Insomniac’s first Spider-Man game had it all. Exceptional traversal, an ever-evolving combat system, and an emotional narrative whose final moments tugged at the heartstrings like a strongman contestant pulling rope. With Marvel’s most beloved hero at its centre – he’s been the company’s number one hero for, like, forever – and it’s little surprise that it’s considered one of the PlayStation catalogue’s crowning glories. So, no pressure for the (full) sequel then.
Spider-Man 2 is familiar. That’s not all that surprising when the original game and Miles Morales’ subsequent outing were already so well refined. Why fix what is agreed to be one of the greatest super-hero games of all time? Insomniac has wisely decided to go with refinement rather than revolution, and this is a game that builds on the original’s mechanics while adding some welcome additions to the formula to help raise it above its forebear.
The biggest addition is the arrival of the wingsuit. Swing around the city, hit a suitable height and speed, and then unleash your web-based wings which allow you to glide through the city. You can hit air vents to throw you back into the heavens, or if you find a suitable air stream you can zoom along, circular markers showing you the way and letting you greatly extend your flight time. It’s a great way to speed up getting around, but there’s just enough weighting and limitations to ensure that you never fully swap it out for swinging through the city.
Otherwise, things are once again very recognisable, albeit multiplied by two. Each Spider-Man has his own skill tree, as well as one that applies across both of them, and you have a central XP repository, so no matter which spider-person you spend more time with, you’re not left with the other being poorly prepared. It does mean that you’ve got more to weigh up each time you level up, and this is an upgrade tree you’ll come to know exceptionally well as you’ll be reading through it an awful lot in an effort to get it right.
Each Spider-Man’s abilities have become even more spectacular – amazing, if you will – with the inclusion of Pete’s mechanical arms and Miles’ growing electrical powers, each of which now has huge implications for crowd control and dealing with the biggest foes you face. Combat remains tight and timing-focused, and taking damage will sneak up on you before you know it if you miss a few too many dodges. As with the original, the steady stream of new abilities keeps it engaging from start to finish, and I still haven’t tired of it after many, many hours of play.
While there’s clear technical growth, the emotional beats of Spider-Man 2 don’t quite hit the same heights, or plumb the depths, that players experienced in the first game or Miles Morales’ outing, though it still tells a meaningful and resonant comic book tale that would feel perfectly at home amongst the best of the MCU’s offerings. The story focuses on the arrival of the alien symbiote suit – and all of its anger issues – with the addition of an exceptionally well-delivered Kraven, who’s decided to make New York his hunting ground. I have never thought all that much of the Kraven storylines in the comic, but Insomniac has made him a brutal, terrifying figure who’s a great antagonist to push the rest of the game’s events along.
If I have one major complaint, it’s that this is not an evenly distributed story despite the two Spider-Men on the cover, with Peter still taking the lead role. At times, Miles feels as though he’s the kid brother, chasing after an older sibling who’s a little too busy with the things in their life to play with them. The impact of that on Miles is well played, and while he does get his time to shine I was still left wanting more from Miles’ side of the story beyond his confused emotions over Martin Li’s escape from prison and college applications that seem to be on his to-do list for most of the game.
The voice acting from Yuri Lowenthal and Nadji Jeter, as well as the exceptional supporting cast, bring these characters to life in resounding fashion, though when the story reaches its climax and we experience the narrative’s most dramatic moments things can become more petulant than powerful. It’s something that live-action Spider-Man has also struggled with – the best Peter Parkers don’t make the best rage-filled anti-heroes – but there’s at least no cringey dancing or Topher Grace, so we should probably count ourselves lucky. There are plenty of quips and amusing incidental events – an early favourite was carrying J. Jonah Jameson to a nearby hospital while he gives you a piece of his mind – that help to keep the tone suitably Spider-Man-esque, balancing out somewhat against the impending sense of doom comic fans will sense is coming.
As with the original, there’s a whole city of distractions to keep you Spider-Manning for many, many hours outside of the central narrative. There’s new collectibles in the shape of Spider-Bots, new experiments with the EMF, strands of Cain Marko’s sand-strewn memories, Prowler tech stashes, a bevy of crimes, and photo opportunities to earn Peter a little money. You level up each area as you complete these side activities, unlocking tech parts, then the ability to fast travel to that particular area, and finally Hero Tokens that give you access to the top-tier of upgrades.
The DualSense controller is a secret weapon in Spider-Man 2’s arsenal, with Insomniac wringing every last trick out of its haptics and other features. You’ll first notice it with the subtle beating of a helicopter’s blades rhythmically pulsing in your hands, and it is, for want of actually being in a helicopter, unbelievably convincing. The adaptive triggers’ resistance is then utilised for various pushing and pulling effects, and the speaker regularly bleeps away with your phone app notifications. It truly puts you in the centre of the action, and it’s worth marvelling over at regular intervals at just how smart the implementation is.
Spider-Man 2 builds on the spectacular visuals of its predecessor, and though there’s not exactly a ‘wow’ moment that tells you this is a sequel – and indeed one that’s no longer held back by the previous generation – there are certain things that set it apart, whether in the number of enemies on screen, the increase in New York’s activity, the array of visual effects in certain areas, the excellent lighting, or in the textures of clothing and objects. In fact, it was the plush weave of Harry’s cardigan and the metallic sheen of several of the spider-suits that really had me sitting up and taking notice. It’s testament to just how good the first game looked, both on PS4 and with the remaster on PS5 and PC, and Spider-Man 2 looks even better, even if it feels – perhaps incorrectly – incrementally so.
Spider-Man 2 is certainly a looker, and there’s a pleasing array of graphical options available on PS5 allowing you to tweak the game’s performance to suit your accessibility needs and preferences. Firstly, you can turn fullscreen effects on and off, so things like damage vignettes and intense flashing effects can be removed, which is great if you have a visual sensitivity or you simply don’t like them. You’ve then got the option between Fidelity and Performance modes, with the former targeting 30fps while bringing all of those lovely visual effects to bear like ray-tracing, as well as pushing pedestrian and traffic density to the maximum. It’s a hard choice, not least because those things bring the city to life, but combat does feels much snappier at 60fps.
You can also utilise VRR and 120hz modes if you’ve got a compatible monitor, and this was our preferred way to play. The Smoothed VRR setting maintains resolution, while Uncapped allows lower resolutions to target higher, albeit more variable, frame rates. Meanwhile, 120hz mode allows for higher refresh rates, most significantly with Fidelity mode being pushed up to 40fps rather than 30fps, which gives you the best of both worlds in terms of visuals and responsive gameplay. Fundamentally, if you’ve got the right setup, Spider-Man 2 is a true graphical showcase, and runs incredibly smoothly with a hell of a lot going on on-screen. Without it? Well, it still looks fantastic.
