I know, I know. Super late at night for an upload. It's been a hard start to 2025. But I'm glad it's here, thank you guys for putting up with the long wait between videos.
If insomniac was okay to show scorpions death in the game’s story then why didn’t they do the same for harry and miles bringing him back was so damn stupid like if I was Peter in the ending of the story I’d wouldn’t care at all that Harry died, just don’t bring him back to life only for him to be in a comma again and Harry’s death to me would make literally more sense for Norman’s green goblin story to happen in marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and I’m just begging insomniac to make an ending that that game a million times better than marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and please let marvel’s Spider-Man 3 be for ps5 and not ps6 cause that is also brain dead stupid and dumb
Old JJJ was always right when the matter at hand wasn't connected to Spider-Man. He was the first to predict the gang war, he was the first to call out Osborn and his shady schemes, he was the first to predict that Sable International is going to basically siege the city and seize it under their control. On a second playthrough I caught myself realizing that JJJ basically spoils the whole game for you, but in a good way. he still sounds like Alex Jones trying to prove that chemicals make the frogs gay, but otherwise, JJJ prove why he's a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Let me steer to the comics for a second. JJJ is genuinely a great guy. since he found out Spider-Man's true identity, he became his #1 supporter, shouting at every corner that Spider-Man is the greatest hero that ever blessed them with his presence. because he knows who Peter is. he knows that he's just someone who's been doing this gig since he was 15, right after losing his uncle and trying to scramble enough money to pay for his aunt's bills, while trying to study at school and beat up a superpowered criminal or two. JJJ is avid mutant supporter, shutting down any possible rumors that he would hate them like he hates Spider-Man. he built Daily Bugle from ground up, he's a reliable person and, honestly, a great boss. yes, he does not have indoor voice, and he's constantly mean to Parker, but JJJ is a man of the old school and tries to toughen Peter up, help him grow a spine(greatly illustrated in one of the Raimi movies, when Peter asks for higher pay. Jonah simply says "Outrageous. Done.") Now forget all this. From SM: MM John Jonah Jameson Junior is a corporate bootlicker, hateful bigot that cares only for his reputation. He praises Roxxon like the second coming of Christ himself, he constantly bashes on Danika(a teenager who's doing journalism just because she loves it, just like he started many years ago), belittles her, ropes Miles into his hatred, so blind in his campaign that he doesn't even TRY to apologize for his blatant favoritism towards Roxxon, who tried to outright poison Harlem. JJJ hates masked heroes, masked villains, masked everyone. Because a man in the mask killed his wife. Because he spends every day going directly against her dying wish: not to spend the rest of his life in hatred. Deep down, JJJ could care less about Spider-Man, he's simply a point of projection. Because he believes that if he'll take down Spider-Man, he'll rip that mask off, he'll be finally able to let it go. To finally forgive himself for endangering his wife and finally live as she would want. Instead, we got Alex Jones.
This was so amazingly put. I loved reading every bit of it because I really do hate what happened to JJJ after the first game. He goes from begrudingly admitting they needed Spider-Man's help to raging lunatic in barely any time at all and with no apparent setup, it feels like, and that's just really not good writing.
They probably were terrified of the idea of a conspiracy nut sometimes being right, or having some kind of point if you looked hard enough outside of the spin....
How they made Kraven the Hunter never hunt anyone but just have his goons capture villains and put them in an arena for him will forever be the most baffling desecion to me.
@@harmonlanager2670 Conic Kraven gets a pass cause he has a history of solo hunting...this is the FIRST time that we see game Kraven and...he is less of "The Hunter" and more of "The Gatherer"💀
And to be fair sweet baby ink didn't get their hands on this game so and I see 10:10 all around for this review of Spider-Man 2 and I can smell game of the year for this game already salute to Peter Parker
Thing is we KNOW he's suffering a chronic illness so like...they could've had moments where he starts having a coughing fit that pseudo-explains why he can't hunt them down himself. He wants to have a glorious hunt, but dying of cardiac arrest mid-hunt would suck. He still should've lead more of the fights and him and spiderman being more close in terms of prowess would've made sense why he uses traps/aid.
Potentially hot take, but one of my biggest grievances with the second game is it feels like all the characters just completely lost their chemistry. I honest to god didn’t buy Peter and MJ being a couple until after the Scream fight, there is so much less affection in the way they speak to eachother here than when they were still exes, it’s so bizarre. Hell the character Pete bounces off best in this game is probably Yuri, and even then I just attribute that to the voice actors being married.
The only character that felt the same was black cat. Miles Morales in particular felt toned down if you know what I mean. His new haircut is bad, especially since the one he had is his own game, the clothes he wears look HORRIBLE in this game. I mean wtf? Is his own game he was wearing stylish fur coats and timberland boots now he’s wearing a long sleeve and a button up? What happened to his swag?
I love this. The way his 2D avatar emotes slightly as he delivers his well-articulated critique is just full of the exaggerated swagger of a young white man-it gives me chills every time, especially as the background music subtly fades out.
Making a spider-man game where venom is the big selling point but not single trace of Eddie Brock is like making persona 5 but removing goro akechi and instead the black mask is yusuke
I wouldn't be surprised if a few iterations of Spiderman had Harry Osborne be Venom before this. I'm pretty sure the Disney animated series where Drake Bell was Spiderman was one of them.
Bro, exactly. It's not Venom without Eddie Brock. Yeah, some people who don't really care about the character and only the whole thing of "Symbiote makes a violent Spider-Man, then I get to fight a cool evil Spider-Man boss" make the weak argument of there having been other hosts to the Symbiote in the comics. True, but to that I say two things. First off, despite the number of hosts the Symbiote has had other than Eddie, how many of them were actually compelling as Venom? Damn near none. They all tried to copy the charm and magic that Eddie Brock had to make readers love his character, but they all fell flat. The only one talked about in a good light is Flash Thompson as Agent Venom, and even then, his character and story from that point is built upon the legacy of Eddie's Venom, and despite looking somewhat similar, they never were really alike as Venoms. Secondly, people love Eddie Brock for a reason--he's a compelling character with a lot of great stories, as a villain, anti-hero, to eventual hero. Imagine making an awesome Superman game in today's time, but it's not Clark Kent. Yeah, there are other Supermen in the comics, but that's not gonna appease the fans who are justifiably upset that the definitive Superman is not Superman. Just the same, Venom fans were upset when Eddie Brock, the definitive Venom, was not Venom, and instead got the umpteenth "new take" on Venom that's something of a farcry from his character in the comics. It's honestly frustrating.
It's really ironic how the theme of the game is "balance," and yet the game fails to balance basically any idea it has. It tries to do so much, but can't find the time, so all we get is the bare minimum. We get black-suit Spidey? Awesome, but you don't really get to see how the symbiote hitches on Peter's feelings, he's just angry now. We get Kraven? That's so cool, but his main twist is given in a side mission, as his major screentime is doing absolutely nothing (how is it hunting if you're kidnapping them and putting them in a cage fight??). Carnage is in the game? Not really because they teased it for dlc that will never come out. And on top of that you got JJJ, Martin Lee, the rest of the Sinister Six, Venom, and even Miles who don't get the stories that they deserved. As one of the only 12 Silk fans on Earth, I'm really hoping they learn their lesson for the next game. Also they didn't add Bombastic Bag Man bad game 0/10 worst game of the year
Honestly this is the most succinct "what they got wrong" review of the game. The only rhing I'd add is this doesnt feel like New York or New York culture. It feels like what people in an LA writing room think NYC should be.
This might be weird, but my favourite part of spider-man 2 is the mission where you play as MJ and she's running and hiding from monster peter. That section really felt like a horror game, and you could feel an experience MJ's fear watching some animal taking over Peter's body.
My main problem with this game is developers thought of "More is better" While there in reality not really is more: New York is Bigger but there not really more side stuff to do literally leaving big patches of nothing and city feels empty. They should if they really expand maybe add one district but focus on expanding city in ways you can do in city you know already, Yakuza way. With Side content they tried to even out Peter and Miles side content to do, but for some incomprahensible reason the challenges side mission Mysterio are Miles only, the one you want to try doing with both Spiders is locked to one. Venom is written HORRIBLY, he is not Venom outside Design, his Personality is nothing of Venom, he is just Knull Servant with Venom design. Not to mention he is cleary heavily inspired by Cates and Stegman Run (Wings, Spiral symbiotes etc.) and yeah, he nothing like Venom. As big Venom fan it's main turn off. Miles arc is "Okay in meantime im here" His only real Arc is Mr. Negative and rest is being here for Peter story which annoys me to great lenghts. Also his Final suit repeats "Being my own Spider-Man" From his solo game but here his suit looks bad and gives weird vibe of "So did Miles decided to grab suit in middle of invasion just cause?" Killed most of Villains out of Screen, i hate how MacGargan was killed but at least it gave us stakes with Kraven, but then Vulture is killed, Shocker is killed etc. Game expects me to believe Peter retire while teasing Green Goblnig and return of Doc Ock, Peter BIGGEST Villains.
Thank you, if 2018 is a 10, Spiderman 2 is a 7/10. No gadgets. No suit powers. Disappointing, if you played in the first few months, mj did not endure one hit and instantly failed the mission
Not Spider-Man 2 Spider-Man 2 is unique and it overthrown Batman Arkham City I see 10/10 all around for this game so far and I can tell this game going to win game of the year
Yeah, the biggest thing that made me dislike in the game was the THREE times you had to fight scream back to back. It was ridiculous and the story itself wasn’t very interesting.
Didn’t like how Spider-Man 2 subtly trivialize Peter to make it blatantly obvious the devs want Miles to replace him. There should’ve been a more organic way that sustains Peter’s experience and expertise in being a superhero while progressing Miles’ journey. Yeah the boss fights are better, powers feel impactful, and the traversal feels faster but the narrative was lackluster for both Peter and Miles. Miles feels like a minor side character till his confrontation with Lee while Peter gets his epiphany moment hijacked by Miles when he should’ve earned the Anti Venom suit himself and remove Venom himself. If you want Miles to team up with Pete against Venom and make it narratively significant they should’ve built a rapport between Miles and Harry. But naw, Pete was useless until Miles rescued him cause the devs are like the comic writers. Pete should move aside for the new hotness, doesn’t matter how.
yup, whole series is a trojan horse to replacement theory on Peter to miles, same to comics by end of the game, peter's lost all his connections, has the worse MJ in history, Black cat leaves and he isn't even there for it, couldn't save Harry, and retires this series is honestly trash but more so alarming how this is the mindset at Sony/INsomniac
Yes From the beginning of the game you can see that they want to replace Peter with Miles, so much so that towards the end it is not surprising that Peter leaves. Besides, he gets hit in the most stupid ways possible in the cutscenes.
Insomniac's SpiderMan is a franchise I want to love and initially did when the first game was released. I was thrilled to see a Spider-Man adaptation that didn't fall into Marve's obsession with having Peter being trapped in limbo as a teenager/manchild who never matures and the main story had me invested from beginning to end. The gameplay was great too and I replayed it many times. However over time I've gotten less and less optimistic and the closer I look at the first two games the more I began to worry; I didn't like that they turned Mary Jane into Lois Lane and how unfair she was toward Peter, the missions where you play as her got so tiring for me over repeat playthroughs that I haven't replayed the game from start to finish since late 2018. The post-credit scene showing Harry with the Symbiote made me worried from day one and I'm impressed Insomniac somehow managed to make it worse than I feared it would be in Spider-Man 2. The writing and pacing of the DLC wasn't very good and the direction they took Hammerhead in (turning him into Silvermane for some reason) was just dumb. Silver Sable is a massive nothing burger and Screwball is the bane of my existence. Miles Morales is still my favorite installment with the improved traversal and combat and the only one I still replay, but the writing of the main villain in that game was just atrocious. Phin is a narcisistic hypocritical terrorist that never gets called out on what a horrible and toxic person she is, and her plan is so painfully stupid that it hurts to listen to her. The story in the side quests where Miles becomes accepted by the people of Harlem is far more interesting than the main plot. Twice Insomniac had completely botched it with an antagonist, first Hammerhead and then Phin, and it did not make me feel optimistic about Spider-Man 2. My optimism faded more when it was revealed the Kraven was gonna be the main antagonist, a Spider-Man villain who was never very good or interesting to begin with until J.M. DeMatteis took on the character for Kraven's Last Hunt. This and Harry being """Venom""" had me very cautiously optimistic about the game. Then the game came out and somehow Insomniac managed to exceed my fears about the story and by doubling down on things people such as myself was hoping to see rectified or improved in the sequel. My biggest gripe personally is how awfully they adapted and handled the Symbiote. The Symbiotes are my favorite thing to come out of Spider-Man and I have probably become a bigger fan of the gooey aliens than I am of the guy who shoots sticky goo at buildings and bad guys (and sometimes Mary Jane when they're feeling kinky). I am so tired of adaptations reducing the Symbiote to "goop that turns you into a douche on a power trip". Symbiotes are characters with thoughts, feelings and motivations of their own. The one that bonded to Peter had lived a life of rejection and abuse, wanting nothing more than to have a purpose and place to belong. It seemingly found this with Spider-Man and tried to be as useful to him as possible even if it meant taking control of his body at night to fight crime while he slept, but when Peter found out it's alive he, like all those before him, decided to reject it. However even when he tried to get rid of it, even if it meant he'd die too, it still saved his life and continued to wear his symbol because he inspired it. Because it loved him. All these feelings became twisted and corrupt when it found Eddie Brock and the two became Venom, a creature waging war on Spider-Man and injustice. It genuinely hurts to see such a complex character be reduced to a generic evil alien that wants to invade Earth and bonding it to a character who has nothing to do with Venom. Venom isn't just some name for the Symbiote, it is specifically the unity between Eddie Brock and the Symbiote that creates Venom. Harry doesn't belong in this story. Harry is an Osborn, a Goblin, he's not Venom. Anyway, I would go on, like how MJ is even worse in the sequel, Peter coming across weaker as a person and overall just really weak and bad writing, but my rant about the Symbiote is already too long so I'll just leave it here before I explode. TL;DR: Insomniac gave me high expectations with the first game, but the writing in subsequent DLC and Miles Morales lowered my enthusiasm and Spider-Man 2 just butchered everything to the point that I have lost interest in following or supporting Insomniac any further. It doesn't help that Bryan was a totally dick about the MJ sections and doubled down on them to spite people.
Do we share the same brain? You said a lot of opinions that I share too but rarely hear them around the Internet. MJ is horrible in these games, period, but she was still salvageable after the first game. Lots of problems in SM2 just stem from the bad ideas and the bad Fondation it has. Eddie Brock would've had such a perfect spot in this story. The symbiote is desperate to get off Harry, he was trapped with this sick host for years. It then finds the perfect opportunity get its freedom with Peter. Once he is rejected, you could've gotten this cat & mouse chase. Venom is after Peter and Norman is after Venom. Could've introduced the Oscorp Spider slayers this way as a new enemy faction. I also think that Carnage should've been incorporated into the main story and have him be the catalyst of Venom becoming allies with Spider-Man. I could go on all day long with these ideas.
My biggest issue with the game is how Harry gets put in the coma, Peter literally coulda just given him the antivenom symbiote. Especially since its just a symbiote without the backlash
iirc they do kinda explain why, tho not explicitly, they bring up the reason Peter gets possessed by the symbiote again and has Anti Venom is because the symbiote bonded with him at a sub cellular level and thus can’t be removed
@@hyperkirby0143 true but Anti Venom has the ability to heal ANY disease. Insomniac nerfed it for their plot to even make sense. It shouldve been GGs for Venom when Peter Unlocked that power The fact that Miles had to save Harry when Peter has Anti Venom is absolute BULLSH!T💀
He can't, it's literally part of him. Even if he could one could say because it's a Symbiote that's been neutralized then the healing factor isn't actually there
The final mission is so lame to me cause all the cool stuff is in a cutscene, Peter getting chased by Venom, Miles and Mj rushing to the foundation, not even having Peter and Miles fight together, it was so lame, Miles morales has the best final mission cause it's an actual mission and not a boss fight, and it has amazing spectacle
One gripe I have with Insomniac Peter is that even in Black Suit he is too kind, when entire legacy of Spider-man Black Suit is him being at his most selfish and crashing out, and that's even before they retconned it being Venom mind altering and not simply Peter giving into pressure, like he always done since Stan and Ditko run. Spectacular Spider-man really did great job at showing that even outside of Black Suit he is capable of doing something that damages his relationships or wrong, which makes Venom subtle manipulation compelling. In the game Venom doesn't have anything interesting of his lore and just "mind control monster", which takes iconography of Donny Cates run without proper credit, which is dickish considering his career was damaged since car crash.
Venom didn't mind control him. Unless you wanna argue that Venom is such a complete dummy, he let his host get convinced that the suit was bad, that was Peter giving into pressure. Also, what you would have Peter do? It's not like Spectacular having him just give his friends a little verbal lashing at school or Tobey's "look at little goblin jr." were that much to brag about in terms of crashing out. Peter is meant to be more stubborn and self-centered when he has the suit. Peter in SM2 does what he would do if you took all his anger and grief and cranked it to its natural conclusion. Plus, him almost killing Kraven isn't exactly just being a little meanie wenie to him☠️
In the Ultimate Comics, GR-35 was the designation given to that universe's version of the symbiote. I'm assuming this is the case in the Insomniac games
Will I end up buying the game on sale, because I loved both 1 and MM as well as the fact that the symbiote is easily my favorite part of Spider-man things? Yes. Will I also still listen to Rowby rag on it for roughly 50 minutes? Also Yes.
Sigh...I have grilled this game so much that I've lost the care to anymore So I'll sum up the MAIN thing I had issues with. That being the NO CONNECTIVE TISSUE BETWEEN THE OLDER GAMES outside of the obvious ones like Venom and Mr Negative The biggest offender...how they handled the Sinister six... Shocker was just a guy who was trying to turn his life around but had been forced back into a life a villainy by the demons. Could've made for a dope redemption arc with him helping out Peter Vulture is a man who had CANCER and was promised a cure. Peter didnt even offer to help...it wouldve hit DEEP if the character Kraven killed on screen was Vulture cause just like Kraven, he's a dying man. So maybe Vulture begs for Kraven to end his misery cause he was lied to by Doc Ock and Spiderman doesn't care. Kraven envies Vulture cause he doesn't know if he'll receive the same mercy. This could have easily introduced Starling who is a Miles original villain and SHOULD have have who he was chasing...NOT Black Cat who he has ZERO relationship with😐. Hell she was in the Prequel novel for Miles games Electro wanted to be a GOD. Imagine if we got Blue Electro who fully became electricity Rhino wanted out of his suit so he would most likley retire villainy...Peter didnt even TRY to help which would depower his physically STRONGEST foe And the game only mentions Doc Ock TWICE. HARRY of all people brings him up and Peter doesnt seem to have any lasting grief from that. Imagine if he struggled to make the Iron Spider Legs cause of how Ock used their tech to hurt people and resulted in the death of his aunt. All this creating a Mental Block And now lets move onto some other side characters: Yuri/Wraith after being a main side character...is relegated to ONE mission string in the sequel. Wtf!? You trying to tell me she doesnt see the need to help during an ALIEN INVASION!? Wraith couldve also learned that her methods were wrong which would make for an interesting dynamic with her trying to stop black suit spiderman And Black Cat...doing the same SELFISH BS AGAIN was just so annoying. Insomniac does NOT know how to write female characters I swear to god. Aunt may was the ONLY good one😭. Black Cat is known for doing the right thing when it counts. Her staying to help with the Alien Invasion and try to dissuade peter from the black suit wouldve been compelling Lizard was HORRIBLY used tbvh. They set up all that stuff about his fam in the game and it goes NO WHERE. Imagine some bases where Lizard kidnpas people around the city to build his "family". You can have Lizard Brutes, Spitters, Spine shooters and even Camo and some that swim in the water and suprise you. Villain bases in the sewers wouldve been SOOO PEAK And I'll stop here at finally MJ Her story is shallow AF💀. All her so called problems is crap that happens OFFscreen and we have to stomach her WHINING about it as Scream😐🙄. Imagine if they put a little more effort and actually showed us Inside the Daily Bugle, showed us MJs apartment. They couldve had a boxing bag that showed that she's been training and it couldve mirrored Peters apartment from the first game to show she doesnt have her life together. They could've added in Eddie Brock as HER work rival instead of Pete I'll leave it here for now and end with: Where TF WAS SILVER SABLE, TASKMASTER and KINGPIN!!??? And they shouldve REALLY used the Spinoff characters like Velocity Girl from the Velocity comics and Blood Spider from the Prequel Novel
This has to be one of the worst negative Spider-Man reviews I’ve ever heard honestly dude you just don’t like the game not because it was bad but because it didn’t go the way that you wanted it to You just say imagine this or imagine that not talking about any actual problems just because you wanted these things to be added, but they weren’t at all Peter really tried to help shocker but he just didn’t want to talk or have a redemption arc because the demons would kill him even if he spoke a little bit so you can go ahead and throw that idea out the window Peter probably didn’t help him probably because well these villain continued and decided to help out Octavius on his plan to ruin and destroy New York It’s hard to help somebody when they constantly go back into crime over and over again. And who said that Spider-Man didn’t care about helping vulture vulture just never try to escape out of that life and continued to do worse and worse Peter was just doing his job. And just because smiles and blackhead has zero chemistry or relationship that automatically makes the game bad just because of that one little segment in the game and just because your favorite character wasn’t put in the game I guess that means half of the game was terrible Plus, you’re not even bringing up actual points. You’re saying “just imagine this or imagine that or what if we had this” or that not bringing up actual problems just trying to make up scenarios that you want to happen but didn’t happen so that automatically made the game bad for you. And just like vulture rhino continue to hurt people and destroy the entire New York City powerline and potentially killed people during the chase in Spider-Man Miles Morales and continued to be a villain willingly you can’t keep on placing the blame on a hero just because. The game only mentioned doc ock twice so I guess that makes it bad I’m pretty sure the only reason why Peter never had any grief or lasting grief from that was because it was pretty much a long time ago and they were bigger things to worry about plus Octavius is not even dead. he made himself that way out of anger and he put himself in that position. There are bigger things to worry about than just that one person. The entire thing with Peter struggling to make the iron legs, and having some kind of emotional block, does not make any kind of sense Plus you continue make up scenarios and just because they never happened you continue to hate on the game for no apparent reason And during some crime missions with the Symbiots and hunters or the flame you would sometimes see her during the fighting process better yet I don’t even think that she’s even qualified for a whole alien invasion and wraith already has to deal with Cletus Cassidy killing people and with cult members plus her and black spider man have chemistry or dynamic with each other No black cat is known for stealing and being a criminal and just like wraith her vs black Symbiot spider man makes no sense in story wise and she also has a girlfriend in Paris who needed help and I don’t think she’s also qualified for an alien invasion. Here we go with the “imagine” part the lizard is a rampaging monster who can’t infect humans and turn them into brutes that’s not even a power of his it makes no sense with the character or story Firstly what does mj apartment haft to do with anything plus what punching bag and training for what she doesn’t really fight people plus how is peter her work rival just for saving lives this mj arc sounds way more shallow than what you think. Silver sable is at home town, king pin is in rykers, and task master is probably dead due to kraven
34:10 FACTS. Taking that away was DUMB to me. Why go out of your way to design an ENTIRE symbiote city...for it to be eradicated IMMEDIATELY!?💀 Why ddidnt they let one piece of the city remain curropted where Symbiote enemies constatnly spawn. Like the city still covered in sand
Game feels too short, doesn’t feel like a real sequel gameplay wise, and just.. idk to me Marvel rivals got the swinging better with how we can aim swing.
1:53 Hey, don't throw shade at sunset overdrive, that game was funny, chaotic and was the natural precursor to Spider-Man, because that games city traversal was so good.
Spider-Man 1's tightly knit and well made story that also served as specifically a really good Spider-Man story, really did spoil us and while the shortcomings and messups of the 2nd game's story aren't gigantic, comparing it to the 1st game makes it seriously dissapointing
While I haven't played Spiderman 2 I have played the first game and something that felt like an obvious "stance" for Kraven to take as a villain is "why should Spiderman care?". Kraven is hunting down some of the most dangerous people alive, people who constantly choose to put others in danger and I feel like he could very easily make the argument that he's helping Spider-man in a twisted kind of way. He just wants him to turn has back and keep saving the people in New York who deserve it. It would fit very well with the ending of the last game because Peter now has to justify the continued existence of people who have done nothing but cause him pain, get stopped, and go back to causing that pain once they escape especially now that one of those people took Aunt May from him. It would also work with the themes you highlighted earlier because Kraven would be Spider-man's easy out with the guys that really cause him trouble but because of his morals would still choose to take the high road.
it's literally stated in the second game that over half the villains have turned their life around since their interactions with peter, you also get to actually see how some of them have turned their life around. Also kraven has never cared about people being saved, if an innocent bystander is in his way while he is hunting something he will just snap their neck. That kind of storyline would never work with kraven. More people would be upset about that storyline with kraven than the people who are upset venom wasn't eddie brock.
Lesser healing Factor probably. Not wolverine or Deadpool levels but combined with the base strength and durability he could probably walk it off and be fine (would still hurt like hell though)
@@41dn Yh Spiderman can practically heal from ANY wound that isn't immediately fatal in about a day. He can go to sleep one day injured and wake up the next day fine
Huzzah! Lovely new video Rowby, as always I really like your snappy sense of comedy :] I was actually just rewatching old videos for nostalgia sake. Happy new year, I hope this year is good for you!
I 100% Spider-Man 2 three times because while i enjoyed the story the first time, and tolerated it's "sillyness" for lack of a better term the 2nd go round, by the 3rd I just wanted to get all the symbiot suits to have said I did it, not that I didn't enjoy it, but I wish it had a better story. The gameplay alone is worth it but I wish we would have gotten dlc (and not just suits ☠️😭), not game of the year but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy my time with the game, solid 8 to 9 for me.
First two games were great storywise only but the combat horrible boring one square combo the whole game at least the gadgets in the powers kind of made up for it in the first two games but Spider-Man 2 nah that shit was pathetic I wish I could get my money back.
Nitpick: Venom is not the symbiote, Venom is the symbiote plus the host that comes after Peter (in most cases Eddie, in this case Harry). The symbiote is simply referred to as the symbiote or the Venom symbiote when unbonded.
man, why couldn't they just let us keep venom? i know ludonarrative dissonance, or whatever it's called. but come on, he was right there. we had him and they took him away! like if he was there in a NG+ mode or something!
KINDA??? This was supposed to be my goty for 2023. I was meatriding it so hard that I had to buy BG3 just to see how it won goty over SM2. When I tell you that purchasing that game was the final nail in the coffin, I’m not joking. As a fan of the character and a majority of his media, this game was an absolute disappointment for me. For how terribly they handled Peter and Harry, to Miles’ story (you could tell they didn’t know how to really make a game focused on two main protagonists), even to Venom (that isn’t Venom, it’s just a big monster with a spider symbol; that is not what Venom is). This game will forever go down as some of the greatest potential, worst execution ever seen.
I feel like it's unfair to compare the MJ and Miles stealth missions in 1 to the hangout at the fair in 2. I don't buy spiderman to sneak around as MJ whereas the idea of hanging around normally as Peter Parker fits perfectly into the character of Peter/Spiderman. MJ missions in 2 are enjoyable though
1:54 hey dont diss sunset overdrive, that games fantastic, it deserves way more recognition than it gets, the onky reaon it kinda got lost is cause its xbox exclusive
I can't really put my finger on it, but I genuinely feel like kraven was a better villain than venom, and I feel like kraven was the real "Main villain" of the game , I don't know if it's because I don't like how "world conquering virus" they treated venom like, or if it's because of how I enjoyed the "kraven last hunt" style story they gave kraven, I think it's mostly just due to how rushed the game was especially by the end, and how kraven is the main villain of act 1 & 2 and act 3 was way too short Either way I still love this game, even if I think 1 was better (it's literally my favorite game ever made)
I didn't like Kraven's death. I get they needed something traumatic to happen to make Harry susceptible to Venom's manipulation, but giving Kraven what he wanted felt unsatisfying. Maybe they could have made it so that after the fight, Venom makes Kraven into the first symbiote enemy, denying Kraven the warrior's death he did so much bad stuff for, which also ends up curing his cancer. That could have inspired an unstable Harry to start making everyone a symbiote as the first step toward "healing the world."
Looking back the film tie in Spider-Man 2 for the Playstation 2 really was lightning in a bottle. It established a lot of the web swinging mechanics that are still used in almost every single Spider-Man game to this day and was smart enough to make them the main selling point AND had a decent story even not counting the things it lifted from the movie, all while being developed under the constraints of being a PS2 movie tie-in game.
It's funny, I just beat the game today on steam and was wondering if you were gonna do a video on it. I did my best to avoid all spoilers and marketing for the game (something you yourself made difficult) and I gotta say I had a good time with it, I can totally understand why people find it a disappointing sequel but I like the first one and Mile Morales, so more of the same with a little more is just fine for me. EDIT: So after finishing the video, I 100% agree with your thoughts about the Venom bossfight, I was really expecting a final phase were you switch between both spider men while fighting him. The emotional weight isn't there with Miles being the one to have the final fight with Venom.
Honestly the only reason I got spiderman 2 was for venom alone, who is one of my favorite spiderman characters. While I did like the level where you play as him and how you see how monstrously brutal he is … in the game he just felt like a shell of the echoed thoughts of whoever wore him … which I get is the point of the insomniac symbiotes but … it’s venom … and I also kinda wanted venom to be in the action sooner … instead of it only being kraven, until it wasn’t … the game was still fun tho
Seems like Spiderman 2 is in the same boat as the Fallout TV Show, where one side hates it, one side loves it, and the neutral folks are left in the background. As for myself, I think the game is good for what it is, but I can respect people who don't like it for any reason(provided the reason is understandable and not something goofy).
1:54 and yet that's how they even got the idea of making a Spider-Man game. This game was the building blocks of how we got such an amazing Spider-Man game. I do wish the dialogue was better and the overall gameplay being a bit too hard, but otherwise this game really does show how Spider-Man came to be from insomniac
Think of it this way... They now know what to get right for the third game, instead of the usual fare of the second being best and the third falling short
To me, having just replayed Spider-Man 2018, the biggest let down for me was just how passive peter is. In the first game you really felt like everything you did as Spider-Man was something that was born from peters heart. In Spider-Man 2 it feels more like things are just kind of happening to peter and everything that he does is left a bit empty feeling because of it. I find that moment of him waking up on that park bench so poignant because he has this lackadaisical expression on his face and he just kinda walks it off and keeps fucking around as if he WASNT in the thralls of dealing with the alien on his back.
The fact the COMPLETELY UNDERMINED the entire point of the Symbiote arc by immediately giving Peter ANOTHER symbiote suit thats even BETTER than the last is insane😭 It wouldve been cool if the legs werent working for most of the game cause of a mental block and after ripping the symbiote off he gets over his mental block and make the Iron Spider legs work and give him some Shocker Guantlets 39:30 But I do like you're take on it though
I think Spiderman 3, was gonna be after another expansion similar to the Miles game. Or maybe Spiderman 3 is gonna start with Miles, then Green Goblin is gonna push Peter to come back. Thats what it feels like they were trying to say, but was still writing Spiderman 3 draft script.
Stumbled onto this video randomly, about 15 minutes in, and I just wanted to drop my take on Miles being “perfect” in this game- namely, I feel like that was a good call. Miles did nothing wrong, even while he’s struggling with some very internal demons, and that’s the necessary contrast against Peter’s Venom arc. You’re not wrong about Danika, Ganke, and Hailey I guess, but… I dunno, it never bothered me. God forbid we have teenagers doing the right thing, Peter started spidering at their age. I think it fit
I love both games for different reasons. Spider-Man 1 for its story but not really for it a gameplay. Spider-Man 2’s story was kinda bland, but the gameplay and atmosphere is just phenomenal. No matter what the games flaws are, I love them. That’s love right there
The first game felt like a proper game, They put effort in to the gameplay and story, The Miles game was shorter but still good but the sequel was so short and had nothing, NOT EVEN DLC FFS, They only had GOOD side quests that they did nothing with, Clearly just to lead into the 3rd game which I absolutely hate, If you’re making a sequel to your game yes have stuff leading into the next game…….BUT HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOUR CURRENT GAME THAT ISN’T A CUTSCENE GOING “Ooh it’s this character get excited for them……..in the next fuckin game losers 🖕” They had literally nothing in this game except for boring side content and the game itself is really short, You can playthrough this game so fast because it doesn’t feel like it’s own game, It feels like a Demo for “Spider-Man 3” which sucks…………..but I will be playing the 3rd one BUT MY POINT STILL STANDS!
an abysmal sequel honestly, even with the obvious cut content, its clear what the intent was looking at what was KEPT in the game, why were any MJ missions kept, why is Miles given part in this story arc at all, why is everyone so painfully nice, why are the side quests so pointless and virtue signaling, why is wraith barely a note in this game, why is Black Cat barely in the story and why does MILES deal with her instead of PETER, game is trash
There's a weird phonomenon I've found with sequals to big novel concepts like this. The sequals are put under more scrutiny because that first thing was so novel and cool and sometimes I dont know if it can happen. SM2 stuck too close to it's roots while simultaniously not sticking close enough, to the point it's a weird mix. Unlike Squid Game Season 2 Which went totally in the "embracing the new" direction and The Boys Season 2 Which went into the "Embracing the old" direction. Spiderman 2 Is in a weird mix of both these things which is why I think it's so strange and just... Okay
Gameplay wise, I have to give the game a 9/10. Only thing I didn’t like about it was that the combat didn’t feel as weighted as the first game. In the first game, the kicks and punches felt like they actually had weight and effort behind them, kinda like in the Batman Arkham games. The combat in the second game, and even in the Miles Morales game, didn’t really feel like that. It’s very clear to see that Insomniac went for a more super power based combat system with the Symbiote and evolved Venom combat. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think it gives the game a more unique identity and does a good job of separating itself from the comparison of the Arkham games. However, I feel that because of that, it sorta tanked the natural punch and kick system that made the combat in the first game feel really special. Story wise, I think the game is a 7.5/10. The story in the 2018 game packed a harder punch, probably due to the fact that they had actual Spider-Man comic writers on the team. I heard somewhere that in this game and the Miles Morales game that new writers were brought onto the project as their first gig at Insomniac. If that is the case, then I feel like they kinda fumbled the ball there. I understand wanting to give inexperienced writers a chance to flex their chops and improve their ability by working on a high production game, but for a sequel to a beloved game that people have been waiting years for? Yeah, you’re kinda throwing a pet goldfish into shark infested waters on that one. Needless to say, I still liked the story, I felt like it definitely had heart and effort put into it. I loved the dynamic between Miles and Peter, I loved Peter and MJ’s relationship, and I loved how Peter and Harry were at odds because of the Black Suit. I also really loved the close-knit bond that Spider-Man had with the people of New York in the side quests, even if the writers were inexperienced, they still got the characters and understood what they were all about. I also really liked what they did with Kraven and Martin Li, it really felt like a “tying up loose ends” kinda thing. The Black Suit and the Venom Arcs, though? That was extremely rushed, and really felt like Sony put the pressure on them just because they knew the game would still sell since it had Venom. I still enjoyed what I got with those arcs, they still felt like they had a lot of quality in them, I just wish I got a little bit more of them. Overall, I still believe that this game succeeds as a sequel, it may have its flaws, but I think it shines high more than it falls flat. Feel free to disagree with me, obviously not everyone is going to like this game, or even have the same reasons as me why they like it. But I still believe that this was one of the best games 2023 had to offer, and personally, it was my Game of The Year.
I just kind of hate how Spider-Man is flying around the map like f*cking Superman and fighting using his mechanical arms like Doc Ock or with Venom tentacles like Venom, or electricity like Electro, so I'm glad to watch this video and get some pretend "big boy" reasons to mask the fact I don't feel like the game delivered giving me "Spider-Man" in a game that promised me 2 of them...
I know, I know. Super late at night for an upload. It's been a hard start to 2025. But I'm glad it's here, thank you guys for putting up with the long wait between videos.
If insomniac was okay to show scorpions death in the game’s story then why didn’t they do the same for harry and miles bringing him back was so damn stupid like if I was Peter in the ending of the story I’d wouldn’t care at all that Harry died, just don’t bring him back to life only for him to be in a comma again and Harry’s death to me would make literally more sense for Norman’s green goblin story to happen in marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and I’m just begging insomniac to make an ending that that game a million times better than marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and please let marvel’s Spider-Man 3 be for ps5 and not ps6 cause that is also brain dead stupid and dumb
I'm glad you're giving it great reviews I'm seeing 10/10 all around I could smell this game became of the Year already
Happy to be present and accounted for o7
Wtf is up with your first line dude
Who starts a conversation like that bruh
I literally was thinking the same thing
I just sat down
Funny clip farm
@@Rustyyhello I just clicked the video!
This a video bruh
4:12
My mind instinctively braced itself when I heard the verb "exaggerated" in front of an action performed by Miles.
Old JJJ was always right when the matter at hand wasn't connected to Spider-Man. He was the first to predict the gang war, he was the first to call out Osborn and his shady schemes, he was the first to predict that Sable International is going to basically siege the city and seize it under their control. On a second playthrough I caught myself realizing that JJJ basically spoils the whole game for you, but in a good way. he still sounds like Alex Jones trying to prove that chemicals make the frogs gay, but otherwise, JJJ prove why he's a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Let me steer to the comics for a second. JJJ is genuinely a great guy. since he found out Spider-Man's true identity, he became his #1 supporter, shouting at every corner that Spider-Man is the greatest hero that ever blessed them with his presence. because he knows who Peter is. he knows that he's just someone who's been doing this gig since he was 15, right after losing his uncle and trying to scramble enough money to pay for his aunt's bills, while trying to study at school and beat up a superpowered criminal or two. JJJ is avid mutant supporter, shutting down any possible rumors that he would hate them like he hates Spider-Man. he built Daily Bugle from ground up, he's a reliable person and, honestly, a great boss. yes, he does not have indoor voice, and he's constantly mean to Parker, but JJJ is a man of the old school and tries to toughen Peter up, help him grow a spine(greatly illustrated in one of the Raimi movies, when Peter asks for higher pay. Jonah simply says "Outrageous. Done.")
Now forget all this. From SM: MM John Jonah Jameson Junior is a corporate bootlicker, hateful bigot that cares only for his reputation. He praises Roxxon like the second coming of Christ himself, he constantly bashes on Danika(a teenager who's doing journalism just because she loves it, just like he started many years ago), belittles her, ropes Miles into his hatred, so blind in his campaign that he doesn't even TRY to apologize for his blatant favoritism towards Roxxon, who tried to outright poison Harlem.
JJJ hates masked heroes, masked villains, masked everyone. Because a man in the mask killed his wife. Because he spends every day going directly against her dying wish: not to spend the rest of his life in hatred. Deep down, JJJ could care less about Spider-Man, he's simply a point of projection. Because he believes that if he'll take down Spider-Man, he'll rip that mask off, he'll be finally able to let it go. To finally forgive himself for endangering his wife and finally live as she would want.
Instead, we got Alex Jones.
Sanding away nuances never works out
Surprisingly, I read every word of this essay on J Jonah Jamison
This was so amazingly put. I loved reading every bit of it because I really do hate what happened to JJJ after the first game.
He goes from begrudingly admitting they needed Spider-Man's help to raging lunatic in barely any time at all and with no apparent setup, it feels like, and that's just really not good writing.
They probably were terrified of the idea of a conspiracy nut sometimes being right, or having some kind of point if you looked hard enough outside of the spin....
The fladerization of JJJ, same thing happened to Black Cat, Yuri
How they made Kraven the Hunter never hunt anyone but just have his goons capture villains and put them in an arena for him will forever be the most baffling desecion to me.
To be fair, I’m pretty sure he did literally that at least once in the comics.
@@harmonlanager2670 Conic Kraven gets a pass cause he has a history of solo hunting...this is the FIRST time that we see game Kraven and...he is less of "The Hunter" and more of "The Gatherer"💀
He hunted the majority of the Sinister Six and Peter for like half the game tbf
And to be fair sweet baby ink didn't get their hands on this game so and I see 10:10 all around for this review of Spider-Man 2 and I can smell game of the year for this game already salute to Peter Parker
Thing is we KNOW he's suffering a chronic illness so like...they could've had moments where he starts having a coughing fit that pseudo-explains why he can't hunt them down himself. He wants to have a glorious hunt, but dying of cardiac arrest mid-hunt would suck. He still should've lead more of the fights and him and spiderman being more close in terms of prowess would've made sense why he uses traps/aid.
and then peter turned around and saw a symbiote infested plane crash into avengers tower
Honestly the best way I've seen the dialogue described was "As if every character's employer is standing behind them"
"I got this man, all of it" was hilarious. Miles didn't even have all of himself.
Potentially hot take, but one of my biggest grievances with the second game is it feels like all the characters just completely lost their chemistry.
I honest to god didn’t buy Peter and MJ being a couple until after the Scream fight, there is so much less affection in the way they speak to eachother here than when they were still exes, it’s so bizarre. Hell the character Pete bounces off best in this game is probably Yuri, and even then I just attribute that to the voice actors being married.
Bro, that ain't a hot take.
Preaching to the choir 🙌
The only character that felt the same was black cat. Miles Morales in particular felt toned down if you know what I mean. His new haircut is bad, especially since the one he had is his own game, the clothes he wears look HORRIBLE in this game. I mean wtf? Is his own game he was wearing stylish fur coats and timberland boots now he’s wearing a long sleeve and a button up? What happened to his swag?
The haircut in his own game was so much better
I love this. The way his 2D avatar emotes slightly as he delivers his well-articulated critique is just full of the exaggerated swagger of a young white man-it gives me chills every time, especially as the background music subtly fades out.
That Paul jumpscare was really fucked up, man
Making a spider-man game where venom is the big selling point but not single trace of Eddie Brock is like making persona 5 but removing goro akechi and instead the black mask is yusuke
I wouldn't be surprised if a few iterations of Spiderman had Harry Osborne be Venom before this. I'm pretty sure the Disney animated series where Drake Bell was Spiderman was one of them.
@chrisdaughen5257 other than ultimate cartoon literally nothing else
Bro, exactly. It's not Venom without Eddie Brock. Yeah, some people who don't really care about the character and only the whole thing of "Symbiote makes a violent Spider-Man, then I get to fight a cool evil Spider-Man boss" make the weak argument of there having been other hosts to the Symbiote in the comics. True, but to that I say two things. First off, despite the number of hosts the Symbiote has had other than Eddie, how many of them were actually compelling as Venom? Damn near none. They all tried to copy the charm and magic that Eddie Brock had to make readers love his character, but they all fell flat. The only one talked about in a good light is Flash Thompson as Agent Venom, and even then, his character and story from that point is built upon the legacy of Eddie's Venom, and despite looking somewhat similar, they never were really alike as Venoms. Secondly, people love Eddie Brock for a reason--he's a compelling character with a lot of great stories, as a villain, anti-hero, to eventual hero. Imagine making an awesome Superman game in today's time, but it's not Clark Kent. Yeah, there are other Supermen in the comics, but that's not gonna appease the fans who are justifiably upset that the definitive Superman is not Superman. Just the same, Venom fans were upset when Eddie Brock, the definitive Venom, was not Venom, and instead got the umpteenth "new take" on Venom that's something of a farcry from his character in the comics. It's honestly frustrating.
It's really ironic how the theme of the game is "balance," and yet the game fails to balance basically any idea it has. It tries to do so much, but can't find the time, so all we get is the bare minimum. We get black-suit Spidey? Awesome, but you don't really get to see how the symbiote hitches on Peter's feelings, he's just angry now. We get Kraven? That's so cool, but his main twist is given in a side mission, as his major screentime is doing absolutely nothing (how is it hunting if you're kidnapping them and putting them in a cage fight??). Carnage is in the game? Not really because they teased it for dlc that will never come out.
And on top of that you got JJJ, Martin Lee, the rest of the Sinister Six, Venom, and even Miles who don't get the stories that they deserved. As one of the only 12 Silk fans on Earth, I'm really hoping they learn their lesson for the next game.
Also they didn't add Bombastic Bag Man bad game 0/10 worst game of the year
Honestly this is the most succinct "what they got wrong" review of the game. The only rhing I'd add is this doesnt feel like New York or New York culture. It feels like what people in an LA writing room think NYC should be.
0:10 hell of a fucking way to start a video. As a New Yorker I approve
Fake new Yorker then
@@AC-hj9tv no one cares about new yorkers anyways
Marvel Rivals and that card game handled venom better then this game
You forgot about Midnight Sons
This might be weird, but my favourite part of spider-man 2 is the mission where you play as MJ and she's running and hiding from monster peter. That section really felt like a horror game, and you could feel an experience MJ's fear watching some animal taking over Peter's body.
My main problem with this game is developers thought of "More is better" While there in reality not really is more:
New York is Bigger but there not really more side stuff to do literally leaving big patches of nothing and city feels empty. They should if they really expand maybe add one district but focus on expanding city in ways you can do in city you know already, Yakuza way.
With Side content they tried to even out Peter and Miles side content to do, but for some incomprahensible reason the challenges side mission Mysterio are Miles only, the one you want to try doing with both Spiders is locked to one.
Venom is written HORRIBLY, he is not Venom outside Design, his Personality is nothing of Venom, he is just Knull Servant with Venom design. Not to mention he is cleary heavily inspired by Cates and Stegman Run (Wings, Spiral symbiotes etc.) and yeah, he nothing like Venom. As big Venom fan it's main turn off.
Miles arc is "Okay in meantime im here" His only real Arc is Mr. Negative and rest is being here for Peter story which annoys me to great lenghts. Also his Final suit repeats "Being my own Spider-Man" From his solo game but here his suit looks bad and gives weird vibe of "So did Miles decided to grab suit in middle of invasion just cause?"
Killed most of Villains out of Screen, i hate how MacGargan was killed but at least it gave us stakes with Kraven, but then Vulture is killed, Shocker is killed etc.
Game expects me to believe Peter retire while teasing Green Goblnig and return of Doc Ock, Peter BIGGEST Villains.
1:54 SUNSET OVERDRIVE MENTIONED!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!!! HELL YEAHHHHHHHHHHH
Underrated as hell
SUNSET OVERDRIVE WAS FANTASTIC!
SUNSET OVERDRIVE STILL GOATED
Thank you, if 2018 is a 10, Spiderman 2 is a 7/10. No gadgets. No suit powers. Disappointing, if you played in the first few months, mj did not endure one hit and instantly failed the mission
Most new Sony games are disappointing because they are the definition of “safe” and “clean”
Not Spider-Man 2 Spider-Man 2 is unique and it overthrown Batman Arkham City I see 10/10 all around for this game so far and I can tell this game going to win game of the year
@@KrisTheBatSpider21 a bit late for that. But this game aint beating Arkham City, MJ alone ruins that
@@KrisTheBatSpider21 spiderman 2 is the sony game that being "safe" applies to the most and hardly made any innovations
@@achmahnsch NOOO!!! yall cant do this to me😢
@@KrisTheBatSpider21 Sorry to break this to you but BG3 won in 2023. Meaning Spiderman 2 cannot win game of the year, ever.
Yeah, the biggest thing that made me dislike in the game was the THREE times you had to fight scream back to back. It was ridiculous and the story itself wasn’t very interesting.
Didn’t like how Spider-Man 2 subtly trivialize Peter to make it blatantly obvious the devs want Miles to replace him.
There should’ve been a more organic way that sustains Peter’s experience and expertise in being a superhero while progressing Miles’ journey.
Yeah the boss fights are better, powers feel impactful, and the traversal feels faster but the narrative was lackluster for both Peter and Miles.
Miles feels like a minor side character till his confrontation with Lee while Peter gets his epiphany moment hijacked by Miles when he should’ve earned the Anti Venom suit himself and remove Venom himself.
If you want Miles to team up with Pete against Venom and make it narratively significant they should’ve built a rapport between Miles and Harry. But naw, Pete was useless until Miles rescued him cause the devs are like the comic writers. Pete should move aside for the new hotness, doesn’t matter how.
yup, whole series is a trojan horse to replacement theory on Peter to miles, same to comics
by end of the game, peter's lost all his connections, has the worse MJ in history, Black cat leaves and he isn't even there for it, couldn't save Harry, and retires
this series is honestly trash but more so alarming how this is the mindset at Sony/INsomniac
Yes
From the beginning of the game you can see that they want to replace Peter with Miles, so much so that towards the end it is not surprising that Peter leaves.
Besides, he gets hit in the most stupid ways possible in the cutscenes.
Insomniac's SpiderMan is a franchise I want to love and initially did when the first game was released. I was thrilled to see a Spider-Man adaptation that didn't fall into Marve's obsession with having Peter being trapped in limbo as a teenager/manchild who never matures and the main story had me invested from beginning to end. The gameplay was great too and I replayed it many times.
However over time I've gotten less and less optimistic and the closer I look at the first two games the more I began to worry; I didn't like that they turned Mary Jane into Lois Lane and how unfair she was toward Peter, the missions where you play as her got so tiring for me over repeat playthroughs that I haven't replayed the game from start to finish since late 2018. The post-credit scene showing Harry with the Symbiote made me worried from day one and I'm impressed Insomniac somehow managed to make it worse than I feared it would be in Spider-Man 2. The writing and pacing of the DLC wasn't very good and the direction they took Hammerhead in (turning him into Silvermane for some reason) was just dumb. Silver Sable is a massive nothing burger and Screwball is the bane of my existence.
Miles Morales is still my favorite installment with the improved traversal and combat and the only one I still replay, but the writing of the main villain in that game was just atrocious. Phin is a narcisistic hypocritical terrorist that never gets called out on what a horrible and toxic person she is, and her plan is so painfully stupid that it hurts to listen to her. The story in the side quests where Miles becomes accepted by the people of Harlem is far more interesting than the main plot.
Twice Insomniac had completely botched it with an antagonist, first Hammerhead and then Phin, and it did not make me feel optimistic about Spider-Man 2. My optimism faded more when it was revealed the Kraven was gonna be the main antagonist, a Spider-Man villain who was never very good or interesting to begin with until J.M. DeMatteis took on the character for Kraven's Last Hunt. This and Harry being """Venom""" had me very cautiously optimistic about the game. Then the game came out and somehow Insomniac managed to exceed my fears about the story and by doubling down on things people such as myself was hoping to see rectified or improved in the sequel.
My biggest gripe personally is how awfully they adapted and handled the Symbiote. The Symbiotes are my favorite thing to come out of Spider-Man and I have probably become a bigger fan of the gooey aliens than I am of the guy who shoots sticky goo at buildings and bad guys (and sometimes Mary Jane when they're feeling kinky). I am so tired of adaptations reducing the Symbiote to "goop that turns you into a douche on a power trip". Symbiotes are characters with thoughts, feelings and motivations of their own. The one that bonded to Peter had lived a life of rejection and abuse, wanting nothing more than to have a purpose and place to belong. It seemingly found this with Spider-Man and tried to be as useful to him as possible even if it meant taking control of his body at night to fight crime while he slept, but when Peter found out it's alive he, like all those before him, decided to reject it. However even when he tried to get rid of it, even if it meant he'd die too, it still saved his life and continued to wear his symbol because he inspired it. Because it loved him. All these feelings became twisted and corrupt when it found Eddie Brock and the two became Venom, a creature waging war on Spider-Man and injustice.
It genuinely hurts to see such a complex character be reduced to a generic evil alien that wants to invade Earth and bonding it to a character who has nothing to do with Venom. Venom isn't just some name for the Symbiote, it is specifically the unity between Eddie Brock and the Symbiote that creates Venom. Harry doesn't belong in this story. Harry is an Osborn, a Goblin, he's not Venom.
Anyway, I would go on, like how MJ is even worse in the sequel, Peter coming across weaker as a person and overall just really weak and bad writing, but my rant about the Symbiote is already too long so I'll just leave it here before I explode.
TL;DR: Insomniac gave me high expectations with the first game, but the writing in subsequent DLC and Miles Morales lowered my enthusiasm and Spider-Man 2 just butchered everything to the point that I have lost interest in following or supporting Insomniac any further. It doesn't help that Bryan was a totally dick about the MJ sections and doubled down on them to spite people.
Do we share the same brain? You said a lot of opinions that I share too but rarely hear them around the Internet.
MJ is horrible in these games, period, but she was still salvageable after the first game. Lots of problems in SM2 just stem from the bad ideas and the bad Fondation it has. Eddie Brock would've had such a perfect spot in this story. The symbiote is desperate to get off Harry, he was trapped with this sick host for years. It then finds the perfect opportunity get its freedom with Peter. Once he is rejected, you could've gotten this cat & mouse chase. Venom is after Peter and Norman is after Venom. Could've introduced the Oscorp Spider slayers this way as a new enemy faction. I also think that Carnage should've been incorporated into the main story and have him be the catalyst of Venom becoming allies with Spider-Man. I could go on all day long with these ideas.
My biggest issue with the game is how Harry gets put in the coma, Peter literally coulda just given him the antivenom symbiote. Especially since its just a symbiote without the backlash
iirc they do kinda explain why, tho not explicitly, they bring up the reason Peter gets possessed by the symbiote again and has Anti Venom is because the symbiote bonded with him at a sub cellular level and thus can’t be removed
@@hyperkirby0143 true but Anti Venom has the ability to heal ANY disease. Insomniac nerfed it for their plot to even make sense. It shouldve been GGs for Venom when Peter Unlocked that power
The fact that Miles had to save Harry when Peter has Anti Venom is absolute BULLSH!T💀
@@no.1spidey-fan182
Goes to show what happens when you don't keep the same writers around. 😮💨
@@no.1spidey-fan182not in this universe. The healing element of Anti-Venom isn't present
He can't, it's literally part of him. Even if he could one could say because it's a Symbiote that's been neutralized then the healing factor isn't actually there
The final mission is so lame to me cause all the cool stuff is in a cutscene, Peter getting chased by Venom, Miles and Mj rushing to the foundation, not even having Peter and Miles fight together, it was so lame, Miles morales has the best final mission cause it's an actual mission and not a boss fight, and it has amazing spectacle
One gripe I have with Insomniac Peter is that even in Black Suit he is too kind, when entire legacy of Spider-man Black Suit is him being at his most selfish and crashing out, and that's even before they retconned it being Venom mind altering and not simply Peter giving into pressure, like he always done since Stan and Ditko run.
Spectacular Spider-man really did great job at showing that even outside of Black Suit he is capable of doing something that damages his relationships or wrong, which makes Venom subtle manipulation compelling. In the game Venom doesn't have anything interesting of his lore and just "mind control monster", which takes iconography of Donny Cates run without proper credit, which is dickish considering his career was damaged since car crash.
Venom didn't mind control him. Unless you wanna argue that Venom is such a complete dummy, he let his host get convinced that the suit was bad, that was Peter giving into pressure.
Also, what you would have Peter do? It's not like Spectacular having him just give his friends a little verbal lashing at school or Tobey's "look at little goblin jr." were that much to brag about in terms of crashing out.
Peter is meant to be more stubborn and self-centered when he has the suit. Peter in SM2 does what he would do if you took all his anger and grief and cranked it to its natural conclusion.
Plus, him almost killing Kraven isn't exactly just being a little meanie wenie to him☠️
peter fighting lizard, for no reason just says
"This is why your family left you!!!"
very kind man right there
In the Ultimate Comics, GR-35 was the designation given to that universe's version of the symbiote. I'm assuming this is the case in the Insomniac games
Don't diss my goat Sunset Overdrive
Was this video purposely release the same time the PC port was released?
Will I end up buying the game on sale, because I loved both 1 and MM as well as the fact that the symbiote is easily my favorite part of Spider-man things? Yes.
Will I also still listen to Rowby rag on it for roughly 50 minutes? Also Yes.
Sigh...I have grilled this game so much that I've lost the care to anymore
So I'll sum up the MAIN thing I had issues with. That being the NO CONNECTIVE TISSUE BETWEEN THE OLDER GAMES outside of the obvious ones like Venom and Mr Negative
The biggest offender...how they handled the Sinister six...
Shocker was just a guy who was trying to turn his life around but had been forced back into a life a villainy by the demons. Could've made for a dope redemption arc with him helping out Peter
Vulture is a man who had CANCER and was promised a cure. Peter didnt even offer to help...it wouldve hit DEEP if the character Kraven killed on screen was Vulture cause just like Kraven, he's a dying man. So maybe Vulture begs for Kraven to end his misery cause he was lied to by Doc Ock and Spiderman doesn't care. Kraven envies Vulture cause he doesn't know if he'll receive the same mercy. This could have easily introduced Starling who is a Miles original villain and SHOULD have have who he was chasing...NOT Black Cat who he has ZERO relationship with😐. Hell she was in the Prequel novel for Miles games
Electro wanted to be a GOD. Imagine if we got Blue Electro who fully became electricity
Rhino wanted out of his suit so he would most likley retire villainy...Peter didnt even TRY to help which would depower his physically STRONGEST foe
And the game only mentions Doc Ock TWICE. HARRY of all people brings him up and Peter doesnt seem to have any lasting grief from that. Imagine if he struggled to make the Iron Spider Legs cause of how Ock used their tech to hurt people and resulted in the death of his aunt. All this creating a Mental Block
And now lets move onto some other side characters:
Yuri/Wraith after being a main side character...is relegated to ONE mission string in the sequel. Wtf!? You trying to tell me she doesnt see the need to help during an ALIEN INVASION!? Wraith couldve also learned that her methods were wrong which would make for an interesting dynamic with her trying to stop black suit spiderman
And Black Cat...doing the same SELFISH BS AGAIN was just so annoying. Insomniac does NOT know how to write female characters I swear to god. Aunt may was the ONLY good one😭. Black Cat is known for doing the right thing when it counts. Her staying to help with the Alien Invasion and try to dissuade peter from the black suit wouldve been compelling
Lizard was HORRIBLY used tbvh. They set up all that stuff about his fam in the game and it goes NO WHERE. Imagine some bases where Lizard kidnpas people around the city to build his "family". You can have Lizard Brutes, Spitters, Spine shooters and even Camo and some that swim in the water and suprise you. Villain bases in the sewers wouldve been SOOO PEAK
And I'll stop here at finally MJ
Her story is shallow AF💀. All her so called problems is crap that happens OFFscreen and we have to stomach her WHINING about it as Scream😐🙄. Imagine if they put a little more effort and actually showed us Inside the Daily Bugle, showed us MJs apartment. They couldve had a boxing bag that showed that she's been training and it couldve mirrored Peters apartment from the first game to show she doesnt have her life together. They could've added in Eddie Brock as HER work rival instead of Pete
I'll leave it here for now and end with:
Where TF WAS SILVER SABLE, TASKMASTER and KINGPIN!!???
And they shouldve REALLY used the Spinoff characters like Velocity Girl from the Velocity comics and Blood Spider from the Prequel Novel
This has to be one of the worst negative Spider-Man reviews I’ve ever heard honestly dude you just don’t like the game not because it was bad but because it didn’t go the way that you wanted it to You just say imagine this or imagine that not talking about any actual problems just because you wanted these things to be added, but they weren’t at all
Peter really tried to help shocker but he just didn’t want to talk or have a redemption arc because the demons would kill him even if he spoke a little bit so you can go ahead and throw that idea out the window
Peter probably didn’t help him probably because well these villain continued and decided to help out Octavius on his plan to ruin and destroy New York It’s hard to help somebody when they constantly go back into crime over and over again. And who said that Spider-Man didn’t care about helping vulture vulture just never try to escape out of that life and continued to do worse and worse Peter was just doing his job.
And just because smiles and blackhead has zero chemistry or relationship that automatically makes the game bad just because of that one little segment in the game and just because your favorite character wasn’t put in the game I guess that means half of the game was terrible
Plus, you’re not even bringing up actual points. You’re saying “just imagine this or imagine that or what if we had this” or that not bringing up actual problems just trying to make up scenarios that you want to happen but didn’t happen so that automatically made the game bad for you.
And just like vulture rhino continue to hurt people and destroy the entire New York City powerline and potentially killed people during the chase in Spider-Man Miles Morales and continued to be a villain willingly you can’t keep on placing the blame on a hero just because.
The game only mentioned doc ock twice so I guess that makes it bad I’m pretty sure the only reason why Peter never had any grief or lasting grief from that was because it was pretty much a long time ago and they were bigger things to worry about plus Octavius is not even dead. he made himself that way out of anger and he put himself in that position. There are bigger things to worry about than just that one person.
The entire thing with Peter struggling to make the iron legs, and having some kind of emotional block, does not make any kind of sense Plus you continue make up scenarios and just because they never happened you continue to hate on the game for no apparent reason
And during some crime missions with the Symbiots and hunters or the flame you would sometimes see her during the fighting process better yet I don’t even think that she’s even qualified for a whole alien invasion and wraith already has to deal with Cletus Cassidy killing people and with cult members plus her and black spider man have chemistry or dynamic with each other
No black cat is known for stealing and being a criminal and just like wraith her vs black Symbiot spider man makes no sense in story wise and she also has a girlfriend in Paris who needed help and I don’t think she’s also qualified for an alien invasion.
Here we go with the “imagine” part the lizard is a rampaging monster who can’t infect humans and turn them into brutes that’s not even a power of his it makes no sense with the character or story
Firstly what does mj apartment haft to do with anything plus what punching bag and training for what she doesn’t really fight people plus how is peter her work rival just for saving lives this mj arc sounds way more shallow than what you think. Silver sable is at home town, king pin is in rykers, and task master is probably dead due to kraven
34:10 FACTS. Taking that away was DUMB to me. Why go out of your way to design an ENTIRE symbiote city...for it to be eradicated IMMEDIATELY!?💀
Why ddidnt they let one piece of the city remain curropted where Symbiote enemies constatnly spawn. Like the city still covered in sand
Game feels too short, doesn’t feel like a real sequel gameplay wise, and just.. idk to me Marvel rivals got the swinging better with how we can aim swing.
It’s a good evening now
Harry Osborn as Venom was a terrible decision, and it really under utilized the character of Venom itself.
Banger video. Don’t talk shit on sunset overdrive though, me and the two others that played will find you.
Game is crazy underrated
1:53 Hey, don't throw shade at sunset overdrive, that game was funny, chaotic and was the natural precursor to Spider-Man, because that games city traversal was so good.
Spider-Man 1's tightly knit and well made story that also served as specifically a really good Spider-Man story, really did spoil us
and while the shortcomings and messups of the 2nd game's story aren't gigantic, comparing it to the 1st game makes it seriously dissapointing
Oh nice, I just got done rewatching the dustborn video
DROOPY PFP
@@elderbugisacooldude8743 YEP! Love Shammah's work
@@laziwastaken based af hell yea
37:45 Honestly, if Pete really did say "Miles you gotta help me, don't forget, you're Spider-Man 2" that would have been hilarious
43:50 "I got this" WHAT IS HE GOING TO DO?!? 😭😭😭
While I haven't played Spiderman 2 I have played the first game and something that felt like an obvious "stance" for Kraven to take as a villain is "why should Spiderman care?". Kraven is hunting down some of the most dangerous people alive, people who constantly choose to put others in danger and I feel like he could very easily make the argument that he's helping Spider-man in a twisted kind of way. He just wants him to turn has back and keep saving the people in New York who deserve it. It would fit very well with the ending of the last game because Peter now has to justify the continued existence of people who have done nothing but cause him pain, get stopped, and go back to causing that pain once they escape especially now that one of those people took Aunt May from him. It would also work with the themes you highlighted earlier because Kraven would be Spider-man's easy out with the guys that really cause him trouble but because of his morals would still choose to take the high road.
it's literally stated in the second game that over half the villains have turned their life around since their interactions with peter, you also get to actually see how some of them have turned their life around. Also kraven has never cared about people being saved, if an innocent bystander is in his way while he is hunting something he will just snap their neck.
That kind of storyline would never work with kraven. More people would be upset about that storyline with kraven than the people who are upset venom wasn't eddie brock.
I just opened the TH-cam video man. WHO STARTS A TH-cam VIDEO LIKE THAT.
I’m curious, how the hell does Spider-Mans back not broken with all the shit he gets thrown back first into.
Spider bones
Lesser healing Factor probably. Not wolverine or Deadpool levels but combined with the base strength and durability he could probably walk it off and be fine (would still hurt like hell though)
@@41dn Yh Spiderman can practically heal from ANY wound that isn't immediately fatal in about a day. He can go to sleep one day injured and wake up the next day fine
God I feel this video so much. Thank you for sharing the truth about this game, screw Sony for making Insomniac rush it
Huzzah! Lovely new video Rowby, as always I really like your snappy sense of comedy :] I was actually just rewatching old videos for nostalgia sake. Happy new year, I hope this year is good for you!
lmao no body miles being the final part of the video is so funny, I promise i'm listening still and not staring at the detached head of miles
I 100% Spider-Man 2 three times because while i enjoyed the story the first time, and tolerated it's "sillyness" for lack of a better term the 2nd go round, by the 3rd I just wanted to get all the symbiot suits to have said I did it, not that I didn't enjoy it, but I wish it had a better story. The gameplay alone is worth it but I wish we would have gotten dlc (and not just suits ☠️😭), not game of the year but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy my time with the game, solid 8 to 9 for me.
1:55 despite the fact that they tried to baby face him in the ps5 remaster
My favorite TH-camr is back with 48 minutes worth of content this day could not get better
First two games were great storywise only but the combat horrible boring one square combo the whole game at least the gadgets in the powers kind of made up for it in the first two games but Spider-Man 2 nah that shit was pathetic I wish I could get my money back.
8:04 I see that picture of Rio in the background...
Bro really high fived to 9/11
what an interesting way to start the video lmaooo but good video n im def subbing. What you said about sm2 is so true.
Yeah I’m subscribing, I can’t with this video 😭
I can't wait for the Houndmaster video 👀
Who's gonna tell him
I appreciate your work, Rowby. Keep it up!
Nitpick: Venom is not the symbiote, Venom is the symbiote plus the host that comes after Peter (in most cases Eddie, in this case Harry). The symbiote is simply referred to as the symbiote or the Venom symbiote when unbonded.
man, why couldn't they just let us keep venom? i know ludonarrative dissonance, or whatever it's called. but come on, he was right there. we had him and they took him away! like if he was there in a NG+ mode or something!
The game is like anakin Skywalker. Fell into a pool of lava
does this mean we won't be getting a Venom game
KINDA??? This was supposed to be my goty for 2023. I was meatriding it so hard that I had to buy BG3 just to see how it won goty over SM2. When I tell you that purchasing that game was the final nail in the coffin, I’m not joking. As a fan of the character and a majority of his media, this game was an absolute disappointment for me. For how terribly they handled Peter and Harry, to Miles’ story (you could tell they didn’t know how to really make a game focused on two main protagonists), even to Venom (that isn’t Venom, it’s just a big monster with a spider symbol; that is not what Venom is). This game will forever go down as some of the greatest potential, worst execution ever seen.
I feel like it's unfair to compare the MJ and Miles stealth missions in 1 to the hangout at the fair in 2. I don't buy spiderman to sneak around as MJ whereas the idea of hanging around normally as Peter Parker fits perfectly into the character of Peter/Spiderman. MJ missions in 2 are enjoyable though
1:54 hey dont diss sunset overdrive, that games fantastic, it deserves way more recognition than it gets, the onky reaon it kinda got lost is cause its xbox exclusive
Good thing I looked up Rowby an hour after he uploaded this
WILD start to the video
I can't really put my finger on it, but I genuinely feel like kraven was a better villain than venom, and I feel like kraven was the real "Main villain" of the game
, I don't know if it's because I don't like how "world conquering virus" they treated venom like, or if it's because of how I enjoyed the "kraven last hunt" style story they gave kraven, I think it's mostly just due to how rushed the game was especially by the end, and how kraven is the main villain of act 1 & 2 and act 3 was way too short
Either way I still love this game, even if I think 1 was better (it's literally my favorite game ever made)
I didn't like Kraven's death. I get they needed something traumatic to happen to make Harry susceptible to Venom's manipulation, but giving Kraven what he wanted felt unsatisfying. Maybe they could have made it so that after the fight, Venom makes Kraven into the first symbiote enemy, denying Kraven the warrior's death he did so much bad stuff for, which also ends up curing his cancer. That could have inspired an unstable Harry to start making everyone a symbiote as the first step toward "healing the world."
Looking back the film tie in Spider-Man 2 for the Playstation 2 really was lightning in a bottle. It established a lot of the web swinging mechanics that are still used in almost every single Spider-Man game to this day and was smart enough to make them the main selling point AND had a decent story even not counting the things it lifted from the movie, all while being developed under the constraints of being a PS2 movie tie-in game.
It's funny, I just beat the game today on steam and was wondering if you were gonna do a video on it.
I did my best to avoid all spoilers and marketing for the game (something you yourself made difficult) and I gotta say I had a good time with it, I can totally understand why people find it a disappointing sequel but I like the first one and Mile Morales, so more of the same with a little more is just fine for me.
EDIT: So after finishing the video, I 100% agree with your thoughts about the Venom bossfight, I was really expecting a final phase were you switch between both spider men while fighting him. The emotional weight isn't there with Miles being the one to have the final fight with Venom.
I would recommend giving web of shadows a try, primarily because it does the venom infection/apocalypse, but for the whole game and arguably better
Honestly the only reason I got spiderman 2 was for venom alone, who is one of my favorite spiderman characters. While I did like the level where you play as him and how you see how monstrously brutal he is … in the game he just felt like a shell of the echoed thoughts of whoever wore him … which I get is the point of the insomniac symbiotes but … it’s venom … and I also kinda wanted venom to be in the action sooner … instead of it only being kraven, until it wasn’t … the game was still fun tho
Seems like Spiderman 2 is in the same boat as the Fallout TV Show, where one side hates it, one side loves it, and the neutral folks are left in the background.
As for myself, I think the game is good for what it is, but I can respect people who don't like it for any reason(provided the reason is understandable and not something goofy).
0:57 so does anybody know if JJJ has an uncle or something to that affect?
1:54 and yet that's how they even got the idea of making a Spider-Man game. This game was the building blocks of how we got such an amazing Spider-Man game. I do wish the dialogue was better and the overall gameplay being a bit too hard, but otherwise this game really does show how Spider-Man came to be from insomniac
Think of it this way...
They now know what to get right for the third game, instead of the usual fare of the second being best and the third falling short
In all honesty, I didn't expect the game to turn into [prototype] 3, but I'm not disappointed that it did
I love sunset overdrive ☹️
To me, having just replayed Spider-Man 2018, the biggest let down for me was just how passive peter is. In the first game you really felt like everything you did as Spider-Man was something that was born from peters heart. In Spider-Man 2 it feels more like things are just kind of happening to peter and everything that he does is left a bit empty feeling because of it. I find that moment of him waking up on that park bench so poignant because he has this lackadaisical expression on his face and he just kinda walks it off and keeps fucking around as if he WASNT in the thralls of dealing with the alien on his back.
The fact the COMPLETELY UNDERMINED the entire point of the Symbiote arc by immediately giving Peter ANOTHER symbiote suit thats even BETTER than the last is insane😭
It wouldve been cool if the legs werent working for most of the game cause of a mental block and after ripping the symbiote off he gets over his mental block and make the Iron Spider legs work and give him some Shocker Guantlets
39:30 But I do like you're take on it though
I think Spiderman 3, was gonna be after another expansion similar to the Miles game. Or maybe Spiderman 3 is gonna start with Miles, then Green Goblin is gonna push Peter to come back. Thats what it feels like they were trying to say, but was still writing Spiderman 3 draft script.
Who tf starts a conversations like that I JUST sat down
Spider-Man 2 felt like it had less of a soul than SM1, but I struggled to articulate how. I think you put it into words beautifully.
Having played all the Insomniac Spider Man games I can safely say Sunset Overdrive clears those games easily.
i think it would be interesting for miles and his group to develop a serious ego in game 3 as a result of their continued success
WHERE WES EDDIE
Busy right now, but looking forward to watching this video soon ^^
Stumbled onto this video randomly, about 15 minutes in, and I just wanted to drop my take on Miles being “perfect” in this game- namely, I feel like that was a good call. Miles did nothing wrong, even while he’s struggling with some very internal demons, and that’s the necessary contrast against Peter’s Venom arc. You’re not wrong about Danika, Ganke, and Hailey I guess, but… I dunno, it never bothered me. God forbid we have teenagers doing the right thing, Peter started spidering at their age. I think it fit
I actually love the stealth sections. I liked to see what I could get away with
Investing at 28 comments and 96 likes btw.
I love both games for different reasons. Spider-Man 1 for its story but not really for it a gameplay. Spider-Man 2’s story was kinda bland, but the gameplay and atmosphere is just phenomenal. No matter what the games flaws are, I love them. That’s love right there
The first game felt like a proper game, They put effort in to the gameplay and story, The Miles game was shorter but still good but the sequel was so short and had nothing, NOT EVEN DLC FFS, They only had GOOD side quests that they did nothing with, Clearly just to lead into the 3rd game which I absolutely hate, If you’re making a sequel to your game yes have stuff leading into the next game…….BUT HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOUR CURRENT GAME THAT ISN’T A CUTSCENE GOING “Ooh it’s this character get excited for them……..in the next fuckin game losers 🖕” They had literally nothing in this game except for boring side content and the game itself is really short, You can playthrough this game so fast because it doesn’t feel like it’s own game, It feels like a Demo for “Spider-Man 3” which sucks…………..but I will be playing the 3rd one BUT MY POINT STILL STANDS!
an abysmal sequel honestly, even with the obvious cut content, its clear what the intent was looking at what was KEPT in the game, why were any MJ missions kept, why is Miles given part in this story arc at all, why is everyone so painfully nice, why are the side quests so pointless and virtue signaling, why is wraith barely a note in this game, why is Black Cat barely in the story and why does MILES deal with her instead of PETER, game is trash
There's a weird phonomenon I've found with sequals to big novel concepts like this. The sequals are put under more scrutiny because that first thing was so novel and cool and sometimes I dont know if it can happen. SM2 stuck too close to it's roots while simultaniously not sticking close enough, to the point it's a weird mix. Unlike Squid Game Season 2 Which went totally in the "embracing the new" direction and The Boys Season 2 Which went into the "Embracing the old" direction. Spiderman 2 Is in a weird mix of both these things which is why I think it's so strange and just... Okay
Gameplay wise, I have to give the game a 9/10. Only thing I didn’t like about it was that the combat didn’t feel as weighted as the first game. In the first game, the kicks and punches felt like they actually had weight and effort behind them, kinda like in the Batman Arkham games. The combat in the second game, and even in the Miles Morales game, didn’t really feel like that. It’s very clear to see that Insomniac went for a more super power based combat system with the Symbiote and evolved Venom combat. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think it gives the game a more unique identity and does a good job of separating itself from the comparison of the Arkham games. However, I feel that because of that, it sorta tanked the natural punch and kick system that made the combat in the first game feel really special.
Story wise, I think the game is a 7.5/10. The story in the 2018 game packed a harder punch, probably due to the fact that they had actual Spider-Man comic writers on the team. I heard somewhere that in this game and the Miles Morales game that new writers were brought onto the project as their first gig at Insomniac. If that is the case, then I feel like they kinda fumbled the ball there. I understand wanting to give inexperienced writers a chance to flex their chops and improve their ability by working on a high production game, but for a sequel to a beloved game that people have been waiting years for? Yeah, you’re kinda throwing a pet goldfish into shark infested waters on that one. Needless to say, I still liked the story, I felt like it definitely had heart and effort put into it. I loved the dynamic between Miles and Peter, I loved Peter and MJ’s relationship, and I loved how Peter and Harry were at odds because of the Black Suit. I also really loved the close-knit bond that Spider-Man had with the people of New York in the side quests, even if the writers were inexperienced, they still got the characters and understood what they were all about. I also really liked what they did with Kraven and Martin Li, it really felt like a “tying up loose ends” kinda thing. The Black Suit and the Venom Arcs, though? That was extremely rushed, and really felt like Sony put the pressure on them just because they knew the game would still sell since it had Venom. I still enjoyed what I got with those arcs, they still felt like they had a lot of quality in them, I just wish I got a little bit more of them.
Overall, I still believe that this game succeeds as a sequel, it may have its flaws, but I think it shines high more than it falls flat. Feel free to disagree with me, obviously not everyone is going to like this game, or even have the same reasons as me why they like it. But I still believe that this was one of the best games 2023 had to offer, and personally, it was my Game of The Year.
“Who the fuck starts a conversation like that? i just sat down!”
Silver sable is pretty
Agreed 👍
I just kind of hate how Spider-Man is flying around the map like f*cking Superman and fighting using his mechanical arms like Doc Ock or with Venom tentacles like Venom, or electricity like Electro, so I'm glad to watch this video and get some pretend "big boy" reasons to mask the fact I don't feel like the game delivered giving me "Spider-Man" in a game that promised me 2 of them...
Considering the at least implied link to the Spiderverse I wish we could play as fat jean-clad hobo Peter B. Parker.