves for the gameplay. Just put the core focus on Peter, Miles, and (supposedly) Cindy Moon as their individual spider-people and just make those kind of scenes I just mention for strictly the cutscenes and not gameplay. There’s a reason why the Batman: Arkham series rarely had you playing as anything other than Batman and allies in their superhero forms. That’s just what people play these games for!
Another grip has to do with the final phase of the final boss fight with Venom. It’s still jarring how you go from one phase where you face Venom as Peter and then the next one where you face Venom as Miles but then don’t have a phase where you take on Venom as Peter and Miles together, similar to their opening fight against Sandman. All it amounts to is a long cutscene with occasional button mashing and QTEs thrown into the mix. Not to say the sequence itself is bad but it felt like the final fight was missing that one-two final gut punch where you truly feel like the two Spider-Men together.
There has been some speculations that Insomniac was rushed by Sony to get the game out last year when they might have want to push it back to earlier this year. There was even an interview from the game’s creative director, Bryan Intihar, where he admitted that the team of the game had very limited time on the latter half of the game and were forced to cut ideas and sequences they envisioned out of the game to make sure it was released on time for it’s October 2023. This theory was approved even further when someone recently uploaded an unreleased feature of the game on Twitter that saw the Spider-Men fighting Venom and his allies in broad daylight, something which was not in the final game but was a part of the marketing for the game.
It likely will never happening but if it’s possible, I would love if Insomniac would one day release a director’s cut version of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. A version of the game that perhaps saw all of their ideas for that last third of the game with Venom take place along with possibly other features to the game. Perhaps then this game could surpass Batman: Arkham City as being my favorite superhero game of all time instead of just a comfortable #2 place for me.
A couple of other minor grips include a parry feature that didn’t really need to exist, the new ultimate level mode that you have to grind the HELL out of to get all the unlockable spider-suits with, and the new added suits that really do nothing for me. Also, I am ENTIRELY grateful, that I get to switch suits in the final boss with Venom so I don’t have to play in that godawful hoodie with Miles. Please, Insomniac, do NOT stick to that suit in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3! If you do, I am IMMEDIATELY changing suits the first chance I get.
You might think I’ve turned on this game all of a sudden but I’m really not. I love Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to death and is the most fun I’ve have playing a video game for a long time. It’s just those cracks in the armor that I felt was worth acknowledging that I didn’t in my originally review because I might have been too blinded by the hype. This still acts as my favorite Spider-Man game to date and still possibly my favorite game of 2023, although I still have a few games left to play before making that overdue list. When you find yourself constantly thinking about the game during work and the first thing you want to do is go home as fast as you can and continue playing it, that’s the sign of a really good game.
I don’t know if the new update for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will change the opinion of those that didn’t initially care for it but I do think it will fix those grievances that some fans have with the game when it came out. Even then, this game is still a blast to play for me and I hope there is more to come with this game, especially if the potentially leaked DLC ends up still being a thing. Even so, thank you Insomniac Games for providing another great Spider-Man game. I can’t wait to see what you guys do in the future and I hope you are recovering greatly from recent hacking events.
I guess I would change my initial five out of five star rating to four and a half out of five star rating now if you were to ask me but I still love Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 all the same.
And btw, I guess I should mention the leaked trailers for that cancelled live-service game, Spider-Man: The Great Web, that got released last week. For a while, a new live-service Spider-Verse game was in the works by Insomniac. It would have seen players from all around the world getting the chance to play as their favorite Spider-Man or Spider-Woman together as they face off against Spider-Man’s greatest foes. Of course, you would have Peter and Miles in the game but also other known characters from Spidey’s rose gallery such as Spider-Man 2099, Venom, Spider-Gwen, and Silk. There had been rumors and speculations of the Spider-Verse playing a role in either it’s own game or potential DLC for Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man: The Great Web looked to confirmed those rumors and speculations as legit but it is now cancelled.
One one hand, it would be so dope to get to play as your favorite kind of spider-person with anyone else around the world in what would be the Spider-Man equivalent of Grand Theft Auto online. It would also appease those that have wanted to play as any other Spider-Man character that they likely would have never gotten the chance to do so in the main Insomniac games. Plus, getting to play as any kind of version of the most popular superhero of all time would no doubt make good money for Sony. It’s easy to see why on the surface fans would be upset this never got made but at the same time, Insomniac has more than enough reasons not to follow through.
First, with so much time and money spend on a live-service game like Spider-Man: The Great Web, that would have undoubtedly took time away from other upcoming titles such as Spider-Man 3, Wolverine, and that new Venom game (if it’s still happening after the leaks). With how much of the budget when into Spider-Man 2, I don’t think Insomniac would want to take their chance on a live-service game that would likely lose it’s appeal the first few months after its release. The Great Web might be an interesting game in concept but I doubt that would be good enough to warrant 2-4 years of focus put into it, especially in the light of recent live-service game failures in the superhero subgenre.
Speaking of which, have we all learned nothing from Marvel’s Avengers, Gotham Knights, and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, the latter of which has seen a significant drop of sales and players since it’s release? Have we all learned by now that live-service games and superheroes are just not a good mix for each other? Live-service games have become a plague within the gaming industry. If not immensely successful, it will lead to nothing but layoffs and disappointment. Sure, you can argue a reason or two for Spider-Man: The Great Web working where the other three games I mentioned fell flat but it’s not worth taking the risk in my eyes, and I think even Insomniac would agree with that.
But yeah, that’s all I got on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and the recent confirmed leaks on the cancelled Spider-Man: The Great Web. I hope you enjoyed reading them and let’s all hope for nothing but the best of our favorite friendly neighborhood hero!
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