Spider-Man 2 Is Building On Familiar Ideas To Take Web-Slinging In Exciting New Directions
2 min read
While playing Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 and searching for a way to verbalize my overall impressions, I kept coming back to the phrase “more of the same” but in this case it’s important to clarify that “more of the same” means more of one of the most accomplished, thrilling, and authentic superhero experiences of all time. It means more of a game that allows us to live out the fantasy of being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man better than any other medium. For my money, Insomniac’s games are the only place where longtime web-heads can think about that iconic phrase “with great power must come great responsibility,” feel the full weight of what it means, and have personal involvement in making sure Spider-Man lives up to Uncle Ben’s guiding principle.
The weight of that responsibility has never been more apparent or felt as heavy as it does in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which presents a much larger neighborhood for Spidey to do his friendly adventuring in. With the addition of Queens and Brooklyn, the sequel’s open-world is double the size of the original and, by leveraging the power of the PlayStation 5, Insonmanic is able to ensure that players are always keenly attuned to just how much of New York is relying on them.
Standing atop the Avengers Tower as Miles Morales, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the city stretching out far into the horizon. Expansive video game worlds aren’t exactly new and exciting these days, but there’s something different about the world of Insomniac’s Spider-Man titles. There’s a realistic familiarity to it, even more so now that the PS5 is able to render buildings as far as the eye can see and introduce small but subtle details that, while undoubtedly mundane, also make the world feel more alive: a plane passing overhead, boats cruising across the Hudson river, flocks of birds weaving between buildings, and people shuffling around the streets, to name just a few.
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