Spider-Man 2 Review — The Best Superhero Game Ever?
Spider-Man 2 is an incredible act two in Insomniac’s growing world, and stands as one of the best superhero experiences available in video games.
Yes, yes, I know. There have been three Spider-Man games by Insomniac, so using the phrase ‘Act Two’ to describe Spider-Man 2 seems a little disingenuous right? Well fear not, because 2020’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was an effort by Insomniac so good, so well paced, and so emotionally grounded that I doubted whether they’d be able to tangibly improve on the formula they delivered with Miles Morales first solo outing. It managed to solve my major complaints with Spider-Man 2018, while also delivering something that felt much more earnest.
Well, here we are in 2023 and Spider-Man 2 is probably going to be my GOTY. So it goes.
With Insomniac having taken the time to build out this world with both a Peter Parker and a Miles Morales story — introducing a huge amount of Spider-Man villains and characters at the same time — Spider-Man 2 was set up perfectly. Characters like Miles, MJ, Peter, Norman, Harry, and even more peripheral characters (like the excellent JJJ) start in a place that feels almost homely. I use the terminology ‘Act Two’ because this feels like a Empire Strikes Back/ Civil War/ Aliens style video game, one that progresses characters from earlier stories, but also sets them up for an inevitable ‘Act Three’ that places a full stop on these characters.
Don’t get me wrong, even the most casual Spider-Man fans could predict where this story goes, almost to the letter. In fact, minor niggles aside, that would probably be my biggest complaint regarding the 15–20 hour story that Insomniac hands you; predictability. Unlike Miles Morales’ bold reinvention of The Tinkerer — something which I respected more than the well-travelled Doc Oc story — there are no real character surprises here.
This is a spoiler-free review of course, so I shall tread lightly for fear of ruining anything. But there’s something that can be rightly criticised here when I already guessed almost the whole story a year ago, when the first major trailer for Spider-Man 2 dropped. Thankfully, it doesn’t impact the weight of the story, nor how it treats the characters of Insomniac’s newest Spider-Man story.
I also don’t want to sell Spider-Man 2 as something that falls into the MCU trap of treating everything as setup for the next thing. Insomniac have managed to craft a story here that could be enjoyed as completely standalone, should you wish. The potential for a third game is palpable (and, again, probably predictable) but thankfully it doesn’t leave Spider-Man 2 as purely a vehicle for Insomniac's presumed gaming Marvel universe.
But all of this wouldn’t mean anything if the story itself wasn’t good. Which, I’m glad to report, it is, and then some. Starting from one of the most confident video game intros I’ve ever played, Spider-Man 2 takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish as Insomniac explore not only Peter’s relationship with Spider-Man, but also with Harry Osbourne, Mary Jane, and his protégé in Miles Morales. It takes the time to check in with Miles’ struggles with heroism, school, familial responsibilities, and relationships.
It handles all of these story beats excellently, which shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who has played an Insomniac game before. Each and every character in this game feels grounded and relatable, while also still existing as super-powered/ weirdly powerful vigilantes. Where this might’ve been an awkward or far-fetched co-existence— like with Peter’s frenemy ‘Wraith’ — it manages to channel that comic book energy that we know and love. Is some of it ridiculous? Yes, of course. But it’s tied together with such honest emotions that you can’t help but fall in love with it.
It’s not all perfect. Miles Morales is oddly side-lined for the middle third of the game, as Peter struggles more and more with his responsibility to the city, his girlfriend, his best friend, and just about everything else. It actually makes sense within the context of the story, but after Miles had such a strong solo outing I was hoping he’d share more of the limelight with Peter throughout. This isn’t the case, and he’s absent from the story for a fair while in the middle there and it feels a little odd at times.
Likewise, some of the character strife feels a tad forced here and there. Similar to issues I had with 2020’s Miles Morales, certain conflicts between characters feel like they could be solved with a quick phone call, or a 30 second conversation. Insomniac designs these Spider-Man games to be briskly paced and, perhaps as a result of criticism of 2018’s game in regards to its wonky pacing, Spider-Man 2 is even more streamlined. If you mainline straight there, you’ll beat Spider-Man 2 in a hair under 15 hours — a few hours quicker than the first game.
I’m sure that will raise the heckles of the “quantity equals quality” gamers out there, and the criticism isn’t entirely unfair. After all this is a £69.99 video game which is no small feat in today’s cost of living crisis. Plus, if you’re anything like me at least, you’ll probably see the credits after two or three days; a seemingly stingy amount of time these days.
But I’m always of the opposite camp — that a game’s value isn’t defined by its size, but instead by its contents. In that regard, I feel confident in saying that Spider-Man 2 is the best superhero game that money can buy you. So good, in fact, that I wouldn’t begrudge those that went out and bought a PS5 specifically to experience it.
The addition of web wings feels right at home with Spider-Man 2’s increased size, as Insomniac have added Queens and Brooklyn to the existing Manhattan map found in the previous two games. Swapping between swinging and flying is seamless, with Insomniac’s mastery of animations and traversal coming together as one.
It results in a movement system that stands as the best you’re likely to experience in video games, as Peter or Miles transition between point launching, wall running, and swinging off of lamp posts, into gliding across rooftops, using vents and wind tunnels to propel themselves across what is a truly gigantic map in mere minutes.
It’s there that the PS5’s technical grunt comes to the fore. The lack of noticeable pop-in is a damn near miracle here, as you’re moving so damn fast most of the time that any other game would be struggling to pull in textures and detailed models quick enough. No such problem here, as the PS5’s SSD (and no shortage of development magic I’m sure) causes all of Spider-Man 2 to look and feel buttery smooth. While I doubt you’ll want to use it too much, the fast travel system here is absurd as well. Near-instant custom entry into any area of the map, with no perceptible loading or transition, is something seriously impressive when seen in person.
Along with this, Insomniac have added ray tracing to every single mode. This is different to the last two Spider-Man games and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which offered ray traced reflections only inside the quality mode, and the 60fps dynamic resolution ‘RT Performance’ mode. Here, Insomniac saw no need to turn it off for any mode, so it’s permanently present. It’s also arguably the most impressive console application of ray tracing I’ve seen, and it adds a level of immersion to the city and interior environments that I simply didn’t expect but never stopped appreciating. It still isn’t close to the kind of ray tracing/ path tracing you’ll see on PC, but that’s to be expected.
Make no mistake, Spider-Man 2 is gorgeous throughout. From immensely detailed cutscenes, to tremendous animations, to a flawless understanding of how bodies move in different situations, Insomniac have outdone themselves yet again. There were times when I noticed how much worse it looks than, say, Horizon Forbidden West — arguably still the console’s graphical bar of this generation for now — but these were few and far between when compared to the amount of times I had my jaw on the floor.
Kraven and Venom are the standouts in terms of character models, bringing comic panels to life in a way that I’ve never seen in a video game before. Supported by excellent voice acting performances, as is the whole cast, it results in two villains that are good enough that I’m not sure any non-comic equivalent — TV or film — will ever match them. Bad news for Tom Hardy and Aaron Taylor Johnson granted, but great news for PS5 owners.
I could harp on about the excellent combat suite, supported by more Venom powers for Miles (not to be confused with the Venom character), a fully defined Iron Spider set of abilities for Peter, and the much-anticipated Symbiote suite. I could talk about how well handled the non-spidey action is handled this time around, from Mary Jane’s excellent segments that improve upon 2018’s poor attempts, to more surprise appearances that I won’t spoil.
If I attempted to write much more about how much I love Spider-Man 2, and how much it deserves all of the plaudits it’s received, I think this review would be about 6000 words long. Suffice to say then, in the interest of time, that this is a true GOTY contender. Will it win? Baldur’s Gate 3, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Tears of The Kingdom say no, probably. But Insomniac deserve no end of credit for creating one of my favourite Spider-Man and superhero stories available in the world of video games.
