From Iron Man to the X-Men to the original Spider-Man films with Tobey Maguire, the superhero trilogy film has long had a checkered past. Franchise often give us two good outings with our hero, but delivering a third masterful outing is rarely easy.
And then you play Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. And instantly, you forget about all those trilogy issues. Insomniac Games’ third Spider-Man video game on PlayStation platforms delivers an epic coda to the story that started in Marvel’s Spider-Man (on the PlayStation 4) and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (a launch title on the Playstation 5). This story is backed by a fantastic gameplay experience that can hold your attention long after the final boss has been beaten.
The first two Spider-Man games were absolutely fantastic. In the original game, released in 2018, Peter Parker’s Spidey took center stage, taking on everyone from Wilson Fisk to Doctor Octopus, who, it was revealed, knew his identity. Then Miles Morales took stage in his titular game, enduring the loss of his close friend Phin.
Spider-Man 2 picks up several years after the events of both games and sees Insomniac telling its boldest, most ambitious story. You play as both Peter and Miles in various moments, and this is a story that’s meant to be about both of them. It’s a tale that hones in heavily on ideas of isolation and loneliness, and it does so from new vantage points on both characters.
Throughout film and TV, Parker’s Spider-Man has almost always been viewed as a high school or college student, but Insomniac choose to explore a more adult Peter in this game: Not only is he Miles’ crime-fighting mentor, but he’s also a school teacher, borrowing from an arc the comics delivered years before. It’s a more mature Peter who’s balancing life with Mary Jane Watson and guiding Miles, and it’s a subtly necessary shift, too, preventing Peter and Miles from feeling like redundant characters in the narrative.
It all sets the stage for a fantastic story that utilizes new adversaries in Kraven the Hunter and Venom. Venom’s arc in particular is especially satisfying; Insomniac works extra-hard to tell a gripping story. That hard work is borne out in gameplay, too; the action for both Spider-characters plays out in splendid fashion, and other more varied gameplay elements break that up. Many of these (say, taking a bike ride with an old friend), aren’t hard, but Insomniac skillfully balances how much you play through a narrative scene and how much you watch it to keep you interested and engaged.
New York City, meanwhile, comes to life in new ways, serving as an even more perfect backdrop for our webswingers. This is a vastly larger New York City, with Brooklyn and Queens added to the mix, so you have more to explore. The new boroughs bring different flavors, too, especially Queens, which has fewer high-rise buildings, subtly changing how Peter and Miles traverse as Spidey.
This New York City also feels more bustling than the already-excellent game worlds of the previous two games. By and large, when you’re not pushing through the story, you’ll swing about and fight petty crime and do other things just as you did in the last two titles. But Insomniac beefs up these experiences to make them feel more distinct. Often, you won’t simply beat up a bunch of guys to solve a crime; instead, you’ll beat those guys up, then perhaps need to web up the leaks on an oil tanker, then swing an injured bystander to a hospital. These little touches prevent things from ever growing mundane.
Insomniac adds in new tools for both Spider-Men, too. Instead of simply moving about the game world with your webbing, you now have a wingsuit that can let you glide. (The game also solves the inability of Spidey to swim in previous titles, a smart move.) The wingsuit is fun enough but it’s the rare misstep in Spidey; everything you do with it feels forced, and it doesn’t feel essential in the least to your gameplay. Most times I was in the wingsuit, my mind wanted to find ways to swing. That’s the core of Spider-Man, not a hang-glider from a different game.
Combat has also been beefed up. There’s a new parry button that requires critical timing but plays a key role against certain enemies, and both Spideys now have a series of moves on cooldowns, mapped to the bumpers and arrows. Adding all this in means you never fall into some punch-and-kick-a-lot repetition. Instead, you’re always looking for something to fling at your enemies, or an opportunity to use one of your Spidey-gadgets. It’s satisfying and keeps combat moving at a feverish pace, although it does make several early encounters feel extra-easy. Still, it makes both Spider-Men that much more fun to control.
It’s a shame they control so similarly, though. Miles has unique powers to control electricity and Peter has a new set of Doc Ock-inspired arms popping out of his suit, so you’d expect both heroes to solve their battles in different ways. And, early on, it seems like that might happen. But as gameplay advances, the differences between both characters feel increasingly miniscule. Combat is terrific, but both Spider-Men control relatively similarly.
Still, that’s a tiny quibble in one of the most fantastic gaming journeys you’ll take on this year, and a game that wraps up a magical arc for both Spider-Men. This is how you do a superhero trilogy, whether it’s a video game, a movie, or anything else.
And at the end, all I’m hoping is that we get more of this franchise.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed on PlayStation 5
Available on PlayStation 5