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I will admit the impact of Peter’s guilt after the Symbiote suit is variable. I kept all of the side quests until I got the black suit and while it was only a couple of in game days it felt longer so that moment is very hit miss depending on how fast you get to it.
Definitely. I agree! Might’ve cost another few million to work on though haha. Plus we may have had to wait until next year for the game. I really loved the game. Although I’d also have loved if it was it little longer too. Lets hope #3 is nearly twice as long, even if we have to wait closer to the end of the ps5’s lifespan for it 😁
@@hassanorisitAGREED 😭🙏🙏🙏 i hope they still keep peter as the main spider-man for the next game or atleast still the mc im just afraid they won’t still wouldnt focus on peters character writing as much due there being 3 spider people to worry abt but its an atrocity to make goblin the main villain of the next game and have him be miles villain when he is notorious for being one of peter’s most iconic villains if not the most iconic
@@hassanorisitI think obviously Peter is gonna come out of retirement and that goblin storyline will end with Peter. Silk and miles will have a completely different rouge’s gallery id imagine
@@hassanorisitI really think SM3 needs to have a final boss for Miles and a final boss for Peter. A final boss for each character, that way Peter gets his emotional battle with Green Goblin and Miles gets… something, I dunno, I trust Insomniac as long as they take their time from now on.
I think a lot of it comes down to the full Symbiote arc being hard to adapt into things that aren’t long form. You need to build up so many elements in order for the eventual Peter Vs Venom conflict to land.
Definitely better than Spider-Man 3 Venom, but video games, especially single player story driven games are long form, Insomniac just bit off way more than they could chew with this one.
This game’s story suffers most from a runtime that’s way too short, with not enough room for plot points to breathe. What they had was fantastic, they just needed MORE of it to truly flesh out their ideas
Exactly what I was thinking. I wish we had more time to delve into things before jumping directly into the next. The pacing made the story feel a little shallow and some great story beats not feel as deserved.
According to the IGN interview with the developer, as long as you played Miles' side mission where he helps one of his fellow students ask out his boyfriend for homecoming, then you got what they wanted you to get out of the game lol. (But I agree with you the game was VERY rushed)
I mean not all game dev can pull a Rockstar and develop a game for years (and still do a game crunch). I’m guessing Insomniac suffered from their own success a bit since the first game was such a success and Sony wanted to capitalise on it within this console generation lifecycle hence the shorter development time so they had to cut corners a bit.
@@amrelarcher8990GTA 5 had a full press development time of 3 years lol 1-2 years of non priority development, which means much slower pace and side details. 3 years of full press dev time is actually very average for AAA games besides CoD.
The best part about giving that Blind Old Woman the robot dog is realing who that character is. Her name is Alma. Al. She's Blind Al, as in the woman that Deadpool lives with most of the time. Insomniac did a wonderful job at hinting a little more of the wider Marvel universe with this one, with the Baxter building, the Wand of Watoomb and a few other little easter eggs here & there like Nelson & Murdock having closed down (edit, Nelson & Murdock is still there. They forgot to put the sign in, it's back now)
Wow that’s actually an incredible point about these two spidermen just helping people. Villains are not just villains they’re people and worth saving and giving a second chance like that is quite perfectly the definition of spiderman.
Norman was really humanized in this sequel. He didn't beg when he was about to die in the arms of Doc Ock. But for Harry, he practically didn't mind looking desperate. I felt that punch in my gut when Norman told Peter "Thank you for being Harry's friend"
@@ngkirby51 The way Norman broke down at the end is balls on a filmmaker, this is perfectly cheesy, perfectly acted, perfectly acted, perfectly edited. Everything about that scene is flawless, every film student needs to study why this scene works. Norman Osborn breaking down and getting what he deserves is…. Cinema 🙌
@patriot459 idk man, Cletus Cassidy doesn’t seem worthy of saving even in this game , pretty over generalizing and extreme but typical for hitop i suppose. Sure Spidey saves everyone but he technically saves those too that may not deserve it also.
I feel like the story is on paper about as good as the first one, but the narrative context in which it's told alongside the gameplay is spotty. For example, in the first one the early parts of the game start the main plot with pretty low stakes. Peter's just investigating this mysterious new gang, the FEAST center is being introduced, Peter's doing his job with Otto, etc. All of this is just setup, and during the setup players are given a lot of narrative room to breathe, i.e. do side missions and activities without feeling the urgency that would push them to run through the main story missions one after another. It feels like, between each main mission, Spider-Man would realistically have the time to do all this side stuff, and that makes you more connected with the world and characters as well as giving you a view into what it's like to juggle all these responsibilities. By the time the climax is approaching, the main missions get more urgent and it feels like Spider-Man wouldn't really pause to do side stuff as often because the things he's supposed to be doing are too important, but it's fine because this is the endgame and story-wise that heightened urgency makes sense. Spider-Man 2's main story is just way more urgent right from the beginning and doesn't really let up. Whereas the first game gave you lots of narrative space to do side activities and integrate yourself in the world early on, the second game presents you with these side activities while also constructing a main story in which either Spider-Man actually stopping to do those side activities doesn't make much sense. Multiple times it's made clear throughout the story that only a couple of days have passed, which is insane considering all the side stuff available to do; realistically this story should span a few weeks at least in order to give a better sense of time. Harry in particular is a character who suffers from this crunched timeline; the section of the story in which he's a hero fighting alongside the Spider-Men feels like it should take up more time, it feels like you should be doing more missions with him both in the main story and in the side activities so that when the time comes for his downfall it hits all the harder. But instead he shows up, is a hero for like two days, gives Peter a job that also only lasts maybe two days, and then everything blows up without for example getting into Peter having to juggle his new job with Harry while also worrying about Kraven etc., the same way he had to juggle his job with Otto while dealing with Li and the Demon gang. There are multiple scenes in the first Spider-Man game of Peter and Otto doing science stuff in their lab, slowly building up when Otto would turn evil, but in the second game Peter and Harry only get that one mission where you tour their workplace before it gets destroyed. Ultimately it's a problem of pacing. The early sections of the game should've given you more narrative space, then gotten more urgent as the plot reached it's climax, particularly as there's so many more plot threads in this one than in the first one.
I agree. I really liked this game, but it didn't feel as cohesive or impactful. It's a bit messy and disjointed. It's awesome, but I liked the first games more.
Yeah nice summary! Hit all the points! This game just jumps in from the get go and while stiff happens, it doesn’t stay or develop on it at all. Like once we find out Kraven has cancer, there isn’t a cutscene or dialogue besides Peter knowing about it. Maybe Peter telling Harry will make him wanna side with Kraven later?? Idk stuff like that. Just have more time to breathe. Once sandman comes in the first 5 minutes, the game doesn’t stop and it’s just set piece set piece set piece. We don’t get miles at school except the essay (and that’s fine tbh) but Peter just doesn’t do any work at his actual job. Maybe it’s blown up to early, but even ONE mission that has Peter Parker on his first day at Emily May saying hi to his new coworkers and just talking to Harry and building up that dynamic 1 more time.
@@The-Legend-of-Pdefinitely agree with the original comment and this reply. great game and great but messy story. It couldve been better for sure but I wouldnt say it was bad by most means
It’s crazy they haven’t learned the lessons from Spider-Man 3. Peter had the black suit for YEARS before Venom showed up in the comics. Venom shouldn’t be the end of the the black suit storyline, he should be the sequel. Venom should have been teased at the end of this game as opposed to being rushed into the final act.
@@Unnatural09 nah that would have been literally money suicide. they should have just had made the base game logner. but they coudlnt. cause the gaming industry is currently a mess with overinflating budgets and demands
Killing off most the villains kinda shocked me. Especially made me mad because I’ve loved to see Kraven actually fight them, instead of just off screen.
The calm talk with the old man at the is one of the hardest hitting moments. You can save someone from the most horrific disasters but ultimately mortality will never just disappear like a villain or problem. Even Spider-Man has to face the day when he has to come to terms with there being no tomorrow for him, whether or not he's ready.
@TheFullNEWS It's Dave Fennoy. That's what does it. Plus that whole mission, you know exactly what it is from the second it starts, so it's the inevitability of it that hits hard. You're just flying and swinging, with the music, completely knowing it's a "one last request" kind of situation.
I think the game really could have used a mission where Miles and Agent Venom Harry work together for some kind of mission, build up that rivalry and relationship between the two. Also, a "round 1" fight against Venom before the main invasion where Peter and Miles get absolutely bodied, show us how powerful Venom is and how their failure led to the invasion, making their rematch even more eventful. Otherwise, I think the story was fantastic the whole way through.
The reason these games work for me is the Peter Parker and Miles Morales characters here are so down to earth and likeable. You just want them to succeed, come out on top, the way they've been written just makes you want good things for both of them.
For me personally the Kraven & Symbiote arcs were absolutely the standouts. The game definitely gets really rushed towards the end with the Venom stuff which was just weird. Insomniacs's take on Kraven is perfect tho.
Kraven was a little too horny and we didn’t get to see him hunt. Venom was cool but we didn’t get to see him be enough of a menace to Peter and really see their dynamic.
I lost my grandfather to Alzheimer 4 years ago, needless to say, that scene in the park, broke me on so many levels, because it truly felt so real, however I wasn’t “sad” per se, in a weird way, it felt like the conversation I could never have, and it honestly baffles me how that form of emotional connection, happened in a game about my favorite super hero since I was a child, which gave me a moment, so to speak, with my real life, fallen hero, so yeah, I’ll always remember this game very very fondly
Bully Lowenthal was really great imo. The ending didnt hit me as much as the first one did. The Howard mission hurt me a lot more (especially after realizing it was Dave Fennoy from The Walking Dead game, if you know you know) All in all it was indeed a solid experience. Much more engaging open world me thinks.
I enjoyed the Story a lot. The Story doesnt have the emotional Impact as the first but the Horror Elements, Boss Fights and Sidequests are great. A few more Hours with Harry would have been perfect but still the Climax with the Anti Venom Suit was my personal Highlight.
That’s my only real complaint really I feel like harry isn’t fleshed out enough. I love how a lot of miles missions supplement his arc of moving forward especially with letting go of his obsession over Li. Since Miles gets to interact with reformed villains in a very positive way that I appreciate or helping them get that second chance most people don’t want to give them. The general friendly neighborhood missions are also good, old man earl and the cultural museum got tears out of me
@@TheCreed1217harry does need more moments in Act 2 cause once Peter gets the symbiote, Harry just sits around. it’s really rushed to venom as well. Maybe have Kraven and Harry meet up, cause harry needs the symbiote, and then Kraven actually hunts Peter My issue is lack of side content
I have to say I was disappointed by how little Peter is impacted by what he’s done with the black suit. He feels guilty, yes, but he kinda returns to his usual self pretty quickly. The game itself basically tells us in our faces that we should draw a parallel between Peter’s downfall with the symbiote and Otto’s in the first game. Peter’s egotistical rant to Miles during their fight, the fact that Peter stares at the destroyed antenna where he fought Doc Ock before confronting Harry… he almost became his worst enemy, he’s aware of it, and he kinda gets over it as if it was a bad hangover.
I think there isn't enough time to focus on it. The shortness and scale of the main story definitely hurt it in several ways. Mainly miss opportunities in characterization and depth IMO. I do agree with HiTop though the narrative does mostly rise above those shortcomings though.
i don’t actually agree with this, up until the end of the story peter has a severe guilt complex. after he recovers from the symbiote, he goes around apologizing to everyone. he has his fight with mj where he doesn’t just apologize for everything he did with the suit but BEFORE it too. thats kinda what people are missing a bit, the suit was just exaggerating and making all those negative feelings worse that already existed. thats what made venom a good and terrifying villain here, he preys on peters weakness and knows exactly how to get to him, and harry too. he manipulates both of them to a severe degree. i do agree they couldn’t focus on it much, but after peter loses the suit he continuously apologized to everyone. the mj fight yes, but he does it to miles too. he apologizes repeatedly to harry, and even more when he thinks hes dead. he apologizes to norman when hes yelling at him and blaming him for what happened to harry. and him taking a break from being spiderman is the same too, although thats just speculation for now. we know he’s definitely drained and needs time for himself, but peters incessant need to apologize was very evident of a guilt complex. and he didn’t do it until after he took the suit off, which shows it did in fact change his personality. i resonate with it because i also suffer from a really bad guilt complex where i apologize way too much. so it was easy for me to tell peter changed after the suit. him almost becoming like doc 100% affected him, the fact he almost became the very thing he didn’t want to be destroyed him. just because he didn’t look at the camera and state it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there the suit also fucked up his other relationships, it isolated all his loved ones when they needed him most. its the reason harry was pushed into actually needing the suit again. it was all handled masterfully despite the time restraints they had.
Honestly Peter didn’t really do anything that bad in the black suit at least not to civilians. The worst I can remember is him kinda casually tossing the guy he saved after the Lizard incident. All the brutal stuff was done to the hunters & honestly it wasn’t anything crazier than what he and Miles usually do for finishers. I think they were mostly focusing on how the symbiote brought out Peter’s insecurities and how the negative publicity affects him even if he acts like it doesn’t.
We didn't play the same game at all then, Peter has a lot of complexes after seeing him wear the symboite and if people forgive him a lot it's because they really know Peter, Harry for example doesn't forgive him.
Not only do I think this story was extremely rushed but also I think I’m tired of insomniac telling the most incredibly safe spidermen stories possible. Nothing they’ve done so far feels like a big risk
Their's an event in this game that triggers randomly where if you walk behind a news reporter as Peter you'll get interviewed about if a hot dog is a sandwich. It's the little stuff that makes the game great.
The little side quests with Mysterio and Sandman were two of the most surprising parts in this game I could find. Sure the main story was amazing and I could feel the heart and soul they poured into this game but just the simple side missions of Mysterio and Sandman brought me some of the strongest emotions I have ever felt in a video game. The side quests for those 2 may be simple in gameplay but the story they tell especially for Sandman and hell even the old man had me close to tears. They are such beautiful moments that I just never could've expected from this game.
Bully Lowenthal and Tony Todd Venom are the best thing to ever happen to an audiovisual Spiderman piece of work. I still get chills at moments like the Miles vs Peter fight, the Venom "birth" and so on. And the MJ mission escaping from Peter... simply masterful.
@@Heisen_burger-dude No they wouldn’t😂I ain’t talking about it being 20-30 main missions longer, but 10 more main missions, wouldn’t have hurt the game, would have helped both the 2nd act and 3rd act, even tho I think the 2nd act is pretty good, 3rd act is definitely rushed
The thing with the symbiote has always seemed like a missed opportunity to me. The symbiote story usually ends with Peter apologising for how he mistreated the people around him when he had the suit on and at the end of the day, the symbiote is labelled the evil thing and should be destroyed. When rather, it was only amplifying emotions that were already stored within Peter. I think it could have been an opportunity to take a look at Peter's mental state and health. Bcos, now matter how much we don't want to talk abt it, Pete has a difficult life which he doesn't deserve. Losing loved ones, living in poverty most of the them, being surrounded by violence, death and psychopathic villains who want to hurt him every single day. He doesn't have an outlet for his emotions and just buries it within. If Pete is busy saving everyone else then who saves Pete. Instead of Pete getting something or someone to give him the little happiness he deserves, he rather gets Mary Jane telling him of how selfish he is and blaming him for his heroism. I wouldn't have expected to hear a worse joke. Peter Parker, the boy who basically threw away happiness and peace for the sake of others is selfish. For all the many years of spiderman what does he have to show for it. Broken bones, bruises and dead loved ones and Mary Jane. Idealise "with great power comes great respect" all you want but to me, the greatest mistake Pete made was to put on the mask No good deed goes unpunished thwy say. Ultimately, I think the symbiote could have been rather tamed than thrown away. Just like with people, you need to incorporate your darkside into your life. Not totally disregard it. To me the game wasn't anything groundbreaking but I think it's good for what it is but the story and how it's handled was one of the worst parts.
I agree. The first game was a rough time for Peter even by Spider-Man standards. His mentor turns evil, his aunt dies, he finds out that his best friend is ill with a terminal disease and his best friend in the police department becomes a murderous vigilante. And yet, the final boss fight is the only time that we see him truly angry. It's easy to believe that he's repressing a lot, especially since we also see that he doesn't like to burden other people with his problems. One of my hopes for the game was for Peter's aggression while using the symbiote to be portrayed as just tapping into feelings that he already has and even after getting it off realizes that the way he acted wasn't solely because of the suit. I think it was a great opportunity to flesh out the psychology of this version of Peter Parker. Unfortunately, I feel like the game did more to develop MJ and Miles than it did to develop Peter.
this is something that i feel like most people ignore when it comes to any story. you can have a interesting story, but it wont meat its peak if it doesn't have emotion. people tend to criticize the game for having a messy story, but also failed to consider if they connect. this is a game that has a lot of hart and soul put into it and its annoying hearing people call it garbage for mostly no reason. ive seen alot of movies and betten alot of games, but i never played a game that had this much care put into it. this is such a brilliant game that people don't seem to trully understand
I loved this. I loved this game. It may sound silly...but at the start of the year I considered packing it all in. I kept going because I told myself I needed to play this game. I cried more than a few times as I played. This game literally saved my life. A Masterful Mess sums it up so well I'm actually typing this through tears. Thanks. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
First of all I'm very glad I can be reading this, means you didn't do that and that you are here. And then, let me tell you that it's not silly. I felt similar, not that the game was my main reason to keep going but it was one of them, for sure. I loved the first Spiderman with all my heart and was wishing the second would come out for five years. I did other changes in my life that made me keep going, but the fact that I could play this gave me this "hope" or however you wanna call it. You're worth it brother, and remember, if you ever need to play another game to not give up, wait for Half Life 3.
Statistically, there will be a around twice as amazing, personally meaningful to you, and hype-inducing compared to this one in less than 12 years. Decent chance of less than six. Juuuuuust in case that helps at all.
It’s a genuine miracle they did get all these things packed into this story. Peter: this game with all the shit going on just shows how beat down Peter is after being Spider-Man. Then getting the symbiote he feels like he can be everything he’s supposed to be and it’s hard to watch him deal with all of that. While in the end he finally realizes it’s ok to take time on himself and be better for his friends and family. Miles: miles accepting his fathers deaths and not letting revenge consume hims is just incredible. It brought me to tears when li is in his head and bringing up all the visions of his friends and family and it’s sad because it show miles is feeling like it’s all from his head and then his dad telling him he’s disappointed in him just shows how afraid miles is of letting everyone down. Then for him to rise above it all and pick himself back up and show Martin li mercy and set li on a path to trying to be better is just peak Spider-Man. It’s an actual miracle they got this story to work.
@@mohammedisah4412 it doesn’t work because the writing doesn’t take time to develop the relationships between the key characters. Miles and Harry only talk once. MJ and Peter have no chemistry in their interactions. Miles in this game has no charisma compared to Miles in the spider verse movies. Everyone has generic Disney levels of basic dialogue with each other which makes any emotional moment feel half baked. Overall the story has interesting elements such as the symbiote dilemma but is filled with weak and boring characters.
@@wetsoup5529spiderverse doesn’t really have cinematic A+ stellar dialogue like you think bruh It’s all cheesy superhero writing and that’s fine Harry and Miles don’t need to interact a lot, and what we got was fine and good for the story. We didn’t need more. Would be nice but not needed since it isn’t about miles and Harry. Miles also has charisma. The issue might be because SV Miles hasn’t actually suffered, so he’s happy and peppy and a kid. Insomniac miles is growing up and is pretty lively/charismatic when needed. Miles story wasn’t so happy tbh. If you’re directly comparing the two Miles then you shouldn’t do that. They’re separate characters and are going for different things. If it was to similar to SV miles then that would be more weird. Also Peter and MJ have great chemistry. They have great dialogue together and do a good job of making their struggles seem realistic while being about a dude in tights. The whole Coney Island scene is really good bruh
I love this video. This ending Alex...you get it. The strongest feelings and greatest storytelling in those smaller moments actually had me crying a bit. And the Harry thing genuinely was crushing. I was so happy when Miles did what he could to save Harry, even though they've only formally met one time. Knowing it means the world to Pete to save him was all the reason he needed to try. Beautiful. Love you Alex. Hope you're doing well too.❤
@YourKurohime The way Norman broke down at the end is balls on a filmmaker, this is perfectly cheesy, perfectly acted, perfectly acted, perfectly edited. Everything about that scene is flawless, every film student needs to study why this scene works. Norman Osborn breaking down and getting what he deserves is…. Cinema 🙌
I do prefer Spider-Man ps4's story a bit more but this is by far the most fun I think I've had in a game. The story too, I loved I just think they could've handled some things differently. Peter and Harry's relationship really resonated with me because that's literally what me and my best friend would do if we found out one of us had this cool black suit, it was just really wholesome and I really didn't want Harry to fall from grace like he did.
I love your takes. This was a great story, but I just needed it to flesh out its themes. It felt like it was hitting bullet points. I wanted longer with Peter’s day to day activities.
something i really, and i mean REALLY liked that you didn't mention here was Scream. I know that Scream itself feels a bit forced in, but the fact that it's MJ in the symbiote is what made me feel. Or rather, the things she said to Peter while under the symbiote's influence. It reminded me of some of the arguments I've had with my own partner. It felt real. It might just be me, because I have a messy relationship, but it really felt like the people talking weren't super powered spider mutants and alien hosts, but real people. Which is what Spider-Man is all about in the first place
I disagree, partially. I can see your point on how it's messy, it's a rush, but for me It was perfect. I loved how the game delivered everything, how it made you feel like Spiderman, but it also makes you feel his pain, his mess. The "rushed" aspect adds more to the experience for me. How being Spiderman is very tiring, and you constantly deal with things in the world. How being Spiderman means you deal with a lot of big guys, but also giving help to the small guys. I don't think any character needs more time, I didn't feel like they were contesting for time in the game. It felt like the perfect mess of stuff that Spiderman would've encountered. The characters were developed for me, it made me invested with everyone. They didn't fight for screeen time, but they did fight for the limited time they have. For me, that felt real. The only thing I can say that is bad is how some mj missions are not my type (except the mission where you're being chased by venom) and obviously the costume change of miles. That's it. Overall, it was the best Spiderman game I played so far.
Everything about the game was perfect. But yeah, the problem is that there’s no room to digest every plot point. I will say, Act 3 is the biggest offender of this in the whole game, it is WAY too short. Venom needed to add more stakes, Peter needed to go through a longer recovery arc, and Miles needed some more inner conflict on how he handled Martin Li after the fact (before they rescue Peter from the residual Symbiote tied to him genetically at that point). Every plot point is ON point, it’s just condensed. The game needed to be the longest by a long shot to make full effect of everything they did. I adore this game still, but I feel the constriction as the story moves forward. It’s like speed dial pizza.
I think the game lacks dynamics between the two main characters: Miles and Peter. They are basically the same person, until Peter gets infected by the symbiote. Even then, he is still a decent Peter until MJ uses a taser on him while he is sleeping (the bridge scene). So, essentially, everything that goes wrong after that is caused by MJ’s attempt to wake up Peter with a taser. Peter doesn’t do anything really bad when he is the symbiote Spider-Man. Yet, he is constantly pushed around and apologizing in the third act. The argument between him and MJ was supposed to be serious, but it was hilarious (“You’re just using me to pay the bank loans!” - “MJ, I’m sorry!” - “You’re holding me back!” - “Sorry, MJ!”). But we know for a fact that Peter was supporting her. And remember, BEFORE Peter, I mean, the Venom symbiote, went crazy in Pete’s sleep, BEFORE all that, everyone around Peter was like: Hey, MJ, guess what? This suit is a living organism! Peter, you need to take it off. But MJ… Screw you, Peter! The same goes for Miles and, for crying out loud, DANIKA’s PODCAST. How did she figure out that Spider-Man in black is “not the one we all knew before”? Pete hasn’t done ANYTHING. Then Peter gets home and tries to sleep, and then the bad stuff happens for the first time. And yes, Miles is also wearing black, so… why doesn’t Danika criticize him for being “scary”, etc.? Because the game designers wanted us to feel guilty, even though there was no real reason for it (not yet, at least). Sure, Harry is dying, but his father - I mean it - his father has already been working on “something else”, some other cure. And there’s even MORE to it - as we know from The Flame’s side quest, Oscorp cars were transporting ANOTHER PIECE of the symbiote somewhere. Why didn’t Norman use THIS part of the symbiote to merge with Harry? Why did he sell this symbiote to someone else? That’s some huge HYPOCRISY, Norman. Especially because in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 you played the role of a desperate father (which is a big downgrade from the last game’s Norman, who was a caring father AND a ruthless businessman/politician). About the suit, again… If the game designers wanted me to feel out of control, they should have come up with something better. Maybe let the symbiote mess with my controller, for example. Let it do its own thing for a few moments. For example, I’m trying to catch a guy and I need to press triangle, but the suit suddenly does something completely different. That would work, with some thought, of course. This game is full of lazy writing.
The writing becomes even more convoluted when I think about it. Look. Curt Connors arrives at the place where the symbiote crash-landed, right? And what does this genius do? This big Mr. Scientist? He tries to grab the symbiote and it sticks to him. And what do the PMC soldiers do when that happens? They shoot his freaking arm off. Why does everyone blame the symbiote for it? It is not the one to blame, my friends. It was all Connor’s fault. You should NEVER touch an alien species without precaution. This scene is dumb as hell.
@@mr_lagerkvist I just finished the Scream fight and yeah MJ's dialogue feels really weird, like I don't think they set up that kind of resentment from her very well, Peter wasn't supportive like one time when he was too tired to read her story, and that was a story she didn't even want to write anyway.
i’m glad i’m not the only one who thought the story was messy. the first one was so tightly held together in comparison. i loved the game, i loved a lot of the moments, set pieces, quieter moments, & improvements to the gameplay. i’m ready for new game plus, but the story did feel as i was playing it a bit all over the place
Peter's "I love you" was such a genuine brotherly love, that you're right, we don't get to see all that often. My feelings after that moment were just, Yeah of course peter would say that to his best friend and of course he would mean it with every inch of his heart. I loved it.
Props to them for making the Peter/Harry relationship so wholesome you practically dread the moment Peter inevitably dons the symbiote and sends Harry spiraling back into sickness. And even the excitement of using symbiote powers gets sobered up the moment Peter nearly kills MJ and lashes out at Harry. And wholesome enough to make me wanna do the Emily-May side missions even after things go bad.
Easily the best take I've seen on the game. You've managed to express my exact thoughts and feelings better than i ever could. The black suit story has a very strong place in my heart after my battle with addiction I hope Insomniac makes the third game a more grounded and even more personal story, with New york feeling more like its own character. Until then, it's going to be a long wait.
Dude this waits going to suck!! It didn’t feel like I’d get to play Spider-Man 2, but now I beat it and ig all I can do is wait for the 3rd one. I hate it so much! Also, for SM3 itll just be more low stakes and personal already. It’ll be Norman and Otto and a smaller villain maybe. It’ll be more about New York as a whole w/ Oscorp and I’m just gonna assume Otto will do 1 massive prison break from the raft and cause complete chaos
Interactive media like video games are so special because they can do what movies can’t, the emotions that well up inside when you’re heralding the pidgeons away while in the back of your mind you’re worried for what Howard might be insinuating is an experinace like no other for me. The screaming of the symbiote when you use the surge for the first time coming from the controller itself, even something as simple as the small taps across your controller as the character takes a step is so fantastic.
I’m glad you enjoyed it and felt it meshed despite being a mess. I didn’t, i felt Miles story was empty and had no real connective tissue to the main story. I also think Venom is way over done that said the connection with Harry was great, just wish the game didn’t feel like a rush to get to these beats in the story. That said many of the side quest were great, wasn’t exactly feeling the specific community ones but loved the overall NY and individual ones.
I thoug the exact same! And then when I saw them do anti venom, and the whole thing leading up to it, just connected back to the main story so well. I agree that for the most part, Miles was just in the background, but they interwove the Li, Peter, and miles stuff really well towards the end imo
Honestly, a small moment that will stick with me forever is when young Peter punches a hole in the wall and tries to hide it. May comes upstairs and sees the hole, and teaches him about finding balance. That it's a journey, not a destination. It just really struck a chord with me.
They are KINDA forcing Miles and websuit too much when it was about Peter and swinging from the begging. However they had to leave something for the 3rd game which will obviously be grand finale.
My only problem is how miles was written in this game… don’t get me wrong he’s my boy and I love him but it’s annoying how he’s had no flaws in this game and always saving Peter. He never actually struggled like he did in him own game. An example of this was Peter vs miles battle it was too easy not In terms of gameplay but how easily miles over powers Peter without any struggle. I get that they want to make him the main spiderman man but it just feels too forced, up until now miles haven’t lost/sacrificed the level Peter has… what I’m trying to get at is make miles his own spiderman make him struggle like Peter and make him over come that and become the hero he can be
He needs his own version of what Peter went through in the first game. Losing all of his mentors, the city falling into darkness with his attention pulled in all directions. Everyone relying on him and only him. How to do that without killing Peter off I don't know, but if anyone can do it, it's Insomniac.
One think I love about these games is the fact that the characters are growing but so is their supporting cast which is just so refreshing in superhero media
Sadly Miles was the one who dragged the story down this time. He had almost nothing to do with the main story then stole the Spotlight in the end all of a sudden, leaving Peter behind in what was supposed to be HIS story.
I think the best thing about the game is that there is SO MUCH to do. One second your playing as venom, than fighting mysterio. Than playing as miles. Than Peter. Than something else. Like yeah I get it messes up the pacing but it made it so entertaining lmao. Goty 2023.
Ngl, and this is an unpopular take, but I think Spider-Man 2 is better than the first game in every way. This was as close to the perfect Spider-Man game as I think we're likely to ever get.
@KadenAlbrecht I feel like it is. Most discussion I see around the game has clowns saying how the game isn't as good or the story is bloated or bad. Maybe it's just a very loud minority of idiots though.
The moment that got to me the most was the Peter vs Miles fight. So many lines just hurt like hell in that. "I'm the hero. I don't get saved." "I'm finally what everyone needs me to be, but the city thinks I'm the problem! You think I'm the problem, but I'm not!" "I know you're hurting Pete, but you're better than this!" And that excrutiatingly difficult to hear, "I know... I know but...."
In a game where Side content includes Cletus Kasady, Chameleon and a Spider-Verse Easter egg, my favorite mission turned out to be the Grandpa Earl side mission with how down to earth and human it felt
I hated how miles was the one to save peter from the suit, the boss battle was amazing but i wish it woukd have ended with peter removing it himself to show his willpower
No miles removing it was good cause the message is be greater together. Like that's the message of the game, peter is always unlucky in the comics n all, he has someone to share the burden with (miles)
The phrases “make me think back to simpler times” and “Arkham Knight” being used in the same sentence just made me feel soo old. That wasn’t even ten years ago, baby man.
I really loved spiderman 2. It’s just unfortunate that it feels like a whole chapter is missing. Giving a deeper exploration of Peter, the symbiote, harry, more of the villains, and all the relationships and conflict involved. But in the end it still made me feel so much joy and cry. It’s still an amazing game. Well done, Insomniac
I think that the gameplay is perfection. However, the story is still great and I don't criticize it as much as others. But it never reached the same highs as the first one. The first one was already the perfect Spiderman experience.
I want to thank you Hitop for not only your content and you sharing your love of good stories but inspiring me to be a storyteller myself. Thank you for sharing your love man.
let’s be real. miles should have had standalone games. to allow the other parts of peter’s story to breathe. could’ve invested more time in the symbiote gameplay(ex: web of shadows) and more time as Venom. Also Kraven could’ve actually been hunting you. using your villains to learn how you fight to then try and kill you later on. a lot of missed opportunities like @HiTopFilms said. disappointing really. also, before i forget; they nerfed peter. he gets saved like 3 or 4 times. bro, he’s spider-man. i can’t fathom the amount of disrespect this character got 😂. i hope they correct course because this is definitely downhill story wise from the first game. if not, guess i’m not buying from them anymore.
Tbh, this is one of THE BEST games I’ve ever played!⚡️ The visuals, the action, the gameplay, the traversal, the villains, the story and everything else was just top notch. For me, this game’s story was more epic, while the first game’s story was a bit more emotional. So, I’m actually divided as to which story I like more. But, both of these games are absolute masterpieces imo. Overall, this game topped the first one for me.
The way Norman broke down at the end is balls on a filmmaker, this is perfectly cheesy, perfectly acted, perfectly acted, perfectly edited. Everything about that scene is flawless, every film student needs to study why this scene works. Norman Osborn breaking down and getting what he deserves is…. Cinema 🙌
I’m glad that you touched on the side missions. THAT is what Spiderman is to me: helping someone ask their bf to prom, or sitting on a bench with a grandfather until his granddaughter finds him. Insomniac absolutely gets Spiderman, and i love this universe they have created. The way they are able to make a story where the climax is a Symbiote invasion feel so human is so good. Even though this game isn’t perfect, i loved it and my only “complaint” is that i wish that i got to spend more time with these characters
"Peter loses people close to him no matter how hard he tries to save everyone." Paraphrased you a bit there. But that line right there describes Spider-man to a tee. That is why I hated the Across the Spiderverse movie (I really enjoyed the first film). What poisoned my feelings about the sequel was the whole CANON mentality between everyone in the Spider society. The whole 'someone close to Spider-man is fated to die to solidify them being Spider-man/woman/Person, or Pig. And so they have to let that particular close person die (and that every single spider-person in that multiversal group believed in and supported in that idea). And that crossed the line for me and poisoned my experience with the film, because there is no way in hell that the character (no matter what universe they are from) going along with it and then letting a Gwen, Captain Stacy, MJ, Jameson, Aunt May etc then die just to please some canonical balance. They were would try to save everyone, even if they would then fail to save someone during the attempt. Spider-man. Will. Always. Try. To. Save. People. No. Matter. Whom they. Were. Also, the whole there should be no Miles in any Universe. Did the makers forget that Insomniac's Spider universe naturally has a Miles, because they put the game's Peter in the film too. And 616 has Miles as well. I dont know. O.o
This video hit the nail on the head, where the game spray falls short as a game it excels as an experience. You’re not just mashing and punching your way through hordes to of enemies to get to some sacred final boss. You’re not only fighting people with their own intentions tho misguided, while also balancing the aspect of just helping the every day person. I love this game.
While I disagree on the point about Venom (I just think they should have focused more on the symbiote's attachment to Peter and Harry's relationship with the latter; instead of rehashing Web of Shadows' plot in a shorter and worse manner), I think this is one of your best videos. Overall I believe, like others have already said here, some more hours to flesh out the story would have benefitted the game a lot. Probably should have held off on the symbiote assimilation plot for a future game (until the leader, Knull or whatever he is called, comes to Earth) and focused more on the effects that Venom has on both Peter and Harry, instead of just making them "turn heel" for a few days each and Mary Jane for a few minutes. As it was, it felt like the story wanted to rush through a myriad of plot points to cover them all, instead of focusing on fewer but giving depth to them
2 thing at the end of the game that made me tear up. when miles sees pete struggle to say what he wants to say, miles just says "i got this, go be peter parker for awhile." Its a complete 180 from miles game. When pete tells miles hes gonna be on leave for a few weeks, miles is nervous and doubts his ability to protect the city. At the end of this game, hes fully confident in his abilities. And some may be upset that peter wont be the main spiderman anymore but, honestly im happy for him. Hes been doin this for 10 years. 10 years of pain, loss, regret, dispair, and longing. He deserves to be able to step down for awhile.
They spent too much time trying to make MJ more important.. it took away from the star: which is, supposed to be Spider-Man imo. It was the MJ show a little too often, and I thought her segments were boring as hell!
I love the idea that the Venom symbiote was fascinated by Peter (probably through Harry's memories) in this game. It helped Harry get better to get close to Peter. It helped at the fairground when it saw him in trouble and about to fail. It became Agent Venom to mimic Spiderman to impress him and help him. Then it saved him out of love and bonded with him, showing Peter the power they both can wield. And then began to consume him out of fear of losing him as Peter's other friends constantly saying how bad the suit is for Peter, eventually being rejected by Peter like a bad relationship. Finally turning his best friend against him out of spite to show Peter exactly what Venom can do. Or maybe I'm just reading way too much into it.
They focused on way too much playable side characters instead for the content, like MJ and they made you play a mission as Hailey, like bruhh, why? Smh The only side missions I enjoyed doing were the Flame for Peter and Mysterio’s challenges for Miles 😬👀
I think Venom was done a massive disservice. He was reduced to assimilationist alien and hulking brute, his relationship with Eddie Brock is what makes him special as a character. The entire third act felt extremely rushed too.
They should have given the symbiote time to cook. And made Bully Pete much harsher with his words. Like when he comfronts MJ he could have said "You know maybe I was wrong. Maybe I should have chosen Felicia at least SHE tells me to embrace spider-man. Not make me feel like I should torture myself to make you, OR EVERYONE HAPPY!"
You don't know how long I've been waiting for your video about this man. Your video about the original Spider-Man lives rent free in my head and I love you felt the same way I did about this sequel
For me, the story was also about endings, new beginnings, and moving on. Peter has moved on from being a full time Spiderman, Miles is ready to start being the new Spiderman (solo) The villains, Tombstone, Mysterio, Li, Black Cat, Sandman, they're all done with it and have finally moved on with their life. Harry tried to move in, but because of circumstance he couldn't. He gave up that chance by giving the Symbiote up, then was neglected and almost killed by his best friend. And even then, he's desperately trying to make the world better (in a twisted sense) Norman is the only one who would not move on and accept responsibility is also the only one who ends up entirely alone at the end. Norman would not accept that he is now personally responsible for three monsters, one of which was his own son. Sure, he just wanted Harry back, but he didn't care who got hurt or died along the way. Then becomes enraged at a beaten down and broken Spiderman that clearly did what he could on an impossible task.
This game was a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned, there was just as much emotion & depth as the first game, i disagree with those that say the black suit story felt rushed, we had it long enough to suit the stories purpose, I would love the insomniac spider-man games to get a live action movie franchise cause these stories are perfect spider-man stories
*SPOILERS* (My thoughts on Kraven) Kraven is good, but I feel like he would have wanted the symbiote for himself. If only he knew it could prolong his life *AND* make him *THE* apex predator. Kraven pulled the same move on Peter as he did on Scorpion, so I feel like he would’ve figured out that the black suit was the reason he lived. If I found out that I was terminally ill and knew about the symbiote, I’d want to take it for myself. I wish Kraven was a version of venom in this game. It would’ve been different and awesome because it lines up with him wanting to be the greatest hunter. Going from wanting to be worthy enough to die at the hand of his greatest hunt to becoming the greatest hunt. Harry would probably die, but it would still set up Norman hating Spider-Man. (This was my comment on Jermey Jahns’ review)
I think you misread Kraven's character. He doesn't care that he's dying, he even says so himself; he just doesn't want to die in a way he views as meaningless. It would be much more accurate to say that he'd view the Symbiote as running away from his fate but by taking matters into his own hands and finding someone to kill him, he's facing it on his own terms.
I don’t think it’s really in character for Kraven to have an army of robot dogs and goons helping him when he is all about being the best hunter himself. Kinda feels like he should be a solo villain and not a guy with an army.
@@Nobody-wx6rk He tried chemotherapy, didn’t he? He also had potions that implied his increased strength, so I’m not sure he’d mind the symbiote as a crutch like Harry in the beginning (before Agent Venom). It would’ve been a better boss fight too. Venom’s boss fight in the end felt repetitive and stretched. They could’ve had Spider-Man fight Kraven and win, then the symbiote takes over his unconscious body. Spider-Man would have to decide whether he should kill him like Dr. Conners said or save him (just like Harry in the game, only this time the choice would be harder for him because it’s not his best friend). I’m also one of the people who enjoyed Spectacular Spider-Man’s take on Kraven where he wanted to level the playing field with powers of his own so idk. Both are good imo.
Killing off the 6 off screen was so stupid... maybe I wamted another boss fight with, electro, shocker or vulture later in the series? They could have easily kept them alive at least for fun side missions
Sadly I do disagree The best way I can describe this game is like this - you go to a Michelin star restaurant and order their finest wagyu stake, and that’s all they give you, just the stake on a plate, granted the stake is good, but there’s no garnish, no side, no wine, no presentation, a lot of what you would normally take for granted, the small stuff is missing, and god did I feel it in this game For example, you get nothing in this game that ties Miles or Peter to the people of NYC - in the last game, there was that social feed on the map? God I spent an embarrassing amount of time reading through all of it, and seeing it update as I did the small crime events? Brilliant - again very small, but went a long way in feeling grounded Another example, Feast. Feast did a great thing having Peter be Peter while caring for the downtrodden folks of NYC, seeing them have real issues, seeing them cope, what happened in SM2? Danica and Jameson are hardly enough to convince me as to the state of NYC’s public, and I was hoping the EMF was going to be something along those lines, but it lasted for only a moment it felt like - it would be nice to just have gotten a day in the life of Peter working at EMF, but not even a day - it felt disconnected from all of NYC To add further, what happened to NYC’s public offices? Did they get lobotomized from the last game? Where are the fire fighters and police when the cultists are burning stuff down?! Where are the ambulances?? Why does everything seem to only function when spidey is around? Now I know we carry citizens to ambulances and that’s great that we have that interaction with them, but again, why does that come at the lobotomy of the emergency services in nyc? Cops should be trying to stop car chases, and cultists, fire fighters should be on lockdown with the whacky cultists trying to burn down buildings and gas tankers - it just seems like NYC all of a sudden can’t do anything for itself without Spider-Man anymore There is more, like, why does it feel like that hunters are only Spidey’s problem, like I don’t feel like the hunters bother anyone other than Pete, Miles, and their own entourage - why did we not see more of Kraven - why are the Hunters the ONLY faction we contend with, symbiotes don’t count - and one big thing, WHY WAS SANDMAN ONLY A MINOR INTRO??? WHY DID HIS SIDE WUEST JUST… END? So unceremoniously, like “here’s a little statuete little keemia, bye now” - that’s it? - why was there no Kingpin payoff to Miles’ side quest from his spinoff? Further about miles, why am I running around his school doing chores? Like come on I KNOW he has more cooking in his story than glorified school chores There is likely more I can delve into, but this has to end somewhere, so I will end it here - it simply feels like in trying to do so much, they of course, had to trim away a lot of the fat, but in the process cut away slivers of meat too TLDR - Game Good, Story Rushed, Too Little Time With Everything (Alien, Friends, and NYC)
This game absolutely NAILED side stories. I'll probably always prefer the main story of the first game and remember it more fondly because it felt a lot more focused, but the side stories in this one will stick with me even more than that because they just felt like they embodied the "friendly neighborhood" aspect of this character FLAWLESSLY. The side stories often feel like if you replaced Spidey with a normal, non-powered person just trying to do the right thing, they would make just as much sense.
At the very least they could've shown security footage on some of the hunter base screens showing Kraven taking out the sinisters. And seriously I don't see an issue with Miles' Evolved suit. Also talking to the grandfather got me feely, but when I finished Howard's mission, that broke me hard. Having to give Pidgey and co. a new home in the open for Howard's sake killed me. And hearing his call end after Peter said "Howard?" just got my tears rolling.
As a venom fan , I hated this game's portrayal of Venom. What makes Venom special is that he doesn't want power or rule the world . He just wants to kill peter parker because he is jealous of him, he blames all of his problems on him . Eddie and Peter are great parallels to each other in the comics because both are technically the same person , but yet they are so different . Peter grew up in a safe environment provided by his uncle Ben, and aunt may that helped mature Peter. Meanwhile, Eddie he had no one his mother died at childbirth, and his father was a dark reflection of Uncle Ben, someone who doesn't care about their own son , some one that twists his child's own belief to benefit his own agenda . Both Peter and Eddie are good people at heart but what differentiates them is that Eddie is more reckless and irresponsible and blames his mistakes on others its like if Peter only blamed uncle Ben's killer only and not himself. That's why Eddie is the perfect antithesis to Peter and his perfect dark reflection
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Much love to all of you. ❤
I remember when I met you in that gas station and you broke ma leg and threw a microwaved honeybun at my offspring
I'm surprised high top miss the line from the Miles and peter fight ecos the Otto fight from first game
I will admit the impact of Peter’s guilt after the Symbiote suit is variable. I kept all of the side quests until I got the black suit and while it was only a couple of in game days it felt longer so that moment is very hit miss depending on how fast you get to it.
@@strangelifeform4467its great
@@RMX-ARTits great
I actually think an extra 5-10 hours of the story would have helped to flesh out more elements
Definitely. I agree! Might’ve cost another few million to work on though haha. Plus we may have had to wait until next year for the game. I really loved the game. Although I’d also have loved if it was it little longer too.
Lets hope #3 is nearly twice as long, even if we have to wait closer to the end of the ps5’s lifespan for it 😁
@@kool-breez and let's hope they don't replace Pete with Silk(Insomniac please im begging, goblin is a PETER villain not Miles or Silk)
@@hassanorisitAGREED 😭🙏🙏🙏 i hope they still
keep peter as the main spider-man for the next game or atleast still the mc im just afraid they won’t still wouldnt focus on peters character writing as much due there being 3 spider people to worry abt but its an atrocity to make goblin the main villain of the next game and have him be miles villain when he is notorious for being one of peter’s most iconic villains if not the most iconic
@@hassanorisitI think obviously Peter is gonna come out of retirement and that goblin storyline will end with Peter. Silk and miles will have a completely different rouge’s gallery id imagine
@@hassanorisitI really think SM3 needs to have a final boss for Miles and a final boss for Peter. A final boss for each character, that way Peter gets his emotional battle with Green Goblin and Miles gets… something, I dunno, I trust Insomniac as long as they take their time from now on.
I think a lot of it comes down to the full Symbiote arc being hard to adapt into things that aren’t long form. You need to build up so many elements in order for the eventual Peter Vs Venom conflict to land.
Video games kind of are long form so that doesn’t really fly here. Spider-Man 3 did it better than Insomniac did here
story should've been much longer but it feels so rushed
@@rainmaker2338I disagree honestly. I think it lands more here than in SM3
Definitely better than Spider-Man 3 Venom, but video games, especially single player story driven games are long form, Insomniac just bit off way more than they could chew with this one.
Crazy how both games and movies keep screwing that up.
This game’s story suffers most from a runtime that’s way too short, with not enough room for plot points to breathe. What they had was fantastic, they just needed MORE of it to truly flesh out their ideas
Exactly what I was thinking. I wish we had more time to delve into things before jumping directly into the next. The pacing made the story feel a little shallow and some great story beats not feel as deserved.
According to the IGN interview with the developer, as long as you played Miles' side mission where he helps one of his fellow students ask out his boyfriend for homecoming, then you got what they wanted you to get out of the game lol. (But I agree with you the game was VERY rushed)
I mean not all game dev can pull a Rockstar and develop a game for years (and still do a game crunch). I’m guessing Insomniac suffered from their own success a bit since the first game was such a success and Sony wanted to capitalise on it within this console generation lifecycle hence the shorter development time so they had to cut corners a bit.
Nah it suffers from terrible writing
@@amrelarcher8990GTA 5 had a full press development time of 3 years lol
1-2 years of non priority development, which means much slower pace and side details. 3 years of full press dev time is actually very average for AAA games besides CoD.
It seems like they should have spent more time developing Bully Lowenthal, rather than making him quickly over the course of a couple missions.
You have it for 9 missions
How long tho
it's so much more to experience besides the main story
Bully glided so venom could fly
Go back and play your Xbox crybaby
The best part about giving that Blind Old Woman the robot dog is realing who that character is.
Her name is Alma.
Al.
She's Blind Al, as in the woman that Deadpool lives with most of the time. Insomniac did a wonderful job at hinting a little more of the wider Marvel universe with this one, with the Baxter building, the Wand of Watoomb and a few other little easter eggs here & there like Nelson & Murdock having closed down (edit, Nelson & Murdock is still there. They forgot to put the sign in, it's back now)
Wow that’s actually an incredible point about these two spidermen just helping people. Villains are not just villains they’re people and worth saving and giving a second chance like that is quite perfectly the definition of spiderman.
Norman was really humanized in this sequel.
He didn't beg when he was about to die in the arms of Doc Ock.
But for Harry, he practically didn't mind looking desperate. I felt that punch in my gut when Norman told Peter "Thank you for being Harry's friend"
@@ngkirby51if he was really humanized he wouldn’t have been a bully to dock ock
@@ngkirby51 The way Norman broke down at the end is balls on a filmmaker, this is perfectly cheesy, perfectly acted, perfectly acted, perfectly edited. Everything about that scene is flawless, every film student needs to study why this scene works.
Norman Osborn breaking down and getting what he deserves is…. Cinema 🙌
@patriot459 idk man, Cletus Cassidy doesn’t seem worthy of saving even in this game , pretty over generalizing and extreme but typical for hitop i suppose. Sure Spidey saves everyone but he technically saves those too that may not deserve it also.
well except venom, there's nothing sympathetic or human about him except his puppet of a host whos character they ruin at the 3rd act
I feel like the story is on paper about as good as the first one, but the narrative context in which it's told alongside the gameplay is spotty. For example, in the first one the early parts of the game start the main plot with pretty low stakes. Peter's just investigating this mysterious new gang, the FEAST center is being introduced, Peter's doing his job with Otto, etc. All of this is just setup, and during the setup players are given a lot of narrative room to breathe, i.e. do side missions and activities without feeling the urgency that would push them to run through the main story missions one after another. It feels like, between each main mission, Spider-Man would realistically have the time to do all this side stuff, and that makes you more connected with the world and characters as well as giving you a view into what it's like to juggle all these responsibilities. By the time the climax is approaching, the main missions get more urgent and it feels like Spider-Man wouldn't really pause to do side stuff as often because the things he's supposed to be doing are too important, but it's fine because this is the endgame and story-wise that heightened urgency makes sense.
Spider-Man 2's main story is just way more urgent right from the beginning and doesn't really let up. Whereas the first game gave you lots of narrative space to do side activities and integrate yourself in the world early on, the second game presents you with these side activities while also constructing a main story in which either Spider-Man actually stopping to do those side activities doesn't make much sense. Multiple times it's made clear throughout the story that only a couple of days have passed, which is insane considering all the side stuff available to do; realistically this story should span a few weeks at least in order to give a better sense of time. Harry in particular is a character who suffers from this crunched timeline; the section of the story in which he's a hero fighting alongside the Spider-Men feels like it should take up more time, it feels like you should be doing more missions with him both in the main story and in the side activities so that when the time comes for his downfall it hits all the harder. But instead he shows up, is a hero for like two days, gives Peter a job that also only lasts maybe two days, and then everything blows up without for example getting into Peter having to juggle his new job with Harry while also worrying about Kraven etc., the same way he had to juggle his job with Otto while dealing with Li and the Demon gang. There are multiple scenes in the first Spider-Man game of Peter and Otto doing science stuff in their lab, slowly building up when Otto would turn evil, but in the second game Peter and Harry only get that one mission where you tour their workplace before it gets destroyed.
Ultimately it's a problem of pacing. The early sections of the game should've given you more narrative space, then gotten more urgent as the plot reached it's climax, particularly as there's so many more plot threads in this one than in the first one.
I agree.
I really liked this game, but it didn't feel as cohesive or impactful. It's a bit messy and disjointed.
It's awesome, but I liked the first games more.
Yeah nice summary! Hit all the points! This game just jumps in from the get go and while stiff happens, it doesn’t stay or develop on it at all. Like once we find out Kraven has cancer, there isn’t a cutscene or dialogue besides Peter knowing about it. Maybe Peter telling Harry will make him wanna side with Kraven later?? Idk stuff like that. Just have more time to breathe. Once sandman comes in the first 5 minutes, the game doesn’t stop and it’s just set piece set piece set piece. We don’t get miles at school except the essay (and that’s fine tbh) but Peter just doesn’t do any work at his actual job. Maybe it’s blown up to early, but even ONE mission that has Peter Parker on his first day at Emily May saying hi to his new coworkers and just talking to Harry and building up that dynamic 1 more time.
100% agree
Exactly
@@The-Legend-of-Pdefinitely agree with the original comment and this reply. great game and great but messy story. It couldve been better for sure but I wouldnt say it was bad by most means
It’s crazy they haven’t learned the lessons from Spider-Man 3. Peter had the black suit for YEARS before Venom showed up in the comics. Venom shouldn’t be the end of the the black suit storyline, he should be the sequel. Venom should have been teased at the end of this game as opposed to being rushed into the final act.
That's what I've been saying from the beginning. Instead we got a rushed ending and a wasted Venom.
i swear venom is destined to be put in the third act of the media just to be rushed villain khm hkm spiderman 3
They should have made the venom story into a dlc like elden ring did.
@@Unnatural09 nah that would have been literally money suicide. they should have just had made the base game logner. but they coudlnt. cause the gaming industry is currently a mess with overinflating budgets and demands
@@aryan7767 ya but good without the garbage.
Killing off most the villains kinda shocked me. Especially made me mad because I’ve loved to see Kraven actually fight them, instead of just off screen.
Imagine if we also played as Kraven during those kills lol
@@Bukwheat New Spider-Man 2 DLC: Kraven hunting the Sinister 6. Just imagine for a sec.
It would have been cool to actually play as kraven as he took out these villians
@@Czarbucks6146we got to do it as venom and I'm pretty sure everyone loved that
@czarbucks6146 better than the lgbtqrs propaganda
The calm talk with the old man at the is one of the hardest hitting moments. You can save someone from the most horrific disasters but ultimately mortality will never just disappear like a villain or problem. Even Spider-Man has to face the day when he has to come to terms with there being no tomorrow for him, whether or not he's ready.
Howard’s death made me cry more than any Spiderman movie ever. Such a heartbreaking moment.
He went out on his own terms the way he wanted.
I was DISTRAUGHT I had to take a break for a couple hours and couldnt rly describe it to my gf who wasnt home when i played that section
i’m literally crying reading these comments LMFAO that was one of the most powerful missions. I don’t know what it is about that NPC that hit so hard
@TheFullNEWS It's Dave Fennoy. That's what does it.
Plus that whole mission, you know exactly what it is from the second it starts, so it's the inevitability of it that hits hard. You're just flying and swinging, with the music, completely knowing it's a "one last request" kind of situation.
who dafuq is howard
I think the game really could have used a mission where Miles and Agent Venom Harry work together for some kind of mission, build up that rivalry and relationship between the two. Also, a "round 1" fight against Venom before the main invasion where Peter and Miles get absolutely bodied, show us how powerful Venom is and how their failure led to the invasion, making their rematch even more eventful. Otherwise, I think the story was fantastic the whole way through.
The reason these games work for me is the Peter Parker and Miles Morales characters here are so down to earth and likeable. You just want them to succeed, come out on top, the way they've been written just makes you want good things for both of them.
Miles doesn’t say the n word, so I can’t relate, and they’re not from any earth I’m from
@@Mingodoughbro what are you talking about
@@Mingodough and peter doesnt eat coleslaw, mayonaise, bland food, and kiss his dog on the mouth so i cant relate as a white male
@@K0KARN so true
How tf are they likeable, Peter is super simp, and miles is super white
For me personally the Kraven & Symbiote arcs were absolutely the standouts. The game definitely gets really rushed towards the end with the Venom stuff which was just weird. Insomniacs's take on Kraven is perfect tho.
Kraven was a little too horny and we didn’t get to see him hunt. Venom was cool but we didn’t get to see him be enough of a menace to Peter and really see their dynamic.
@@jingleballs9935Harry sucks as Venom
Is he really perfect, tho?
@@jingleballs9935
They should've made kraven playable when hunting the sinister six or something missed opportunity
Kraven was so lame honestly. Kraven never hunted the spiders he just had his faction do it for him. Kraven should always be a solo act
I lost my grandfather to Alzheimer 4 years ago, needless to say, that scene in the park, broke me on so many levels, because it truly felt so real, however I wasn’t “sad” per se, in a weird way, it felt like the conversation I could never have, and it honestly baffles me how that form of emotional connection, happened in a game about my favorite super hero since I was a child, which gave me a moment, so to speak, with my real life, fallen hero, so yeah, I’ll always remember this game very very fondly
I'm Sorry For Your Loss.
Bully Lowenthal was really great imo. The ending didnt hit me as much as the first one did. The Howard mission hurt me a lot more (especially after realizing it was Dave Fennoy from The Walking Dead game, if you know you know)
All in all it was indeed a solid experience. Much more engaging open world me thinks.
dont you ever use that bully moniker on this trash ass rendition of peter parker that only reserved for tobey
I enjoyed the Story a lot. The Story doesnt have the emotional Impact as the first but the Horror Elements, Boss Fights and Sidequests are great. A few more Hours with Harry would have been perfect but still the Climax with the Anti Venom Suit was my personal Highlight.
That’s my only real complaint really I feel like harry isn’t fleshed out enough. I love how a lot of miles missions supplement his arc of moving forward especially with letting go of his obsession over Li. Since Miles gets to interact with reformed villains in a very positive way that I appreciate or helping them get that second chance most people don’t want to give them. The general friendly neighborhood missions are also good, old man earl and the cultural museum got tears out of me
@@TheCreed1217the dialogue in this game is so 3rd grade they can’t even make harry a interesting character
@@gunkmangeezy3741the grandpa mission and Howard mission beg to differ. Also, it’s superhero’s. They’re never anything grand or special.
@@TheCreed1217harry does need more moments in Act 2 cause once Peter gets the symbiote, Harry just sits around. it’s really rushed to venom as well. Maybe have Kraven and Harry meet up, cause harry needs the symbiote, and then Kraven actually hunts Peter
My issue is lack of side content
I have to say I was disappointed by how little Peter is impacted by what he’s done with the black suit. He feels guilty, yes, but he kinda returns to his usual self pretty quickly. The game itself basically tells us in our faces that we should draw a parallel between Peter’s downfall with the symbiote and Otto’s in the first game. Peter’s egotistical rant to Miles during their fight, the fact that Peter stares at the destroyed antenna where he fought Doc Ock before confronting Harry… he almost became his worst enemy, he’s aware of it, and he kinda gets over it as if it was a bad hangover.
I think there isn't enough time to focus on it. The shortness and scale of the main story definitely hurt it in several ways. Mainly miss opportunities in characterization and depth IMO.
I do agree with HiTop though the narrative does mostly rise above those shortcomings though.
i don’t actually agree with this, up until the end of the story peter has a severe guilt complex. after he recovers from the symbiote, he goes around apologizing to everyone. he has his fight with mj where he doesn’t just apologize for everything he did with the suit but BEFORE it too. thats kinda what people are missing a bit, the suit was just exaggerating and making all those negative feelings worse that already existed. thats what made venom a good and terrifying villain here, he preys on peters weakness and knows exactly how to get to him, and harry too. he manipulates both of them to a severe degree.
i do agree they couldn’t focus on it much, but after peter loses the suit he continuously apologized to everyone. the mj fight yes, but he does it to miles too. he apologizes repeatedly to harry, and even more when he thinks hes dead. he apologizes to norman when hes yelling at him and blaming him for what happened to harry. and him taking a break from being spiderman is the same too, although thats just speculation for now. we know he’s definitely drained and needs time for himself, but peters incessant need to apologize was very evident of a guilt complex. and he didn’t do it until after he took the suit off, which shows it did in fact change his personality.
i resonate with it because i also suffer from a really bad guilt complex where i apologize way too much. so it was easy for me to tell peter changed after the suit. him almost becoming like doc 100% affected him, the fact he almost became the very thing he didn’t want to be destroyed him. just because he didn’t look at the camera and state it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there
the suit also fucked up his other relationships, it isolated all his loved ones when they needed him most. its the reason harry was pushed into actually needing the suit again. it was all handled masterfully despite the time restraints they had.
Doesn’t he apologize to everybody he hurt??
Honestly Peter didn’t really do anything that bad in the black suit at least not to civilians. The worst I can remember is him kinda casually tossing the guy he saved after the Lizard incident. All the brutal stuff was done to the hunters & honestly it wasn’t anything crazier than what he and Miles usually do for finishers. I think they were mostly focusing on how the symbiote brought out Peter’s insecurities and how the negative publicity affects him even if he acts like it doesn’t.
We didn't play the same game at all then, Peter has a lot of complexes after seeing him wear the symboite and if people forgive him a lot it's because they really know Peter, Harry for example doesn't forgive him.
Love how Martin Li wears black when reformed compared to him in white when evil. I loved that , wardrobe has been slept on in this game IMO
This game has so many hidden details
Not only do I think this story was extremely rushed but also I think I’m tired of insomniac telling the most incredibly safe spidermen stories possible. Nothing they’ve done so far feels like a big risk
Their's an event in this game that triggers randomly where if you walk behind a news reporter as Peter you'll get interviewed about if a hot dog is a sandwich. It's the little stuff that makes the game great.
I have over 300hrs in this game, how the in the hell did I learn this just now?!
Your service is appreciated, kind sir/madam.
The little side quests with Mysterio and Sandman were two of the most surprising parts in this game I could find. Sure the main story was amazing and I could feel the heart and soul they poured into this game but just the simple side missions of Mysterio and Sandman brought me some of the strongest emotions I have ever felt in a video game. The side quests for those 2 may be simple in gameplay but the story they tell especially for Sandman and hell even the old man had me close to tears. They are such beautiful moments that I just never could've expected from this game.
It’s always extra special when High Top Films releases a Spider-Man video, especially since… I’m something of a Spider-Man fan myself lol
Bully Lowenthal and Tony Todd Venom are the best thing to ever happen to an audiovisual Spiderman piece of work. I still get chills at moments like the Miles vs Peter fight, the Venom "birth" and so on. And the MJ mission escaping from Peter... simply masterful.
I personally loved this story I just wish it lasted longer.
Yup, I loved the story but it it would have been way better if it was longer to flesh out some stuff
@@YC_001if it was longer. People would complain about it being stretched....
@@Heisen_burger-dude No they wouldn’t😂I ain’t talking about it being 20-30 main missions longer, but 10 more main missions, wouldn’t have hurt the game, would have helped both the 2nd act and 3rd act, even tho I think the 2nd act is pretty good, 3rd act is definitely rushed
And I thought its actually elongated towards the end
The thing with the symbiote has always seemed like a missed opportunity to me. The symbiote story usually ends with Peter apologising for how he mistreated the people around him when he had the suit on and at the end of the day, the symbiote is labelled the evil thing and should be destroyed. When rather, it was only amplifying emotions that were already stored within Peter. I think it could have been an opportunity to take a look at Peter's mental state and health. Bcos, now matter how much we don't want to talk abt it, Pete has a difficult life which he doesn't deserve. Losing loved ones, living in poverty most of the them, being surrounded by violence, death and psychopathic villains who want to hurt him every single day. He doesn't have an outlet for his emotions and just buries it within. If Pete is busy saving everyone else then who saves Pete. Instead of Pete getting something or someone to give him the little happiness he deserves, he rather gets Mary Jane telling him of how selfish he is and blaming him for his heroism. I wouldn't have expected to hear a worse joke. Peter Parker, the boy who basically threw away happiness and peace for the sake of others is selfish. For all the many years of spiderman what does he have to show for it. Broken bones, bruises and dead loved ones and Mary Jane. Idealise "with great power comes great respect" all you want but to me, the greatest mistake Pete made was to put on the mask No good deed goes unpunished thwy say. Ultimately, I think the symbiote could have been rather tamed than thrown away. Just like with people, you need to incorporate your darkside into your life. Not totally disregard it. To me the game wasn't anything groundbreaking but I think it's good for what it is but the story and how it's handled was one of the worst parts.
I agree. The first game was a rough time for Peter even by Spider-Man standards. His mentor turns evil, his aunt dies, he finds out that his best friend is ill with a terminal disease and his best friend in the police department becomes a murderous vigilante. And yet, the final boss fight is the only time that we see him truly angry. It's easy to believe that he's repressing a lot, especially since we also see that he doesn't like to burden other people with his problems.
One of my hopes for the game was for Peter's aggression while using the symbiote to be portrayed as just tapping into feelings that he already has and even after getting it off realizes that the way he acted wasn't solely because of the suit. I think it was a great opportunity to flesh out the psychology of this version of Peter Parker. Unfortunately, I feel like the game did more to develop MJ and Miles than it did to develop Peter.
this is something that i feel like most people ignore when it comes to any story. you can have a interesting story, but it wont meat its peak if it doesn't have emotion. people tend to criticize the game for having a messy story, but also failed to consider if they connect. this is a game that has a lot of hart and soul put into it and its annoying hearing people call it garbage for mostly no reason. ive seen alot of movies and betten alot of games, but i never played a game that had this much care put into it. this is such a brilliant game that people don't seem to trully understand
I loved this. I loved this game. It may sound silly...but at the start of the year I considered packing it all in. I kept going because I told myself I needed to play this game. I cried more than a few times as I played. This game literally saved my life. A Masterful Mess sums it up so well I'm actually typing this through tears. Thanks. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Good Luck to you Man I feel the same way about the game
Bruh you gotta wait for the new Arkham game
@@dannyblack1017 bro‘s gotta wait for Half Life 3 if you ask me
First of all I'm very glad I can be reading this, means you didn't do that and that you are here. And then, let me tell you that it's not silly. I felt similar, not that the game was my main reason to keep going but it was one of them, for sure. I loved the first Spiderman with all my heart and was wishing the second would come out for five years. I did other changes in my life that made me keep going, but the fact that I could play this gave me this "hope" or however you wanna call it.
You're worth it brother, and remember, if you ever need to play another game to not give up, wait for Half Life 3.
Statistically, there will be a around twice as amazing, personally meaningful to you, and hype-inducing compared to this one in less than 12 years.
Decent chance of less than six.
Juuuuuust in case that helps at all.
It’s a genuine miracle they did get all these things packed into this story.
Peter: this game with all the shit going on just shows how beat down Peter is after being Spider-Man. Then getting the symbiote he feels like he can be everything he’s supposed to be and it’s hard to watch him deal with all of that. While in the end he finally realizes it’s ok to take time on himself and be better for his friends and family.
Miles: miles accepting his fathers deaths and not letting revenge consume hims is just incredible. It brought me to tears when li is in his head and bringing up all the visions of his friends and family and it’s sad because it show miles is feeling like it’s all from his head and then his dad telling him he’s disappointed in him just shows how afraid miles is of letting everyone down. Then for him to rise above it all and pick himself back up and show Martin li mercy and set li on a path to trying to be better is just peak Spider-Man.
It’s an actual miracle they got this story to work.
They didn't get it to work
@@spider-man500 Explain further
@@mohammedisah4412 it doesn’t work because the writing doesn’t take time to develop the relationships between the key characters. Miles and Harry only talk once. MJ and Peter have no chemistry in their interactions. Miles in this game has no charisma compared to Miles in the spider verse movies. Everyone has generic Disney levels of basic dialogue with each other which makes any emotional moment feel half baked. Overall the story has interesting elements such as the symbiote dilemma but is filled with weak and boring characters.
@@wetsoup5529spiderverse doesn’t really have cinematic A+ stellar dialogue like you think bruh
It’s all cheesy superhero writing and that’s fine
Harry and Miles don’t need to interact a lot, and what we got was fine and good for the story. We didn’t need more. Would be nice but not needed since it isn’t about miles and Harry. Miles also has charisma. The issue might be because SV Miles hasn’t actually suffered, so he’s happy and peppy and a kid. Insomniac miles is growing up and is pretty lively/charismatic when needed. Miles story wasn’t so happy tbh. If you’re directly comparing the two Miles then you shouldn’t do that. They’re separate characters and are going for different things. If it was to similar to SV miles then that would be more weird.
Also Peter and MJ have great chemistry. They have great dialogue together and do a good job of making their struggles seem realistic while being about a dude in tights. The whole Coney Island scene is really good bruh
Thank you@@wetsoup5529
Dude, that scene with Grandpa Earl on the bench had me tearing up.
I love this video. This ending Alex...you get it. The strongest feelings and greatest storytelling in those smaller moments actually had me crying a bit. And the Harry thing genuinely was crushing. I was so happy when Miles did what he could to save Harry, even though they've only formally met one time. Knowing it means the world to Pete to save him was all the reason he needed to try. Beautiful.
Love you Alex. Hope you're doing well too.❤
@YourKurohime The way Norman broke down at the end is balls on a filmmaker, this is perfectly cheesy, perfectly acted, perfectly acted, perfectly edited. Everything about that scene is flawless, every film student needs to study why this scene works.
Norman Osborn breaking down and getting what he deserves is…. Cinema 🙌
I do prefer Spider-Man ps4's story a bit more but this is by far the most fun I think I've had in a game. The story too, I loved I just think they could've handled some things differently. Peter and Harry's relationship really resonated with me because that's literally what me and my best friend would do if we found out one of us had this cool black suit, it was just really wholesome and I really didn't want Harry to fall from grace like he did.
@torment4119 one thing this game did better was giving Norman character development and giving him an obstacle
I love your takes. This was a great story, but I just needed it to flesh out its themes. It felt like it was hitting bullet points. I wanted longer with Peter’s day to day activities.
something i really, and i mean REALLY liked that you didn't mention here was Scream. I know that Scream itself feels a bit forced in, but the fact that it's MJ in the symbiote is what made me feel. Or rather, the things she said to Peter while under the symbiote's influence. It reminded me of some of the arguments I've had with my own partner. It felt real. It might just be me, because I have a messy relationship, but it really felt like the people talking weren't super powered spider mutants and alien hosts, but real people. Which is what Spider-Man is all about in the first place
I disagree, partially. I can see your point on how it's messy, it's a rush, but for me It was perfect. I loved how the game delivered everything, how it made you feel like Spiderman, but it also makes you feel his pain, his mess. The "rushed" aspect adds more to the experience for me. How being Spiderman is very tiring, and you constantly deal with things in the world. How being Spiderman means you deal with a lot of big guys, but also giving help to the small guys. I don't think any character needs more time, I didn't feel like they were contesting for time in the game. It felt like the perfect mess of stuff that Spiderman would've encountered. The characters were developed for me, it made me invested with everyone. They didn't fight for screeen time, but they did fight for the limited time they have. For me, that felt real. The only thing I can say that is bad is how some mj missions are not my type (except the mission where you're being chased by venom) and obviously the costume change of miles. That's it. Overall, it was the best Spiderman game I played so far.
Everything about the game was perfect. But yeah, the problem is that there’s no room to digest every plot point. I will say, Act 3 is the biggest offender of this in the whole game, it is WAY too short. Venom needed to add more stakes, Peter needed to go through a longer recovery arc, and Miles needed some more inner conflict on how he handled Martin Li after the fact (before they rescue Peter from the residual Symbiote tied to him genetically at that point).
Every plot point is ON point, it’s just condensed. The game needed to be the longest by a long shot to make full effect of everything they did. I adore this game still, but I feel the constriction as the story moves forward. It’s like speed dial pizza.
I think the game lacks dynamics between the two main characters: Miles and Peter. They are basically the same person, until Peter gets infected by the symbiote. Even then, he is still a decent Peter until MJ uses a taser on him while he is sleeping (the bridge scene). So, essentially, everything that goes wrong after that is caused by MJ’s attempt to wake up Peter with a taser.
Peter doesn’t do anything really bad when he is the symbiote Spider-Man. Yet, he is constantly pushed around and apologizing in the third act. The argument between him and MJ was supposed to be serious, but it was hilarious (“You’re just using me to pay the bank loans!” - “MJ, I’m sorry!” - “You’re holding me back!” - “Sorry, MJ!”). But we know for a fact that Peter was supporting her.
And remember, BEFORE Peter, I mean, the Venom symbiote, went crazy in Pete’s sleep, BEFORE all that, everyone around Peter was like:
Hey, MJ, guess what? This suit is a living organism!
Peter, you need to take it off.
But MJ…
Screw you, Peter!
The same goes for Miles and, for crying out loud, DANIKA’s PODCAST. How did she figure out that Spider-Man in black is “not the one we all knew before”? Pete hasn’t done ANYTHING. Then Peter gets home and tries to sleep, and then the bad stuff happens for the first time. And yes, Miles is also wearing black, so… why doesn’t Danika criticize him for being “scary”, etc.? Because the game designers wanted us to feel guilty, even though there was no real reason for it (not yet, at least). Sure, Harry is dying, but his father - I mean it - his father has already been working on “something else”, some other cure. And there’s even MORE to it - as we know from The Flame’s side quest, Oscorp cars were transporting ANOTHER PIECE of the symbiote somewhere. Why didn’t Norman use THIS part of the symbiote to merge with Harry? Why did he sell this symbiote to someone else? That’s some huge HYPOCRISY, Norman. Especially because in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 you played the role of a desperate father (which is a big downgrade from the last game’s Norman, who was a caring father AND a ruthless businessman/politician).
About the suit, again… If the game designers wanted me to feel out of control, they should have come up with something better. Maybe let the symbiote mess with my controller, for example. Let it do its own thing for a few moments. For example, I’m trying to catch a guy and I need to press triangle, but the suit suddenly does something completely different. That would work, with some thought, of course.
This game is full of lazy writing.
The writing becomes even more convoluted when I think about it. Look. Curt Connors arrives at the place where the symbiote crash-landed, right? And what does this genius do? This big Mr. Scientist? He tries to grab the symbiote and it sticks to him. And what do the PMC soldiers do when that happens? They shoot his freaking arm off. Why does everyone blame the symbiote for it? It is not the one to blame, my friends. It was all Connor’s fault. You should NEVER touch an alien species without precaution. This scene is dumb as hell.
@@mr_lagerkvist really good analysis bro.
@@ramirez6127 thank u
@@mr_lagerkvist
I just finished the Scream fight and yeah MJ's dialogue feels really weird, like I don't think they set up that kind of resentment from her very well, Peter wasn't supportive like one time when he was too tired to read her story, and that was a story she didn't even want to write anyway.
FACTS FACTS FACTS!!!! SPIT YOUR TRUTH 🔥🔥🔥
i’m glad i’m not the only one who thought the story was messy. the first one was so tightly held together in comparison. i loved the game, i loved a lot of the moments, set pieces, quieter moments, & improvements to the gameplay. i’m ready for new game plus, but the story did feel as i was playing it a bit all over the place
Peter's "I love you" was such a genuine brotherly love, that you're right, we don't get to see all that often. My feelings after that moment were just, Yeah of course peter would say that to his best friend and of course he would mean it with every inch of his heart. I loved it.
Props to them for making the Peter/Harry relationship so wholesome you practically dread the moment Peter inevitably dons the symbiote and sends Harry spiraling back into sickness. And even the excitement of using symbiote powers gets sobered up the moment Peter nearly kills MJ and lashes out at Harry.
And wholesome enough to make me wanna do the Emily-May side missions even after things go bad.
Easily the best take I've seen on the game. You've managed to express my exact thoughts and feelings better than i ever could. The black suit story has a very strong place in my heart after my battle with addiction
I hope Insomniac makes the third game a more grounded and even more personal story, with New york feeling more like its own character. Until then, it's going to be a long wait.
Dude this waits going to suck!! It didn’t feel like I’d get to play Spider-Man 2, but now I beat it and ig all I can do is wait for the 3rd one. I hate it so much!
Also, for SM3 itll just be more low stakes and personal already. It’ll be Norman and Otto and a smaller villain maybe. It’ll be more about New York as a whole w/ Oscorp and I’m just gonna assume Otto will do 1 massive prison break from the raft and cause complete chaos
Interactive media like video games are so special because they can do what movies can’t, the emotions that well up inside when you’re heralding the pidgeons away while in the back of your mind you’re worried for what Howard might be insinuating is an experinace like no other for me. The screaming of the symbiote when you use the surge for the first time coming from the controller itself, even something as simple as the small taps across your controller as the character takes a step is so fantastic.
I’m glad you enjoyed it and felt it meshed despite being a mess. I didn’t, i felt Miles story was empty and had no real connective tissue to the main story. I also think Venom is way over done that said the connection with Harry was great, just wish the game didn’t feel like a rush to get to these beats in the story. That said many of the side quest were great, wasn’t exactly feeling the specific community ones but loved the overall NY and individual ones.
I thoug the exact same! And then when I saw them do anti venom, and the whole thing leading up to it, just connected back to the main story so well. I agree that for the most part, Miles was just in the background, but they interwove the Li, Peter, and miles stuff really well towards the end imo
Just like Spider-Man 3 movie, this game's main theme is forgiveness. And it's a masterpiece. Loved the game.
If the biggest problem with the story was that you wanted more story, it must be a pretty damn good story!
Honestly, a small moment that will stick with me forever is when young Peter punches a hole in the wall and tries to hide it. May comes upstairs and sees the hole, and teaches him about finding balance. That it's a journey, not a destination. It just really struck a chord with me.
They are KINDA forcing Miles and websuit too much when it was about Peter and swinging from the begging. However they had to leave something for the 3rd game which will obviously be grand finale.
My only problem is how miles was written in this game… don’t get me wrong he’s my boy and I love him but it’s annoying how he’s had no flaws in this game and always saving Peter. He never actually struggled like he did in him own game. An example of this was Peter vs miles battle it was too easy not In terms of gameplay but how easily miles over powers Peter without any struggle. I get that they want to make him the main spiderman man but it just feels too forced, up until now miles haven’t lost/sacrificed the level Peter has… what I’m trying to get at is make miles his own spiderman make him struggle like Peter and make him over come that and become the hero he can be
He needs his own version of what Peter went through in the first game. Losing all of his mentors, the city falling into darkness with his attention pulled in all directions. Everyone relying on him and only him. How to do that without killing Peter off I don't know, but if anyone can do it, it's Insomniac.
One think I love about these games is the fact that the characters are growing but so is their supporting cast which is just so refreshing in superhero media
And the most stakes are there in this franchise
I love how you speak with pure genuine with no shame or regard of people meme-ing your sincerity. I love that so much.
"harry venom works" LMFAOOOOOOO
writers more focused on pushing their "look at me, i'm holier than thou" agenda than on writing a good spidah dude story
Sadly Miles was the one who dragged the story down this time. He had almost nothing to do with the main story then stole the Spotlight in the end all of a sudden, leaving Peter behind in what was supposed to be HIS story.
I agree… they should’ve spent more time showing how close they were and then how the symbiotic ruined their relationship. Miles deserved better.
He should've gotten another symbiote and kill martin lee lol
Blame sweet baby Inc lol.
I think the best thing about the game is that there is SO MUCH to do. One second your playing as venom, than fighting mysterio. Than playing as miles. Than Peter. Than something else. Like yeah I get it messes up the pacing but it made it so entertaining lmao. Goty 2023.
Also that MJ symbiote boss fight made a mf rageeeeee.
But that lizard boss fight was the best boss fight I’ve played since like Dante’s inferno 😂
Ngl, and this is an unpopular take, but I think Spider-Man 2 is better than the first game in every way. This was as close to the perfect Spider-Man game as I think we're likely to ever get.
Honestly thats doesnt seem that unpopular
@KadenAlbrecht I feel like it is. Most discussion I see around the game has clowns saying how the game isn't as good or the story is bloated or bad.
Maybe it's just a very loud minority of idiots though.
@@masonhall3617nah it's not unpopular opinion. It's definitely a sequel better than the original. It got 91 while the first one got 87
Agreed 💯💯💯
why do your videos always put a lump in my throat or make me cry.
your passion is insane man
Thank you for uploading in 4k and this aspect ratio, looks phenomenal
The moment that got to me the most was the Peter vs Miles fight. So many lines just hurt like hell in that.
"I'm the hero. I don't get saved."
"I'm finally what everyone needs me to be, but the city thinks I'm the problem! You think I'm the problem, but I'm not!"
"I know you're hurting Pete, but you're better than this!"
And that excrutiatingly difficult to hear, "I know... I know but...."
Completely random but the anti venom suit having Todd mcfarland eyes was such a nostalgia high
In a game where Side content includes Cletus Kasady, Chameleon and a Spider-Verse Easter egg, my favorite mission turned out to be the Grandpa Earl side mission with how down to earth and human it felt
I hated how miles was the one to save peter from the suit, the boss battle was amazing but i wish it woukd have ended with peter removing it himself to show his willpower
Dont you remember the qte gameplay cinematic where you play as Peter and PULL the symbiote off of you?
No miles removing it was good cause the message is be greater together. Like that's the message of the game, peter is always unlucky in the comics n all, he has someone to share the burden with (miles)
The phrases “make me think back to simpler times” and “Arkham Knight” being used in the same sentence just made me feel soo old. That wasn’t even ten years ago, baby man.
I really loved spiderman 2. It’s just unfortunate that it feels like a whole chapter is missing. Giving a deeper exploration of Peter, the symbiote, harry, more of the villains, and all the relationships and conflict involved. But in the end it still made me feel so much joy and cry. It’s still an amazing game. Well done, Insomniac
With great ability comes great accountability
I think that the gameplay is perfection. However, the story is still great and I don't criticize it as much as others. But it never reached the same highs as the first one. The first one was already the perfect Spiderman experience.
this is the best take on spider-man 2 i’ve seen so far.
I want to thank you Hitop for not only your content and you sharing your love of good stories but inspiring me to be a storyteller myself. Thank you for sharing your love man.
let’s be real. miles should have had standalone games. to allow the other parts of peter’s story to breathe. could’ve invested more time in the symbiote gameplay(ex: web of shadows) and more time as Venom. Also Kraven could’ve actually been hunting you. using your villains to learn how you fight to then try and kill you later on. a lot of missed opportunities like @HiTopFilms said. disappointing really. also, before i forget; they nerfed peter. he gets saved like 3 or 4 times. bro, he’s spider-man. i can’t fathom the amount of disrespect this character got 😂. i hope they correct course because this is definitely downhill story wise from the first game. if not, guess i’m not buying from them anymore.
Tbh, this is one of THE BEST games I’ve ever played!⚡️ The visuals, the action, the gameplay, the traversal, the villains, the story and everything else was just top notch. For me, this game’s story was more epic, while the first game’s story was a bit more emotional. So, I’m actually divided as to which story I like more. But, both of these games are absolute masterpieces imo. Overall, this game topped the first one for me.
The way Norman broke down at the end is balls on a filmmaker, this is perfectly cheesy, perfectly acted, perfectly acted, perfectly edited. Everything about that scene is flawless, every film student needs to study why this scene works.
Norman Osborn breaking down and getting what he deserves is…. Cinema 🙌
I’m glad that you touched on the side missions. THAT is what Spiderman is to me: helping someone ask their bf to prom, or sitting on a bench with a grandfather until his granddaughter finds him. Insomniac absolutely gets Spiderman, and i love this universe they have created. The way they are able to make a story where the climax is a Symbiote invasion feel so human is so good. Even though this game isn’t perfect, i loved it and my only “complaint” is that i wish that i got to spend more time with these characters
18:40 HiTop cut out the part where peter said, "but it's gunna hurt first" lmao 🤣
This might be one of the most emotional ones I've ever watched you did such a good job with this one I'm very proud of you for doing this
I teared up again during his summary of the grandpa bench mission and Howard. Didn’t think it was possible for him to bring back the emotions
I agree with you its nice to see that there is someone here who is talking to me i dont get that many people who listen to me that often.
Howards and the grandpa story I did early in my play through and man I seriously was like "This is a video game... Why am I getting the feels???"
"Peter loses people close to him no matter how hard he tries to save everyone."
Paraphrased you a bit there. But that line right there describes Spider-man to a tee.
That is why I hated the Across the Spiderverse movie (I really enjoyed the first film).
What poisoned my feelings about the sequel was the whole CANON mentality between everyone in the Spider society.
The whole 'someone close to Spider-man is fated to die to solidify them being Spider-man/woman/Person, or Pig.
And so they have to let that particular close person die (and that every single spider-person in that multiversal group believed in and supported in that idea).
And that crossed the line for me and poisoned my experience with the film, because there is no way in hell that the character (no matter what universe they are from) going along with it and then letting a Gwen, Captain Stacy, MJ, Jameson, Aunt May etc then die just to please some canonical balance.
They were would try to save everyone, even if they would then fail to save someone during the attempt.
Spider-man. Will. Always. Try. To. Save. People.
No. Matter. Whom they. Were.
Also, the whole there should be no Miles in any Universe.
Did the makers forget that Insomniac's Spider universe naturally has a Miles, because they put the game's Peter in the film too.
And 616 has Miles as well.
I dont know. O.o
It seems that they're trying to make us believe Miguel's philosophy is right just so later on in the third movie they show how wrong he is xD
This video hit the nail on the head, where the game spray falls short as a game it excels as an experience. You’re not just mashing and punching your way through hordes to of enemies to get to some sacred final boss. You’re not only fighting people with their own intentions tho misguided, while also balancing the aspect of just helping the every day person. I love this game.
I think its because we have lost our patience
That power to take the story slow and absorb each mission is gone
While I disagree on the point about Venom (I just think they should have focused more on the symbiote's attachment to Peter and Harry's relationship with the latter; instead of rehashing Web of Shadows' plot in a shorter and worse manner), I think this is one of your best videos.
Overall I believe, like others have already said here, some more hours to flesh out the story would have benefitted the game a lot. Probably should have held off on the symbiote assimilation plot for a future game (until the leader, Knull or whatever he is called, comes to Earth) and focused more on the effects that Venom has on both Peter and Harry, instead of just making them "turn heel" for a few days each and Mary Jane for a few minutes.
As it was, it felt like the story wanted to rush through a myriad of plot points to cover them all, instead of focusing on fewer but giving depth to them
Didn’t expect to cry over this game again. Thanks.
2 thing at the end of the game that made me tear up. when miles sees pete struggle to say what he wants to say, miles just says "i got this, go be peter parker for awhile." Its a complete 180 from miles game. When pete tells miles hes gonna be on leave for a few weeks, miles is nervous and doubts his ability to protect the city. At the end of this game, hes fully confident in his abilities. And some may be upset that peter wont be the main spiderman anymore but, honestly im happy for him. Hes been doin this for 10 years. 10 years of pain, loss, regret, dispair, and longing. He deserves to be able to step down for awhile.
They spent too much time trying to make MJ more important.. it took away from the star: which is, supposed to be Spider-Man imo. It was the MJ show a little too often, and I thought her segments were boring as hell!
I love the idea that the Venom symbiote was fascinated by Peter (probably through Harry's memories) in this game.
It helped Harry get better to get close to Peter. It helped at the fairground when it saw him in trouble and about to fail. It became Agent Venom to mimic Spiderman to impress him and help him. Then it saved him out of love and bonded with him, showing Peter the power they both can wield. And then began to consume him out of fear of losing him as Peter's other friends constantly saying how bad the suit is for Peter, eventually being rejected by Peter like a bad relationship. Finally turning his best friend against him out of spite to show Peter exactly what Venom can do.
Or maybe I'm just reading way too much into it.
They focused on way too much playable side characters instead for the content, like MJ and they made you play a mission as Hailey, like bruhh, why? Smh The only side missions I enjoyed doing were the Flame for Peter and Mysterio’s challenges for Miles 😬👀
Happy 1st Anniversary Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (Playstation 5 video game).
I think Venom was done a massive disservice. He was reduced to assimilationist alien and hulking brute, his relationship with Eddie Brock is what makes him special as a character. The entire third act felt extremely rushed too.
‘i platinum trophy, got that 100% and then felt the vast emptiness inside my soul’
yep third times the charm
Yeah that miles suit at the end was trash
They should have given the symbiote time to cook. And made Bully Pete much harsher with his words. Like when he comfronts MJ he could have said "You know maybe I was wrong. Maybe I should have chosen Felicia at least SHE tells me to embrace spider-man. Not make me feel like I should torture myself to make you, OR EVERYONE HAPPY!"
You don't know how long I've been waiting for your video about this man. Your video about the original Spider-Man lives rent free in my head and I love you felt the same way I did about this sequel
❤️
For me, the story was also about endings, new beginnings, and moving on.
Peter has moved on from being a full time Spiderman, Miles is ready to start being the new Spiderman (solo)
The villains, Tombstone, Mysterio, Li, Black Cat, Sandman, they're all done with it and have finally moved on with their life.
Harry tried to move in, but because of circumstance he couldn't. He gave up that chance by giving the Symbiote up, then was neglected and almost killed by his best friend. And even then, he's desperately trying to make the world better (in a twisted sense)
Norman is the only one who would not move on and accept responsibility is also the only one who ends up entirely alone at the end. Norman would not accept that he is now personally responsible for three monsters, one of which was his own son. Sure, he just wanted Harry back, but he didn't care who got hurt or died along the way. Then becomes enraged at a beaten down and broken Spiderman that clearly did what he could on an impossible task.
This game was a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned, there was just as much emotion & depth as the first game, i disagree with those that say the black suit story felt rushed, we had it long enough to suit the stories purpose, I would love the insomniac spider-man games to get a live action movie franchise cause these stories are perfect spider-man stories
When i saw spiderman and venom fight at midtown highs football field i felt like a child again playing ultimate spiderman
*SPOILERS* (My thoughts on Kraven)
Kraven is good, but I feel like he would have wanted the symbiote for himself. If only he knew it could prolong his life *AND* make him *THE* apex predator. Kraven pulled the same move on Peter as he did on Scorpion, so I feel like he would’ve figured out that the black suit was the reason he lived. If I found out that I was terminally ill and knew about the symbiote, I’d want to take it for myself. I wish Kraven was a version of venom in this game. It would’ve been different and awesome because it lines up with him wanting to be the greatest hunter. Going from wanting to be worthy enough to die at the hand of his greatest hunt to becoming the greatest hunt. Harry would probably die, but it would still set up Norman hating Spider-Man.
(This was my comment on Jermey Jahns’ review)
I think you misread Kraven's character. He doesn't care that he's dying, he even says so himself; he just doesn't want to die in a way he views as meaningless. It would be much more accurate to say that he'd view the Symbiote as running away from his fate but by taking matters into his own hands and finding someone to kill him, he's facing it on his own terms.
I don’t think it’s really in character for Kraven to have an army of robot dogs and goons helping him when he is all about being the best hunter himself. Kinda feels like he should be a solo villain and not a guy with an army.
@@donovan4222 I agree but at the same time it's a necessary evil for a video game format so I didn't mind.
@@donovan4222 TRUE! They were henchmen not goons too. How’d he get so many followers to believe in his cause.
@@Nobody-wx6rk He tried chemotherapy, didn’t he? He also had potions that implied his increased strength, so I’m not sure he’d mind the symbiote as a crutch like Harry in the beginning (before Agent Venom). It would’ve been a better boss fight too. Venom’s boss fight in the end felt repetitive and stretched. They could’ve had Spider-Man fight Kraven and win, then the symbiote takes over his unconscious body. Spider-Man would have to decide whether he should kill him like Dr. Conners said or save him (just like Harry in the game, only this time the choice would be harder for him because it’s not his best friend). I’m also one of the people who enjoyed Spectacular Spider-Man’s take on Kraven where he wanted to level the playing field with powers of his own so idk. Both are good imo.
Killing off the 6 off screen was so stupid... maybe I wamted another boss fight with, electro, shocker or vulture later in the series? They could have easily kept them alive at least for fun side missions
I loved the gameplay a ton but I’m gonna be honest, the story didn’t really do it for me. It doesn’t touch the first game story wise imo
Sadly I do disagree
The best way I can describe this game is like this - you go to a Michelin star restaurant and order their finest wagyu stake, and that’s all they give you, just the stake on a plate, granted the stake is good, but there’s no garnish, no side, no wine, no presentation, a lot of what you would normally take for granted, the small stuff is missing, and god did I feel it in this game
For example, you get nothing in this game that ties Miles or Peter to the people of NYC - in the last game, there was that social feed on the map? God I spent an embarrassing amount of time reading through all of it, and seeing it update as I did the small crime events? Brilliant - again very small, but went a long way in feeling grounded
Another example, Feast. Feast did a great thing having Peter be Peter while caring for the downtrodden folks of NYC, seeing them have real issues, seeing them cope, what happened in SM2? Danica and Jameson are hardly enough to convince me as to the state of NYC’s public, and I was hoping the EMF was going to be something along those lines, but it lasted for only a moment it felt like - it would be nice to just have gotten a day in the life of Peter working at EMF, but not even a day - it felt disconnected from all of NYC
To add further, what happened to NYC’s public offices? Did they get lobotomized from the last game? Where are the fire fighters and police when the cultists are burning stuff down?! Where are the ambulances?? Why does everything seem to only function when spidey is around? Now I know we carry citizens to ambulances and that’s great that we have that interaction with them, but again, why does that come at the lobotomy of the emergency services in nyc? Cops should be trying to stop car chases, and cultists, fire fighters should be on lockdown with the whacky cultists trying to burn down buildings and gas tankers - it just seems like NYC all of a sudden can’t do anything for itself without Spider-Man anymore
There is more, like, why does it feel like that hunters are only Spidey’s problem, like I don’t feel like the hunters bother anyone other than Pete, Miles, and their own entourage - why did we not see more of Kraven - why are the Hunters the ONLY faction we contend with, symbiotes don’t count - and one big thing, WHY WAS SANDMAN ONLY A MINOR INTRO??? WHY DID HIS SIDE WUEST JUST… END? So unceremoniously, like “here’s a little statuete little keemia, bye now” - that’s it? - why was there no Kingpin payoff to Miles’ side quest from his spinoff? Further about miles, why am I running around his school doing chores? Like come on I KNOW he has more cooking in his story than glorified school chores
There is likely more I can delve into, but this has to end somewhere, so I will end it here - it simply feels like in trying to do so much, they of course, had to trim away a lot of the fat, but in the process cut away slivers of meat too
TLDR - Game Good, Story Rushed, Too Little Time With Everything (Alien, Friends, and NYC)
This game absolutely NAILED side stories. I'll probably always prefer the main story of the first game and remember it more fondly because it felt a lot more focused, but the side stories in this one will stick with me even more than that because they just felt like they embodied the "friendly neighborhood" aspect of this character FLAWLESSLY. The side stories often feel like if you replaced Spidey with a normal, non-powered person just trying to do the right thing, they would make just as much sense.
At the very least they could've shown security footage on some of the hunter base screens showing Kraven taking out the sinisters. And seriously I don't see an issue with Miles' Evolved suit. Also talking to the grandfather got me feely, but when I finished Howard's mission, that broke me hard. Having to give Pidgey and co. a new home in the open for Howard's sake killed me. And hearing his call end after Peter said "Howard?" just got my tears rolling.
As a venom fan , I hated this game's portrayal of Venom. What makes Venom special is that he doesn't want power or rule the world . He just wants to kill peter parker because he is jealous of him, he blames all of his problems on him . Eddie and Peter are great parallels to each other in the comics because both are technically the same person , but yet they are so different . Peter grew up in a safe environment provided by his uncle Ben, and aunt may that helped mature Peter. Meanwhile, Eddie he had no one his mother died at childbirth, and his father was a dark reflection of Uncle Ben, someone who doesn't care about their own son , some one that twists his child's own belief to benefit his own agenda . Both Peter and Eddie are good people at heart but what differentiates them is that Eddie is more reckless and irresponsible and blames his mistakes on others its like if Peter only blamed uncle Ben's killer only and not himself. That's why Eddie is the perfect antithesis to Peter and his perfect dark reflection