Two Web-Heads are Better than One

Last October had a multitude of new releases, and the one I looked forward to the most was Spider-Man 2. Coincidentally, you don’t play as just one Spider-Man. You get to play as two: the original Peter Parker and his protégé Miles Morales. Insomniac had knocked it out of the park with the previous Spider-Man game for PS4 and the Miles Morales side story on PS5. They set some high bars for themselves, and now was the time to see if they could make it a triple. We’ll look at three core aspects of this new title: Gameplay, Story, and Character.

Gameplay

The previous titles’ gameplay was incredibly fluid. Combat was intuitive, and web-swinging across New York was downright cathartic. One of my favorite activities was unlocking a location’s fast-travel mechanic and never using it. Counters felt rewarding, finishing moves were beautiful, and exploring New York as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was incredible. Here, in Spider-Man 2, Insomniac built upon what made their previous games successful.

First up: Combat. Taking on criminals received several new features. Peter and Miles have both individual skill trees and a shared skill tree, allowing you to strengthen both Spidermen simultaneously or beef up whichever one you were using at that moment. Each Spider-Man also had their own abilities that set them apart from each other. We were already introduced to Miles’s Venom blasts, which were bright, flashy, and powerful. Peter obviously needed something to stand out, so he was given mechanical spider legs that emerged from the back of his suit and, later on, the Venom symbiote. A super meter was granted to each of them, too, but because I had trained myself to watch every corner of the screen except the top right corner (where the super gauge was located), I often forgot to use it.

Along with the new additions, Insomniac updated the Gadget Wheel. In the previous installment, you would have to hold down a specific button to pull up the Gadget Wheel, taking up most of the screen. Time would slow down while you tried to figure out which gadget to pick. However, doing so felt clunky, and you could still get hit by enemies even with time slowed. It got so tedious that I opted out of using it.

In Spider-Man 2, the Gadget Wheel was reduced to only four options, and each one was bound to a specific button. Time was no longer slowed down, but there was less confusion about which gadget to use because the icons were clearly displayed on screen. Usage became snappier and easier to execute.

Traversal was the next mechanic that received an upgrade. Web-swinging and parkour were generally the same, but there were two phenomenal additions to our repertoire. The smaller of the two was the Slingshot mechanic. This would allow Peter and Miles to launch themselves high and far when standing on the ground. This helped us build momentum faster than just jumping and swinging like the previous installment.

The other, more hyped-up addition was the Glide mechanic. Soaring along air currents and catching the occasional updraft made traveling across the New York cityscape all the faster and all the more addicting. With a larger map, gliding became indispensable, especially for people like me who found swinging manually more enjoyable than utilizing fast-travel.

Story

I will be as spoiler-free as possible in this segment, although there are some things I have to mention even though they were not revealed in the trailers. So, if you want to go into the game completely blind, you have been warned.

The game begins with an epic tutorial fight against Sandman, who has somehow grown larger than the surrounding New York skyscrapers. There is some residual damage, both physically and reputationally, but things are going fairly well for our two Spidermen. However, the situation changes when Kraven the Hunter appears with a veritable army, targeting dangerous individuals from the Spider-Man comics, such as the Scorpion and the Lizard. Peter and Miles have to work together, and separately, to stop him from terrorizing the city and hunting for his ultimate prize.

Just like the previous two games, the overall story was very well written. Story beats ranged from thrilling to tense to emotional and back to thrilling again. I tend to pride myself in being able to catch plot developments before they happen, but there were several times where I didn’t see a twist coming until it was already taking place. The genius writing was not limited to just the main storyline, either. The game had multiple side quests to further enrich the world. From retrieving stolen instruments from a Harlem music museum, to reuniting with Howard the Pigeon Guy from the first game, each little story helped build the relationship between Peter, Miles, and the city they call home.

When you have a story starring two protagonists, it can be difficult to find a balance in focus and screentime. Peter certainly seemed to be more in the forefront, but Miles needed to hold his own when it came to the narrative. You could not have one without the other. How did Insomniac achieve equilibrium? Surprisingly, they did it by introducing more villains into the story. Each Spider-Man had a close narrative tie with a major villain. Doing so developed their characters in unique ways. Speaking of…

Character

Spider-Man 2 had many, many dynamic characters featured in its story. Mary Jane, Miles’s mom, Genke, and Harry Osborn are barely even a handful of the full roster. While they all had something unique to bring to the table, we will focus on three key individuals for this article: Peter, Miles, and Kraven.

No matter what medium his story is told in, Peter Parker’s life is always accompanied by struggle. He has a responsibility to protect others with his powers, but that comes with the cost of low employment and relationship strains. This was no different in Spider-Man 2. All of the pressure of trying to keep his work-life-hero balance really took its toll.

That all changed when he bonded with the Venom symbiote. He grew faster, stronger, and more energized. In his own words, “It makes me a better Spider-Man.” However, unbeknownst to him, the symbiote made him much more aggressive, hostile, and vain. Our hearts broke bit by bit as we watched him succumb to the symbiote’s influence.  

Peter had, in my opinion, some of the best interactions in this game. It wasn’t just the mentor pep-talks with Miles, but also the hard-hitting ones, like with Harry. One of the best written arguments I’ve heard in a story happened between Peter and Mary Jane during a boss fight. All of their built-up frustrations and crushed hopes came pouring out during an intense battle with the symbiote. It was nothing short of superior storytelling.

Miles went on his own character journey, but while Peter’s focused on responsibility, his focused on revenge. His story-bound villain came in the form of Martin Li. For those who don’t know or don’t recall, Li was a politician-turned-criminal, complete with superpowers and the alias Mr. Negative. During one of his debut attacks in the first Spider-Man game, Li’s actions ended up killing Miles’s father. When he was abducted by Kraven’s goons, Miles made it a point to track him down.

While Peter dealt with his gooey inner demons, Miles tussled with his desire for vengeance against the leader of the Inner Demons. He grew so focused on that task that he inadvertently pushed his friends away, snapping at them if they questioned his intentions. While his chase for Li may not have seemed quite as dire as Peter’s dealings with the symbiote, or the growing threat that was Kraven the Hunter, Miles’s story did not, by any means, play second fiddle(back) to the rest.

Finally, we come to Kraven, the antagonist of the story. As the world’s greatest hunter, he had garnered a great amount of skill, strength, and cunning. Of course, once you’ve hunted every animal possible, you start to lose the thrill. In Kraven’s case, he turned to hunting the most dangerous prey: his fellow man.

Kraven was an absolute menace. For each person he “hunted,” he methodically studied them and looked for the best ways to take them down. Even in the middle of tough fights with Peter and Miles, his instincts and insight revealed different ways for him to gain the upper hand.

Even if hunting animals no longer brought the same thrill, why did Kraven go to such lengths? To put it simply, he wanted to experience one final hunt. He wanted to face down a fellow predator so strong that he would become the hunted. Kraven wanted an equal, if not someone better, to push him to his limits and make him fail to overcome them.

Kraven proved to be an interesting foil for the Spidermen. At times, they would oppose him. Other times, they behaved just like him. While Peter and Miles chose to live by saving lives, Kraven sought to end his life by taking life.

Conclusion?

The biggest criticism I heard about this game was that Insomniac “played it too safe.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds like someone trying to find anything negative to say and only scraping something off the bottom of the criticism barrel. There is nothing wrong with taking what went well in one project and carrying it over to the next. Insomniac didn’t fully rely on their previous lightning in a bottle, either. Like I mentioned before in the Gameplay section, they kept what worked and improved what didn’t. They didn’t need to go ham on the additions. If anything, simplifying mechanics like the Gadget Wheel made the experience all the more enjoyable.

Insomniac’s work on this game was incredible. They built on their strengths, crafted a dynamic story, and breathed new life and depth in our beloved characters. I had thought that Jedi: Survivor would have been my pick for game of the year, but Spider-Man 2 edged it out in every category. There is a lot about this game I have not shared, so, if you have a PlayStation 5, I highly recommend you play this game. It’s fun, it’s entertaining, and it’s well worth your time.