Spider-Man 2 Critique | Should Be Greater

[@ThatBoyAqua]

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[@Moonlightglock]

I’m good bro

[@heisenberg2467]

Get the bag, bro

[@marcusclark1339]

12:30 flags are a big issue when removing them is somehow "wrong think" to mod sites and forum, its clear the agenda on that, same to obvious token character side missions that are clear why they're there, them being short misses the point on the why especially when the mission location is also filled in virtue signaling at that location apparent through the game how agenda affects it and "its at its best" when its spidey in the suit i.e. away from agenda - the issue is apparent and pointing it out isn't some bad think or evil remark

[@DemoAppleMusic]

Raid shadow legends? More like Bore Ragnarok!

[@JJJS-mu9hj]

Hard to take anything you say in this video seriously knowing you sold out to Raid Shadow Legends hope the money was worth your integrity.

[@dionysisnance4204]

A true disappointment in this game is that we didn't get spiderman Chasing shocker to the ends of the Earth.

[@avlis101]

Shooockeeerrrr

[@BananaWasTaken]

Not only that, but they killed him off offscreen! So we won’t even get him chasing shocker to end off the series!

[@anthonyfernandez82]

I was unironically expecting an Easter egg or something

[@ryzmckenzie]

I genuinely believed we were gonna get at least a hint of that reference

[@shaunavant532]

How long are y’all gonna keep this bit going!?

[@YeTism]

The second half of the game feels rushed. Like they wanted to do all these cool plot points but just shoved them all together really quickly.

[@Dinosaur656]

Yeah, I thought the final should've been Venom Peter and Miles finally beat Kraven and Spider-Man 3 could've had Venom as the main villain which then ends the trilogy, because of course Venom is one of the best Spider-Man villains

[@-Down-D-Stairs-]

Well there was some development drama behind the scenes. Basically the game became too expensive / bloated especially with the expensive Disney licensing cost so they basically butchered the 2nd half so that we can get a Venom spin-off game now before Spider-Man 3 comes out plus they originally planned a multi-player / co-op mode of some sorts too that got cut look up the Insomniac leaks

[@ElderLaFollette]

I haven't played SM2 (or even Miles Morales), but that seems like a clear case of 'Arkham City syndrome'. Though I'd assume the main story is more than 4 - 5 hours.

[@mullaoslo]

​@@ElderLaFollettewhat arkham city syndrome? City improved on asylum in every way.. Like if you prefer one over the other I'm not gonna argue but if someone say one is worse then the other then I need to disagree

[@CrusaderWebhead3962]

I would've much preferred if the Venom shit was more grounded. Like Idk bout y'all, but the Knull, symbiotes, alien shit is extremely uninteresting to me. I much prefer a more levelled story with better stakes. I thought it was cool they paid homage to Web of Shadows with the infected city and all that jazz, but it just doesn't fit for Insomniac imo. They're better at crafting their own story with their own characters and plotline instead of taking from shit like Web of Shadows and King in Black. I would've much preferred Venom was this hulking and looming threat over Spider-Man and not the typical cliche of taking over the world. It js didn't work for me that much I'm not gonna lie.

[@BananaWasTaken]

50:00 I think the main reason they put anti-venom in there is because they didn’t want to take away all the player’s venom abilities that they spent a ton of time with/a lot of skill points upgrading, so they needed a way for Peter to still use his venom powers even after giving up the symbiote.

[@z1mmy9]

For sure. I’m just curious to see what they do in the thurd with said abilities. Maybe a scene in the beginning where he discovered how to completely remove it with his work.

[@Morfe02]

basically is the only way to make spiderman symbiote plus anti (quite literal) venom of Harry

[@no.1spidey-fan182]

​@@Morfe02 OR just do something that's actually fresh like making Peter VENOM. That way you have your cake AND can eat it too. Miles is now the "main" spiderman cause Peter is no longer Spiderman and is VENOM. Would've been such a CRAZY way to end this game...nut nope we get bootleg Knull Venom for some odd reason

[@blubrrybeanie]

@@no.1spidey-fan182for real

[@Morfe02]

@@no.1spidey-fan182 or even better put Eddie Brock as Antivenom ! The Story of a Guy having cáncer yet doing good stuff with a Monster is quite the opposite of Harry doing Evil with a same desease I dont mind Venom Spiderman in fact would fix the ending with Peter getting retired by Miles hahaha or even fix the fact Harry is in coma having Antivenom powers

[@scythetherogue]

The animated mikes suit is actually tied to the ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series

[@VongolaXZax]

I have not watched that, since my teens.

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Ah, that explains it thanks for pointing it out

[@CropDudia480p]

animated mike😯😦😦😦😲😲😮😲😦😦

[@PizzaMan879]

Who’s Mike?

[@chaosv1123]

It's the Miles suit from ultimate spiderman that used to air on Disney xd

[@alancastillo5775]

35:57 Yeah but, here’s the thing: in Spider-Man 2 (the movie), Peter Parker’s struggles just feel way more intense compared to Insomniac’s version of the character. For starters, Peter is still in school, and he’s failing to keep up with his grades because he’s constantly juggling being Spider-Man with his academic life. Early on in the movie, he loses his job delivering pizzas because he can't manage both responsibilities. Then, when Peter tries to attend Mary Jane’s play, he gets delayed after being run over by some goons, forcing him to stop them as Spider-Man. By the time he finally makes it to the theater, the doorman won’t let him in because he’s late. Mary Jane feels like Peter isn’t prioritizing her and that he's putting his responsibilities as Spider-Man above their relationship. His best friend Harry, who is already upset over his father’s death, finds out that Peter is connected to Spider-Man and cuts him off completely. On top of that, Peter barely has any money. Mr. Ditkovich, his landlord, even takes his last 20 dollars. The piling financial and emotional stress paints a picture of a Peter who’s really struggling to hold his life together at every level. In comparison, Insomniac’s Peter doesn’t seem to have as much weight on his shoulders. Sure, he faces problems like the mortgage on Aunt May’s house, but the game doesn’t dig too deeply into how this affects him day to day. He also loses his job as a teacher, but that moment plays out more as an inconvenience than the crushing defeat seen in Raimi’s film. We don’t even see him truly mourning Aunt May’s death until much later in the story, in the third act. His financial struggles are brushed aside pretty quickly, and when he joins the Emily May Foundation, Peter’s exited to be finally have a decently paying job but we never see him getting paid, which may seem irrelevant, but it felt like a missed opportunity to show how much he needed that income. I’m not saying Insomniac’s Peter has it easy-he’s definitely dealing with serious issues-but compared to Raimi’s Peter, the emotional weight just doesn’t hit as hard. Raimi’s version really shows the constant pressure on Peter, whereas Insomniac’s Peter seems more capable of brushing his struggles off and moving forward. And that’s why I don’t buy the whole “Peter is so distracted by his personal problems that he ends up being a worse Spider-Man” argument in Insomniac’s story-it just doesn’t feel as justified.

[@MrJoker725]

He didnt propose to MJ in 2

[@alancastillo5775]

@@MrJoker725 yeah sorry I mixed them up, but he was struggling to get to her play and she got mad

[@no.1spidey-fan182]

You hit the NAIL on the head. People say Peter was stressed...but all I see is status quo Peter from the first game😭

[@DinoDave150]

Firstly, I want to say you did a great job comparing and contrasting the two Peters and why one works better than the other. Secondly, I really wish they had given these games some kind of subtitle or adjective in the title, because boy is it confusing which piece of Spider-Man media people are talking about.

[@austinranft3618]

…you’re also comparing a Spiderman who straight up lost his powers from stress to a Spiderman that people were pissy about cause he didn’t do a backflip, snap the bad guy’s neck, and save the day

[@Strongmount]

I've always theorized that the suit actually was manipulating Harry subtly from the beginning. He talks about hearing his mother's voice while he was in the pod, then later we hear the symbiote talking to him while also using his mother's voice. I think Harry's vision for the Emily-May foundation was subconsciously shaped by the symbiote as a way of ultimately propagating itself around the world quietly. Imagine them shipping pieces of it to other sick people once they realize it can self-replicate and they still think it heals people without consequence. But the Symbiote changes plans when it sees how naturally powerful Spiderman is, and decides to use Peter as a means of increasing its own power and achieve its goal more aggressively.

[@DigitalArctic]

I've theorized this too. Here's something I noticed in EMF; in the energy department there are plans to overhaul the NYC Water System starting at the Central Park Reservoir. That happens to be exactly where Venom installs the meteor to spread the Symbiotes through the city, which I just can't see being a coincidence.

[@no.1spidey-fan182]

That should've been SHOWN more. The fans shouldnt have to theorize, especislly when they practically spoil at the beginnung that Harry is Venom

[@gabemyers4516]

@@no.1spidey-fan182 I want a directors cut of this game so bad

[@chickentikka7890]

This is a great theory

[@HairSaves]

I knew this the moment I played it. The problem is they played the whole “we” thing with Venom a bit too hard. The suit basically is the ultimate gaslighter, pretending to be Harry, while also subtly hinting it wasn’t, like when he tells Norman “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Which feels more like the suit laughing in Norman’s face for forcing their bond rather than Harry. The problem is a lot of people didn’t pick up on this because they are either not paying attention to the dialogue or because Insomniac doesn’t really show it outside of said voice lines.

[@noaheke2666]

my only real problem with this game is how cringe the dialogue is almost constantly

[@kwayneboy1524]

Oh be a good proton

[@funnybambino22]

I mean Spider-Man is supposed to be cringy

[@The_Local_Echo]

​@@funnybambino22 Not really?

[@funnybambino22]

@@The_Local_Echo literally he makes cringy jokes at bad times that’s like his whole thing

[@The_Local_Echo]

@funnybambino22 There's a difference between purposefully making quippy jokes and the fact that the original comment was talking about how ALL of the dialogue was cringe feeling.

[@sunnycombo5275]

One of the best things about the Arkham games is that it lets you fight other villians as part of side quests, in this game you just get at cameo from Chamleon and 'Carange'. Like yeah you fight the Lizard, Mr Negative and Sandman in the game but Spiderman has such a varied rogues gallery actually let us fight them in the side missions

[@heetman4785]

Eh I want to point out that Arkham City’s Hush side quest just has you find out it’s him before he escapes

[@andm9766]

Old spider man games always did a good job of this stuff too. Shit last one we got to battle tombstone at least. But I mean they did use up the sinister 6 in the first game

[@sunnycombo5275]

@@heetman4785 but you also fight the mad hatter, Bane, Deadshot, Zasaz, the Hush mission is quite good in city, and the Freeze side mission is great at least these all have story lines

[@LPVW04]

I agree but I do also think the side mission were needed to set up future either dlc or side missions for the next game as we seen 5 villains die in this game ( personally I thought they killed to many) so we need some build up to the next game that isn’t just green goblin, look at hush in the Arkham games although it wasn’t the side mission we liked it to be in the end we were excited for it in Arkham Knight because it had good potential and a few ways it could go.

[@legoverse1412]

I don’t view Peter’s nerf as Insomniac pushing Miles as superior, I view it as a lazy way to make villains seem more dangerous. “Kraven was able to stab and nearly kill Spider-Man without trying? He’s going to be nearly impossible to take down!” Or it’s a lazy way to move the plot along, like Peter being able to react faster than MJ. And I disagree that Peter’s life is at its most chaotic here; his new job with Harry gives him everything he wanted: lots of money, lots of science, and lots of good for the world. And Aunt May haunting him isn’t properly developed in the game’s story, so if that’s what Insomniac was going for, I’d say they failed.

[@V4Now]

I think you could argue both.

[@JotaKingtero]

I’m still incredibly salty how the offed so many iconic villains in this game unnecessarily. The world for me just started feeling less like a comic superhero world. They could’ve used them for so many different things in the future

[@FraserSouris]

I disagree. Firstly, a lot of those iconic villains have been in so many past Spider-Man games. For example, Counting just main series Spider-Man console games Shocker was in at least 6 (SM1, SM2 2004, US, TASM2, SM2018). It's a similar case for most of the Sinister 6. We need some new stuff. And it's not like Spider-Man has a shortage of villains. His rogue's gallery is massive. Killing off older villains means now we are guaranteed to see actually new villains in the next games. Like, we haven't seen any of the following villains properly in Insomniac's games: Beetle, Spot, Swarm, Hydro Man, Jackal, Chameleon, Carnage, Toxin, Molten Man, Tarantula, Kaine, Hobgoblin etc. Secondly, even if those villains weren't killed, what role are they going to serve in the next game? Characters like Shocker and Rhino have been jobbers and stepping stone for major villains in all their appearances. Be it Dr. Ock, Negative, Goblin, Venom etc. If Shocker survived and showed up in the 3rd game, he'd just be another regular villain Spidey beats before the real major villain shows up. Thirdly, killing villains actually makes Kraven appear like a threat and that the story has actual consequences. Like, there is a chance things actually change rather than revert to the status quo. Fourthly, it's a comic book universe. They're going to reboot it eventually like they do with every comic book universe. All the villains are going to come back anyway. So might as well allow this one to be unique and risky for as long as it can.

[@no.1spidey-fan182]

​@@FraserSouris Consequences should NOT happen OFF screen and EACH of those characters had set up in the first game. Rhino wanted out of his suit, Shocker was FORCED into being a villain again, Electro wanted to become fully electricity, Vulture had CANCER FFS theres such a COMPELLING relationship to have there with him and Kraven since they are BOTH dying men. The only throwaway character is Gargan cause he just wanted a clean slate for whatever reason but even he couldve been utilized and tied into the symbiote storyline. I literally broke down how they could have impacted the story on my community posts when this game dropped. The writers just used CHEAP shcok value and didnt even have the BALLS to SHOW the deaths onscreen. These characters died and we FORGET that even happens by the time the game ends...wtf was THAT!? Theres soooo mich that couldve been done. Sure Spiderman has a lot of villains but theres a DIFFERENCE in QUALITY. Theres a REASON not ALL of them are popular. From a story or marketing standpoint they domt have as much to offer And Toxin is NOT a villain😐

[@FraserSouris]

@@no.1spidey-fan182 *>"Consequences should NOT happen OFF screen"" EACH of those characters had set up in the first game. Rhino wanted out of his suit, Shocker was FORCED into being a villain again, Electro wanted to become fully electricity,"

[@Rev1ng______e]

Yes I feel like spider man 2 put spider man in the wrong direction

[@War624]

I'd have been fine with it, had we seen it. Yes, show don't tell is important, but when offing major villains, you need to show that, especially if they're being hunted by freaking Kraven. It would've been sick to see.

[@Macapta]

It feels like the comics. Started solid with a great foundation, then the later stuff came out and muddied the water and damaged the overall average.

[@thekrauserlols4611]

Personally its not just "Too many things crammed together", because you could say the same about the first game, but too many BIG THINGS stuck together. Kraven's last hunt, Peter's first exposure to the suit, Venom's first appearance, Agent Venom, and the freaking SYMBIOTE INVASION. Big stories that need their own time to be properly explored, all of them rushing to a conclusion. This game should have been just Peter, the black suit and Venom about half way, maybe say that the vemon Symbiote itself is looking to spread and thats the first hint of the invasion or something more in the next game.

[@Sniper_T_2x]

Or a DLC

[@thekrauserlols4611]

@@Sniper_T_2x Exactly. Start out with the whole black suit thing for the whole game, maybe some Venom stuff or evil Pete shenaningans. Then maybe a full Venom DLC, maybe Carnage, then MAYBE a Symbiote invasion, a small one. THen a 3rd game that goes full planetary invasion.

[@xSuspect-7]

I just wanted to say, i laughed so hard when that dev talked about how bad was the reception to Mary Jane's missions on the first game. He said it was a personal goal to get it right on the sequel, yeah it is better but far from good (just take it out already)

[@LEANxGOBLIN]

It’s like they think everyone just hated playing as a girl when everyone hated the miles sections in the first game just as much Honestly if they weren’t obsessed with making MJ Great Value Amy Adam’s Lois Lane I would’ve loved to play her through a yakuza 5 style side story about her modeling gigs

[@calijack2006]

I guess I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually thought those missions were great because it took away from the acrobatic and superhuman gameplay and made you more vulnerable because you’re not a superhero who can swing from webs and stick to buildings anymore. You’re an average person, who can easily die I will admit on different play through. They can get kind of boring, but I never thought they were bad.

[@alex01101]

Literally! I've bought a game featuring TWO Spider-men, why would the Devs think I'd want to be taken away from that to play as a regular person?

[@Chilick]

5:54 I personally would’ve liked more crime events on the water, bridges, and air. Even if criminals are basically just doing the same thing, the context of the crime would make it feel unique.

[@Macapta]

Air crimes? That kind of talk is how we end up chasing lost balloons!

[@Chilick]

@@Macapta so you don’t want to fight in aircraft’s? Or blimps?

[@Macapta]

@@Chilick oh no I want that, I just wanted to reference the balloon missions from Spider-Man 2.

[@Chilick]

@@Macapta hot take but the balloon missions wasn’t that bad

[@spillkitmusic]

the new car takedown mechanic, the fact that you can't turn off/on other people helping you with crimes, turn off specific types of crimes (i.e. turning off all symbiote crimes), cant make it rain at night, can't re enter locations after the game like peters house and miles apartment ,and cant have all the suits from previous games really take this game down. it's still INCREDIBLE, but it could've been better

[@SlowNSteady123]

Pretty much all things that the Batman Arkham games had years ago. There’s really no excuse for these lazy insomniac devs

[@thetempleton6622]

@@SlowNSteady123I seriously don’t think it’s laziness, they just had different priorities and didn’t have enough budget to do all of those things

[@qadi796]

​@thetempleton6622 I don't think it's about budget they definitely had the budget. Not the time, immorrtty sure the insomniac director said they had alot more planned on podcast. But they had to scrap all that. This game should've release either end of this year or next year

[@princemwamba5230]

Eyyy you could say that for every game though not a single game doesn't have whole ideas cut out the game​ cause of time and moneu@@qadi796

[@idfkimaclown]

@@qadi796If I remember it was stated Sony rushed them to drop the game leading to the story and extra content suffering greatly

[@Macapta]

I just don’t connect with the characterisation. Peter is kinda bland and Miles is just a blander Peter. Miles is also so unconnected from the rest of the plot. Also doesn’t help that I found only a single joke from Peter to be funny. The vast majority of his big jokes are “intentionally bad” which gets old and aren’t even good irony.

[@animationcity8178]

Just out of curiosity, which joke did you find funny?

[@DinoDave150]

Finally, someone said it. Insomniac's characterizations are just so watered down and safe. Also, Peter's quips are supposed to be digs towards his enemy's to throw them off their game, not intentionally corny dad jokes.

[@legoverse1412]

@@animationcity8178best guess: “I’m fresh out of honey!”

[@Macapta]

@@animationcity8178 The "we're out of honey" joke at the guy dressed like a bear. It's not trying to be ironic or intentionally bad, it's just Peter making fun of an enemy to his face.

[@Macapta]

@@legoverse1412 Bingo

[@knightslayer6161]

It’s kinda sad that sometimes these 20+ hour or higher games struggle to tell a story when 2 hour movies can. Not all. But this is one of those cases.

[@FatKratos69]

With ASTV, even if I prefer ISTV. It has loads of spider people. And can still manage most characters. There's like a balance where most characters get their time to shine.

[@onglanh5329]

I still hold the opinion that they should have cut out Miles and MJ part entirely and focus on the Symbiote Saga

[@knightslayer6161]

@@onglanh5329 I think they should’ve just cut out mj focus on the symbiote and miles with Mr negative and have miles then teach Peter some things about moving on. They could’ve then focused more on gameplay and gameplay sections. That’s it. I could even see the symbiote changing Peter slowly, for instance, Peter’s suit reacts violently to Mile’s touch from shock so it creates a difficulty in teaming up. Leaving Peter to work alone more. Stretch out that “without this suit I can’t be the best Spider-Man”. Something. I’m not saying what I’m saying is gospel but man this needed way more tension and side plots and pacing.

[@user-fo5gc8rf9k]

The Anti Venom suit is clearly a metaphor for cocaine

[@CYB0RGX9022]

Bruh 😂.

[@baki484]

The suit looks like cum. Dorrito god put that image in my head.

[@DBOwens]

The biggest crime of this game is they wasted Tony Todd's amazing voice acting

[@SpiderMatt2099]

9:21 Miles' Animated Suit is based on his design from the Disney XD Ultimate Spider-Man Cartoon

[@Kodiak.nteeee]

What about the deluxe suits

[@MaiconDouglas-ik6qs]

For me the biggest problem was how underwhelming and nerfed Peter felt as Spiderman without the symbiote, storywise! We didn't even had a fair fight with Kraven, He just stabbed him and that's that! So much for spider-sense 😑

[@HairSaves]

The turn of boss fights into cutscenes (as well as the change of the Venom fight from a city wide battle to a arena fight) really pissed me off

[@M08Xrd]

"How great it is and how great it could have been" is the perfect way to express this game's potential

[@ryanreylondsthesecond2796]

4:56 what you’re missing is that they took away the cops that fought and chased the criminals, so now it feels even more dead

[@GamerGuyOG]

Sony was bitching the game became too big and too expensive. So, Insomniac was forced to cut a lot out in the second half of the game.

[@SuperNeos2]

They had 5 years to make this with half of the map done already. There’s no excuses for an entire second half of a game being cut like this. Spider-Man 2 went from my personal most hyped game of 2023 to one of the biggest disappointments I’ve ever experienced.

[@GamerGuyOG]

@@SuperNeos2 Sony literally forced them to cut content...has nothing to do with the devs

[@kevinreyes1145]

@@SuperNeos2yeah who’s fault is that not the delvopers they were pestered to deliver the best Spider-Man game ever and what we got was good maybe a bit bad but good and that’s because of ungrateful fans

[@SuperNeos2]

@@GamerGuyOGAgain, they had 5 years to do this. If they weren’t gonna have enough time to do it, they shouldn’t have set up a bunch of plot points that would need their own story arc to conclude properly. Peter literally has the black suit for 2 hours in the entire story. For a game that hyped up the Symbiote as much as it did, that’s embarrassing. Sony kept giving them more time and money when they asked for it and they got tired of waiting and wanted a product to sell. Not defending Sony, but if I was funding a project for years and the company I was funding kept giving me a further release date, I’m gonna eventually have enough and want the product released. It’s Insomniac’s fault more than Sony’s. Don’t set up a 40 hour story and then cram it into 15 and the stuff they did keep was shit no one cared about and asked for.

[@SuperNeos2]

@@kevinreyes1145Idc if you enjoyed the game. There’s a reason it’s as divisive as it is and it’s not because of ungrateful fans. Insomniac promised something amazing and groundbreaking and ended up turning in a generic safe by the books sequel. As someone who spent my hard earned money on the game, I’m allowed to voice if I like it or not. And this game has turned me off from buying their games Day 1.

[@TheWazzoGames]

37:26 I can’t help but not blame people for claiming that Peter was nerfed to make Miles seem more appealing. While I don’t buy into it myself and see the “nerfs” more to do with narrative tension and stakes, the game in no way communicates to the player that Peter is “struggling” either as Spider-Man or with the death of May until the end of the game when Miles enters Peter’s mind and sees that he’s still grieving her. Peter himself nor Miles comment on how he’s “off his game” or how he’s struggling since the events of the first game and how that’s at all contributing to his performance as Spider-Man.

[@marcusclark1339]

yeah its definitely a screw job when Pete can't win any fight on his own without a boost or miles, him putting himself down and miles up shows how bad insomniac wants to just get rid of peter for their better "more diverse" spider-man and it shows in the final fight pete clowned on but Miles with no symbiote does better than him is lunatic writing

[@SCF721]

A couple other little things that get to me is how Peter struggling is showcased versus Miles. When Peter gets beat down he gets beat down BAD whereas with Miles it's way less severe or was done offscreen. The only time I remember Miles getting any real on screen beatdown was from the Tinkerer. Hell even the Peter fight felt like it was there for Miles to look even better since Peter should have been mopping the floor with him. The excuse given is that he's holding back but the game does a terrible job of conveying this. Nowhere do we really see Peter pulling his punches or stopping himself from killing anyone and Miles is just straight styling on him.

[@KingdomKeyJT]

@@SCF721 So wait, you think the ONLY excuse for Miles "beating" Peter is that Peter was holding back? Did you just forget about the bell? Did you just happen to also forget that Peter was agreeing with Miles MID FIGHT about how bad the Symbiote was for him? Why do you ignore these things? You also say that Miles was "straight styling" on Peter but Miles also literally got slammed into the ground TWICE and pushed off of Peter WHILE Peter was conflicted 💀I genuinely can't understand any of these points.

[@TheTom20]

​@@SCF721Miles didn't even defeat him, he took of the suit where is he defeated?

[@SCF721]

@@KingdomKeyJT My point is the fight should have been portrayed as more one sided. Peter should have been mopping the floor with Miles but it honestly looked like Miles could have beaten him regardless. You mentioned Peter slamming Miles on the ground but Miles did same thing but with way more impact. Peter simply grabbed him and pinned him to the ground whereas Miles gets go do a flashy dodge, pins him down to then toss him in the air and slam him again with his electricity. The bell is there but in gameplay you can beat Peter without using it and in the cutscenes he only uses it at the end to get the suit off Peter. Man should have been getting overwhelmed and using the bell as a means to keep up. With how apologetic Peter was after taking the suit off, I feel like almost killing Miles would have at least helped to sell it more.

[@spider-man500]

The story sucks. The gameplay has potential, but missed some no brainer mechanics.

[@ezbeanz4208]

better than the story from the movie in ur pfp

[@P8nplays]

@@ezbeanz4208you aren’t wrong NWH was fun in theaters but I fast forward till halfway through whenever i watch it

[@SuperNeos2]

@@ezbeanz4208At least No Way Home is fun to go back to to watch the 3 Spidermen interact.

[@spider-man500]

@@ezbeanz4208 No it isn't. The story's foundation is better than No Way Home's, but it fumbles HARD in execution. Some of it being because of the rushed production, some of it being because it's overly ambitious, some of it being the short duration, and some it being some rather stupid decisions.

[@davidchittick6783]

The story was alright, it's just there were so much potential. Insomniac should do a director'a cut.

[@Dangeresque486]

There are a few things in this video I disagree with, for one calling the swinging in Insomniac's Spider-Man games "physics based", the swinging is animation based, it isn't utilizing a physics engine to create the web swinging, it looks amazing but it is a set of animations and requires no skill, this isn't exactly a problem either, I understand why Insomniac chose animation over physics, it looks far prettier and more people will pick it up instantly and have fun, but I would have greatly appreciated a hard mode that actually utilizes a physics engine like Spider-Man 2 did on PS2 and Gamecube. another part I disagree with, web wings while I think by themselves they are a cool thing to have, the addition of the wind tunnels makes them way to overpowered and does reduce the importance of web swinging. I agree at least partially with your points on the story issues, Venom and the symbiote itself was mishandled, the connection to Knull is in my opinion a major mistake, that is partially bias on my part since I hate the Knull stuff in the comics, but regardless of my bias it was much too early and certainly shouldn't have been in this game or even the next one, Venom's story takes a long time to tell when done properly, in the original story, the symbiote was more like a confused child, it wasn't trying to control peter, it was only trying to help him do whatever he needed, and after several months when Peter forcibly removed it because he realized the symbiote was alive, it tried to rejoin him, but he removed it again immediately, it felt angry because of the abandonment, which is why it wants revenge, thus Venom was created. I think a lot of the confusion causing Venom's story to be so short likely comes from the Ultimate series, possibly the 90s Animated series, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, a good bit of the addiction stuff also seems to come from Spider-Man 3. and one more issue I have with the story (there are so many other story issues but I don't want to write a book in a youtube comment), at the end of the story Peter dumps his responsibility onto Miles, this is totally out of character, I could see him taking a small break and letting Miles handle things, but ultimately even if there is someone else who also has power it does not reduce his own responsibility, otherwise he'd just let daredevil handle street crime, and let the fantastic four or the avengers deal with all the super villains, but he doesn't, because when he shirks his responsibility people die, his whole origin story is based on this, the death of Uncle Ben at the hands of someone Spider-Man could have stopped, gives Peter the most important realization of his life, and one most people really should pay more attention to, "With great power there must also come great responsibility".

[@SlowNSteady123]

Honestly this review really sucks. The dude tiptoes around anything controversial and does mental gymnastics to overthink bad decisions and try to spin them as good. The story is terrible and no excuses or saying criticisms are “splitting hairs” will change that

[@idfkimaclown]

I think it is eluded to that Peter is just taking a break at the end of the game given the dialogue when you switch back to him. iirc he says “Break’s over” or something along those lines. However, Miles never really got the responsibility speech (or something similar in the case of Garfield’s Spidey)- not to mention how the game pushes way too much to make Miles more rooted and superior to Peter despite the story heavily circling around Parker. Especially stuff such as Peter getting nerfed and losing to Venom with ANTI-VENOM meanwhile Miles can manhandle him with his venom powers. Genuinely this narrative falls flat severely.

[@Dangeresque486]

@@idfkimaclown Peter also never got the responsibility speech, in the original story it was a realization he had once he learned the identity of Uncle Ben's killer, not sure exactly when the change to it being a quote from uncle ben happened, one of the earliest examples I can find was the 90s animated series. As for the ending to the game, I don't agree at all, the way the scene played out was more final than just taking a break, the implication was that Miles would handle everything and maybe call Peter for advice from time to time, switching back to Peter was more likely just so you can still play as Peter in that game, and not an indication of future story direction in potential sequels. Peter was certainly being put into a back seat so Miles could take a bigger role in the story, I like Miles as a character, but the way this was done was just wrong, Peter doesn't have to be pushed out to give Miles room, both are great characters and there is plenty of room for both. I think it was done at least partially because of the popularity of Miles being boosted by the Spider-Verse movies, but the push to sideline Peter completely seems less due to Miles popularity and more due to some other factor, I don't know if it was an attempt to set up a future story, or if it was politically motivated, either way it was a poor decision.

[@idfkimaclown]

@@Dangeresque486 Except it’s most likely implied that Peter in the insomniac verse did get the speech. Worst case scenario he has a solid equivalent with May’s “If you help someone, you help everyone”.

[@sathalel4084]

that's cause the "controversial" things are a bunch of Twitter children not worthy of anyone's attention​@@SlowNSteady123

[@DoritoGOD2811]

Shutting down the claim that the symbiote arc is a good mental health/addiction metaphor🔥🔥🔥

[@stevenbobbybills]

Me when I get the white anti-booze that allows me to drink and drive with no consequences

[@ThatBoyAqua]

The consequence now is that I have way more fun driving

[@SCF721]

Do we mean in the context of the game or in general?

[@user-pc1gz9wy9m]

@@ThatBoyAqua Can we correct this to the context of the game? Cause addiction has been its purpose in a lot of media. Like Spectacular Spider-Man does this as well. It even has Harry also using the Goblin Green drug around the same time to do so in a prior arc.

[@mensatico]

"I don't often revel in it, but it felt good to be right on this one"😭😭 Absolute king.

[@EpicGam3rLad]

Ngl, a lot of aspects of the games screams that insomniac needed more time. Dont get me wrong, i really liked what was there, but it could have been better. The story could have been given more time to breathe, the stealth could have been given more depth, the side quests could have been done a little better, etc. It is very clear that Insomniac wanted to go bigger and greater for this game and they almost got there in some parts. But again, just needed a little bit more time. Edit: Also congrats on your graduation 🎓

[@AbduHulay]

The story Is great, but the problem lot of things are there but they are foreshadowed. Yes still i do love this story

[@EpicGam3rLad]

@@AbduHulay yeah. Let's hope SM 3 has as good a story as the first 2 games and it doesn't feel rushed

[@Jasonseay52]

Prefect example, most of us have all played the three games but i cannot recall Pete ever giving Miles the "great power, great responsibility" speech and yet he's the main Spidey? Kinda strange to say the least.

[@MasonTheYoung]

Yes he does, In the city that never sleeps Miles calls Pete about getting hurt or a basketball game (I can’t really remember) and Pete tells him that his powers are a responsibility.

[@no.1spidey-fan182]

​@@MasonTheYoung Ah yes...OPTIONAL DLC, that in no way is reflected or referenced in the 2nd game is DEFINITELY how you introduce a character to an IMPORTANT plot point. That's practically off screen and its such a THROWAWAY line with NO real emotional behind it😭. Peter was practically SCOLDING Miles for being an idiot with his powers rather than INSPIRING him💀

[@MasonTheYoung]

@@no.1spidey-fan182 “optional DLC, that in no way is reflected or referenced” I guess the flame and Black Cat missions don’t exist

[@Jasonseay52]

@@MasonTheYoung you're right but maybe I should've been more specific he never let's miles know his apathy was what killed his uncle. I also agree that this stuff shouldn't have been relegated to optional DLC these morals are quintessential Spider-Man. It wouldn't be a batman game, movie, etc without the pearls in Crime Alley for example.

[@MasonTheYoung]

@@Jasonseay52 I get what you mean, but the DLC really shouldn’t be called optional when it’s needed to understand certain parts of the game

[@powermasterjazz]

MJ should totally be sidelined. She's not a hero. She's the hero's girlfriend. She can offer moral support or comfort him in his moments of weakness, but as far as helping him fight crime? No. This ain't Bring Your Wifey to Work Day.

[@marcusclark1339]

yup, creative director or such are just narcissist in their minds its "empowering/strong woman" virtue signal so they keep doing it had a interview on that at ign i believe and its just them being egotistical about it

[@Doge10YT]

Lol...I mean true.

[@coltonwilkie241]

If Insomniac is smart they'll kill MJ off in the third game to make Green Goblin even more vile and twisted. Knowing them though, they're going to kill off Peter instead.

[@bguy3667]

It’s insane how this game has a bigger budget and 1 more year of development time than FF 7 Rebirth, and yet it doesn’t have anywhere as many improvements to its first game as Rebirth does. This game feels like the most safe sequel I’ve ever played in my life. It really doesn’t try anything super new or interesting other than the Venom Section where you control Venom itself and that’s only like 5% of the game at most

[@jokeman3708]

About the Hailey side mission. We did not give Mj A Pass. Brian chose to ignore people in favour of playing as her for some reason. I get he said it was about seeing the world from Other peoples views but. U don't gotta make us play as em for that. Also I think people disliked Haileys mission because it was boring and had nothing to do with SM. Not because of her skin colour. Idk why anyone would be upset by that.

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Yea when I said “we” I was meaning myself lol my b

[@jokeman3708]

@@ThatBoyAquano way you responded! Thats Awesome and No worries Brother. I was just meaning that It was silly of Brian to state that haha

[@anonymous_5016]

36:13 The problem is that the plot point about Peter's grief over May's death wasn't revealed until near the end of the game in another inside-of-the-mind cutscene. Before this, there was no indication that Peter felt that way and it was revealed & resolved in the laziest way possible. Also, maybe Peter wouldn't have struggled as much if he hadn't chosen to be Spider-man at the worst moments in his life. I'm sure the world wouldn't end if he created stability for himself before going on daily patrols. We know this for sure because he and 2 other characters are super smart Mary Sues. He shouldn't have to choose between being a hero and working with the Foundation.

[@KFXG]

This is the only game where I've ever wanted a "Director's Cut"/"Extended Cut" because of how much I love the game already, despite all of its flaws. A lot was clearly left out from the main story, and the second and third acts feel rushed due to that. I will gladly pay for a new game disc that has like 3 extra hours of stuff in the story mode and more main story missions that properly flesh things out.

[@omoefeasiemo3601]

This is probably on of the best Spider-Man 2 critique video I've seen so precious and accurate and you make it clear that even though you have your biases you don't let those biases bleed into the video and I love that about your style keep up the good work 👍🏾

[@nomorepartiezz]

Adapting Venom to Spiderman media just never seems to fully work recently because you kind of have to start off with normal Spiderman to set the stage with a status quo , introduce the symbiote and then go through the entire arc of Peter getting it, enjoying it, being corrupted by it, and then getting rid of it, all before Venom can separate and become its own entity, and by then in a three act structure you’re already at the ending and final battle so there’s literally no room for him to be an actual character. After Spiderman 3 spent years with the reputation it has I was very surprised to see that the writers of this game basically put themselves into the same exact corner here. And it’s even worse in the game because they also have to introduce Harry Osborn as a brand new character before they can do any of what I listed above *and* juggle Miles as a secondary protagonist who is for whatever reason completely separated from the Venom storyline for like 75% of the game. I would figure that they would at least make the game longer to accommodate this but they stuffed it all into a story that’s arguably shorter than the 2018 game.

[@onesaucynougat7471]

I think it’s the same length in story but they stuffed so much stuff and it’s very disjointed so it doesn’t feel as memorable as the first

[@nomorepartiezz]

@@onesaucynougat7471 yea, it’s a shame too because I remember playing Spiderman 2018 and loving the story so much. It was just classic Spiderman, in his prime, older, established. At the time it was so refreshing compared to the MCU Spiderman who was constantly a stuttering Iron Man Jr. Even now six years later I would literally prefer the upcoming Spiderman 4 MCU movie to just be a ripoff of the PS4 story instead of whatever inevitable multiverse Venom bullshit they’ll end up doing instead.

[@idfkimaclown]

I would’ve had them actually doing the original concept of the Symbiote where it was slowly feeding off of Peter’s life force over corrupting him slowly. That whole concept didn’t introduce itself until the Christopher Daniel Barnes 90’s show. It would also establish a very good dilemma for Harry considering without the Symbiote he’s a dead man walking but with the Symbiote he feels as if he’s having a high leading to an early grave.

[@jboy544]

@@nomorepartiezz I think the Iron Man jr thing really showed a progression of him from being this kid w/o self-confidence to do things without a mentor to being the self-confident Spider-Man he is by the end of the trilogy. He felt most like a kid in Homecoming which is a lot different to tobey (which everyone considers gold standard) but it feels realistic for someone his age to act like how he was. I still have some hopes that SM4 gives him a fresh start & establishes a grounded status quo for him before jumping into a venom storyline. That just would make the most sense but Sony seems to be forcing Feige's hand

[@pepe2493]

To this day the animated series is the best adaptation smh

[@Ariho_Elmer]

I like that you’re one of the most fair KZbinrs that make videos like this. Honestly one thing I truly hate is how many KZbinrs critique a good game and spend 95% of the time talking about it’s flaws. They say it’s a good game and yet their video makes it look like they only tolerate it. You on the other hand talk about enough of the good and bad and that’s why I like your videos. Personally I rarely look at flaws if the game is overall good and to me this is a very good game, that had some shortcomings in its story. I hope you continue to make videos like this that people enjoy and I hope that if it’s a good game, then you continue to fairly talk about what it does well and what it doesn’t

[@tailsspin621]

To be fair, the best feature of this game is the game feel and when done properly, Game feel isn't something you should be thinking about in moment to moment gameplay. Even when you know to mention it, there are only so many times you can say "everything feels natural and fluid." Before you become repetitive. On the flip side, this game's story is rough. It's trying to do way too much, doesn't have time for any of it to be done properly and thus everything feels rushed and so much is just poorly explained. So many of these ideas flat out don't work as implemented that you could easily write an essay looking at everything that went wrong, and people have. TL;DR, there's just so much to dissect with what went wrong with the Story that to cover everything will take a while, but explaining the good gameplay will probably just take a paragraph or two.

[@Ariho_Elmer]

@@tailsspin621 I don’t believe what you say here. Because there have been so many good games that so many people consider “perfect” but very many KZbinrs will still always make like a 1 hour video where 80% of it is them complaining about what the game doesn’t do than what it does and it’s ridiculously frustrating. I don’t know if it’s intentional but the fact is the more negative you are, the more views you will get because the internet(especially the Western world) is obsessed with negativity. Because you can’t tell me the world building, the combat, swinging, boss fights, acting/performance, music, set pieces within the story will only take a few paragraphs to explain why they’re good and the story alone will take much more than all that just because it’s a 6/10 story. That’s simply not possible. And if the game is not a solid 8/10 even with the poor story, that would mean the only good god of war games were 2018 and ragnarok which is obviously not true. I don’t believe the only glaringly bad aspect of spiderman 2 outweighs all the good. Would you rather the game had the best story ever written with mid gameplay? I don’t think so because that’s a much worse scenario

[@michaelchapman454]

I was so hyped for this game and as the story went on I just felt less and less interested which for me is surprising as a Spider-Man fanboy in all forms of media so unfortunately I'd rather play the first game. I really wanted to love this game and I'm still looking forward to the future of this franchise and other insomniac games I just wish I enjoyed this game more.

[@michaelchapman454]

I'm also mad that they kinda wasted the Lizard

[@Adriel100894]

At this point in its life cycle, the first already had added a lot of new costumes and the whole story expansion which was great. With SM2 we got a few costumes and no expansion story or even a word about If that truly exists. It's weird, but even with 2 Spider-Men in it, and with a much bigger map, the second game feel's smaller.

[@8comentarios8]

You are one of the best game reviewers out there. Your content is always very respectful of the developers' work. It makes me sick to see how the gaming community lately always resorts to gratuitous hate with an absurd rampage of negativity. You always steer clear of that and offer a consistent and well-founded review. Great job.

[@SynchroUEHLNFX]

For me, we should have one more phase where we play as Peter with Miles helping you in the final venom fight. It would be better and more memorable if you can switch between them during this phase using the touch pad. That would be fire. It actually emphasize be greater. TOGETHER!

[@CrusaderWebhead3962]

I feel like this game's story doesn't really have any real big problems imo, but it has a lotta small issues that turn into one big problem. I also just watched Cosmonaut's review of the first game and what he said is EXACTLY how I feel about this game. "The good shit, is really REALLY good. Like, flawless. But the bad stuff, can be pretty distracting."

[@BananaWasTaken]

Yeah. The ending is rushed, but that alone wouldn’t hinder the game too much: the Witcher 3 also had a rushed 3rd act, and the Ragnarok part of God of War Ragnarok also happened pretty quick- but both of those games are brilliant and are known as some of the best of all time.

[@kwayneboy1524]

Yeah honestly I love these games a little more than the Arkhamverse and I am Batman fanboy but same whenever you have a polished dish it's easier to see the spots and once you do they standout.

[@talha7032]

@@BananaWasTakenI don’t think GOTWR won game of the year did it?

[@BananaWasTaken]

@@talha7032 Oh yeah, my mistake. The first one did but Ragnarok was beaten by elden ring. It did win game of the year at other award shows, but in terms of the game awards (which is what people usually mean when they mention game of the year) but I was wrong.

[@idfkimaclown]

⁠@@BananaWasTakenThe symbiote arc was too short along with the symbiote invasion. Considering how the entire story revolves around Peter and Harry they were better off doing the game ultimate spider-man style where you alternate between Peter and Harry’s perspectives especially considering Miles has a decently minor role in the narrative- if you take him out majority of the story would play the same way. As a matter of fact we had more venom missions planned but they were scrapped for the MJ missions. This is on insomniac.

[@zaidebtw4438]

I might be going crazy. Every time I see this thumbnail it’s either the symbiote. Miles. Or just regular spider man

[@ThatBoyAqua]

I think you’re going crazy dude

[@baki484]

​@@ThatBoyAqua I've notice the changes to I've seen 3 so far.

[@Scarl3tShad3]

This is what people felt with " the legend of Zelda tears of the kingdom" it took a while for people to actually find the flaws with the game and when they did those flaws outweighed the pros for some while the pros outweighed the cons for others making it one of the most divisive games just like "Spiderman 2" just a couple months after launch

[@CropDudia480p]

exactly ! and the way they came out around the same time It was such an obvious sign of how toxic gaming conversation has gotten

[@Leee275]

The Zelda fanbase is at least getting Echoes of Wisdom very soon, only 1 year after Totk launched, so they already have another mainline game to look forward to in case they weren't satisfied with Totk. Spider-Man is not getting another game for at least another 3 years.

[@knellknight3701]

after my first 10 hours with tears of the kingdom i can't lie, I stopped playing and deleted it off my switch and just went back to breath of the wild, it felt like i was doing the same thing all over again. I'm glad people had fun with it though, hopefully i like the next one more.

[@jeffboy4231]

@@knellknight3701 how does that make any sense, why would you go back to a game that actually IS the exact same, instead of a game that is still pretty different and has other stuff, and still NEW stuff to find and explore. i could understand only replaying botw instead of totk but what you said makes no sense

[@zage932]

​@@jeffboy4231 the gameplay loop is very repetitive, although the new stuff is nice.

[@blu3g]

I personally love this game immensely, while I can see a lot of critiques with the story I can personally move past them. But what I can't move past is MJ's hideous yellow sweater

[@aroccoification]

They need to stop trying to make these games for everyone. The story is way to cutesy and boring and the swinging is so simple it happens automatically by holding down r2. I want to actually play as spiderman and experience and actual spiderman story. And why tf is Mary Jane absolutely nothing like herself? MJ isn't a reporter... She's a model. She beautiful and sexy and charming while being outgoing capable and talented Everything that this MJ is not. This my wants to be Peter for some reason working for JJ and trying to the whole first game to fight crime

[@marcusclark1339]

yup, its a sanitized DEI mess MJ can't be MJ cause that's not "progressive enough" in their minds its just all so watered down and agenda filled from soy peter, to over pushed Miles and mary sue MJ

[@xanderscut]

Insanely cathartic watch. Felt like I was being gaslit when everyone started jumping on the reactionary hate train, glad you could provide the necessary nuanced deep dive a lot of us have been craving. Congrats on graduating! Can’t wait to see your channel continue to evolve ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

[@autodidacticpoly]

Physics-based doesn't mean "inspired by real world physics" it means there's a phyiscs engine crunching the numbers behind the scenes - you swing like a pendulum because you're on a string with an anchor point, not because it's a rote animation that plays when you hit the swing button. And as such, physics can be tweaked, especially between games.

[@mrinferno3594]

Id some what agree but the game does have the issue of having the player float above a limited ground level even before the webs have attached to a building. Obviously there us a setting that i believe gets rid of that but it's default is definitely set up not to entirely follow a calculation that follows physics. Inspired is a good word but it could definitely be done better even with the setting option its definitely a hard creative choice. But nice comment dude.

[@JuliusJ93]

I absolutely love this game! Literally became one of my all time favorite gaming experiences. It might not be perfect and can be a bit messy at times but this game made me feel like a kid again.

[@V4Now]

After Arkham Asylum superhero games having underwhelming stealth is sad. It's kinda funny the game suffered similar problems Spidey3 did adding Venom.

[@baki484]

Asylum is the bare minimum seeing how the system evolved in city, origins and knight.

[@LeonardoSilva-xm8ft]

I don't think it makes much sense to say that Peter is nerfed because of May when during the DLCs and Miles game (the training audios too) he is clearly ok and he is happy being Spider-Man. Right at the beginning of the second game he says he's going to miss the chases, so yeah... It's just an excuse

[@kwayneboy1524]

Eh I think it's valid with elements of the story but just not written well enough.

[@user-pc1gz9wy9m]

@@LeonardoSilva-xm8ft Like the last comment said- not written well enough. Also someone going through grief can still laugh and appear cheery. It’s just quiet and in the back of the mind sometimes where pain lies.

[@eudespereira8233]

Furthermore, Peter Parker in this second Insominiac game is completely out of character, in addition to the nerf they did to him in this game, they castrated him in a humiliating way and he does things that the original Peter would never do, Insominiac did very well with the first game, plus the second game, in addition to not innovating in almost anything and looking like a DLC of the first game, they also made a mediocre story with a poor script where several characters are thrown into the plot and disrespected Peter Parker in several moments of the story, the second game It's not bad but it's very disappointing especially after so much hype and waiting time

[@aqqo4365]

22:20 the exaggerated swag of a black teen 😂

[@thmistrapillay1811]

_"I wonder what the internet thi-"_ *And that's where you fucked up*

[@TheTom20]

Yeah yt, twitter, reddit etc are now pretty fucked up and toxic places. It almost feels like all normal people don't even try to write something most of the time because they will be called racist or woke with a lot of toxicity and slurs lol

[@krishp1104]

Imsomniac writers are literally the MCU writer equivalent of video games since Miles Morales

[@dripkuz]

0:36 HOW MANY MONTHS!?

[@majoraccident1924]

6 MONTHS?!?!?!?

[@AshyMuted]

HALF A YEAR?

[@jc66594]

0:36 HOW MANY MONTHS?!?!?!

[@zack.ry.mo02]

6 months

[@Console-Lord]

The animated suit for Miles is from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. It's not an Insomniac original.

[@HannyaHalo]

39:16 HOLY SHIT YOU'RE TOTALLY RIGHT. honestly this explanation makes SO much more sense and makes a lot of the story feel much more consistent with itself.

[@jonathanrobinson198]

Haven’t watched the video yet, but I’m going to say right now I miss the gadget wheel and they should’ve given you every costume you had from the other games in here if you played them.

[@HannyaHalo]

Personally, especially before Harry becomes Venom, Harry's and Peter's relationship is incredibly well written. I used to have a best friend of my own and he means the world to me. I wouldn't hesitate to call him a brother at a moment's notice even now and Harry's and Peter's bond really reminded me of the time we used to spend together. Overall I think they nailed it.

[@Twist-kj2fb]

I agree with the sentiment of the title. Its great, but should have been greater.

[@frostycane5134]

Good game for general audiences and even web heads no game breaking bugs or bad dialogue/acting and a coherent story. But as a sequel it’s safe and lacking and poor venom

[@Twist-kj2fb]

@@frostycane5134 I agree with you 100% I was nowhere near dissatisfied with the game but I can't say it was as incredible as the first game was. It just set the bar so high yanno?

[@slappydoodle]

@Twist-kj2fb I swears no malice. If u thought the game was great fine Imo its a 6/10 at best. It's fantastically wonderful swinging around new york. Really they absolutely nailed the movement and honed the combat. Everything about GAMEPLAY is tight and on point (when playing as spidey) in the game. It's Everything else that drags the game down for me. It's weird side missions, clear biases towards miles, and clear distain for peters actions (ya know being a hero). The MJ missions we all know an loved were brought back and she turned into John wick witha taser gun. If the bad guys can b put down by her then y is spider man needed? Peter parker got 1 game. 1 standalone game Miles morales a who cares character is gonna have more?? Cmon man.....let's b honest here......somethings not right The 1st game felt tight on all fronts Aunt may dying really hit cuz I actually cared about the characters. There's not a single stand out moment in SM2 And while it's on sony for even partnering with sweet baby, the story like every sweet baby game they work on, took a fckn nosedive in quality It's been since the game launched since I've played but didn't peter quit being spider man to stop trees from being cut down? Lol hahaha c that's stupid and makes no sense. It's just to prop up and that's y the game suffers greatly Edit here.....the beginning sequence with sandman was fun so that is a standout moment tbf

[@HaloMan-813]

@ThatBoyAqua You ain't alone in the 1.0 suit hot take its literally better

[@7orotv3]

I get both sides of it. And after listening to the cons when it’s not just crapping on it. I understand why some people would be disappointed with it. But it still was a solid sequel for me and I enjoyed it. Albeit not having the time to let the plot points shine as much this time around. As much as I’ll be hyped for Insomniac SPIDEY games moving forward. Nothing will touch Spider-man 2018 for me. And I won’t put that pressure on them. As long as my traversal gets improved every new iteration. It’s all I need.

[@dionmacdonald3369]

The game is woke MJ looks like shit no sorry all women in the game looks like shit Wonder why 🤔 Woke

[@camaronpotts4214]

Great video as always. Good to see someone finally striking that middle ground on the game. Nicer still to hear someone else still loves it despite its flaws. I even enjoy the story to a certain extent, even though the writing suffers, particularly in the latter half, I can still find it entertaining and enjoy it

[@justcallmeKad]

Imagine the whole game was the symbiote arc and they end the story on a cliff hanger with Venom being born. After that they release a DLC or solo Venom game

[@jackspaggato5825]

After playing the first Spider-Man PS4 game for so long, coming to Spider-Man 2 with the new face model for Peter, MJ, Harry, and Jonah, they felt like different characters to me and made the game feel very jarring. Of course, I got used to the new models but it did make me feel like I was playing some Spider-Man game that wasn't connected to the first two, at least for the first couple of hours.

[@marcusclark1339]

desensitized to the new faces yeah they are all just terrible and boring and "safe" cause Insomniac makes such sterilized characters

[@onesaucynougat7471]

It’s like you watch a great movie over and over and the actors for the characters get re-cast, it’s jarring and takes you out of it.

[@TheParkerThirteen]

Yeah i was super disappointed when they changed peters face. His original model looked exactly like one of my cousins, so it always made me and my brother laugh. Now hes just generic white guy number 600000

[@briquesbts]

Honestly, as a fan, I had a blast. The only issues I had came down to "I wanted more of that", which is not a problem on itself. Not saying there are no flaws, but it feels like most people are a little overly critical imo

[@AlukaXDD]

God the gaming community now is just so weird, imo if I played the game and I loved it and it was well worth the money then it'd a very good game, I don't care was it short long or story was ass, if I had fun playing it and I think it was worth the money it's a good game

[@Evanz111]

This game was where I kind of realised how much I miss getting sequels that feel like sequels. I know the whole “*game name* 1.5” thing is a tired argument, but it’s just so rare to be blown away like we used to with sequels. Tears of the Kingdom, God of War: Ragnarok, Horizon: Forbidden West.. they all just feel like more of the prior game imo, with some minor new mechanics - it just makes them more forgettable. Still great games but rather underwhelming. The only sequel in recent memory that blew me away in scope & ambition was Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth. Maybe GTA 6 will be the next to do it whenever that comes out.

[@omidrazaie9479]

I feel that the 2023 Game Awards is when the switch flipped. When Spiderman 2 lost GOTY that's when I saw the narrative change drastically

[@SuperNeos2]

It was such a stacked year last year there was zero chance Spider-Man was gonna win and if you thought otherwise, you’re a fool

[@gotabonetopick2942]

That was honestly expected. I lived Spider Man 2, but Baldurs Gate 3 and Tears of the Kingdom felt like better representations of what games can do when they focus on fun interactions rather than stories with still pretty good gameplay.

[@psychophate]

There were a lot of criticisms prior to the Game Awards. It was the online discussions of people trying to hype up SM2, and how it should have won when many of its competitors were just better, and the pushback that it received that really put it into a poor light in people's eyes. Combine that with the Insomniac hack that showed how a lot of Spider-Man 2 content was chopped really made it look like the game's potential was crippled.

[@erhiueQWEF]

there was never any chance a cape shit game was gonna top a Baldurs Gate game and a Zelda game its delusional to think otherwise.

[@baki484]

Nah I called it when the previews came out, the fanbase putting other games down or how they attack people for critiquing it's flaws from the preview footage, my own friend going on about how he'd be pissed if it doesn't win game of the year and of course BG3 having game devs telling people not to expect it's level of quality. Honestly it's a disappointing sequel. I shouldn't have pre-ordered it and got the RE4 remake and Deadspace remake last year instead.

[@joshuasatterwhite9520]

At 35:45 you may have just put together the BEST comprehensive counter point to "Peter being brought down to prop up Miles" HOLY SHIT. I have never ACTUALLY heard a true and honest counter point to it before just toxicity and vitriol for even bringing up the mere NOTION of it even being a slight possibility, which only pushed me to beleive it further as I never actually really recived a counter point just anger or insults. But the way you put it I totally get it you exemplafied things I beleive the game failed to adequately emphasize effectively in its narritve (which is a microcosm of the games overall writing issues with attempting to exercise its narritve, story and themes effeciently but I digress) and im glad i finally got to hear something so level headed and descriptive that allowed me to see and recontextualize those story beats and a lot of the "dumb" stuff I felt happened. Genuinely gave me a "URIKA!" moment. And gives me an added piece of appreciation to the narrative. Thank you for exemplyifing a point the game wasn't exactly cohesive in emphasizing and for being the only respectful and level headed guy out here to talk about it cause now I can at least appreciate and view that aspect of the story in the same way you do even if so many other elements fall flat 🤝🏿

[@zacharytaylor5977]

For the MJ missions when the game first launch. Mine was glitched where she died from one arrow or one hit. It made the sections alot of fun because you really had to fight for your life. When I found out it was a glitch and it was patched out the MJ sections were a slog

[@SeanTurle]

Spiderman 2's biggest mistake was making it T for Teen. The T for Teen rating bottlenecked an M for Mature story to a point where you're left feeling nothing when it ends. To be specific, the storyline is not the problem but the storytelling is. The storyline is R rated. It touches on dark and mature themes of revenge, addiction, greed, and hate. Top this off with Spiderman's most R rated antagonists. The storytelling is offensively PG-13. Characters were dumbed down so kids with basic understanding of human psychology can read them easily and the story's pacing was rushed so kids with low attention spans don't lose interest or forget what's going on. The characters lacked complexity and nuance: - Instead of thinking deeper into a character's feelings, their motivations and intentions are made clear. - Instead of having to read between the lines when characters are talking to each other, their dialogue is straight forward. The story had pacing problems: - The buildup to important plot points were rushed, making climactic moments lack their desired impact. - The story goes by so fast, the characters constantly remind you what's going on.

[@mochii813]

Mashing king in black with kravens last hunt while also not giving credit to the og creators outside of lee and ditko was crazy 😭

[@jierdareisa4313]

2:01 truer words were never spoken

[@jasminejou1273]

🙌🏼

[@Krypto1201]

People just forget Sony ruined what this game COULD have been. There were more missions as venom and WAY more dialogue but they literally made Insomniac cut most of that out. Since they do have the rights to him and how much gets used- is up to them

[@maineman5757]

The combat and enemy design is off. Something about it is too chaotic, too random. The first game had a much better flow. The stealth is just too immersion breaking to be taken seriously. I like the web lines, but it doesn't work with some level design. The story is okay too bad. The graphics and animation is top notch.

[@7em7edar]

I will say this, it is not a bad game, but the first one was way better.

[@czms922]

Just remember no matter how many critics Spider-Man 2 gets, the fans will still diss Baldurs gate 3 for winning goty

[@baki484]

Which is really pathetic when you think about it.

[@TheTom20]

People diss everything right now tbh it's doesn't matter if it's good or bad you are either a racist, woke or just an idiot lol

[@jehehehedias5881]

BG3 is just better (And I voted RE4R for goty)

[@AgentN-s5u]

@@jehehehedias5881yeah but re4 is a remake i think the og already got game of the yeat

[@gabemyers4516]

Advanced 1.0 is the most underrated Spider-Man suit.

[@Tinks27]

I think Spider-Man 2 is a strong game for the most part, but this game really could have had a few more months of development. It feels very rushed and I don't think we got what Insomniac truly wanted, if the Sony pushing for the game to come out story is true. Hopefully we eventually get DLC, but unfortunately it seems like a pipe-dream now. The hack on Insomniac certainly doesn't help... Hopefully Wolverine can get Insomniac back on track and then they can make a great 3rd game for Spider-Man, no matter how this game turned out, they've set up a lot of interesting arcs

[@mushroom_man_jpg]

The thing that really bugs me about this game is how severe the drop off in quality of writing is once you reach act 3. I was so invested in the first two acts, but once the alien invasion plot kicked in, I immediately started to lose interest.

[@SlowNSteady123]

You also love to defend insomniac and blame the fans. People are mad that these free suits are added because nobody asked for Brazilian Miles or 90’s carpet Spider-men. It took almost a year just to get last stand and animated suits back in the game when people have wanted them since day 1. Meanwhile they continue to pump out stuff nobody asked for with zero communication

[@LeonardoSilva-xm8ft]

@@SlowNSteady123 the celebs and charity suits are so confusing to me, like, why make people who don't know how to design a superhero suit, do a superhero suit for you?

[@SlowNSteady123]

@@LeonardoSilva-xm8ft yeah honestly, these celebrity suits just made me realize that I am severely underpaid and/or in the wrong profession

[@watchmehope6560]

​@@LeonardoSilva-xm8ftit's called DEI... Sweet baby inc...just saying.

[@inspectordonut5622]

​@@SlowNSteady123man don't think like that, money and fame can fuck you up in many ways

[@zzirfamo24]

I think it’s pretty easy to say they were rushed by Sony and we didn’t get the full game but they still somehow pulled off a great game. Seeing those leaks of the Venom and Spiderman fight breaking the environment around them was crazy and I know insomniac could do better. Actually I think that’s what there working on now for the DLC’s, making it to what it was supposed to be. Hopefully we see an announcement soon like they god of war in October!!

[@raylathebrave]

My honest opinion on the game didn't change since release, I'm a huge Spider-Man fan like you, to the point were I can play whatever game Spider-Man is in and still find some enjoyment from the experience, but with that said. Spider-Man 2 in my opinion while being a very fun game and being worthwhile, still disappointed me for multiple reasons, the biggest let downs for me where the story and the black suit's gameplay. The story started off amazingly (no pun intended) but once Peter gets the suit for some reason the story stops being interesting. I didn't really feel Peter loosing himself to the suit and he didn't suffer any real consequence from wearing it, no one really reacts to Peter being a jerk aside a "Hey that's rude D:" nor do they really seem all that concerned for Peter outside a couple of comments, it felt rushed and we don't really get a chance to see Peter benefit from the suit all that much, since he doesn't keep it for long, the suit itself felt like an alien.jpg without a personality (which also applies to Venom) nor a real "motive" outside of "I want to take over the world" which is so overdone by now with the symbiote, to the point that it made me really lose interest in Venom as a villain. Venom himself is such a poorly done villain in the game, he has so little screen time and Harry becoming Venom is unconvincing at best, especially since "Venom" doesn't seem to be a combination of Harry and the suit but rather the symbiote itself taking over Harry. I was also deeply disappointed with the gameplay with the Black Suit, I waited so many years for a game like this to come out, I was hyped out of my mind for finally wear the black suit again and feel that surge of power, maybe it was my own fault for expecting something while not similar but at least close to Web of Shadows, where wearing the suit makes you feel powerful. However in this game the closest you can get to that feeling of power is the symbiotic surge that while being fun to use, is at the end of the day a gimmick that gets old fast because of the three repeated animations it has and lack of interesting features outside being a classic "Rage Mode." In Spider-Man 2 wearing the black suit gives you 4 unique abilities and that's it, you don't get unique animations during combat or travel outside specific abilities or finishers (which are few far between,) you don't get a buff in power, you don't really feel any different from the classic spider-man you always were, you can't feel Peter's aggression nor new found power, which the game likes to remind you in many encounters. I can't stress enough how much of a let down it was for me. Overhaul I think Spider-Man 2 is a good game, but that's it, it doesn't do anything too interesting outside refining the formula the last one had, the traversal is top-notch but anything else is more of the same, I can understand why people after the initial hype for the game felt the way they did, I felt like that from the start, it's not fair to call the game bad, because it's not, but it's not what I've hoped for either, and for me it was a big disappointment. Thank you for the read!

[@ezzekieldirks8542]

My same thoughts. Web of shadows's abilities were broader and yh i'm tired of the klyntar invasion. I just wanted classic venom like the older comics wanting to make peter's life a hell. Spectacular spider-man did a great job of telling a classic symbiote arc

[@HairSaves]

The symbiote in this game is more evil than Topher Graces Venom. The OPENING CUTSCENE is literally the suit telling Harry through the form of a nightmare that he will never be free. Harry mentions his time in stasis, and says he frequently had dreams of his mother telling him to “heal the world”. This was seen again when Harry becomes Venom, but we see that it was always the symbiote manipulating him. It basically pulled an inception on him. Primed him to be much less resistive to the idea the suit could “heal” everyone, which makes Harry much easier to control to be able to enslave the planet.

[@skelly-eh8qb]

Perfect thing to watch tonight. Appreciate the peak content u always put out Aqua!!!!

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Thanks Skelly!

[@Comicbroe405]

Yt not notifying me about this video is a crime. Banger asf always dude. Glad that you immediately touched on the game's perception change.

[@worm9591]

As a massive Venom fan, I really, REALLY do not like this version of the character, but it has some merit that went largely unsung (although that is largely Insomniac’s fault for prioritizing the aesthetics over the characters). I really appreciate how they, through Harry Osborn, acknowledged Eddie’s absence. They both suffered an abusive and neglectful childhood at the hands of their father. Both of their traumas inform their time as Venom to a great extent, to the point of it completely overtaking their good intentions. I just wish Insomniac cared to show us more of Harry *being* Venom. Showing us how he talks to the symbiote, how he processes the pain he causes people for the sake of the greater good. It’s not just potential, I can see the ideas in the game, but it’s so underutilized that it comes off as almost incoherent. And when it’s this muddled, it ends up being just another Web of Shadows or Spider-Man 2017 or Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. That’s a bummer.

[@aguy4326]

exactly! venom feels more like a plot device to restore the symbiote race when normally he'd be trying to stop stuff like that from happing!

[@Macapta]

Great voice actor though.

[@kwayneboy1524]

I actually like him because he acts differently from Eddie but he's underused and not really consistent which is one of my many issues for this game.

[@worm9591]

@@Macapta Oh yeah for sure. Tony Todd was an awesome pick.

[@onesaucynougat7471]

@@worm9591too bad they scrapped like over half his lines

[@lordiblees]

People really trying to find something good in a game that had Peter and MJ have a fighting match with MJ telling him what a sore jobless loser he is who can't pay his bills? This is one of the most trashiest written AAA game from a narrative pov

[@Fox515-r3o]

if I could re make this game from the ground up the way I would do the story is that with the beginning the villains are getting stronger than when Peter faced them due to Miles's having more abilities causing them to become more desperate. And a great way to show this is having peter not have traversal abilities,spider arms yet and parry. Which makes him question if he is good enough when the villains are adapting. When it comes to Kraven get rid of the army , just make it him and his toxic family with the only one getting an army is Sasha. With each member having a boss fight that matches how they act. Sasha Kravinoff (ex-wife) she is ruthless, jealous (of calypso due to Kraven leaving her and his family maybe?) she does not understand the meaning of the hunt.(so maybe a stealth boss) she also kidnaps MJ. Vladimir Kravinoff (son) he acts like a beast like in the grim hunt comic he is a lion man, so have him start as human( Then later on he kidnaps Curt Conners and Curt's family so that he can become the beast that he so desires to be an Apex predator.) Make him think that the only way to be the ultimate hunter is to become a beast. Alexei Kravinoff (son) He takes after his mother and father he loves the hunt so have him hunt you through out the city( like the prowler knock out thing in Miles's game but expanded) but he uses tactics like kidnaping as a lure and just as ruthless as his mother. He might have kidnaped Miles's mom? Anastasia Kravinoff (daughter) She takes the most after Kraven she LOVES the hunt. (Make her pre-Kraven have her use most but not all of kravens tools she does not uses guns, but loves to get up close with her knives and blades. Give her the potion that Kraven uses in the base game so that she is one of the fastest and most dangerous bosses in the game). She believes that her father is the final test. Kraven you can keep mostly the same. Calypso ( The one who keeps him juiced up for his final hunt as a reference to the 90 animated series ( where the doctor is pretty much Calypso) she loves Kraven and is pregnant but she understands how Kraven feels about his Final hunt and helps him anyway she can.) Harry have him suck at being a hero so much that he almost gets Peter killed and is the reason he gets the black suit due to harry feeling guilt over almost having his best friend killed (not sure how to do the venom plot with out harry going off the deep end.) Peter (black suit) he is more agressive and can now use traversal abilties, tendrils, and parry. Peter is angry but that rage is going everywhere because somebody Kidnaped MJ and he doesn't know which member of the Kravinoff family has her so he focuses only on hunting Kraven (due to losing Aunt May he feels scared to lose somebody else he cares about due to some villian.) Venom have Harry's anger, humor, and violent tendencies at full display once he get the symbiote back he goes hunting and killing not only kraven's family but other villains as well in brutal ways. Peter and Miles see this and try to stop him Peter decides to make the spider arms as a way to help him keep up with miles because if he can't keep up power wise thin he will use his mind and with the final battle being like in the trailer where they rush in to fight venom in the street. I know I missed a lot and your probably tried of reading but maybe if you have ideas that will fill in the gaps then let me hear them.

[@mrlionsfan1135]

I got the plat. It's one of my favorite games. I love it as much as the first. I like the first one more due to the mystery of it. There was a real mystery to uncover. This game didn't have as much of the same feeling. This game felt like they were trying to go in 10 different directions and couldn't fully allocate the necessary resources to each direction. The game play and story and the beauty of it all will make this game replayable forever I think. It's got its flaws but it never gets old..

[@Just_a_ghost713]

I think what insomniac needs to do is focus on one thing at a time. I know this may sound bad but miles shouldn't have been playable.

[@raikohzx4323]

Why not make the best of both worlds with regards to the spider arms and the Parry: Peter starts out without them, still trudging along the way he always has, and then the Symbiote Suit gives him more aggressive capabilities and power that stick with his mind even well afterwards. To compensate for knowing the stakes and threat are higher, he then looks back to his work with Doc-Ock and his own engineering, creates the spider arms to help aid him in combat and defense, and effectively procures the Parry through his own effort in comparison to Miles simply getting stronger? It would effectively be like transitioning from the first game's Peter Spidey, to developing the mechanics and elements in-universe to become more capable in the second game.

[@redxgaming4748]

Honestly after watching this video, I felt so disappointed, not because I hate it, but because I agreed with so much of it. There were criticisms that you made that I didn't even think of, but I agreed with, and that made me realize how flawed this game truly is. I still love it and its my personal favorite Spider-Man game, but this video made me see it in a new light and as much as it hurts to say, this could have been and should have been far greater.

[@danielsan9850]

Despite its flaws, this is hands down my favorite Spider-Man game. The second half of the story felt rushed but it’s the gameplay that shines the most.

[@user-pc1gz9wy9m]

The best version of the Symbiote story is that it is a reference to addiction. It is done best in my opinion In Spectacular Spider-Man. People say SM2 is supposed to be an analogy for that because it’s supposed to it just sucks at doing what the art is supposed to do.

[@sammysalgado1475]

A 5 minute addiction then the game is over

[@Deadlierquill96]

The story’s not as good but this is my favourite game ever because of the gameplay alone it’s amazing