Sfdebris.net

I just started playing Spider-Man 2 and I have...issues.

It's a good game overall but I think I definitely rank this third of the Spider-Man games so far and if we're including the DLC then 4th. The first game is probably the apothoesis of my love of Spider-Man and a 10 out of 10. The Miles Morales spin-off had its flaws but it had a clear antagonist and theme that worked for me. The DLC with Hammerhead is also one that I absolutely loved as any flaws with Hammerhead/Silvermane were smoothed over by Felicia Hardy/Black Cat and Silver Sable's big presence.

2 is...just not great.

There's great MOMENTS spread around the game but I feel like there's serious flaws that are always having me stop the game to go, "this doesn't feel right." Kraven the Hunter just doesn't work as a guy with a big army of mercenaries since, well, he's a solo hunter as his whole thing. Cletus Cassidy as a flame-obsessed cult leader feels like an entirely different bad guy. The death of so many minor and not so minor Spider-Man villains. The single mission with Felicia Hardy just reminded me how much I love her.

And so on.

Everything with Harry is generally great but it also feels largely disconnected with the first game except for Miles' relationship with Martin Li. You wouldn't know that Norman Osborn was Mayor of New York City for example. I will say that the Harry bits are great, no real notes. But the games pacing is all over the place.

I mean, the game starts with Sandman wrecking all of New York City and then goes to fighting thugs for a bit. That really felt like an endgame-boss sort of thing or at least something to massively build-up to. I feel like this game needed restructuring.

Anyone else feel this way?

I personally think ISM2 is as good if not better then ISM1... right up until the game's third act. I think that everything with Kraven is fantastic and tying him into the Symbiote story is, IMO, a stroke of genus cause I never feel that the threats Peter faces in the other version of this story is enough to justify getting Peter as angry as he does.

Having Kraven looking for a last good hunt in order to find a perfect death is a great idea and Venom would be a prey he would see as worthy of taking his life.

I even like using Harry as the Venom host. I have never liked Harry in pretty much any other series and have never really bought his friendship with Peter and HATED the love triangle BS from the Ramie films (being played by a real life garbage human doesn't help on either front). This is the first time I felt that Peter and Harry were real friends making the fallout between them because of Venom more heartbreaking.

I love Miles relationship with Lee as it really felt so personal that now I want Lee to be part of Miles' origin story moving forward. And the minor twist at the end of the game, with the idea of Miles and Cindy Moon becoming step siblings, I love it given that Cindy has become a personal favorite of mine (still hoping we get a Silk spinoff).

But yeah, the third act is this game's weak link. The third act in the first game is fantastic a bit part of that is that it gives the player time to breath, there are a few moments when we can stop to catch our breath. In this game it's one action scene after another with no real time to just take it all in.

Furthermore we also have the issue of only having Venom as the main villain. In the third game we had the Sinister Six so we had a chance to interact with other villains and give Doc Ock a chance to stay in the background so he could remain a threat. But here it's just Venom with Shriek showing up briefly at one point.

Also the threat is just to big. Venom is usually a personal adversary, going after Peter directly and not really caring about what happens to anyone else as they just want to hurt him or those close to him. But here, Venom is a planetary threat which naturally begs to the question, where the hell are the Avengers.

It made a bit of sense in the other games and most of this one, the threats for the most part weren't big enough to warrant their attention and the one time it was there was no way they could get involved without getting sick themselves. But this, people are getting possessed by aliens and it's spreading fast the Avengers should be here.

And the final boss is a let down, not only because Harry and Miles have no real connection but because I think it's just poorly structured. This should have been more like the boss fight at the start of the game with use switching between Peter and Miles throughout, each taking on a different part of the 6 phases.

But besides that, I think this game is fantastic and improves on a lot of issues I have with the first game. Kraven is a much better utilized and fleshed out antagonist then Mr. Negative was in the first game, Martin Lee is given more of a chance to shine and again this is the first time I've given a crap about Peter and Harry's relationship AND I like that there is no love triangle between Peter, MJ and Harry as Harry is just friends with MJ.

I won't deny the game has flaws but as a whole I'd say this is more or less tied with the first game.

For the record my overall ranking is Miles Morals is my favorite, the SM1 and SM2 are tied in second and The City That Never Sleeps is dead last.