The Amazed-Me Spider-Man...2

Why Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 blew me away.

Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 is a monumental piece of gaming, thanks to a stellar world and story, backed by the sheer technical power on display. Simply put, you can call me a house made of straw because this wolf of a game blew me away.

Start With A Bang

If you cast your mind back to 2018's Spider-Man, you'll remember the game opening with a police assault on Fisk Tower, hoping to detain the notorious crime boss Kingpin. A couple of years later, Miles Morales opened up with an escort mission gone wrong that pitted you against a rampaging Rhino through Christmas time in New York. This time, Insomniac went above and beyond, with a towering skyscraper of Sandman smashing up New York as Peter and Miles juggle a spectacular fight to bring him down. There's raising the bar, then there's removing it altogether.

Faster Travel

Fast travel used to involve catching the subway in your spider suit and being treated to some rather amazing cutscenes, although it was a clever way to mask loading screens as you travelled to a new part of the city. Five years later, the subway is out of order, and direct travel has arrived to take its place. The lack of loading times is astounding, as once you unlock a fast travel, you can click anywhere you want to go on the map and sure enough you'll zoom in to see Spider-Man thwipping his way from that exact spot in no time at all.

Moving Never Felt So Good

The sheer joy of web-swinging has always been the best part of any Spider-Man game. Now, Insomniac had already nailed that feeling both with Spider-Man & follow-up title Miles Morales. Yet, somehow, the movement mechanics of Spider-Man 2 have elevated web swinging to an entirely new level. The web wings are a stellar inclusion, and they are integrated seamlessly thanks to the inclusion of wind tunnels and the rooftop fans littering the city. On top of that, you've got even more options with web swinging thanks to a bulked-up skill tree that lets you quickly zip around corners or gain even more momentum. The world is bigger, but that just means we've got a larger playground to thwip around in sheer fun-induced style.

A Living, Breathing City

Cities and skyscrapers with lots of greys and browns. That's the city I imagined I'd be swinging around in, a functional playground, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The City is truly alive, and Spider-Man 2 is a love letter to New York. The city is vibrant, with Neon signs and billboards towering above you, plus the sheer amount of amazing graffiti art littering the city means there'll always be something distracting your eyes as you swing about. Plus, this time there's even more city to enjoy with the addition of Queens and Brooklyn, allowing for even more visual variety like cul-de-sacs and Coney Island to be added into the mix.

Combat 2.0

Obviously, we've all seen the supped-up Venom powers of Spider-Man in the trailers that grant him new special attacks; that privilege has also been granted to Miles, who is also given a new array of powers to play with, that naturally evolve with the story. Quite often in the previous two games, I found it difficult to juggle the different gadgets in combat, which often meant stopping the game flow to rotate a gadget wheel before continuing to pound on the bad guys. Thankfully, the gadget wheel has been revamped, and now it's 4 gadgets that are always accessible on the fly, meaning there's no break in the combat. Everything is ready to go, allowing the free-flowing combat to shine in its best form.

Well Woven Story

Both Spider-Man & Miles Morales games delivered some truly great superhero stories, especially with the evolution of Otto Octavius unfolding before our very eyes. Spider-Man 2 is no different, as it showcases another stellar Spider-Man tale. Whether that be from the unrelenting threat of a ruthless Kraven, or the emotion of reconnecting with a lifelong friend in Harry Osborn. That's not even mentioning Miles' conflicted feelings with heroism and Mister Negative, or the symbiote's presence infecting the entire tale. Those great stories aren't even contained to the central narrative, with some of the stand-out side quests Insomniac cooked up for us to enjoy.

In case you hadn't guessed, Spider-Man 2 is an absolute treat to play, and I'm still in awe. Have you managed to start your journey yet? Are you excited to get your hands on it? Let me know your thoughts below.