I love long intros. A great opportunity to share your thoughts with the reader against the backdrop of a central theme. So if you’re in a hurry, here’s the bottom line: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the best third-person action game on the PlayStation 5 console with an emphasis on hand-to-hand combat. Not “the best action game in general”, but the best – and further in the text.
And first I’ll tell you about a completely different Peter Parker – the same young man who was created by Stan Lee, and not the ideal and sickly sweet one created by film makers and video game designers.
There is an opinion that Spider-Man is the most popular Marvel superhero. Perhaps this is true. He first appeared on the Amazing Fantasy page and later received his own comic book series, The Amazing Spider-Man. So, Peter Parker in these comics is not a dandelion boy at all. This is a brash and often rude high school student who regularly provokes Flash Thompson, the captain of the football team, by being the first to provoke him into rudeness.
My classmates like Peter Parker. And after entering college, he has no end to girls. Betty Brant (she was Peter’s first girlfriend), his colleague at the editorial office. Gwen Stacy is an amazing and beautiful creature who loves with all her heart a young man who time after time wanted to give a damn about his soul mate. And, of course, the well-known Mary Jane Watson. No, Stan Lee did not conceive her as a smart and purposeful girl beyond her years. On the contrary, almost from his first appearance, MJ begins to hang around the neck of the handsome Parker, not hesitating to give him open compliments and openly declaring to Gwen that at the first opportunity she will take the guy away from her “friend.” And while Peter is busy, Miss Watson is having an affair with Harry Osborn, Parker’s best friend. At the same time, without hiding her love interest in Parker in front of her boyfriend. All she has in her head is parties and fun.
MJ in the game has nothing in common with the original from the comics
They did not expect? Still would. After all, Sam Raimi, the director of the old trilogy about Spider with the overly sweet boy Tobey Maguire and his faithful dog eyes, popularized a completely different image, nothing like the one the creator came up with.
So it’s not surprising that the studio Insomniac Games decided to make its Parker with an emphasis on a sweet, incredibly honest and kind guy.
Marvel’s Spider-Man (2)
Insomniac’s first Spider-Man turned out to be an almost perfect product in its genre. Excellent production, acting, a script that easily matched ALL films about “Spidey”, a cutting-edge picture at the time of release and a gorgeous soundtrack – the formula for success was found. So you shouldn’t be surprised that in the second part the developers did not deviate from this formula at all.
To be honest, it’s hard to say anything about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 that wasn’t said about the first game. You know the joke: “Just don’t copy one to the other so that the teacher doesn’t guess.” So, Insomniac copied almost 1 for 1, adding very few innovations so that they wouldn’t directly accuse themselves of plagiarism.
Was this a bad decision? Probably not. After all, why fix and repair something that was not broken at all, and, moreover, demonstrated maximum efficiency?
Frames in photo mode are a real pleasure
Let’s do this: I will list those innovations that distinguish Spider-Man from Spider-Man 2 (including DLS about Miles Morales).
Here’s what they added:
- You can now change heroes while completing side quests. But the plot is strictly tied to a specific hero.
- Cars began to behave more naturally on the road.
- Spiders can seriously hit the ground if they mess up the trick (there’s even an achievement for this).
- Reflections on glass and metal surfaces – they look amazing!
- At speed, spiders have learned to surf on water.
- Suits began to show damage.
- The graphics have become more beautiful. Especially the work of light.
- Improved the physics of web behavior.
- We added naturalness to the behavior of the extras and new staging.
- It’s autumn – leaves fall from the trees if they are touched by a Spider.
- Added mechanics for blocking blows.
- Spider wings have appeared!
It is no coincidence that I listed two significant updates at the beginning and end of the list. No joke – this is the whole difference between the first and second games! Of course, not counting the plot. Let’s talk a little about the plot.
Little Odessa
Some time has passed since the events of the Miles Morales expansion. A high school student wants to go to college, but 25-year-old Parker can’t get a job. Both are constantly hampered by their superhero activities – but the younger one uses it to justify his reluctance to “sell himself to the selection committee” (of course, a loving mother will always feed him and wash his socks), but Peter has no relatives left. He is on his own, and only Mary Jane can help the young man in difficult moments of psychological weakness.
And Peter constantly demonstrates these weaknesses. The developers became so carried away by the idea of humanity behind the mask that they openly began to go too far with Parker’s endless soul-searching. It comes to the point of outright selfishness, but the elder Spider does not realize this. His girlfriend is about to fly out of work, and he continues to grieve over the tragic death of Aunt May, secretly wiping away his drool. But more than a year has passed since the tragedy! And it will only get worse.
Spoiler: the developers will have to come up with a new Scorpio
Even an attempt to become a high school teacher in one of the New York schools (where, by the way, Miles also studies) ultimately did not lead to anything: an attack on the Sandman’s city forces the “hero” to abandon his students and go to battle. Naturally, the director immediately fired the unfortunate teacher as soon as he appeared before her eyes.
But Sandman attacked the city for a reason – it turned out that he became prey for some mysterious hunters who were driving people with special powers for their leader, Craven. As a result, the Sandman was calmed down, but at the cost of this was the villain’s increased interest in the Big Apple. Of course, in the local special security prison there are a dozen villains for every taste. Great catch for the legendary Hunter!
There is also good news for Parker – his best friend, Harry Osborn, has recovered. But how, “recovered”. Even in the first part, we were given to understand that a symbiote was placed in Harry, and sooner or later Venom will make itself known. The synopsis of the game openly stated that the main opponent of the Spiders would not be Craven at all, but an alien.
But before these events you will have to complete the game somewhere around 75-80% of the plot. Seriously, most of the story was dedicated to Craven’s hunt. Yes, he is wonderful both as a villain and as a dramatic character, but why did he do that? As a result, there was so little time left to deal with Venom, and so many events were fit into this period that the seemingly even pace of the narrative at the end of the game simply shatters into small fragments.
Big Bad Russian – Craven steals every scene he’s in
And the amount of intense action becomes so much in a short period of time that it starts to make you feel nauseous. And considering that you will most likely have completed all available side activities by this time, there is simply nothing to dilute this concentrated massacre with!
Speaking of side effects. They are practically no different in meaning from the first part. Collect several collections. Pass the time trials. Find hiding places. Kill a group of enemies.
Their only value is the plot with the cult of fire and a reference to the appearance of Carnage in a future expansion. And don’t even doubt it, it will happen! After all, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has become the most successful exclusive for PS5 from an internal studio! Within a day since its release, more than 2.5 million copies were sold – this is a really solid figure.
Felicia is great!
But essentially that’s all. The plot and old and new side effects for collecting and fighting. Yes, the story in this “Spider-Man” turned out to be excellent, it easily does everything that you have seen before in the “Sony” and “Marvel” films. In terms of the level of direction and staging, films cannot compare with games.
By the way, the writers decided to give many of the villains a chance at redemption, which was a pleasant surprise. First Marco (Sandman), then Mysterio, then even the personal enemy of Miles Morales suddenly begin to listen to their conscience. Perhaps with this the developers are preparing the player for future content, who knows. After all, Marvel’s Spider-Man is an independent universe that has been officially added to the global universe of Marvel products.
Results
And what do we get in the bottom line? Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a gorgeous action game in which almost everything is polished to perfection. Thanks to the block mechanics, battles have received slight development, although they have not changed globally. Spider wings, or wingsuits, give you more freedom of movement and are simply a fun mechanic that allows you to take great screenshots.
The game deals well with the theme of generational change, although the difference in the ages of the heroes is not particularly large
Improved graphics are a given. So is the music. And everything that made the first part a hit. This game should not be rated lower just because “there is not enough new”! Consider this a new series of interactive films, where you control the characters, but the plot has long been written by the scriptwriters.
This is a must-play for PlayStation 5 owners!
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