The story takes place after the first game “Marvel’s Spider-Man” and the stand-alone game “Spider-Man Miles Morales” it takes place in Brooklyn, New York, where Peter and Miles have to save the city from Kraven, The Hunter, and his goons from capturing certain villains, Spider-Man sent away to prison in the first game. Harry Osborn, a childhood friend of Peter’s who had recovered from a deadly illness, also debuted in the Insomniac Spider-Man universe. He is also a supporting character in the story because to help cure him, they had to use an alien creature called a symbiote, which attaches to one’s body and grants the host rapid regeneration abilities. That’s what helped him cure his disease. He plays a significant role in the story because he has to give up the symbiote to Peter to help stabilize him after a big fight, which gives Peter his iconic black symbiote suit. The alien increasingly influences Peter’s emotions, causing him to become more irritable and easily triggered.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is an original adaptation by Insomniac Games of the Marvel comic series Spider-Man. It’s a single-player game where you protect the city of New York from well-known villains such as Sandman, Kraven The Hunter, The Lizard, and many more iconic villains that Spider-Man faced in his successful and ongoing run. The new mechanic implemented into the game is switching between the Spider-Men. You can play as either the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker, or the more recent Spider-Man, Miles Morales, who is still learning the ropes. Another thing that’s important to add is that there are also specific missions for both of the Spider-Men. For example, only Miles can do Mysterio’s side missions, and only Peter can do specific lab missions.
The game introduces the new feature to swap between Spider-Men, whether you’d want to be Peter or Miles, now you can in contrast to the prior games. Alongside this comes Peter’s all-new ultimate ability to go berserk, making the player feel invincible with the symbiote’s sheer strength. Another thing Spider-Man obtains with that suit is a berserk mode he taps into, acting like an ultimate ability where the symbiote takes over and unleashes Peter’s inner rage to fight off his enemies. Miles also gains new venom abilities; here, it’s a significant increase in strength from his original electricity powers. The differences from his upgraded powers are that the color of his electricity is now blue compared to the actual orange color, another difference being that he can manipulate his venom abilities to do different things like shooting lightning bolts at Kraven’s goons, the ability to teleport with his lightning and much more.
New movement mechanics added to the game include the ability to slingshot yourself with your webs to reach further distances and easy access to get to specific points in the city faster. There are also super slingshots around the map that will send you even further than the regular web slingshot; the only downside is that only a few are located around the map. Another movement mechanic added is the web wings. The web wings allow you to soar through the sky and are another mobility option other than web swinging throughout the city. There are also wind tunnels around the city that give you a boost in speed and vents that can boost you further into the air for more air time to glide around.
I fully believe that this game is worth its 70-dollar price tag. The only downside is that the game is a PlayStation exclusive, so people who don’t have a PS5 won’t be able to experience the action-packed single-player game “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.” where you can save New York from the most iconic Spider-Man villains, both Peter Parker and Miles Morales. But this game is a must-have for anyone who owns a PS5 because it’s such a fantastic put together you shouldn’t miss out on.
I’d give this game an overall 10/10. It is a compelling, action-filled story with external conflicts from Spider-Men and unique side missions that all tie back to the game’s main plot. Another thing I praise is the beautiful upgraded graphics because of the PS5’s next-gen performance mode. With these newer graphics, we can see one replica of New York City in great detail, and also, you can see that the cutscenes almost look realistic.
