When Insomniac started its new Spider-Man series in 2018 I remember having mixed feelings about it. I’m a big Insomniac fan and especially love their creativity in weapons and mechanics in games like the Ratchet & Clank Series or Sunset Overdrive. Having them restricted to the more tried and true powers of Spider-Man and constrained by Disney’s overbearing licensing division seemed like it would shackle the things that made their game special. I ended up liking the game, but not loving it like so many did. The story was great, swinging though New York was a joy, but the stealth came in multiple flavors ranging from okay to bad and the combat system felt shallow and grindy by the time I was done with the game, let alone when I had platinumed it. I did end up getting that plat eventually and also playing through the stories of the DLC, though not 100%ing those.

The next game of the series was Miles Morales, and it promised a bit of a change of pace. Not only did it bring in a character who felt fresher than the Peter Parker I’ve been reading and watching media about since childhood but Miles has some different powers and a whole new supporting cast. The shorter and more focused and personal story of that game also helped it, and while I did not platinum it I think I came away liking it a bit more than the first game. It seemed like the series had found a way to move forward despite telling a story that had been interpreted dozens of times before with a style of gameplay that was essentially a modified version of Arkham’s Batman formula.

So now we get to Spider-Man 2, a game that had the potential to take the best parts of Miles Morales and expand them into a new, bigger, city and do more. This was the game that would show whether the Spider-Man series could ascent to being one of my favorites or just remain very good. It got fantastic reviews and the hype was pretty strong. I dove in right away.

Now, having finished and platinumed, the game, I am left again with mixed feelings. Spider-Man 2 is bigger and bolder than the games that came before it, with even stronger storytelling and some real attempts to improve the game play and add more variety, but it is also very much an iterative sequel that doesn’t really address the prior games’ problems and tries to paper over its issues with high production values.

That approach mostly works. The game opens with a truly spectacular sequence that flexes just how great AAA games can look these days. It has strong storytelling, for the most part, with a great cast of actors and lots of dynamic cut scenes that match up well against modern animated series. The city is big and impressive and still a joy to swing through. Most of the side stuff has been beefed up with actual story beats and the random crimes are more varied than ever. You can go to Brooklyn and Queens, though the game doesn’t spend a ton of time there. Everything feels so polished and handmade that it’s hard to get bored, at least until the end when you’re mopping up the last of the side stuff. Swapping between the two Spider-Man is quick and fast travel feels like some kind of technomagic.

And yet the problems also mostly remain. Three games in the stealth still feels perfunctory and at this point I’ve done so many perch takedowns I’d be happy never doing another. For all the pleasures of the story there is still too much time spent playing as not Spider-Man, whether that’s Peter, Miles, or someone else. For a game built on the joy of swinging from buildings, now supplemented with nonsensical web wing gliding, there’s way too many sequences where you just slowly plod around on the ground, talking to people. It’s neat that you get to walk around an amusement park with functional rides and games, and a museum with real life exhibits, but these are nothing more than interactive cutscenes and bog the pace down after awhile. It’s the kind of expensive fancy show off stuff that is impressive but doesn’t really add to the game. In both cases a cut scene would have sufficed.

There’s also the issue of too much repetition with the side activities, which is compounded because now you have to do at least some side stuff in every area if you want to unlock fast travel. One of these activities even has you flying through rings in what is probably an unintentional homage to Superman 64. At least Spider-Man 2 controls well. There are a variety of these side activities and none of them is terrible but for people who have played the previous games (and especially platinumed them) you’re beating up street thugs, again, or doing optional stealth bases, again, and the new abilities don’t do enough to freshen things up. It’s also worth noting that this game has some puzzles like the first game did, and they are yet another pace killer and honestly pretty bad. You can skip them if you want, but putting a bad gameplay goal in isn’t better just because it’s skippable.

I have some other nitpicks. The introduction of all the old villains as being back part of normal society just a few years after they committed truly heinous acts that led to the deaths of at least hundreds seems pretty tone deaf. I think the way that Mister Negative is used in the game is effective from a narrative perspective but others come off almost as parody. I also disliked the podcast updates. I thought Jonah's were a highlight of the first game but they've worn out their welcome and I actively hate the Dannikast and her toxic positivity and utter falseness as a character. I hated her more than any of the villains in the game, perhaps because she's more grounded in reality. Jonah's just a bummer because he's usually a highlight of Spider-Man media.

I would also say that the progression systems are pretty boring at this point. You get a ton of different in game currencies to spend on new moves, stat upgrades, and your special spider-gadgets. None of it is terrible per se, but it's unexciting and grindy. If you like earning City Tokens, Hero Tokens, two varieties of tech tokens, and also XP then boy is this the game for you. It's like a mobile game but without microtransations.

But despite these quibbles the game is still very very good. It looks great, it’s quick and responsive to play, and despite some missteps the story is captivating and the performances all excellent. This is a fantastic linear action game bolted on to a pretty good open world experience and elevated with best in class production values and traversal that makes even commuting enjoyable.

The boss battles are epic and thrilling, while still feeling true to the scale of Spider-Man, which is a bit more restrained than that of most other avengers. The set pieces feel like they have real stakes, with innocents in peril and big scale disasters happening throughout the game’s runtime. And there are enough new wrinkles to the gameplay that it doesn’t feel entirely like a rehash, especially in the bespoke boss battles that introduce new ideas and strategies.

So if it’s a more than competent sequel why do I seem so lukewarm on it? I think it’s because I was hoping for more out of Insomniac. Rocksteady ran into the same issue in the third Batman game they made, and they tried to address it with the addition of the Batmobile, to somewhat mixed results. Arkham Knight may not be everyone’s favorite Arkham game, but it feels distinct from Arkham City in a lot of ways, in part because of the Batmobile and the way it changes movement through the city (and, for better or worse, combat.)

Spider-Man 2’s changes just don’t do enough to alter the core loop. It’s neat when Miles or Peter (or someone else) swoops in to help you clear out some thugs and then you can do the Spider-Man pointing pose with him, but otherwise it’s just swapping between two similar move sets and some different dialog prompts. It doesn’t help that they took out the suit powers from the first game, though there remain a truly ludicrous number of Spider-Suits you can buy for in game currency. They just don’t come with any special attacks attached.

So you’re left with a series that in the end has the same core problem that each game does. Too much repetition and open world stuff. Not quite enough depth or evolution in gameplay to carry it. Sky high production values layered over a game core that is solid but maybe not quite solid enough to sustain three whole games in five years.

I really liked Spider-Man 2 but if Spider-Man 3 (or the next interstitial Miles Morales type game) comes out and is basically the same I’m not sure I’ll feel as warmly towards it. I’m ready for a significant change. Insomniac is talking about a Venom game, and that could be a real change of pace, with a new suite of powers and maybe a fresher, more brutal, tone. There are other things that they could do as well, though many of them might cut across the grain of the Spider-Man character. It’s also worth noting that this game was a massive sales success, so I’m not sure there’s a lot of pressure to rock the boat at this point. I’m also moderately worried about the Wolverine game. If it has the same Arkham derived gameplay even the addition of blood and a somewhat different power suite won’t keep it from feeling similar. And I really hope we aren’t stuck doing shallow stealth as Logan. Or sheathing our claws to walk around a museum politely without breaking anything.

With great power comes great responsibility. A corollary is that with great success comes great opportunity. Insomniac has turned the Spider-Man series into a genuine phenomenon and a pillar of PlayStation. It has also produced three really good games. But there’s the opportunity to do more with the franchise, to maybe not spend quite so much time creating random one off gameplay segments that are conceptually neat but pretty boring and instead doing more to make the systems interesting and vary up the moment to moment gameplay more than just the slight shift from swinging to gliding. Of course with great success can also come great complacency and the incentive to stay a course that is providing spectacular returns. Perhaps an interstitial game or DLC would be a better place to introduce and explore some more variation. Or perhaps we’ll just get another big bombastic Spider-Man game with a great story and a lot of money up there on the screen. That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world but it wouldn’t be the best either.

Arkham Asylum was near perfect in my eyes the combat was outstanding, I skipped City then jumped into Knight. I found AK to much it had too many combat moves and counters, Asylum simplicity had rhythm in combat which was really fun the added complexity with Knight broke it.

Sequels always tend to add which are not always an improvement, Miles Morales did just enough for me. Spider-Man 2018 was a fun game with a boring open-world, I'm not a big comic super hero person so I held off SM2, but my biggest fear was Insomniac simply adding more moves and abilities for the sake of it.

Played and loved the first game, but I felt I got my fill of Spidey and didn't have a strong urge to continue, especially if it's the same city again and again. I haven't played this one, but I actually think walking around detailed fairs and museums and so on sounds... pretty fun.