Opinion: What's Wrong with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
The lessons Insomniac could have learned from Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
Nothing leaves gamers more embittered than an anticipated game that turns out to be an incredible disappointment. As social media and the internet age have shown, people are far more entertained by disaster than by actual uplifting success, yet Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is an underappreciated, albeit imperfect, success. This was one of the first games I remember the marketing hype surrounding. I can picture 9-year-old Ethan excited by the launch trailer and even more so by the demo. Loving its fan-favorite predecessors (Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man on PlayStation 2), I remember being overjoyed at the release of another open-world Spider-Man game on the next-generation console, the PlayStation 3. I shared the same hype when Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was announced by Insomniac.
Marvel’s Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4 is a rare, perfect game. Insomniac exceeded expectations in every way with their first release: stunning graphics, a sleek combat and gadget system, the best web-swinging in a video game to date, and a fantastic, well-paced story. In fact, Marvel’s Spider-Man has a back-and-forth battle for best superhero video game of all time against Batman: Arkham City (Editor’s Note: This is strike one, Ethan). All that to say, when a sequel was officially announced, and the main villain was going to be Venom, I was the most excited I’ve been for a game in a long time.
This game crushed my spirits.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is not a bad game; do not get me wrong. However, it did not live up to the strengths of its predecessor. The story was mediocre; at no point did I feel the same weight that was so well crafted in the first game. Combat leaned heavily on button-mashing after the removal of the established gadget system, and web-swinging was replaced with web wings, making it feel like a knock-off Superman simulator rather than an actual Spider-Man game. Again, this game looks and feels really good, but the biggest reason it let me down was not the highs of the immediate predecessor; it was the highs of a cult classic made 15 years earlier.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows share a few concepts right from the start, including Venom as the main villain, an expanded universe, and the use of the black suit.
The plot for Venom in Spider-Man 2 was a plain miss. Having Harry Osborn as the host for the infamous alien didn’t deliver. Keeping Eddie Brock as the host in Web of Shadows was the smarter choice, especially since Venom is more of a monster in that game than a poor host who needs to be saved. Insomniac dipped their toes in, using Easter eggs to reference other characters like Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and The Avengers. Marvel’s Wolverine is slated to release later this year, marking Insomniac’s step into the larger Marvel universe. Web of Shadows, on the other hand (still a standalone game), incorporated Luke Cage, Moon Knight, Black Widow, SHIELD, and Wolverine—all of them playing integral roles in the main plot.
Why Insomniac didn’t use Web of Shadows to influence their decisions about the black suit is beyond me. Web of Shadows made the black suit feel alien. With a single press of a button, you could go from the classic red-and-blue threads to the iconic black suit that would engulf your body seamlessly, each with its own combat mechanics and upgrade trees. The classic suit focuses on close-quarters, quick flurries of attacks, while the black suit focuses on heavy-hitting, ranged power. In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, this suit remains on unless you go into the costumes menu to change it. Even if you do, Spider-Man’s behavior still suggests he is being influenced by the alien symbiote throughout the story. Despite some cool-looking single-button heavy attacks that can incapacitate enemies, the overall combat combos are largely unchanged, and there are only a few of them, which get repetitive.
The biggest flex Web of Shadows had was its execution of Spider-Man’s home city, New York. While both games featured the alien symbiote infecting and occupying parts of The Big Apple, Web of Shadows uses SHIELD to engulf you in a beautiful, zombie-like warzone. The city grows dark, symbiote structures morph the buildings into something out of an Alien movie, and the symbiote takes over characters like Wolverine, leading to one of the coolest boss battles in a video game. By comparison, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s environment feels lifeless and cookie-cutter.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is not a perfect game, but it definitely did several things right. Sadly, this game can only be played on emulators, as there is no active license for it, even on Steam. Used copies on eBay can be found for over $100. For me, it was the feel and atmosphere that made me love this game, something I wished Insomniac could’ve captured for the next generation.