Greater than ever?
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| Console: PlayStation 5. |
It continues Peter and Miles's journey as Spider-Men and heroes of NYC while also doing its own spin on the Symbiote and Kraven's Last Hunt stories from the comics. It promises to be a true sequel, building on the foundation laid out by its predecessors to give us a bigger, better and more streamlined experience.
Does it live up to the hype? Does it not only match but exceed the standards set by the original? Let's dive in!
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| Console: PlayStation 5. |
It continues Peter and Miles's journey as Spider-Men and heroes of NYC while also doing its own spin on the Symbiote and Kraven's Last Hunt stories from the comics. It promises to be a true sequel, building on the foundation laid out by its predecessors to give us a bigger, better and more streamlined experience.
Does it live up to the hype? Does it not only match but exceed the standards set by the original? Let's dive in!
That elusive narrative
Spider-Man 2, like its predecessors, is a very story-driven experience. Experiencing the story is half, perhaps even more than half, of the fun. It's why the trailers were so, for the most part, minimal. To not spoil the surpirse. We knew about Venom and Kraven as the big bads, Harry's return etc. but anything more than these elements was kept under lock and key.
Strictly speaking, I still don't know a lot more. I've played through the opening and its big action setpiece (which I won't spoil) plus Peter's and Miles' first solo story sections after which they teamed up again. Even with that already hefty amount of story behind me I still can't tell where everything is going exactly. What is at its core. I'm seeing plenty of puzzle pieces, but the larger picture (and Venom) still alludes me.
As such I can't talk much about the story yet but the fact that its still unclear is noteworthy in and of itself. It either means that the pacing is slow or, as is the case here, that's taking its time to put all the pieces on the board. Not much is 'progressing' but a lot is still happening. A lot of groundwork is being layed here from the struggles in the Spider-Men personal lives to what I'm clear is a larger, superpowers related, conspiracy in the background. Intersting stuff, both.
With Harry's entrances especially I've become intrigued what his presence will entail. With the knowledge that he was (and let's be honest, likely still is) sick I understand the combo of nostalgia and risk taking behaviour we're seeing. I can see both leading to quite a bit of trouble...
The oh so familiar combat and activities
Another reason I think that the marketing of the was so superficial is that, at its core, Spider-Man 2 is very much the same game as Spider-Man. It's a sequel, so it's to be expected that there are a lot of similarities but as of now, aside from a few added bells and whistles it is the exact same as before down to the combos and side activities.
You punch, kick, dodge and web in a combo system, the more your special meter fills up for special attacks, yadie-yadie-yada. Using the same combat loop isn't bad at all, it's a good loop and if it ain't broke don't fix it, but I would've liked some more innovation from it. In terms of skills and abilities, we have s few new ones, and the window dressing is different, but its essentially the same as before.
You have gadgets you can craft, like electric webs, and some innate skills that you can improve. For Miles it's the newly 'electric blue' power level for his venom blasts. For Peter, he has turned Otto's arms into spider legs. Both give you some admittadly neat new tricks in your toolbox.
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| Miles with his new 'electric blue' powerup. |
The only real 'game-changer' is the counter. It works like your typical counter. It functions as a normal block that, when timed just right, not only completely nulifies the attack but also damages the enemy and throws them back. A welcoming addition to the combat. Now, dodging isn't your only 'counter' and since there are pros and cons to both, it adds another layer of strategy.
Only 'weird' thing is that I feel the counter and dodge are switched. Let me explain: if an enemy gears up for a heavy, large range attack, do you need to dodge it or counter it? The dodge, right? Wrong! You need to counter it. Quite counter-intuitive, no? I think this setup is the way it is because they can keep the dodge functioning the same as it did in the other two games, but I think it would've been better to just rework the dodge now that the counter has been added. Don't get me wrong, the system here works fine, it's just odd.
For the side-actitvities I haven't seen much 'new' either but I'm quite certain that this will change. While in my first play session or two the side-activities where of the same variety as before they've become more different in my last session. New elements to tried and true activities are popping up and with how many side-activities are still hidden in this expanded NYC, I'm confident that many more new activities will present themself before long. Untill than, I have the already quite excellent side-quests to hold me over. In this camp, I'm looking forward to seeing old and new side-quests pop up.
Final Thoughts
Right now I quite like Spider-Man 2 even if I'm a bit disappointed in its familiarity. From the combat to the side activities, it's all very much what the previous two games offered. Just in a bigger NYC and with some added bells and whistles. I was hoping that more changes and additions would've reared their head by now. Even so, the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mantra applies well here. Everything is still very much as fun and well done as before and I had no problem jumping back in. Muscle memory and all that.
With more time, I'm optimistically confident that a lot more new stuff will show itself and that, with all the build-up in the story, this came could earn a place amongst the all-time greats.
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