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Thank you for acknowledging how cringe the writing gets after the first game, I thought I was going crazy because it seemed like I was the only person who felt like everyone was such a cornball. (Especially Miles)
@onglanh5329 As a reader of the comics you can see Dan Slott influences (Aunt May at feast, Doc Ock being main baddie) it just feels very 616 amazing Spider-Man esq you know? The characterization was there in the second game it was just the pacing and how much of a goodie two shoes everyone is, the characters just don't have the same emotional range of a normal human and also with how insane the game. gets with its action over pacing approach (which I liked but it clearly was speedy when the story did not need it.) I really wish this game was fully completed and had all the DLC's it would have been one of the best Spider-Man games...
@@pn2294 the pacing is extremely better and has a bigger focus on character over spectacle and the game properly sets up and finishes a plot point when it's the right moment, that's why the Doc Ock fight is more hard hitting. I really hope we can get the writers back for the third game because the writing clearly did go downhill after Miles Morales...
I feel like insomniac got too comfortable after the first game because they knew they had to get everyone on board, now they hardly have to do anything to gather loads of people lusting over everything they release
Too comfortable is the perfect description. This is clearly seen in Bryan Intihar's interview with IGN. "If MJ is a little OP I don't give a sh*t" being his response to the criticism towards something players didn't even want as well as blatantly admitting that he was going to get the MJ missions into the game at the expense of Content player would've loved. "Give people things they want and add things people don't think they want and make them like that stuff". The first game was worshipped by spiderman fans with certain channels becoming echo chambers that will run to their defense. They were bound to become that arrogant.
@@zacharyjackson3104Thats also true, but they used that short time they had to add something they knew players wouldn't want rather making the best out of it.
@@baki484hope yo aren’t on Reddit the main sub is pure negativity and some people make a polar opposite sub that’s basically insomniac glazing mecha where anything talking bad about the game get downvoted to hell
@@zacharyjackson3104no. Sony gave them a deadline and they also gave them 5 years and a movie level budget. Intihar wasted time and resource on shit nobody wanted in the game and admitted to not reaching the deadline.
If anything bothers me about Kraven, it's that his army of video game mooks feels like it runs contrary to his motivation. Kraven wants to go up against enemies that can test him and potentially kill him. But instead, he's just got a group of mooks that seemingly hunt his quarry for him a good amount of the time and he creates counters to all of his targets' strengths before fighting them in an arena that he constructs in advance, which feels like it gives him more of an edge than he should ideally want. He's not Kraven *the Gladiator* and I don't know why the game keeps trying to turn him into that.
True. He goes into the Scorpion fight immune to his poison, so then Scorpion becomes "Some guy with a flexible spike" I imagine he went against Electro in some sort of insulation suit 😭
I fully agree but disagree at the same time. Kraven in this game was trash cause he has multiple goals which conflict with each other. He wants to hunt his strongest prey to prove himself but then he also wants that prey to kill him cause that’s the only way he’ll be satisfied? So he’s half Hunter half Gladiator? His team of lackeys being hella OP and setting up traps and shit kinda fits Kraven The HUNTER’s style. But again I agree, the dying in battle thing is.. idk.. this game is mid
Only issue I had is that Kraven has an army that pretty much hunts the prey for him instead when he claims himself to be the world's greatest hunter. Also that his army of hunters were nothing but jokes & just all talk. Reason I say that because MJ could take them down in stealth, hell they are all hunters & she's a reporter.
He can't hunt like he used to, because he has late stage cancer. He can't do what he would do in his prime, in some audio messages he revealed he has little time left, so obvious he'd be in a rush to find his equal, not being able to do it himself as he's physically unable to.
The weirdest thing about SM2 for me is the world and the people of New York not feeling authentic anymore as opposed to SM1 and MM. I’m a native New Yorker and everyone in this game is either too nice or too mean to the point of behaving out of character. The writing, the dialogue, everything was noticeably a downgrade. Peter and MJ’s relationship feels fake and almost like a Christian couple holding out on having sex until marriage. The part that bothered me the most was towards the end when Norman finds an unconscious Harry being carried into an ambulance and screams at Peter in anger like he did something to Harry and all Peter says in response is “I’m sorry” despite having just went through hell to save Norman’s son. And the worst part is that NO ONE in Peter’s corner stood up for him. Everything in this world feels too clean and sanitized and I question if anyone at Insomniac actually know what life is like in New York.
I remember watching Skill Up’s review of Dragon Age Veilguard and hearing him describe the dialogue as everyone speaking as if “HR is in the room”. I feel like that’s the perfect explanation of why SM2’s dialogue feels so unauthentic
heavy on the relationship part. I’ve always said I can not imagine these characters “getting steamy” alone. they just have no chemistry and seem like two asexual humans who are in an arranged marriage. it’s odd lol
The steep drop off in writing quality makes more sense when you see that Insomniac changed the writers from Comic book vets to their in house team between 1 and MM
The main problem for was the fact that the sequel had no sauce you know like in the first game it was like going to a authentic restaurant and being amazed by the flavor and then the sequel feels like ur going to an imitation restaurant that says there authentic but arnt sure its good hell its great in some aspects but tastes a little bit worse
Yeah it’s very generic game as a whole, but Mile’s Suffered from this the most. Peter Personality wise still feels like himself. Miles was very stale personality wise, a complete 180 compared to SM1 & MM.
@@Anonymous.ThroneI would argue the opposite where Peter felt nothing like how he was in the past games. Could be due to him grieving Aunt May but still he felt like a different person at times at least for me.
@@abhinavgandham4883 every character was affected tbh. This aftermath of this game is so sad. The hype before hand was tremendous,now it feels like it’s living in the shadows of what it could’ve been.
Wow that totally explained everything. I dont even mind sm2 critique hell despite how much i like the game i have critiques of my own my problem with u guys is yall cant critique the game for shit like u made a whole analogy that literally said nothing on how sm2 was bad u literally just said “sm2 wasnt as good as the first game” ok but how?
After Spiderman 2 my interest in the series has fallen off drastically. This is the only series of games I've ever pre-ordered. Now after spiderman 2 I felt... empty. The flaws in their first game I understood was their first attempt and I understood that. I *tolerated* the MJ and Miles missions. Spiderman 2 doubling down on things I didn't like the character interactions becoming sterile wasn't as starting at miles morales. Geez the side quests are even worse in spiderman 2 I prefer spiderman 1 and miles morales. The first 2 games made me open a new save file spiderman 2 I just don't want to play again.
I'm at a cross roads there. In regards to gameplay, Spidey 2 and even Miles were such big improvements that I have a hard time going back to the first, but in terms of narrative the first is damn near peak Spidey and Miles and 2 just don't even come close. Both had their very strong points but as a whole neither approach how good the first was and 2 in particular has some very low lows that drag the good down.
I think you were way too harsh on the side content in spiderman 1...I loved checking off all the bases and challenges...I felt they were entirely missed in spiderman 2... that was my biggest disappointment of spiderman 2.
It's not nearly bad enough for me to outright dislike the side content or feel like it drags the game down, but I think it's fair to say it's pretty formulaic and especially the story-based side quests fall flat. Even still the first game is easily one of my favorites from the ps4 gen
I’ve gotta disagree just in terms of variety. My biggest problem on replaying the game was that every base looks, feels, and plays pretty much identically. For comparison my mind immediately goes to the Militia Bases in Batman Arkham Knight, which acted again as checkbox missions where you take back the city, but each one there had a unique layout and sometimes even approach to completing it. To me the Spider-Man ones felt very copy and paste in every aspect.
These games need to stop trying to be the 4th Live-Action Spider-Man Movie and start embracing comic-book wackiness. Give Peter his silly web attacks from Shattered Dimensions, let him and Miles rant about the Avengers, X-Men and F4 doing jack shit about a potential Symbiote Chernobyl that could end Mankind, make my boy Ben Reilly a cool plot revelant superhero who stays that way and never regresses as a character. And make the visuals look like Sunset Overdrive. I Double Dare you, Insomniac.
With a fanbase as unhinged as this one? It was bound to happen. What the first game truly taught me is that an insane marketing campaign will get you far and it got them so far they got cocky and it shows. The steam ran out with the sequel the lack of marketing was the first indicator of a game that isn't bringing anything new to the table otherwise the devs would be itching to give us a taste.
agree. everyone went on and on about how good it was, but i don't think it holds a candle to the first 1. story is def a let down in sm2, which was my favorite part of sm1, and honestly sm:mm
@15:39. I liked that side mission. It was one of my favorites on there. -the spiderman imposter is actually doing good things and not tarnishing Spiderman's name like past imposters of him have tried to do -he actually knew how to fight which means this wasn't the typical "guy tries to pretend to be super hero but gets kidnapped" ordeal. He actually knew how to defend himself. He fights the bad guys with you. -the mission ends on a good note with spiderman praising the guy's fighting skills but tells him. What hes doing is extremely dangerous and to stop doing it as him. I enjoyed it
The whole "it makes me a better Spider-Man" narratives fits Miles more than Peter. Miles was the one so blinded by the events of the first game that he literally almost let people drown on the boat with the convoy. His efficiency as Spider Man diminishes every time he saw Li. Peter, on the other hand, does not have this issue within this game. It almost feels like they nerfed him specifically so that conflict can try to fit Peter's character, but considering how he soloed the Sinister Six in the first game, with 14 broken bones mind you, its hard to believe he would feel that about himself
Seeing a well known sponsor on the channel is exciting! You've come such a long way. Also I'm glad to see a proper critique on SM2 without any weird takes.
6:30 I personally like the "filler villains" included in the narrative. It makes the game and world feel more alive. Like yeah he has these bigger situations to handle but that doesn't stop what his other rogues gallery is doing. Especially with Insomniac pretty vocal how this Spidey been doing this for years, so him going on a side quest to take down shocker or taskmaster real quick is very fitting if you ask me. The other villains you see and fight I feel don't demand too much characterization, as again, this game is pretty much expect you to be a fan of the franchise. Idk, Ik that sounds odd but trying to characterized soo many pre established characters would drag the narrative. It's a bit lazy, sure, kind of know who Electro is and what's he's going to say, you catch my drift? Like us fighting the sinister six is really suppose to showcase how battle hardened or experience this Spidey is, and they're no more than just cameos the way I looked at it. TLDR: they're there to pad the game and offer fanservice, but I personally think it's done well given the setup, like, if you take out those fights it's just Doc and Martin, while very good villains but you lose out on a lot of what this game is trying to tell you about this Spidey. Haven't got to watch the entire vid but I'll leave this here until I watch the rest.
SM2 felt like safe, corporate slop. Zero edge or intrigue to the story. The characters are bland and scenes are lifeless. Frustrating how disappointing it was for me
@giggitymaster8799 yes it was. Except for wall crawling tho. The wallcrawling is still broken. I, for one, missed using the web bomb in combination with the concussive blast.
The devs got too comfortable for lack of a more extreme word, that one dev straight up said "I don't care if MJ is too OP or you don't like her, I'm gonna find a way to do more even if I need to cut other content"
This is definitely a hot take, but I actually thought that Phin was pretty sympathetic, terrorism is bad let's establish this, but Phin makes good points about how people like Krieger get away with all the stuff they do because they have all of the power (think, Roxxon somehow got permission to not only have a paramilitary organization but a fucking nuclear reactor in Harlem) and Miles only response is "NO THAT'S BAD, IF ONLY ONE PERSON GOT HURT-" which tells me 'okay, this Miles Morales is a fucking narc'
@@theoutsiderjess1869 The Underground specifically targets Roxxon guards and it's only when Spider-Man get's involved that the situation escalates catastrophically
@@baki484 I think that's just ludo-narrative dissonance. You may have completed the mission before Miles talks with Phin, but that doesn't affect the main story
It all started with the face change. an obvious tactic to either bend over to Sony, or to capitalize off the popularity of Tom hollands portrayal. such a disappointment this series turned out to be
I feel like the comparison to Tom Holland is a bit too cynical. He barely looks like Tom Holland, if at all (even the hair is different.) Like, it feels like looking for a reason to dislike it past "I think the old one was better."
@xnortheast1106 oh yeah totally! I mean, they look exactly the same! Well except for the facial structure, nose, eyes, eye color, hairstyle, hair color, general build, and basically anything but skin color, but besides those things they're practically identical!
I’m black and I was a teenager that criticism is exactly right I don’t like Miles now but I used to looking back this kid has no soul, no base in his voice, no real personality he’s basically Peter Parker but black. If they had a black writer working on him he would be the exact opposite of Peter Parker. Miles would be cool and smooth and confident while Peter would be that older and slightly dorky guy
I think Miles is great when he's his own character, but sucks when people try to use him to overshadow Peter. It stood out the most for me in Spiderman 2 because it felt like Insomniac intentionally cut him out of the symbiote storyline because they didn't want to give him any character flaws. They just wanted him to be the guy that shows up out of nowhere to save Peter.
I agree with you almost completely i can't stand Miles much either, there's literally little to nothing interesting or original about his design or personality, like you said he's basically black Peter Parker and I hate the fact that they named him Spider-Man too they should've named him something else
After the announcement of the dlc (which I basically was waitin for them announce) not happenin a while back i genuinely deleted the game and i really fw insomniac take on my goat but i do not like the direction they took when it came to this game
I could be wrong, but I think 3 of those DLC's got cancelled because of that hacker. Idk, I could be wrong. Also I'll admit, Insomniac should've said something.
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I wish we had the web-based gadgets of the first game. I one time did a playthrough of the first game where i could only best thugs by webbing them to the wall/floor, and i had an absolute blast doing it.
My main issue with Insomniac's Spider Man (both games) is how inaccurate their depiction of NYC is. The depiction comes across like it was helmed by someone who thinks NYC is just downtown Manhattan causing the rest of the city to feel sterile, static, gentrified and the worst thing that can be said about an open world, boring. Every great depiction of NYC is defined by the people. All the NPCS are overtly nice in a hyperbolic way to the point where I don't think I heard a single swear word or even a slight aggression throughout my entire playthrough, which is a common form of communication among New Yorkers/ the "mind your business, don't stand out, keep it pushing" mentality is a part of the lifestyle when living in the city. The NPCs aren't even dressed in conventional fashion trends i.e. Timbs, a shiesty for the winter, north face puffer jackets, hairstyles like braids, fades, dreads, buzzcuts, waves or even a single durag. I hate how as means of depicting the diversity of NYC, they played it safe and only showed Harlem and axed Washington Heights, Flushing, the entirety of the Bronx and East Brooklyn. Apartment buildings look as homogenized as the skyscrapers. The traffic in this game is only ever interesting when it's a scripted vehicle chase side quest due to how unrealistically good and orderly everyone drives. Look, I get this game is targeted for everyone, so you won't get a Max Payne style Noir York City or a GTA 4 Liberty City, but to think that both Spider Man games came out after Insomniac released Sunset Overdrive makes me question if this is even the same developer. Sunset Overdrive is more Spider Man in ethos than Spider Man/ SM2 is and that's baffling. There's nothing worse than being boring. insomniac Spider Man is boring.
I like spiderman 2 alot it made some great improvement my problems with it is that it feels rushed and it is too short other than that its a solid spiderman but more could have been done especially when it comes to symbiote spiderman
Spider man 2 has my favorite enemy base activity with the Symbiote nests. Theres just something about the finisher where you uppercut a symbiote then pull the civiliian out that looks really good, clean and cinematic. My high ass just loves looking at it while im one hit away from dying with the last stand suit equipped while in the sunrise, morning and sunset times of the day. I also feel that without the brute symbiotes to fight it makes the symbiote nests better
Batman in Arkham City got his blood mix with Joker's yet still decided to fight for gotham in Arkham Knight, without asking help from Robin and Nightwing. Spiderman got anti venom suit with new powers, decides to retire in Spiderman 3 making miles in charge Like what happened to great powers, great responsibilities?💀🤣
37:43 I think the side missions with the Flame should’ve been integrated into the main story. Harry should’ve been radicalized by the Flame, thus leading to the twist left out of the marketing where we get a Spider-Men vs Symbiotes Finale.
Im confused on roxon, it was a huge company and even with th events of miles moralis, the company is still strong and hinted to be more of a threat, buffing rhino, but for some reason, roxon is just not even there, or mentioned in spiderman 2 at all...i think in spiderman 3 there should be a power struggle plot with roxon and oscorp
I still don’t know why it’s not called Spider Men. There’s two of them. I have no idea how citizens differentiate between them in the lore (Miles is definitely Black Spider Man you know it’s true) but they def weren’t part of the marketing decision. What if your in a unique situation and you need Miles electric powers, then Peter shows up and you’re like wtf. And If they’re a team, they need a team name. The webslingers. The arachnids. The bouncey boys….
I actually like the MJ missions because of the story. Including the exploration in Norman's safe house, but yeah Insomniac should've had her mission not be all stealth. Same goes to Miles.
@@thecursingtax5729 its going to come out. If they don't they'll have have to pay Marvel a large sum of money as per the agreement I saw. and the game is well into development they can't back out now. But it will launch on pc day and date.
We went from a great game to a bad DLC campaign,to an absolutely terrible glorified DLC unskippable cutscene simulator dressed as a stand-alone game to a massively disappointing half-assed rushed mess,it’s sadly time to admit Marvel’s Spider-Man wasn’t the start of a new era of great Marvel games,it was an anomaly.
You said Miles didn’t fail with Phin, she just didn’t listen, but it’s more complicated than that. Miles lied to and manipulated Phin to find out about and stop her plan. He used her friendship to keep his vow as Spider-man and protect the city. Was he wrong to do so? Maybe not, but if he was upfront and honest from the beginning Phin would’ve listened to him, at least about Krieger changing the specs on the reactor. She only refuses to listen because he lied to her face before to stop her. I believe Mile’s character in SMMM, or at least part of it, is learning to value his loved one just as much as his Spider-Man life. I believe he’s so focused on living up to Peter’s legacy he neglects his other half of his life, he essentially admits this to Phin and the cafe, and I think dialogue like “You’re gonna kill your self to prove you deserve that mask?” from Aaron and Rio telling Peter that all Miles talks about is his Spider-Man life in SM2 hint at this.
A fair point. I might have been a little too flippant about the "0 setup to miles' current problems/growth" thing. But i guess what setup is there just feels very lackluster overall? I kinda of have to go digging for it. And not in a "they're being subtle with their storytelling" kinda way but a "let's skip all the middle steps" kinda way. I think the fact that for the most part miles' life goes smooth as butter compared to Peter's (him and Hailee are only brought closer by him being Spiderman, his best friend is an active and interested participant in his second identity, his mom finds out early and is relatively relaxed about it, he has a mentor that's pretty attentive outside his short symbiote stint, he's going to a great school that honors him with presents and declares him the official superhero of the school, he seems to be on a clear path of success academically with his 1 "setback" being pretty positive overall, etc) it doesnt make me feel like he's sacrificing his non-spiderman side to live up to peter. It feels like a classic case of tell not show. So I definitely don't disagree with what you brought up, but I guess functionally it doesnt change much for me cause of those missing elements
@ Nah I agree with you, I’m not even completely my interpretation of SMMM’s moral was intended by the writers, I strongly assume it is because of some dialogue lines, like Jeff’s final speech at the end of the postcards side mission.
i will never forgive insomniac for botching Venom. They did SUCH a good job with Doc Ock, and Venom is my favorite spidey villain. It is a VERY simple thing to adapt. Venom hates spider man. That is all. He doesnt care about taking over the world. He just wants to kill spider-man. Its SO SIMPLE.
I understand wanting to see Miles struggle in the same manner as a young Peter, but I'm actually glad that they didn't go this route. Miles struggles plenty and makes a lot of mistakes, especially in his own game. That said, Miles' early years shouldn't be as clunky as Peters because he's actually being mentored by the OG. Peter trains Miles for a year before letting him fly solo and then Peter doesn't retire until Miles is 2yrs in. This version of Peter basically gives Miles X-Men or Bat-family level training. For this reason, I'm glad that they didn't make 17yr old Miles a clone of 17yr old Peter.
My problem with the friendly neighborhood app is that it just doesn’t realistically work at all. The idea of throwing out police scanners in favor of a app where people report crimes just sounds way too easy to exploit by criminals if they actually have brains. It’s a fine means for making side quests occur, but it just doesn’t work practically
I would mess with insomniac a bit more that as an apology for the lack luster support of Spider-Man if they added the traversal of Spider-Man 2 to the first two games. Just adding extra tricks, and up the speed.
All I’m going to say about this is that if you want a franchise to be successful, then you have to give the fans and audiences what they want to see when they experience it, because I feel like too many times big corporations like Sony just do whatever they want and hope people just hop on the bandwagon.
Have miles stop " baby taking " dont be afraid to tell an adult story. Let the heroes be flawed, stop with gadets and incorporate different ways to use the web instead.
They messed up with Miles morales because in spiderman 2 Miles has nothing to do in the story hell the side quest in miles morales is where they peaked.
8:23 and 9:27 and 48:20 - I don't understand your praise for Insomniac's versions of Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker... Insomniac's Mary Jane Watson only has one personality trait and it's that she's a hot shot reporter that always gets the scoop, basically making her a Lois Lane rip-off and changing the core of her personality and how she interacts with the world and fundamentally changing how she interacts with Peter, and her character arc in the first "Marvel's Spider-Man" video game wasn’t very well thought out because Bryan Intihar and Jon Paquette made it seem like she had a death wish lol... It makes sense to want to be trusted and viewed as an equal in a relationship, but having Mary Jane think she can just do the things Spider-Man does is different. Also, Insomniac's Peter Parker is just so flawless, fluffy, and boring and if he has any flaws it boils down to "You are too kind ...\ Push yourself too hard". He has the same exact problem all the other characters in the "Marvel's Spider-Man" video games have which is they are *all* overly polite and kind of weirdly sterile in how they interact with each other and this is a problem because it makes them all uninteresting to watch and they never have anything interesting to say because you know they are always gonna say the nice and supportive thing and it just makes them boring and it also has the issue of them all kind of sounding the same. Insomniac's Peter Parker is too nice and he doesn't have any negative attributes for the symbiote to exaggerate which is why the symbiote has to just brainwash him and turn him essentially into a completely different person in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" . 54:39 - How do you really don't know why people hate Kraven and *especially* Venom in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2"??? A Kraven with henchmen isn't Kraven... Kraven is such a one note antagonist and is just a walking scowl and a music cue in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2". Also, they literally stripped Venom of all his unique personality in favor of making him a generic alien monster who's hellbent on world domination... Insomniac's depiction of Venom was barely even recognizable as Venom outside of his powers, design, and voice... Venom in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" is a combination of two pre-existing characters, the first is Harry Osborn who is just a really bland nice guy and is written like a five-year-old's idea of what a best friend should be and he's just a dude who's really nice and that's it..., and then there's the symbiote, the second half of Venom, who's just a very boring one-dimensional evil brainwashing parasite in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2"...
Vicious but true. I was already sick and tired of that music cue whenever Kraven was on screen. I call him Kraven the Gladiator since he doesn't really hunt. Taskmaster in spiderman 2018 was more of a hunter than Kraven.
8:35 No I'm going to stop you right there. For some reason people are tying to act oblivious to why we don't care about MJ in this game or any other game. She's meant to be an NPC. The civilian that spiderman would do anything to protect. Beautiful, not overly smart, normal. An everyday person who isn't going out trying to be a vigilante and somehow being great at it with seasoned villains and their merc henchmen falling to her. Stop the BS bo one asked for that. MJ isn't special, but she's everything to Peter Parker. For some dumb reason we're trying going to give her props for *PUTTING HERSELF IN DANGER ... MAKING THE SITUATION MORE HAZARDOUS FOR SPIDERMAN TO WORK?* Naw man just make another character. Shoot they could have introduced the "Spider family" anything but this garbage trope of the every day person being able to be in the trenches with the heros. It snaps the suspension of belief in half because I know just about 1 girl that can jump in and help the main hero at a moments notice without it being cliched. That's Batgirl. Damn give me Felecia and spiderman working together and then add MJ in for the relationship issue angle that makes sense. But seeing that normal mosery through clear situations she's getting zeroed in without plot armour is too crazy. Give her a suit if you're gonna give her that much of a "F U I am MJ hear me roar" role.
I can't stand this version of MJ. In the first game she knew that the Demons, who had established themselves as terrorist bombers, were planning to do something at the Grand Central Station, and she didn't tell Peter about it because she was annoyed with him and she wanted to be a hero all by herself. She didn't even tell the police, she just went there solo with no plan whatsoever. Then the shit hit the fan, a security officer died and MJ immediately texted Peter to come and clean up her mess. Did the writers make Peter call her out for her reckless and narcissistic behavior after the situation was taken care of? No, they made Peter sweat over their relationship status all like "nooo I didn't mean that kind of over, oh geez 🥺". Of course it was Peter who in the end had to learn the lesson that he should start treating MJ like she can do this hero stuff too. Oh give me a break 😂
50:04 I disagree with this statement about Peter, because the reason he's been off his game has been slowly been hinted at, and finally revealed when Miles and Mr. Negative enter Peter's mind. It's his grief, and the stress he never fully processed that is making him want to 'be better'. But Peter also sees he's messing up in the beginning of the game, and ended up stabbed by Kraven, but notices he's doing better with the suit. So he associates the suit with it making him a better Spider-Man. He still hasn't addressed the real reason for why he's the way he is now, until Miles and Martin Li confront him, and pull him out. It's also what makes him realise he might need a temporary break from being Spider-Man for his mental health, and personal life. And as for Miles later on, these things Martin Li is showing isn't true, but they are Miles' insecurities. He WORRIES about whether if he is maybe abandoning his friends and family by being Spider-Man too often. This is a question inside his head, and Martin Li just goes "YEAH YOU ARE! HOW COULD YOU ABANDON US?!" The hurting part refers more so to Phin perhaps, and him still being hurt by it (you can actually go to Trinity Church and see the little trophy from the last game, and Miles will interact and show he still grieves her), so now this becomes a What If in his head, which Martin then feeds into. We don't actually see anything in the game to suggest Miles does abandon his loved ones or that he only hurts people, but that's the point. It's all in his head, and Martin Li feeds on it to give affirmation to his fears and worries, to break Miles mentally. You even hear Miles reject these things eventually, because he doesn't truly believe in them.
In my opinion, I appreciate all the stuff Insomniac brings to the table except for the restricted swinging. I hated it whenever people would say Spider-Man PS4’s swinging surpassed Spider-Man 2, when Spider-Man PS4 had some of most restrictive swinging we’ve ever had. Why is it so hard to just make a swinging system with no boundaries like in the original Spider-Man 2? Wouldn’t it take more work and effort to make systems that restrict the player rather than give them web swinging freedom? Seriously, it’s like developers of Spider-Man games are actively trying to avoid freeform swinging for whatever reason. None of the games after the original Spider-Man 2 had that same system. Spider-Man 3, Ultimate, Web Of Shadows, and The Amazing Games. All of these had restrictions in some way. What is so wrong with going back to Spider-Man 2?
Honestly playing through the old spider-man 2 game again I realized how clunky it felt now. Idk if you've played it recently but imo the lack of restrictions leads to an absolute headache when swinging especially with that games (impressive, but often annoying) physics system. If you haven't played that game recently I'd suggest going back, I wonder if you'll maybe have a different opinion
@ Thats why a modern take would be amazing. Give the player the freedom to swing however, but don’t just let the game go wild and ruin the fun. We have the technology to make something incredible now.
@C-View1 not sure if this counts but you can turn web assist down to 0 in sm2. It definitely makes it trickier but not 100% as random and frustrating as original sm2
@ Yeah, I know about that one. The original is really janky, but I think it shined if a player could really get their skills up, but it did include an easy mode for people who didn’t get the hang of it. I don’t really know how you can make an unrestricted system without the hiccups that original Spider-Man 2 did.
By far my biggest problem with this interpretation of Spider-Man is how apologetic and “clean” everyone feels. Spider-Man is at his best when he’s given an edge, and when you treat him and his world like Superman you completely miss the point. Like everyone from the supporting characters to the npc’s have to be this sappy preachy symbol of goodness and it just comes off extremely insincere. Aunt May in particular I never really got attached to cuz she felt more like caricature than an actual person and I HATE when characters are written like that. The most interesting characters in the games are the ones that feel completely uncompromised by the need to seem likable.
My biggest issue with the games is the writing. Everything feels so Barney. So educational. It feels like those student news skits in the MCU spiderman trilogy. Like it's all safe for work but lacks the edge/depth needed to make these characters feel real. Like sure Miles is portrayed as struggling with his Dad's death and forgiving Martin Li but it's always treated like "ugh idk what to do about my anger with Martin, anyways what's up with you guys" like...
Before I watch this video, I just have to say that one main reason for my lack of investment in Spider-man 2 was the seeming lack of continuity, at least from an outside perspective. For example, the first games sets up miles morales a lot. This, combined with the hype from the spider-verse movie, made me generally more invested in the story of miles morales. I WANTED to see where the story would continue. However, with spiderman 2, all of that is lacking in the promo material. We see new faces we hadn't seen before, new villains we can't really care about. There are still so many plot points from the first two games that hadn't been properly explored. Spiderman 1 felt like a proper cataclysm, spiderman miles morales felt like a bonus side fight, spiderman 2 feels like another tuesday. We are simply not given enough time to properly invest ourselvs. Imo the promo material for this game was lackluster. It should have focused on showing us where the story left off, seeing us where the characters are going us. This is something god of war ragnarok did damn near perfectly, and it's why I had more investment in that story.
I love how the actual character designs and aesthetics of the the second game are so much better. It feels like its trying to be as colourful as possible, instead of the first game's really boring visual realism that it tried to do with the city graphics and villain designs. The swinging and traversal is also much better. But these are like some of the only things about Spiderman 2 that I actually enjoy. I think the biggest issue with the game is that it treats the symbiote as like this mindless alien zombie that only wants to bring out the worst in people and eventually invade Earth. This is so boring in my opinion, because there's no room for any actual character exploration in a plot device that changes someone's entire personality. This works in a game like web of shadows, because that game trades interesting character development for a crazy story that is interesting to watch because of how insanely it escalates. Spiderman 2 doesn't commit to this crazy escalation until the 3rd act. The symbiote in the comics and some other stories works because it enhances already existing negative feelings and rewards the host with power. It only ever feels like Peter has negative feelings about his work as Spiderman in dialogue, which isn't enough in a visual narrative medium. With no room for actual character development, the story had to make any character without the symbiote just seem as goodhearted as possible so that there is enough of a contrast to the symbiote, which is why every character feels like a commercialised parody of themselves that speaks like they work in HR.
Recently started replaying SM2 and i can attest that probably the worst part of the game is the dialogue. Coney Island was beautiful visually but the dialogue all throughout really highlights the overall bar of quality for authentic character expression in the game. All the emotions, high and low just feel canned in this game. Also the audio for voices always feels like theyre shouting even when its not necessary and it really drew my attention to how hallow the world around you is
The fridge scene gets brought up cause it makes no sense How MJ is able to react to it and jump in front of him despite him having a sixth sense. If anything makes MJ look stupid and just adds to the pile of the character assassination Peter suffers thoughout the game. The deaf girl mission gets so much hate cause why am I playing as a deaf girl in a game called Spider-Man.
About the MJ thing, if someone you cared about and loved was about to get hit by an alien, wouldn’t you want to protect them? And also it’s more like an instinctive reaction by her and there really is no time to think “oh he has a sense that could see incoming attacks he should be fine.” It’s more like I see someone I love about to get hit, I should protect them, just human nature 🤷♂️
I wouldn’t say the second game has better side missions but I do agree that some of them have better writing. My favorites are the ones with old people like Howard, the blind woman, and the grandpa. But every other mission chain I can recall has some weird low point that makes me question why it’s in the game. The flame and the musician side missions start with some boring spider bot sections. I was kind of disappointed when you do the flame with the black suit and there are no different interactions at all. I’m not asking for a complete rewrite but just something that’s different. I liked the deaf mission until they introduced shake the controller graffiti mini games that are there to waste my time. The college is full of horrible side missions apart from the first where you save a teacher. The puzzle one sucks and the gay one is one that just rubs me the wrong way as there’s nothing fun about it and you know it’s only there so that they can normalize being gay to kids. I don’t care about having gays or flags in the game but when you see this mission with nothing fun about it then you know it’s just there for that reason and it hits different. I have ADHD and I will hate any of these that have some slow section like listening to him or doing graffiti especially when it doesn’t matter to anything and actual interesting sections from the game are given skip buttons in the pause menu while these aren’t. When you talk to the grandfather and he tells you how he proposed to his wife you can tell that the SM you’re playing as is taking notes for when they ask a girl out or propose to MJ but you know Miles isn’t doing the same thing with the gay kid which makes it uninteresting. The vulture drone missions are only interesting story wise in the end and remove all of the interesting parts from “gliding” and replace it with simple Superman 64 like fly through the ring missions that made them feel the need to add skip buttons. Even outside of side missions they added a bunch of unnecessary sections that make me wonder why they didn’t skip those and focus more on the main SM gameplay. They added a new version of the mini games for Peter doing his job from wiring to another type of puzzle which I’m fine with but then they also add bee drone sections. They added a bunch of carnival games and a lot of other stuff in this game that is completely unrelated to SM like bikes and basketball. They decided to take several brakes from making a SM game WHILE ON THE JOB! A lot of the stuff I don’t like feels like it was made with an agenda like the gay and deaf side missions one of which I’m not completely against but that makes it feel like they and a lot of the sections I don’t like from this game were prioritized over other things. If they were rushed and had to cut another part of this game it feels like it would be something like the playable Venom section rather than some of these time wasting mini games. The only reason I dislike the mysteriums is because I had hoped that the Venom section could be extended through challenge missions like the ones in Arkham where they let you play as every playable character but these showed me that their alternative was exclusive to Miles which also kept me from seeing more of the black suit which has some unique animations I loved that you won’t even see again even after getting anti venom or new game +. The main SM gameplay feels half baked as there are barely any major improvements I can recall. I mostly remember the gliding, countering, and a few unique upgrades from the skill tree like pulling enemies around with webs, hitting enemies upwards while in midair, and one unique combo when you get an enemy against a wall. The gadgets all suck imo and the special abilities were better in Miles’ game where they all feel useful and you use your meter when you think one of them will be useful. Now the first one you get is just a useless combo with the arms and you just use your abilities when their individual meters are full. If this game had the same meter as Miles I’d never find myself using most of the abilities you get in this game. There’s just a lot of things that I do love in this game that are sidelined for some of the most mediocre garbage I’ve seen in a while.
I thought they way they handled the villains was perfect in the first game. I just think that the second game falls into the same problem most sequels do. And that’s just because it worked for the first game doesn’t mean it’s a right fit for the second. They did the same thing in tears of the kingdom. Botw was a great game with flaws, and I don’t think the second game was about fixing those flaws but about giving us a new game that worked well just like the first. People still had stuff to complain about with the first but at least the problems could be overlooked and the game still worked as well as justified its own existence, when it comes to the second game I feel like it just doesn’t serve the narrative in the same way. I don’t understand why these game companies can’t reinvent their formula. I find them fixing problems that didn’t even exist.
For me the game is a 6.5/10. the worst Part is replayability. I started new Game plus and made it Till Harrys lab when You have to greet all the people for the First time and Play as a bee Hunter and omg it is such a clusterfuck
A personal critique I have for the sequel is that it feels like they made Peter's world smaller, they either killed or retired his villains, they don't bother to introduce the allies he gained like Daredevil, he can't even interact with the Daily Bugle workers heck Mj doesn't even get to interact with her coworkers, Black Cat moved to Paris and we barely even see the two interact. Like I want them to give me something that expands the world and instead all we get is a new villain who dies and Harry who goes into a coma. Sure we got some new stuff but what's the point when all of those are gonna get taken away in the end? Also we're dealing with an alien invasion here, at least show a scene where someone is trying to contact the Avengers or something, right now the world feels so empty imo. I get that it's a Spider-man game but the symbiote invasion is not just a Spider-men level threat, it's something that would actually need to include or at least mention other heroes. Like let's compare this invasion to Web of Shadows, in that game the world feels filled because characters actually get involved to help fight the symbiotes, heck Peter in that game actually tries to contact characters who can help in this situation like Reed Richards or Tony Stark
13:31 might be jumping the gun here, but do they not have the rights to include MCU characters in these games? I feel like there’s a whole plethora of extras and side characters from the movies, tv shows, and comics who could fill out NYC-PS4/5 that aren’t in it for some reason…
People talk about the sequel like its the worst thing they've ever played, no it was a solid 8.5-9/10 game that just didn't completely perfect and fix the systems it implemented in the first game. Not everything needs to be a god of war ragnarok, I understand the issues but people should seriously stop hating on this game so much
Tbh people either glaze everything too much or hate everything too much and then both sides fight with each other and it's really really annoying to the point we can't enjoy anything anymore.
24:20 or you know use the Unrelenting Fury suit upgrade from the last stand suit and literally just decide "you might be able to copy my moves but you can't copy the super strength behind them" and demonstrate why trying to block and counter someone who can throw manholes and car doors like Frisbees is not a good idea like Bruce lee vs the hulk you might have perfect techniqe but that means nothing when fighting spider-man that uses "Street self-defense techniques（23）"#thailand and get rendered unable to pursue further
I know Sony was a big contributor to the problems this game had, but at some point we have to stop appointing ALL the blame to them. There are just some decisions that this game makes that aren’t attributed to being “rushed” or unwantedly cut out. Some decisions are just decisions from the devs themselves, and I feel like they kind of got ahead of themselves with the praise from the first game, and just decided to use the popular IP as a crutch to fall back on rather than something that tries to not be so idk, surface level? Like “woah guys, king in black references, aren’t we just so invested in Spider-Man comics?” I just see so many things in this game that wouldn’t be affected by higher ups, like what? You are telling me Sony executives forced the devs by saying “we NEED you to make these bike sequences instead of whatever you were working on. Oh and we NEED you to make MJ and Hailey as playable as much as you can.” Etc. and obviously some things were most likely out of their control, budgetary cuts, allocation of resources to marketing and focus groups and Sony themselves, the painfully obvious shoehorned product placement that was Adidasman’s costume, the cultural shift from the first game in order to most likely secure that DEI money etc. I just really hope they switch up how they make these games, more quality and less quantity, less outsourced help from companies like SBI, a return to form in terms of the writing and story quality akin to the first games, and overall I just need that care and effort that I felt from the first game. Also weird thought, but I kind of feel like if their upcoming Wolverine game is a huge success, it will somewhat be a double edged sword. The reason I say this is because obviously having an awesome Wolverine game that meets and exceeds expectations in some regards would be amazing, but on the other hand, the masses won’t realize that Wolverine may be being made by insomniac, but it’s not the same team that worked on Spider-Man 2, which will lead people to make statements like “insomniac is so back” or something, which will instill another cycle of false hope and expectations for sm3, and people won’t learn to be constructively critical of insomniac to make their future games better. Basically what I’m saying is that wolverines potential success would be a false indication that the same insomniac team that worked on sm2s will make sm3 the same quality or even better than wolverines if it comes out good.
Kraven and Doc ock are the two best villains they made r.i.p to tony todd i felt like they should have waited to do Venom. I have seen so many people screw Venom and peter up that Im sick of seeing Venom as a character.
One problem with venom is well why does he call himself venom other spiderman media gives some reason why, also would have loved to have harey be a hero for awhile longer instead of only having a brief moment to see him doing crimes. Also how i saw the story is doc conores mentioning what the stmboite is and peter then just turns evil like all his dialogue changes no real build up
spider-man products are straight up not for spider-man fans, they're not for jms run fans, their not for fans of web of shadows or shattered dimensions, they are not even really for slot fans: the movies and the games and the modern comics seem to be for people who bought a ticket to avengers endgame or no way home and no one else. which is a lot of people but it still comes across shallow to real spiderman heads who have been in the trenches of the character's lore
Finally someone mentioned how bad the voice acting was in the old man side mission! Loved the narrative but oh my god his voice bothered the hell out of me
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Thank you for acknowledging how cringe the writing gets after the first game, I thought I was going crazy because it seemed like I was the only person who felt like everyone was such a cornball. (Especially Miles)
And not even in a normal Spider-Man way.
The first game they actually hired comic book writers, that is why it was so good
@onglanh5329 As a reader of the comics you can see Dan Slott influences (Aunt May at feast, Doc Ock being main baddie) it just feels very 616 amazing Spider-Man esq you know? The characterization was there in the second game it was just the pacing and how much of a goodie two shoes everyone is, the characters just don't have the same emotional range of a normal human and also with how insane the game. gets with its action over pacing approach (which I liked but it clearly was speedy when the story did not need it.)
I really wish this game was fully completed and had all the DLC's it would have been one of the best Spider-Man games...
What made the first game’s writing good?
@@pn2294 the pacing is extremely better and has a bigger focus on character over spectacle and the game properly sets up and finishes a plot point when it's the right moment, that's why the Doc Ock fight is more hard hitting. I really hope we can get the writers back for the third game because the writing clearly did go downhill after Miles Morales...
I feel like insomniac got too comfortable after the first game because they knew they had to get everyone on board, now they hardly have to do anything to gather loads of people lusting over everything they release
Too comfortable is the perfect description. This is clearly seen in Bryan Intihar's interview with IGN.
"If MJ is a little OP I don't give a sh*t" being his response to the criticism towards something players didn't even want as well as blatantly admitting that he was going to get the MJ missions into the game at the expense of Content player would've loved.
"Give people things they want and add things people don't think they want and make them like that stuff".
The first game was worshipped by spiderman fans with certain channels becoming echo chambers that will run to their defense. They were bound to become that arrogant.
i think sony rushed them to put 2 out early ngl.
@@zacharyjackson3104Thats also true, but they used that short time they had to add something they knew players wouldn't want rather making the best out of it.
@@baki484hope yo aren’t on Reddit the main sub is pure negativity and some people make a polar opposite sub that’s basically insomniac glazing mecha where anything talking bad about the game get downvoted to hell
@@zacharyjackson3104no. Sony gave them a deadline and they also gave them 5 years and a movie level budget. Intihar wasted time and resource on shit nobody wanted in the game and admitted to not reaching the deadline.
If anything bothers me about Kraven, it's that his army of video game mooks feels like it runs contrary to his motivation. Kraven wants to go up against enemies that can test him and potentially kill him. But instead, he's just got a group of mooks that seemingly hunt his quarry for him a good amount of the time and he creates counters to all of his targets' strengths before fighting them in an arena that he constructs in advance, which feels like it gives him more of an edge than he should ideally want.
He's not Kraven *the Gladiator* and I don't know why the game keeps trying to turn him into that.
True. He goes into the Scorpion fight immune to his poison, so then Scorpion becomes "Some guy with a flexible spike"
I imagine he went against Electro in some sort of insulation suit 😭
I fully agree but disagree at the same time. Kraven in this game was trash cause he has multiple goals which conflict with each other. He wants to hunt his strongest prey to prove himself but then he also wants that prey to kill him cause that’s the only way he’ll be satisfied? So he’s half Hunter half Gladiator? His team of lackeys being hella OP and setting up traps and shit kinda fits Kraven The HUNTER’s style. But again I agree, the dying in battle thing is.. idk.. this game is mid
Only issue I had is that Kraven has an army that pretty much hunts the prey for him instead when he claims himself to be the world's greatest hunter. Also that his army of hunters were nothing but jokes & just all talk. Reason I say that because MJ could take them down in stealth, hell they are all hunters & she's a reporter.
He can't hunt like he used to, because he has late stage cancer. He can't do what he would do in his prime, in some audio messages he revealed he has little time left, so obvious he'd be in a rush to find his equal, not being able to do it himself as he's physically unable to.
This is hardly the first time that Kraven has had minions and he’s always been hypocritical
I think in the next game they should put ME in the game and it’ll instantly be a 10/10
You may have cracked the code
The weirdest thing about SM2 for me is the world and the people of New York not feeling authentic anymore as opposed to SM1 and MM. I’m a native New Yorker and everyone in this game is either too nice or too mean to the point of behaving out of character. The writing, the dialogue, everything was noticeably a downgrade. Peter and MJ’s relationship feels fake and almost like a Christian couple holding out on having sex until marriage.
The part that bothered me the most was towards the end when Norman finds an unconscious Harry being carried into an ambulance and screams at Peter in anger like he did something to Harry and all Peter says in response is “I’m sorry” despite having just went through hell to save Norman’s son. And the worst part is that NO ONE in Peter’s corner stood up for him.
Everything in this world feels too clean and sanitized and I question if anyone at Insomniac actually know what life is like in New York.
I remember watching Skill Up’s review of Dragon Age Veilguard and hearing him describe the dialogue as everyone speaking as if “HR is in the room”. I feel like that’s the perfect explanation of why SM2’s dialogue feels so unauthentic
@@JesusXinathisssss lol
After symbiote comes off that's all Peter says.
heavy on the relationship part. I’ve always said I can not imagine these characters “getting steamy” alone. they just have no chemistry and seem like two asexual humans who are in an arranged marriage. it’s odd lol
Yeah, a little to apologetic. Even for him
The steep drop off in writing quality makes more sense when you see that Insomniac changed the writers from Comic book vets to their in house team between 1 and MM
Makes sense why Miles Morales was so short and worked narratively, his arc didn't last long
The main problem for was the fact that the sequel had no sauce you know like in the first game it was like going to a authentic restaurant and being amazed by the flavor and then the sequel feels like ur going to an imitation restaurant that says there authentic but arnt sure its good hell its great in some aspects but tastes a little bit worse
Yeah it’s very generic game as a whole, but Mile’s Suffered from this the most. Peter Personality wise still feels like himself. Miles was very stale personality wise, a complete 180 compared to SM1 & MM.
@@Anonymous.ThroneI would argue the opposite where Peter felt nothing like how he was in the past games. Could be due to him grieving Aunt May but still he felt like a different person at times at least for me.
@@abhinavgandham4883 every character was affected tbh. This aftermath of this game is so sad. The hype before hand was tremendous,now it feels like it’s living in the shadows of what it could’ve been.
Wow that totally explained everything. I dont even mind sm2 critique hell despite how much i like the game i have critiques of my own my problem with u guys is yall cant critique the game for shit like u made a whole analogy that literally said nothing on how sm2 was bad u literally just said “sm2 wasnt as good as the first game” ok but how?
@@Anonymous.Thronehow was miles stale? See yall dont explain shit
After Spiderman 2 my interest in the series has fallen off drastically.
This is the only series of games I've ever pre-ordered. Now after spiderman 2 I felt... empty.
The flaws in their first game I understood was their first attempt and I understood that. I *tolerated* the MJ and Miles missions.
Spiderman 2 doubling down on things I didn't like the character interactions becoming sterile wasn't as starting at miles morales. Geez the side quests are even worse in spiderman 2 I prefer spiderman 1 and miles morales.
The first 2 games made me open a new save file spiderman 2 I just don't want to play again.
I'm at a cross roads there. In regards to gameplay, Spidey 2 and even Miles were such big improvements that I have a hard time going back to the first, but in terms of narrative the first is damn near peak Spidey and Miles and 2 just don't even come close. Both had their very strong points but as a whole neither approach how good the first was and 2 in particular has some very low lows that drag the good down.
I feel like you should've watched the video before commenting. His points about the side quests being better are great.
@@Comicbroe405 Or maybe, despite what the video says, this user still believes what they said
@@thatboikhy Maybe you're right but also many do that a lot, there's even a guy here admitting as such.
@@Comicbroe405you when people think for themselves:
I think you were way too harsh on the side content in spiderman 1...I loved checking off all the bases and challenges...I felt they were entirely missed in spiderman 2... that was my biggest disappointment of spiderman 2.
It's not nearly bad enough for me to outright dislike the side content or feel like it drags the game down, but I think it's fair to say it's pretty formulaic and especially the story-based side quests fall flat. Even still the first game is easily one of my favorites from the ps4 gen
I miss the Taskmaster missions
Especially his boss fight
I’ve gotta disagree just in terms of variety. My biggest problem on replaying the game was that every base looks, feels, and plays pretty much identically. For comparison my mind immediately goes to the Militia Bases in Batman Arkham Knight, which acted again as checkbox missions where you take back the city, but each one there had a unique layout and sometimes even approach to completing it. To me the Spider-Man ones felt very copy and paste in every aspect.
These games need to stop trying to be the 4th Live-Action Spider-Man Movie and start embracing comic-book wackiness.
Give Peter his silly web attacks from Shattered Dimensions, let him and Miles rant about the Avengers, X-Men and F4 doing jack shit about a potential Symbiote Chernobyl that could end Mankind, make my boy Ben Reilly a cool plot revelant superhero who stays that way and never regresses as a character. And make the visuals look like Sunset Overdrive.
I Double Dare you, Insomniac.
The change would be too jarring. I'd definitely accept the change but those kid who go on about graphics won't be happy.
That's crazy, you got a sponsor. You're a big man now
I’m just glad people are waking up that Spider-Man 2 was not all that great and overhyped.
They’ve been doing this since the game came out.
With a fanbase as unhinged as this one? It was bound to happen.
What the first game truly taught me is that an insane marketing campaign will get you far and it got them so far they got cocky and it shows.
The steam ran out with the sequel the lack of marketing was the first indicator of a game that isn't bringing anything new to the table otherwise the devs would be itching to give us a taste.
debbie downer
agree. everyone went on and on about how good it was, but i don't think it holds a candle to the first 1. story is def a let down in sm2, which was my favorite part of sm1, and honestly sm:mm
Spider-Man PS4 was over hyped. It did nothing new for Spider-Man
@15:39. I liked that side mission. It was one of my favorites on there.
-the spiderman imposter is actually doing good things and not tarnishing Spiderman's name like past imposters of him have tried to do
-he actually knew how to fight which means this wasn't the typical "guy tries to pretend to be super hero but gets kidnapped" ordeal. He actually knew how to defend himself. He fights the bad guys with you.
-the mission ends on a good note with spiderman praising the guy's fighting skills but tells him. What hes doing is extremely dangerous and to stop doing it as him.
I enjoyed it
I agree, probably the strongest one overall from the first game
@AsadAnjum right 💯 Better then catching the pigeons for the homeless guy. Those things are quick
30:59 I’m a black dude from the Bronx, that criticism is correct, miles doesn’t have the vibe kids from his area do
He’s written like a white dude who thinks this is how he’s supposed to act
He needs 4 different baby mama's
@@Five_FingersofDeath you think dudes in the Bronx do that. They might
@@joycongod4831 Yes
Damn go off we got sponsors now, big money moves
The whole "it makes me a better Spider-Man" narratives fits Miles more than Peter. Miles was the one so blinded by the events of the first game that he literally almost let people drown on the boat with the convoy. His efficiency as Spider Man diminishes every time he saw Li. Peter, on the other hand, does not have this issue within this game. It almost feels like they nerfed him specifically so that conflict can try to fit Peter's character, but considering how he soloed the Sinister Six in the first game, with 14 broken bones mind you, its hard to believe he would feel that about himself
Seeing a well known sponsor on the channel is exciting! You've come such a long way. Also I'm glad to see a proper critique on SM2 without any weird takes.
6:30 I personally like the "filler villains" included in the narrative. It makes the game and world feel more alive. Like yeah he has these bigger situations to handle but that doesn't stop what his other rogues gallery is doing. Especially with Insomniac pretty vocal how this Spidey been doing this for years, so him going on a side quest to take down shocker or taskmaster real quick is very fitting if you ask me. The other villains you see and fight I feel don't demand too much characterization, as again, this game is pretty much expect you to be a fan of the franchise. Idk, Ik that sounds odd but trying to characterized soo many pre established characters would drag the narrative. It's a bit lazy, sure, kind of know who Electro is and what's he's going to say, you catch my drift? Like us fighting the sinister six is really suppose to showcase how battle hardened or experience this Spidey is, and they're no more than just cameos the way I looked at it.
TLDR: they're there to pad the game and offer fanservice, but I personally think it's done well given the setup, like, if you take out those fights it's just Doc and Martin, while very good villains but you lose out on a lot of what this game is trying to tell you about this Spidey.
Haven't got to watch the entire vid but I'll leave this here until I watch the rest.
that first game will always be a classic but that sequel will forever be a disappointment. and that face change ruined the some of the moments
SM2 felt like safe, corporate slop. Zero edge or intrigue to the story. The characters are bland and scenes are lifeless. Frustrating how disappointing it was for me
The gameplay is epic tho
@giggitymaster8799 yes it was. Except for wall crawling tho. The wallcrawling is still broken. I, for one, missed using the web bomb in combination with the concussive blast.
I just hate the gay stuff
Meh take. SM2 has way more scenes that I return to over the first two.
The devs got too comfortable for lack of a more extreme word, that one dev straight up said "I don't care if MJ is too OP or you don't like her, I'm gonna find a way to do more even if I need to cut other content"
This is definitely a hot take, but I actually thought that Phin was pretty sympathetic, terrorism is bad let's establish this, but Phin makes good points about how people like Krieger get away with all the stuff they do because they have all of the power (think, Roxxon somehow got permission to not only have a paramilitary organization but a fucking nuclear reactor in Harlem) and Miles only response is "NO THAT'S BAD, IF ONLY ONE PERSON GOT HURT-" which tells me 'okay, this Miles Morales is a fucking narc'
The problem is her being a terrorist ruined her point. She literally attacked her best friends mom rally
@@theoutsiderjess1869 The Underground specifically targets Roxxon guards and it's only when Spider-Man get's involved that the situation escalates catastrophically
What dumber is that miles is gathers information but doest bring it up when he infiltrates the roxxon hideouts but doesn't present it to phin.
@@baki484 I think that's just ludo-narrative dissonance. You may have completed the mission before Miles talks with Phin, but that doesn't affect the main story
Honestly, she would have been better if they didn't call her "The Tinkerer" then you could make the argument that Miles had his own villian
the first game had the best story by far
It all started with the face change. an obvious tactic to either bend over to Sony, or to capitalize off the popularity of Tom hollands portrayal. such a disappointment this series turned out to be
Or, they just remastered it to make it fit with the current state of hardware… like any other remaster.
@@ShockwaveFPSStudios"Or," 🤓☝️ Or nothing. The face change was completely unnecessary and unwanted, you Sony sheep.
I feel like the comparison to Tom Holland is a bit too cynical. He barely looks like Tom Holland, if at all (even the hair is different.) Like, it feels like looking for a reason to dislike it past "I think the old one was better."
@@anidiot192 No it's an accurate comparison
@xnortheast1106 oh yeah totally! I mean, they look exactly the same! Well except for the facial structure, nose, eyes, eye color, hairstyle, hair color, general build, and basically anything but skin color, but besides those things they're practically identical!
I’m black and I was a teenager that criticism is exactly right I don’t like Miles now but I used to looking back this kid has no soul, no base in his voice, no real personality he’s basically Peter Parker but black. If they had a black writer working on him he would be the exact opposite of Peter Parker. Miles would be cool and smooth and confident while Peter would be that older and slightly dorky guy
I recommend checking out the recent Miles Morales comic run by Cody Ziglar. It might be what you're looking for.
I recommend to stop supporting a character that was a copy and paste of an og
I think Miles is great when he's his own character, but sucks when people try to use him to overshadow Peter. It stood out the most for me in Spiderman 2 because it felt like Insomniac intentionally cut him out of the symbiote storyline because they didn't want to give him any character flaws. They just wanted him to be the guy that shows up out of nowhere to save Peter.
Not to mention he got relegated to a mere sidekick,that’s by far the thing I hate the most about Insomniac Spider-Man.
I agree with you almost completely i can't stand Miles much either, there's literally little to nothing interesting or original about his design or personality, like you said he's basically black Peter Parker and I hate the fact that they named him Spider-Man too they should've named him something else
As a debate kid in high school, hearing the words "utilitarianism", "framework" and "impromptu" in this video are giving me PTSD
After the announcement of the dlc (which I basically was waitin for them announce) not happenin a while back i genuinely deleted the game and i really fw insomniac take on my goat but i do not like the direction they took when it came to this game
I could be wrong, but I think 3 of those DLC's got cancelled because of that hacker. Idk, I could be wrong. Also I'll admit, Insomniac should've said something.
Bro 600 views!?!?!? And near 18k subs!?!? Thought you were crazy famous already. Phenomenal work and production, you'll grow exponentially soon man, without a doubt. Keep it up!
It feels like the games got more sterile and bland in their writing. Spiderman 2 felt really corporate in a way.
I wish we had the web-based gadgets of the first game. I one time did a playthrough of the first game where i could only best thugs by webbing them to the wall/floor, and i had an absolute blast doing it.
Nice to see your videos are blowing up, finally! Well deserved
My main issue with Insomniac's Spider Man (both games) is how inaccurate their depiction of NYC is. The depiction comes across like it was helmed by someone who thinks NYC is just downtown Manhattan causing the rest of the city to feel sterile, static, gentrified and the worst thing that can be said about an open world, boring.
Every great depiction of NYC is defined by the people. All the NPCS are overtly nice in a hyperbolic way to the point where I don't think I heard a single swear word or even a slight aggression throughout my entire playthrough, which is a common form of communication among New Yorkers/ the "mind your business, don't stand out, keep it pushing" mentality is a part of the lifestyle when living in the city. The NPCs aren't even dressed in conventional fashion trends i.e. Timbs, a shiesty for the winter, north face puffer jackets, hairstyles like braids, fades, dreads, buzzcuts, waves or even a single durag. I hate how as means of depicting the diversity of NYC, they played it safe and only showed Harlem and axed Washington Heights, Flushing, the entirety of the Bronx and East Brooklyn. Apartment buildings look as homogenized as the skyscrapers. The traffic in this game is only ever interesting when it's a scripted vehicle chase side quest due to how unrealistically good and orderly everyone drives. Look, I get this game is targeted for everyone, so you won't get a Max Payne style Noir York City or a GTA 4 Liberty City, but to think that both Spider Man games came out after Insomniac released Sunset Overdrive makes me question if this is even the same developer. Sunset Overdrive is more Spider Man in ethos than Spider Man/ SM2 is and that's baffling. There's nothing worse than being boring. insomniac Spider Man is boring.
Open world looks fine imo. The issue is there’s no substantial world interactivity. This 2000’s
Sandbox for Spider-Man games need to evolve. It’s 2024
I couldn't have put it better myself
New York City being inaccurate isn’t an issue. It’s just the norm. Besides, it’s a video game, it doesn’t have to be accurate.
GTA IV seems to give a good or close representation of NYC but it's Rockstar they aren't afraid to offend.
@@ShockwaveFPSStudios well with the people I'd say it should be accurate to an extent.
Highs: Marvel's Spider-Man
Lows: Marvel's Spider-Man 2
53:17 “BE GOOD” for the 3rd time even though the last time it was said was 20 minutes ago is funny
I like spiderman 2 alot it made some great improvement my problems with it is that it feels rushed and it is too short other than that its a solid spiderman but more could have been done especially when it comes to symbiote spiderman
Spider man 2 has my favorite enemy base activity with the Symbiote nests. Theres just something about the finisher where you uppercut a symbiote then pull the civiliian out that looks really good, clean and cinematic. My high ass just loves looking at it while im one hit away from dying with the last stand suit equipped while in the sunrise, morning and sunset times of the day. I also feel that without the brute symbiotes to fight it makes the symbiote nests better
Batman in Arkham City got his blood mix with Joker's yet still decided to fight for gotham in Arkham Knight, without asking help from Robin and Nightwing.
Spiderman got anti venom suit with new powers, decides to retire in Spiderman 3 making miles in charge
Like what happened to great powers, great responsibilities?💀🤣
On the contrary, i loved the danikast in miles morales. She has a load of personality in that game.
Fr, the danikast now just feels like an exposition dump
37:43 I think the side missions with the Flame should’ve been integrated into the main story.
Harry should’ve been radicalized by the Flame, thus leading to the twist left out of the marketing where we get a Spider-Men vs Symbiotes Finale.
Agree. I think because of the hacker, that the Carnage & other DLC's got cancelled. At least that's what I've heard.
@ that sucks
Im confused on roxon, it was a huge company and even with th events of miles moralis, the company is still strong and hinted to be more of a threat, buffing rhino, but for some reason, roxon is just not even there, or mentioned in spiderman 2 at all...i think in spiderman 3 there should be a power struggle plot with roxon and oscorp
I still don’t know why it’s not called Spider Men. There’s two of them. I have no idea how citizens differentiate between them in the lore (Miles is definitely Black Spider Man you know it’s true) but they def weren’t part of the marketing decision. What if your in a unique situation and you need Miles electric powers, then Peter shows up and you’re like wtf.
And If they’re a team, they need a team name. The webslingers. The arachnids. The bouncey boys….
Batman Arkham city curb stomps all these spider man games and I like Spiderman 2018 but man fuck all these Mary Jane missions. Great video.
I actually like the MJ missions because of the story. Including the exploration in Norman's safe house, but yeah Insomniac should've had her mission not be all stealth. Same goes to Miles.
Arkham Knight>Arkham City
@Lifetime10154Nah, Batmobile & Puzzles the Game isn't better than AC
@ It is. Just another brainless newgen who thinks they know everything. Go back to doing your homework
@@mentaru1961 Go do your homework kiddo.
The goat is back
Im so worried for insomniacs wolverine
Me to bro 😣😥😕
I feel like it's gonna end up as lost media at some point
@@thecursingtax5729I mean the game was already hacked.
@@thecursingtax5729 its going to come out.
If they don't they'll have have to pay Marvel a large sum of money as per the agreement I saw. and the game is well into development they can't back out now. But it will launch on pc day and date.
Don't expect the writing to get back on track as long as they have Sweet Baby on their team
We went from a great game to a bad DLC campaign,to an absolutely terrible glorified DLC unskippable cutscene simulator dressed as a stand-alone game to a massively disappointing half-assed rushed mess,it’s sadly time to admit Marvel’s Spider-Man wasn’t the start of a new era of great Marvel games,it was an anomaly.
You said Miles didn’t fail with Phin, she just didn’t listen, but it’s more complicated than that.
Miles lied to and manipulated Phin to find out about and stop her plan. He used her friendship to keep his vow as Spider-man and protect the city. Was he wrong to do so? Maybe not, but if he was upfront and honest from the beginning Phin would’ve listened to him, at least about Krieger changing the specs on the reactor. She only refuses to listen because he lied to her face before to stop her.
I believe Mile’s character in SMMM, or at least part of it, is learning to value his loved one just as much as his Spider-Man life. I believe he’s so focused on living up to Peter’s legacy he neglects his other half of his life, he essentially admits this to Phin and the cafe, and I think dialogue like “You’re gonna kill your self to prove you deserve that mask?” from Aaron and Rio telling Peter that all Miles talks about is his Spider-Man life in SM2 hint at this.
A fair point. I might have been a little too flippant about the "0 setup to miles' current problems/growth" thing. But i guess what setup is there just feels very lackluster overall? I kinda of have to go digging for it. And not in a "they're being subtle with their storytelling" kinda way but a "let's skip all the middle steps" kinda way.
I think the fact that for the most part miles' life goes smooth as butter compared to Peter's (him and Hailee are only brought closer by him being Spiderman, his best friend is an active and interested participant in his second identity, his mom finds out early and is relatively relaxed about it, he has a mentor that's pretty attentive outside his short symbiote stint, he's going to a great school that honors him with presents and declares him the official superhero of the school, he seems to be on a clear path of success academically with his 1 "setback" being pretty positive overall, etc) it doesnt make me feel like he's sacrificing his non-spiderman side to live up to peter. It feels like a classic case of tell not show. So I definitely don't disagree with what you brought up, but I guess functionally it doesnt change much for me cause of those missing elements
@ Nah I agree with you, I’m not even completely my interpretation of SMMM’s moral was intended by the writers, I strongly assume it is because of some dialogue lines, like Jeff’s final speech at the end of the postcards side mission.
i will never forgive insomniac for botching Venom. They did SUCH a good job with Doc Ock, and Venom is my favorite spidey villain. It is a VERY simple thing to adapt. Venom hates spider man. That is all. He doesnt care about taking over the world. He just wants to kill spider-man. Its SO SIMPLE.
spider-man PS4 is the best spidey we could’ve got, i don’t think we’re going up from where we are at currently.
Insomniac got a little too comfortable with the writing and a couple other things but I’m still a fan and hope whatever they do next bounces back.
I understand wanting to see Miles struggle in the same manner as a young Peter, but I'm actually glad that they didn't go this route. Miles struggles plenty and makes a lot of mistakes, especially in his own game. That said, Miles' early years shouldn't be as clunky as Peters because he's actually being mentored by the OG.
Peter trains Miles for a year before letting him fly solo and then Peter doesn't retire until Miles is 2yrs in. This version of Peter basically gives Miles X-Men or Bat-family level training. For this reason, I'm glad that they didn't make 17yr old Miles a clone of 17yr old Peter.
My problem with the friendly neighborhood app is that it just doesn’t realistically work at all.
The idea of throwing out police scanners in favor of a app where people report crimes just sounds way too easy to exploit by criminals if they actually have brains.
It’s a fine means for making side quests occur, but it just doesn’t work practically
I would mess with insomniac a bit more that as an apology for the lack luster support of Spider-Man if they added the traversal of Spider-Man 2 to the first two games. Just adding extra tricks, and up the speed.
15:20 shotout to this mission for also having a GTA 4 easter egg. Another game set in New York.
All I’m going to say about this is that if you want a franchise to be successful, then you have to give the fans and audiences what they want to see when they experience it, because I feel like too many times big corporations like Sony just do whatever they want and hope people just hop on the bandwagon.
The problem with spiderman 2 is too many boring things they should’ve removed, museum get rid of it the school missions get rid of it
9:30 "It's not even close" have you seen Spectacular Spider-Man?
25:58 bro I’ve never seen that takedown animation that was kinda badass
I think adding a glide that is better than swinging in every way is kinda sacrilege for a Spider-man game
“They forgot to give me a tag” - hilarious. No notes.
Have miles stop " baby taking " dont be afraid to tell an adult story. Let the heroes be flawed, stop with gadets and incorporate different ways to use the web instead.
They messed up with Miles morales because in spiderman 2 Miles has nothing to do in the story hell the side quest in miles morales is where they peaked.
The editing is fantastic.
8:23 and 9:27 and 48:20 - I don't understand your praise for Insomniac's versions of Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker... Insomniac's Mary Jane Watson only has one personality trait and it's that she's a hot shot reporter that always gets the scoop, basically making her a Lois Lane rip-off and changing the core of her personality and how she interacts with the world and fundamentally changing how she interacts with Peter, and her character arc in the first "Marvel's Spider-Man" video game wasn’t very well thought out because Bryan Intihar and Jon Paquette made it seem like she had a death wish lol... It makes sense to want to be trusted and viewed as an equal in a relationship, but having Mary Jane think she can just do the things Spider-Man does is different. Also, Insomniac's Peter Parker is just so flawless, fluffy, and boring and if he has any flaws it boils down to "You are too kind ...\ Push yourself too hard". He has the same exact problem all the other characters in the "Marvel's Spider-Man" video games have which is they are *all* overly polite and kind of weirdly sterile in how they interact with each other and this is a problem because it makes them all uninteresting to watch and they never have anything interesting to say because you know they are always gonna say the nice and supportive thing and it just makes them boring and it also has the issue of them all kind of sounding the same. Insomniac's Peter Parker is too nice and he doesn't have any negative attributes for the symbiote to exaggerate which is why the symbiote has to just brainwash him and turn him essentially into a completely different person in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" .
54:39 - How do you really don't know why people hate Kraven and *especially* Venom in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2"??? A Kraven with henchmen isn't Kraven... Kraven is such a one note antagonist and is just a walking scowl and a music cue in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2". Also, they literally stripped Venom of all his unique personality in favor of making him a generic alien monster who's hellbent on world domination... Insomniac's depiction of Venom was barely even recognizable as Venom outside of his powers, design, and voice... Venom in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" is a combination of two pre-existing characters, the first is Harry Osborn who is just a really bland nice guy and is written like a five-year-old's idea of what a best friend should be and he's just a dude who's really nice and that's it..., and then there's the symbiote, the second half of Venom, who's just a very boring one-dimensional evil brainwashing parasite in "Marvel's Spider-Man 2"...
Vicious but true. I was already sick and tired of that music cue whenever Kraven was on screen. I call him Kraven the Gladiator since he doesn't really hunt.
Taskmaster in spiderman 2018 was more of a hunter than Kraven.
The EMF missions are so awful I genuinely dont know how those missions made it through into the final game
8:35 No I'm going to stop you right there. For some reason people are tying to act oblivious to why we don't care about MJ in this game or any other game. She's meant to be an NPC. The civilian that spiderman would do anything to protect. Beautiful, not overly smart, normal. An everyday person who isn't going out trying to be a vigilante and somehow being great at it with seasoned villains and their merc henchmen falling to her. Stop the BS bo one asked for that. MJ isn't special, but she's everything to Peter Parker. For some dumb reason we're trying going to give her props for *PUTTING HERSELF IN DANGER ... MAKING THE SITUATION MORE HAZARDOUS FOR SPIDERMAN TO WORK?* Naw man just make another character. Shoot they could have introduced the "Spider family" anything but this garbage trope of the every day person being able to be in the trenches with the heros. It snaps the suspension of belief in half because I know just about 1 girl that can jump in and help the main hero at a moments notice without it being cliched. That's Batgirl. Damn give me Felecia and spiderman working together and then add MJ in for the relationship issue angle that makes sense. But seeing that normal mosery through clear situations she's getting zeroed in without plot armour is too crazy. Give her a suit if you're gonna give her that much of a "F U I am MJ hear me roar" role.
I can't stand this version of MJ. In the first game she knew that the Demons, who had established themselves as terrorist bombers, were planning to do something at the Grand Central Station, and she didn't tell Peter about it because she was annoyed with him and she wanted to be a hero all by herself.
She didn't even tell the police, she just went there solo with no plan whatsoever.
Then the shit hit the fan, a security officer died and MJ immediately texted Peter to come and clean up her mess. Did the writers make Peter call her out for her reckless and narcissistic behavior after the situation was taken care of? No, they made Peter sweat over their relationship status all like "nooo I didn't mean that kind of over, oh geez 🥺".
Of course it was Peter who in the end had to learn the lesson that he should start treating MJ like she can do this hero stuff too. Oh give me a break 😂
3:48 edging tf out of me with the soundtrack here
i love you video essays i love you i love you
I hope Marvels Spider-Man 2 is the last time Harry Osborn is ever Venom in any media.
50:04 I disagree with this statement about Peter, because the reason he's been off his game has been slowly been hinted at, and finally revealed when Miles and Mr. Negative enter Peter's mind. It's his grief, and the stress he never fully processed that is making him want to 'be better'. But Peter also sees he's messing up in the beginning of the game, and ended up stabbed by Kraven, but notices he's doing better with the suit. So he associates the suit with it making him a better Spider-Man. He still hasn't addressed the real reason for why he's the way he is now, until Miles and Martin Li confront him, and pull him out. It's also what makes him realise he might need a temporary break from being Spider-Man for his mental health, and personal life.
And as for Miles later on, these things Martin Li is showing isn't true, but they are Miles' insecurities. He WORRIES about whether if he is maybe abandoning his friends and family by being Spider-Man too often. This is a question inside his head, and Martin Li just goes "YEAH YOU ARE! HOW COULD YOU ABANDON US?!" The hurting part refers more so to Phin perhaps, and him still being hurt by it (you can actually go to Trinity Church and see the little trophy from the last game, and Miles will interact and show he still grieves her), so now this becomes a What If in his head, which Martin then feeds into.
We don't actually see anything in the game to suggest Miles does abandon his loved ones or that he only hurts people, but that's the point. It's all in his head, and Martin Li feeds on it to give affirmation to his fears and worries, to break Miles mentally. You even hear Miles reject these things eventually, because he doesn't truly believe in them.
In my opinion, I appreciate all the stuff Insomniac brings to the table except for the restricted swinging. I hated it whenever people would say Spider-Man PS4’s swinging surpassed Spider-Man 2, when Spider-Man PS4 had some of most restrictive swinging we’ve ever had.
Why is it so hard to just make a swinging system with no boundaries like in the original Spider-Man 2? Wouldn’t it take more work and effort to make systems that restrict the player rather than give them web swinging freedom?
Seriously, it’s like developers of Spider-Man games are actively trying to avoid freeform swinging for whatever reason. None of the games after the original Spider-Man 2 had that same system.
Spider-Man 3, Ultimate, Web Of Shadows, and The Amazing Games. All of these had restrictions in some way. What is so wrong with going back to Spider-Man 2?
Honestly playing through the old spider-man 2 game again I realized how clunky it felt now. Idk if you've played it recently but imo the lack of restrictions leads to an absolute headache when swinging especially with that games (impressive, but often annoying) physics system. If you haven't played that game recently I'd suggest going back, I wonder if you'll maybe have a different opinion
@ Thats why a modern take would be amazing. Give the player the freedom to swing however, but don’t just let the game go wild and ruin the fun. We have the technology to make something incredible now.
@C-View1 not sure if this counts but you can turn web assist down to 0 in sm2. It definitely makes it trickier but not 100% as random and frustrating as original sm2
@ Yeah, I know about that one. The original is really janky, but I think it shined if a player could really get their skills up, but it did include an easy mode for people who didn’t get the hang of it. I don’t really know how you can make an unrestricted system without the hiccups that original Spider-Man 2 did.
@@C-View1 swinging is fine lol.
they had heart felt moments in the first game, then they tried to force heart felt moments
7:20 I'll say, scorpion was most definitely the most developed out of the other six member's that weren't doc ock and Mr negative
By far my biggest problem with this interpretation of Spider-Man is how apologetic and “clean” everyone feels. Spider-Man is at his best when he’s given an edge, and when you treat him and his world like Superman you completely miss the point. Like everyone from the supporting characters to the npc’s have to be this sappy preachy symbol of goodness and it just comes off extremely insincere. Aunt May in particular I never really got attached to cuz she felt more like caricature than an actual person and I HATE when characters are written like that. The most interesting characters in the games are the ones that feel completely uncompromised by the need to seem likable.
My biggest issue with the games is the writing. Everything feels so Barney. So educational. It feels like those student news skits in the MCU spiderman trilogy. Like it's all safe for work but lacks the edge/depth needed to make these characters feel real. Like sure Miles is portrayed as struggling with his Dad's death and forgiving Martin Li but it's always treated like "ugh idk what to do about my anger with Martin, anyways what's up with you guys" like...
Before I watch this video, I just have to say that one main reason for my lack of investment in Spider-man 2 was the seeming lack of continuity, at least from an outside perspective.
For example, the first games sets up miles morales a lot. This, combined with the hype from the spider-verse movie, made me generally more invested in the story of miles morales. I WANTED to see where the story would continue.
However, with spiderman 2, all of that is lacking in the promo material. We see new faces we hadn't seen before, new villains we can't really care about. There are still so many plot points from the first two games that hadn't been properly explored. Spiderman 1 felt like a proper cataclysm, spiderman miles morales felt like a bonus side fight, spiderman 2 feels like another tuesday. We are simply not given enough time to properly invest ourselvs. Imo the promo material for this game was lackluster. It should have focused on showing us where the story left off, seeing us where the characters are going us.
This is something god of war ragnarok did damn near perfectly, and it's why I had more investment in that story.
I genuinely liked the villain hideouts. I wish we could replay the Kraven ones without having to go to a menu, just like in the first game.
I love how the actual character designs and aesthetics of the the second game are so much better. It feels like its trying to be as colourful as possible, instead of the first game's really boring visual realism that it tried to do with the city graphics and villain designs. The swinging and traversal is also much better. But these are like some of the only things about Spiderman 2 that I actually enjoy.
I think the biggest issue with the game is that it treats the symbiote as like this mindless alien zombie that only wants to bring out the worst in people and eventually invade Earth. This is so boring in my opinion, because there's no room for any actual character exploration in a plot device that changes someone's entire personality. This works in a game like web of shadows, because that game trades interesting character development for a crazy story that is interesting to watch because of how insanely it escalates. Spiderman 2 doesn't commit to this crazy escalation until the 3rd act.
The symbiote in the comics and some other stories works because it enhances already existing negative feelings and rewards the host with power. It only ever feels like Peter has negative feelings about his work as Spiderman in dialogue, which isn't enough in a visual narrative medium. With no room for actual character development, the story had to make any character without the symbiote just seem as goodhearted as possible so that there is enough of a contrast to the symbiote, which is why every character feels like a commercialised parody of themselves that speaks like they work in HR.
Recently started replaying SM2 and i can attest that probably the worst part of the game is the dialogue. Coney Island was beautiful visually but the dialogue all throughout really highlights the overall bar of quality for authentic character expression in the game. All the emotions, high and low just feel canned in this game. Also the audio for voices always feels like theyre shouting even when its not necessary and it really drew my attention to how hallow the world around you is
Any updates on Little devil inside?
The fridge scene gets brought up cause it makes no sense How MJ is able to react to it and jump in front of him despite him having a sixth sense. If anything makes MJ look stupid and just adds to the pile of the character assassination Peter suffers thoughout the game. The deaf girl mission gets so much hate cause why am I playing as a deaf girl in a game called Spider-Man.
About the MJ thing, if someone you cared about and loved was about to get hit by an alien, wouldn’t you want to protect them? And also it’s more like an instinctive reaction by her and there really is no time to think “oh he has a sense that could see incoming attacks he should be fine.” It’s more like I see someone I love about to get hit, I should protect them, just human nature 🤷♂️
I wouldn’t say the second game has better side missions but I do agree that some of them have better writing. My favorites are the ones with old people like Howard, the blind woman, and the grandpa. But every other mission chain I can recall has some weird low point that makes me question why it’s in the game. The flame and the musician side missions start with some boring spider bot sections. I was kind of disappointed when you do the flame with the black suit and there are no different interactions at all. I’m not asking for a complete rewrite but just something that’s different. I liked the deaf mission until they introduced shake the controller graffiti mini games that are there to waste my time. The college is full of horrible side missions apart from the first where you save a teacher. The puzzle one sucks and the gay one is one that just rubs me the wrong way as there’s nothing fun about it and you know it’s only there so that they can normalize being gay to kids. I don’t care about having gays or flags in the game but when you see this mission with nothing fun about it then you know it’s just there for that reason and it hits different. I have ADHD and I will hate any of these that have some slow section like listening to him or doing graffiti especially when it doesn’t matter to anything and actual interesting sections from the game are given skip buttons in the pause menu while these aren’t. When you talk to the grandfather and he tells you how he proposed to his wife you can tell that the SM you’re playing as is taking notes for when they ask a girl out or propose to MJ but you know Miles isn’t doing the same thing with the gay kid which makes it uninteresting. The vulture drone missions are only interesting story wise in the end and remove all of the interesting parts from “gliding” and replace it with simple Superman 64 like fly through the ring missions that made them feel the need to add skip buttons. Even outside of side missions they added a bunch of unnecessary sections that make me wonder why they didn’t skip those and focus more on the main SM gameplay. They added a new version of the mini games for Peter doing his job from wiring to another type of puzzle which I’m fine with but then they also add bee drone sections. They added a bunch of carnival games and a lot of other stuff in this game that is completely unrelated to SM like bikes and basketball. They decided to take several brakes from making a SM game WHILE ON THE JOB! A lot of the stuff I don’t like feels like it was made with an agenda like the gay and deaf side missions one of which I’m not completely against but that makes it feel like they and a lot of the sections I don’t like from this game were prioritized over other things. If they were rushed and had to cut another part of this game it feels like it would be something like the playable Venom section rather than some of these time wasting mini games. The only reason I dislike the mysteriums is because I had hoped that the Venom section could be extended through challenge missions like the ones in Arkham where they let you play as every playable character but these showed me that their alternative was exclusive to Miles which also kept me from seeing more of the black suit which has some unique animations I loved that you won’t even see again even after getting anti venom or new game +. The main SM gameplay feels half baked as there are barely any major improvements I can recall. I mostly remember the gliding, countering, and a few unique upgrades from the skill tree like pulling enemies around with webs, hitting enemies upwards while in midair, and one unique combo when you get an enemy against a wall. The gadgets all suck imo and the special abilities were better in Miles’ game where they all feel useful and you use your meter when you think one of them will be useful. Now the first one you get is just a useless combo with the arms and you just use your abilities when their individual meters are full. If this game had the same meter as Miles I’d never find myself using most of the abilities you get in this game. There’s just a lot of things that I do love in this game that are sidelined for some of the most mediocre garbage I’ve seen in a while.
The Howard mission alone felt more like it belonged in a Spiderman game than the entirety of Miles Morales and the main Spiderman 2 story.
I thought they way they handled the villains was perfect in the first game. I just think that the second game falls into the same problem most sequels do. And that’s just because it worked for the first game doesn’t mean it’s a right fit for the second. They did the same thing in tears of the kingdom. Botw was a great game with flaws, and I don’t think the second game was about fixing those flaws but about giving us a new game that worked well just like the first. People still had stuff to complain about with the first but at least the problems could be overlooked and the game still worked as well as justified its own existence, when it comes to the second game I feel like it just doesn’t serve the narrative in the same way. I don’t understand why these game companies can’t reinvent their formula. I find them fixing problems that didn’t even exist.
Not enough side missions. They should really focus on the the Arkham game formula
For me the game is a 6.5/10. the worst Part is replayability. I started new Game plus and made it Till Harrys lab when You have to greet all the people for the First time and Play as a bee Hunter and omg it is such a clusterfuck
You're not alone there I remember leaving the game for a whole 2 weeks then I came back but I stopped with the MJ mission in the ending
I remember stopping for 2 weeks when I got to that part.
The same happens with the stupid Coney Island section.
A personal critique I have for the sequel is that it feels like they made Peter's world smaller, they either killed or retired his villains, they don't bother to introduce the allies he gained like Daredevil, he can't even interact with the Daily Bugle workers heck Mj doesn't even get to interact with her coworkers, Black Cat moved to Paris and we barely even see the two interact. Like I want them to give me something that expands the world and instead all we get is a new villain who dies and Harry who goes into a coma. Sure we got some new stuff but what's the point when all of those are gonna get taken away in the end?
Also we're dealing with an alien invasion here, at least show a scene where someone is trying to contact the Avengers or something, right now the world feels so empty imo. I get that it's a Spider-man game but the symbiote invasion is not just a Spider-men level threat, it's something that would actually need to include or at least mention other heroes. Like let's compare this invasion to Web of Shadows, in that game the world feels filled because characters actually get involved to help fight the symbiotes, heck Peter in that game actually tries to contact characters who can help in this situation like Reed Richards or Tony Stark
13:31 might be jumping the gun here, but do they not have the rights to include MCU characters in these games?
I feel like there’s a whole plethora of extras and side characters from the movies, tv shows, and comics who could fill out NYC-PS4/5 that aren’t in it for some reason…
Honestly just want another Ratchet and Clank game or like another new IP that isn't slop from em
People talk about the sequel like its the worst thing they've ever played, no it was a solid 8.5-9/10 game that just didn't completely perfect and fix the systems it implemented in the first game. Not everything needs to be a god of war ragnarok, I understand the issues but people should seriously stop hating on this game so much
I love the game too, but the 3rd act was kinda shit. Other than that and maybe there not being enough side stuff to do, it is a solid 8.9 to me.
@BreadSlice404 I agree
Tbh people either glaze everything too much or hate everything too much and then both sides fight with each other and it's really really annoying to the point we can't enjoy anything anymore.
And let's not even talk about woke and anti woke spammers that only see negative things everywhere.
@@TheTom20 spitting facts brother
24:20 or you know use the Unrelenting Fury suit upgrade from the last stand suit and literally just decide "you might be able to copy my moves but you can't copy the super strength behind them" and demonstrate why trying to block and counter someone who can throw manholes and car doors like Frisbees is not a good idea
like Bruce lee vs the hulk you might have perfect techniqe but that means nothing when fighting spider-man that uses "Street self-defense techniques（23）"#thailand and get rendered unable to pursue further
The first games story was genuinely sad and actually quite dark but then the second game just felt corny and unserious
Rio Morales is the best character in the insomniac universe
This video is absolutely fantastic
I know Sony was a big contributor to the problems this game had, but at some point we have to stop appointing ALL the blame to them. There are just some decisions that this game makes that aren’t attributed to being “rushed” or unwantedly cut out. Some decisions are just decisions from the devs themselves, and I feel like they kind of got ahead of themselves with the praise from the first game, and just decided to use the popular IP as a crutch to fall back on rather than something that tries to not be so idk, surface level? Like “woah guys, king in black references, aren’t we just so invested in Spider-Man comics?”
I just see so many things in this game that wouldn’t be affected by higher ups, like what? You are telling me Sony executives forced the devs by saying “we NEED you to make these bike sequences instead of whatever you were working on. Oh and we NEED you to make MJ and Hailey as playable as much as you can.” Etc.
and obviously some things were most likely out of their control, budgetary cuts, allocation of resources to marketing and focus groups and Sony themselves, the painfully obvious shoehorned product placement that was Adidasman’s costume, the cultural shift from the first game in order to most likely secure that DEI money etc.
I just really hope they switch up how they make these games, more quality and less quantity, less outsourced help from companies like SBI, a return to form in terms of the writing and story quality akin to the first games, and overall I just need that care and effort that I felt from the first game. Also weird thought, but I kind of feel like if their upcoming Wolverine game is a huge success, it will somewhat be a double edged sword. The reason I say this is because obviously having an awesome Wolverine game that meets and exceeds expectations in some regards would be amazing, but on the other hand, the masses won’t realize that Wolverine may be being made by insomniac, but it’s not the same team that worked on Spider-Man 2, which will lead people to make statements like “insomniac is so back” or something, which will instill another cycle of false hope and expectations for sm3, and people won’t learn to be constructively critical of insomniac to make their future games better. Basically what I’m saying is that wolverines potential success would be a false indication that the same insomniac team that worked on sm2s will make sm3 the same quality or even better than wolverines if it comes out good.
Kraven and Doc ock are the two best villains they made r.i.p to tony todd i felt like they should have waited to do Venom. I have seen so many people screw Venom and peter up that Im sick of seeing Venom as a character.
One problem with venom is well why does he call himself venom other spiderman media gives some reason why, also would have loved to have harey be a hero for awhile longer instead of only having a brief moment to see him doing crimes. Also how i saw the story is doc conores mentioning what the stmboite is and peter then just turns evil like all his dialogue changes no real build up
The stealth was ironically better in the first game too
how many times does one need to change the title and thumbnail
4:03 I’m in New York lol 😂😂
spider-man products are straight up not for spider-man fans, they're not for jms run fans, their not for fans of web of shadows or shattered dimensions, they are not even really for slot fans: the movies and the games and the modern comics seem to be for people who bought a ticket to avengers endgame or no way home and no one else. which is a lot of people but it still comes across shallow to real spiderman heads who have been in the trenches of the character's lore
Finally someone mentioned how bad the voice acting was in the old man side mission! Loved the narrative but oh my god his voice bothered the hell out of me
The video an critique are amazing, but I think having the game soundtrack on repeat on the background for so long makes it very annoying, no hate :)