After waiting 5 long years, the fans of the popular video game franchise, Insomniac’s Spider-man, finally got what they were waiting for, which was Spider-man 2. The first game was released back in September of 2018 and the second was released in October of 2023. The new game is clearly an immense improvement from the previous with Sony claiming that they sold two and a half million copies of the game in the first 24 hours of its release. Both IGN and GameSpot gave the game an 8/10 while Metascore and User Score gave the game a rating of 9.1/10. Many predict that this will win game of the year but why?
Insomniac took what made the first game great and expanded on it starting off with the map. The game takes place in New York City and in the first game the only playable area was Manhattan but in the second one they added Brooklyn and Queens into the mix.
With this huge new world to explore the developers made sure to give the player a fun and unique way to traverse through it. They created new web slinging mechanics which can have the players Spider-man do all kinds of flips and tricks along with flying with the use of web wings. This made traveling seem more of an enjoyment rather than another chore to just get to the next level.
While you’re swinging through the city you’ll be sure to run into a lot of side quests whether it’s something action packed like fighting a mob of crooks or something peaceful like catching a man’s pet bird. The point being is that there will always be something to find or do while exploring the world, keeping you occupied until you run into the next level of the main story.
The main story has a lot to offer with Kraven the Hunter coming to New York city in hopes of finding a worthy opponent, Venom and Lizard rampaging throughout the city and both Peter and Miles struggling to be Spider-man and having lives of their own. The main story introduces new villains along with Kraven the Hunter like the Lizard, Sandman and Venom.
With the addition of new villains Insomniac made sure to give the player new ways to battle them. They added more fighting styles, more gadgets, power ups and even a second Spider-man, depending on which one you decide to play as, to help you fight.
Yes, you read that correctly. Joining Peter Parker(Spider-Man) is Mile Morales(also Spider-Man) who gained spider powers in a cut scene from the first game and was mentored by the original Spider-Man. Insomniac gave the player a great option of getting to choose which Spider-man to play as. Each one has their own perks and abilities so be sure to choose wisely. After choosing which Spider-man to play as, the player will have a hard choice of deciding which one of 65 costumes with four color choices for each to wear as they battle to save the city.
