With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Insomniac has the unenviable task of following up two riveting superhero fantasies full of excitement and heart. While that may sound like a good problem to have, the question becomes where do you go from there? Well, its answer is to double down. Double down on Spider-Men. Double down on the size of the map. Double down on explosive action sequences. In doing so, the studio has crafted another consistently exciting rollercoaster ride and the best story of the series yet – but stand the original alongside this sequel in other ways, and it can look a bit like two Spider-Man games pointing at each other. The excellent combat hasn’t gotten old, but it is largely the same fun as before, and despite that larger map, most of the open-world activities found within it are in desperate need of evolution. The result is a blockbuster in the most modern sense of the word: undeniably thrilling for long stretches, but by the numbers for others.
Despite a couple of new tricks up its sleeve, Spider-Man 2’s combat is very familiar – it doesn’t have that new suit smell anymore, but it still feels incredibly comfy to slip back into. The rhythm of precision dodges, the new perfect parries (so you’re not only swerving and striking now), and acrobatic finishers are hugely satisfying, as is chasing high-hit combos to keep the fight as stylish as possible. The movement is smooth and the hits are crunching, like some sort of peanut butter hybrid that every one of your foes is allergic to. Power and elegance are brought together in a brick-to-the-face ballet as enemies are thrown around like dolls, juggled in the air, slammed across concrete floors, and slung into each other like body-armoured bowling pins – but, naturally, never killed. Every bone in their body may be broken and every organ punctured, but of course, they'll somehow live to commit crimes again.
Overall, there’s slightly less emphasis on stealth encounters this time than in either Spider-Man or Miles Morales. As someone who found the stealth action of the previous games a little simplistic and routine, this new, louder approach is welcome. Naturally, there are story missions where Miles or Peter have to slink across ceilings and take out thugs who never look up, but Spider-Man 2 is much more eager for you to get into the action, with many abilities designed to let you group up enemies and then deal big damage to all of them at once, rather than spreading them out to pick them off one by one.
A new personal favourite gadget called the Web Grabber – which pulls enemies in from a distance and makes them smack into one another – also playfully builds into this philosophy. I had a lot of fun using this before landing a sharp burst of Miles’ Venom lightning onto grouped-up goons, and now Peter can get in on that fun as well. It takes a bit longer than I expected to arrive, but once Parker dons the symbiote suit already shown off in trailers, the gooey, angry powers that come with it make a big impact, adding more of a brawler nature to fights and giving Peter a set of tools to match Miles’ satisfying electric abilities. They’re just as enjoyable, as it feels like the suit is trying to burst out of the rumbling DualSense controller in my hands. This aggressive style of play is rewarded, as the only way to heal is by building up your focus bar – filled by landing hits and timing perfect dodges – and is another way to make sure that exciting rhythm of combat is never lost.
One area that Insomniac has made improvements in is that Spider-Man 2 offers significantly more in the way of enemy variety, so you’ll no longer be battering the same five balaclava bullies with baseball bats. New factions and units, such as flamethrower-wielding cultists that keep you at a distance, flying drones, and hunters who deploy laser grids above your head to limit aerial attacks keep you on your sticky toes. Certain enemies are weak to different types of abilities, such as electric or symbiote attacks, which also adds an enjoyable extra wrinkle to fights. It’s by no means revolutionary stuff, but a welcome added level of complexity that makes you consider which powers – or even which Spider-Man – are best for a given job.
That's not to say there aren’t benefits to taking a sneaky route, though, especially when you’re playing as Miles and using his invisibility power to quietly take out enemies. There are many perch takedown possibilities offered and new toys to play with too, such as the Web Line, which allows you to create your own highwires over your enemies to prey on them from above. It’s a fun tool that allows you to reshape the tightly designed arenas into a battlefield more in your favour, and in doing so, redecorate the room with web-wrapped people piñatas. On the other hand, much like combat, stealth isn’t a far cry from the many warehouse encounters you’ll have played in the previous games, as you clear out enemies using largely the same techniques.
On the topic of covert ops, the playable MJ sequences from the original return, and while they are more involved this time around and serve the story well, they never add up to more than simple stealth missions or splashes of basic third-person shooting. She’s certainly not sidelined, but it does feel like a little more could’ve been done to make her gameplay sections a bit more exciting – or at least more in line with her established character as an intrepid investigative reporter than the missions she’s sent out on here.
Combat aside, our Spider-Men can now swing around their friendly neighborhoods in more stylish ways than ever, with new spins and flips added to the repertoire providing a Tony Hawk-like edge. Performing web acrobatics is as gratifying as you remember, and still one of the best ways to get around any open world. The new web wings are undoubtedly a standout, however: like Batman before him, Spider-Man can now glide and soar with ease through the city, but not without limits – you’ll need to get the hang of managing your altitude and forward momentum, with the aid of windy corridors through the city that can quickly carry you from one district to the next.
The story swings just as elegantly between upbeat hijinks and solemn moments of reflection. It's undeniably a fun time to don the suit and enter a Kratos-like rage mode where you push in both thumbsticks and start one-hitting everything in your path, but the writers never once forget to take their eyes off of the humanity inside these superhumans. The same can be said for both its heroes and villains, as Spider-Man 2 tackles the reasoning behind each character's actions and the good that can hide in the shadows of evil.
For those with a hazy memory, there is a brief recap of both Peter and Miles’ stories so far available, which is handy, as this is very much a sequel that weaves in both plotlines and characters from the previous games and accompanying DLC. You won’t want to jump in for the first time here since Spider-Man 2 builds on the first two games both in its mechanics and its story – but of course, there’s little reason not to, since those games are also excellent. Avoiding spoilers, the basic premise revolves around Kraven the Hunter, who is, well, craving a hunt. For those uninitiated in the character, he's essentially The Predator, an Apex hunter blessed with super strength who has chosen New York as his next hunting ground. It's a great starting point that sends the city's hero and villain dynamic into flux as he sets his sights on the biggest prey possible.