Two words frequently come to mind when referring to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and they are holy hell. Divorced from the limitations of the previous generation of PlayStation consoles, Spider-Man 2 takes full advantage of its exclusive PS5 stomping grounds to deliver a gorgeous tour of New York City as you web-swing between skyscrapers, glide across the cityscape, and get a breathtaking look at all five boroughs after a Kaiju-sized Sandman hurls you across the screen.

Developer Insomniac Games is firing on all cylinders with its third Spider-Man game, delivering not only a technical tour de force that cements its position as Sony’s top first-party dog, but also delivers a rollercoaster ride of emotions while exploring new ideas in its Spider-Verse.

At its core, Spider-Man 2 is a game about change as its two protagonists find themselves facing new personal challenges in addition to the supervillain of the week. Peter Parker and Miles Morales are struggling to balance their personal lives with the responsibility of being New York’s Spider-Men, and things only get more complicated when old friends from the past, a sinister alien symbiote, and Kraven the Hunter enter the scene.

With New York turned into Kraven’s hunting grounds and other insidious forces at play, Peter and Miles have their work cut out for them. However, as Insomniac confidently reveals, the duo have several new game-changing tricks up their sleeve. 2018’s Spider-Man game leaned heavily into the Arkham school of fisticuffs, but back then the developers evolved that style of superhero combat to have a distinct Spider-Man flavour when compared to other games that copied the style of the Batman game series. That acrobatic adaptation was expanded upon in 2020’s Miles Morales game with the use of Venom powers that added a new sense of rhythm to the gameplay.

In Spider-Man 2, Insomniac pushes those ideas to new heights with an overhaul that keeps the action loose and energetic. If you played the first two Spider-Man games, the muscle memory will kick in pretty quickly as you dodge enemy attacks, unload webs into their faces, and finish them off with a flurry of blows – but that’s just the foundation of this game.

Now, Peter can keep up with Miles thanks to an array of new gadgets that’ll likely result in a lawsuit from Doc Ock, plus symbiote powers that he acquires later in the game add a brutal layer of devastation to his offense. In comparison, Miles gets a few new Venom powers in his toolkit, and both heroes can instantly utilise Spider-gizmos without needing to bring up a weapon-wheel. Alongside more subtle changes and tweaks, combat in Spider-Man 2 feels worlds apart from the previous games. It’s more polished and feature-packed than ever before, as there’s a spectacular arsenal of arachnid-themed abilities and items that can be chained together to create a devastating offense.

Even better, getting around New York City is more fluid than ever before thanks to the expanded traversal options. Sure, the web-wings are a fun way to glide between checkpoints, but nothing beats good old-fashioned web-swinging as Insomniac has amplified the speed of this system and has added a few new tricks to the art of thwip thwip.

And then there are the technical achievements, the visual eye-candy that could only be possible by striking some sort of Faustian bargain with Mephisto. I don’t know how Insomniac manages to squeeze this much power out of the PS5, but in an age where your console options are limited to 4K at the expense of frame-rate or vice versa, the developer somehow manages to add more graphical variety with modes that always give you the best possible bang for your buck.

There are some concessions made here, but unless you’re interning at Digital Foundry, you’d never notice them. Instead, Insomniac has delivered a game where the entirety of New York is available to explore at any given moment, resulting in a technically impressive experience that is quicker, and sets a new benchmark for how fast-travel should work.

And yet, all of this would mean nothing if Spider-Man 2 had a lackluster narrative. The first Spider-Man game and Miles Morales nailed the tone for Insomniac’s take on Spider-Man, as both titles delivered a blockbuster experience anchored by more nuanced moments of character development and devastating emotional twists. It’s those moments of small victories woven among a greater sense of loss and loneliness that define Spider-Man 2. The new sequel snatches up the threads of the previous games and uses them to build a web of intriguing new developments.

While Kraven’s relentless assault on the Spider-Men proves to be an effective crux on which to pull players in, it’s the exploration of the relationships in Miles and Peter’s lives that’ll keep you hooked. Those quieter moments of self-reflection and intimate interactions remind you that beneath the mask, there are good people with noble intentions striving to help heal the world. Of course, the arrival of Venom throws an icky symbiote-covered wrench into the mix, as Insomniac takes its time to insert the character into the story properly.

Once it wraps its slimy tendrils around Peter, Spider-Man 2 dives into a dark exploration of power, corruption, and addiction. By the time that the Hulk-sized symbiote makes his grand debut in explosive fashion that leaves a good chunk of Manhattan leveled, they’re a fully-realized incarnation that’s hellbent on achieving their goals. Thanks to that slow-burn introduction and the sinister vocal work of the Candyman himself, Tony Todd, Insomniac’s version of Venom is a pitch-black homage to the character’s comic book roots, as a toxic parasite who desperately wants to reconnect with former host Peter.

All of this leads to a grand finale between the Spider-cast and Venom – a jaw-dropping explosion of grand-scale boss fights in the epic Marvel tradition. A special mention must go to composer John Paesano at this point, as the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack perfectly complements the entire game. From the insidious sounds pumped out whenever Venom enters a scene, to the dark beats of jungle drums that signal the arrival of Kraven, Paesano’s score consistently delivers goosebumps and smiles.

Of course, if there is an elephant wrapped in the Venom symbiote in the room, it’s that for all the advances that Spider-Man 2 makes with its storytelling, technical prowess, and gameplay evolution, it’s still beholden to the formula of open-world guff. There’s no getting around the collect-a-thon design that is built to ensure maximum engagement with the world. These side quests swing between fun diversions to stop a cult of fire-obsessed loonies, to more mundane puzzle challenges, but at least they’re better integrated into the sandbox this time around. And even have decent payoffs.

This makes for a game that, paradoxically, avoids feeling iterative even if it gives you more of the same content. The fact is, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is consistently fun and loaded with jaw-dropping moments, especially when you see those end-credit sequences which tease a bold new direction for the series. It’s the kind of game that you’ll want two DualSense controllers for, so you can swap between them whenever the batteries run low. Put another way, Spider-Man 2 wraps its riveting narrative tentacles around you and hooks you in with stunning visuals and edge-of-your-seat gameplay.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is out now exclusively for PlayStation 5, having released on 20 October.


Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 review

In a year with no shortage of GOTY contenders, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 rises to the top of the list with an exceptional adventure that combines blockbuster visuals with emotionally grounded storytelling and next-gen action. Choose any adjective you want–amazing, sensation, or spectacular–because Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is all of them.

 9
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was reviewed on PS5