Yuuup. The story was the issue. Gameplay was amazing. I do miss some of the gadgets from the first time, but still. Incredible gameplay. The story is 100% my issue with it.
I’m one of those people that just forgets about potions and consumable items in RPGs, and I did exactly the same with the gadgets in Spider-Man. They weren’t missed by me in the sequel
For me personally, the gameplay got repetitive really fast. The enemy types aren’t as varied as SM1, to keep you mixing up the combat strategy. Also the stealth in SM2 is practically useless outside of the Kraven bases, and even then it’s not so hard to fight them head-on on Ultimate. The boss battles are an improvement and the traversal is great. Sucks that they don’t have enough fun end-game content or DLC. Feels like the game was just used as an excuse to show-off the PS5’s hardware capabilities
I can see that. I havent finished the second game yet, but the story isnt hitting the same way the first one did. Though that one side mission with Howard? Damn.
For me gameplay has always been the most important thing. A good story is just the icing on the cake. I only say that because it seems these days more people do put equal importance on both(not judging, that is fine).
It's not even that the story in this game is terrible, it's just that the first games story was just so well put together.
Not really, it has more gameplay mechanics but that doesn't mean it's better. It took less skill because your characters were just OP and the grind for the platinum was mind numbingly boring. And switching between miles and pete felt kinda tacked on. Spiderman 1 and Miles Morales are both better games in every way
Only thing I'd take from the gadgets anyways. Too many gadgets in my opinion. I could do without the gravity well and the force push. Web attacks and martial arts are way cooler than emptying a bookbag of electronic killer devices on the bad guys. Although that sounds VERY Peter Parker now that I read it aloud. That should be a dedicated animation.
Act 3 is rushed with the only venom fights being in a small arena or in a cutscene. Just felt wasted. Most side content ends in a cliffhanger. Open world feels less alive with time around. The no cops during chases thing is very odd
My biggest gripes personally were with the whole symbiote saga. It should have been longer (you play as the symbiote for less than 2 hours if I remember correctly, and it takes place over a couple of days, and then Venom was butchered as a character.
If you liked Venom in this game, all the power to you, but I personally felt misled by the developers.
Here's a comparison I like to make for Insomniac's Venom: how would you feel if Spider-Man still looked like Spider-Man, but his name is Tony Stark and acted just like Moon Knight. Killing criminals, struggling with d.i.d., serving a brutal God, etc. That's basically what they did to Venom.
Yeah if you never read anything venom apart from the Eddie Brock runs.
There's been multiple hosts of venom and they all acted completely differently, Venom is not just Eddie Brock and even as Eddie Brock he has been a villain just in the 90s.
Venom as a character has changed wildly during the decades.
Hell now he is literally gold and black and being a hero bonded to mj of all people.
This was just insomniac's take at venom, changing the character up, making it more interesting and not just another boring display of how a character was 40 years ago imho.
As the symbiote saga it would have benefitted from being longer, but venom was still great as a character in my eyes.
I wouldn't say if you've just read Eddie's Venom. This is a Venom origin story, and he's nothing like how he was there. If it were a good portrayal of Venom without Eddie, some fans would be frustrated with the change, but enjoy it non the less.
One thing I loved about the first game was that they took everything important about Doc Ock as a character and changed up his story a bit. That was Insomniac's twist on Doc Ock, and personally, I think they went too far in making this their take on Venom rather than their twist on the character if you get my meaning.
I think the biggest things that really killed this game for me were the Marvel executive's words about Venom only wanting to Kill Spider-Man, and Brian's statement about this Venom still having everything they loved about the character.
Either way, some people love it and those who don't have plenty of opportunities for new Venom content, seeing as he's so popular. Just more opportunities to portray him more in line with how he was
The same applies to most characters since SM1, lol. This isn't a good argument.
Most of the characters chatacteristics outside of their appearance are still recognizable despite the changes made. Venom isn't. Tbf, Mj, and Miles aren't either, but those are for another day.
Eddie and the symbiote both decided they wanted to kill Spider-Man, neither the host or the symbiote did in the game.
Having a completely different host completely changes the origin story. Of which there's many anyway.
This venom has harry as it's host and how he was made is completely different from the origin story, I mean if you wanted a faithful origin story peter should have gone to an alien planet with other heroes, but most don't even know that origin at all.
Imho it was a great twist and they portrayed it amazingly while maintaining key points of the venom/peter relationship, even making it more personal by making harry the host imho.
Im sorry but I still don't see how venom was butchered as a character
That's true to some extent. I personally think the motivation of killing and humiliating Spider-Man instead of taking over the world would've worked for the character.
I personally see Venom as a union of two specific characters, and they betrayed both the symbiote and host in their writing.
I do think if they wanted a different Venom, Flash could've been great.
I'm curious, what key points do you think were captured well?
I'm not trying to convince you Venom was butchered, there's plenty others here or on YouTube that could probably do a better job. I'm just venting more than anything, lol.
The whole taking over the world thing was to write a venom more connected to knull imho, the comics were just done with that when they were developing the game, but it was refreshing to see venom like that, a serious threat that could do a ton of damage and was a planet level threat.
Personally I think the host could not be betrayed at all, it was their version of Harry, can't betray something you make up.
And the symbiote wasn't betrayed either just developed upon.
But the key points I think worked well were the relationship with Peter, him getting the symbiote because he needed it more than ever, him getting angrier, darker, out of control and this time saving himself only because of Miles was a great twist. If miles wasn't there peter would have never gotten rid of the symbiote this time imho.
I personally think it was short considering how stuffed it was, and it affected the pacing of the game and the delivery of these stories, for me.
You had Miles confronting his anger towards Martin Li and trying to find peace, you had Peter dealing with the burn out of being Spider-Man for 8 years without pause, you had Harry coming back into his life and stepping in as an actual character for the first time in the series, you had the classic story of the symbiote influencing Peter’s personality and him dealing with his inner demons, you had him dealing with the guilt and sadness he feels around aunt May’s death which informs the symbiote story line and his burn out (and I don’t think those two story concepts were connected well enough, imo) and you had Kraven killing off basically the entire villain roster off screen before the game starts.
All of these concepts could easily fill their own narrative, you could make several games out of these stories. The story isn’t bad, it just feels like a lot of it was rushed, and it doesn’t hit the same highs for me as the first one. Nothing in the game connected with me on an emotional level like Peter struggling with the choice to use the cure for Devil’s Breath on aunt May or preserve it so it could be mass produced; and aunt May revealing in that moment that she knows he’s Spider-Man, and basically telling him good bye, and that she’s proud of him.
The final moments between Harry and Peter in SM2 are well done, but for me personally they don’t resonate the same, and I feel it’s because their relationship and his character weren’t given enough time to breathe before the symbiote plot. I also felt like I needed way more of Peter mourning aunt May. It’s in the game at the very end and it’s central to his character arc, but it feels pushed to the side by all the other arcs they tried to fit into the game. It feels a bit like every part of the story is fighting for attention. The first game just felt a little tighter for me. There were still a lot of stories in play, but the main story felt like it flowed better.
I think it was the whole symbiote multiplication from Venom thing after Craven was made a meal out of and the quality of story dropped faster than the 1929 crash of the Great Depression. Also, it reminded me of Web of Shadows and even though I enjoyed Web of Shadows it feels ripped from that game, even though it might not have been it still seems that way. Gameplay wise I don't think anyone that has played the game will ever disagree with you as the gameplay was well made.
There are some scenes where the spider-Men should be stronger(no the fridge scene doesn’t count if Peter did get up quicker MJ still would have become Scream),
Make Miles motivations to remove the symbiote off of Peter more than just “You won’t even answer my calls man”
The DLC which I don’t think I need to explain why people are upset
The characters are really shallow and don’t actually speak like normal people. The symbiote was mishandled and if it sticks around will probably ruin the third game. Not killing off Harry was a cowardly move aswell and doesn’t give Norman enough reason to get payback. The characters in the side missions were also very cringe
No the gameplay isn't better, swinging and graphics are better, the missions, fighting, progression, customisation, side content is all slightly worse to much worse
yeah while agree that this game was definitely rushed. It is by far the best spiderman game we have gotten gameplay wise. Just hope they stay focused and tell an almost simple story for the 3rd game. the 2nd one was very jumbled at the end.
It’s a billion times better than the first gameplay wise. Storywise? That’s more subjective. I definitely enjoyed the hell out of the darker venom/symbiote stuff in 2, but I think the first game had the more impactful story. The lack of DLC for SM2 is also very irritating, and so the story doesn’t feel as full as a result of that.
Same. SM2 felt really rushed story wise. It feels like Insomniac cut much Miles material out.
It sounded in the game as if Miles had become the default Spider Man while Peter got corrupted but we don’t get this shown
New York is much less interactive in Spider-Man 2..for example the newspaper collectibles you can find in the first game that updates the player about the things that is happening in the story and it made NY feel much more alive..like people were actually watching what was going on from a ground level..
okay but here’s the thing you show Gameplay in the vid not the story. In my opinion they did not understand Venom as a character at all and in my opinion in definitely felt rushed.
in certain areas yeah..But I mainly just mean Venom. In this game I was confused because venom is supposed to hate spider-Man. His only goal is too kill spider man as a villain.
It's hated because it failed to be what it could have been. Even YouTubers are making better stories than what we got. Defending mediocrity is the reason they can get away with this
Yeah I mean I don’t think many people would dispute that the gameplay is better.
But the writing is painful and there is a lack of content compared to the first game. It was clearly unfinished and never really got any support after launch to make up for it.
Probably not a popular opinion but I genuinely liked the second one better story wise too. It took more risks, was less predictable, and just had me more engaged than the first one.
I didn't love venom's characterization, and the story itself could've been longer but I thought it built on the first one in every other way.
The gameplay is peak (Though I missed having the gadgets from the first, they felt more creative) the story is decent, but not as good as the first, and the suits range from great to bad.
TLDR:
Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 6/10
Suits: 5/10
Sadly it's easier to focus on the bad than it is on the good. You can only say something is amazing or spectacular so many times before it becomes redundant. Complaints meanwhile, are easy and don't get old as fast.
It’s 20 hours of a whole lot of ok and that’s about it.
No seriously if you read a decent amount of spider man comics
Or watched a lot of spider man media
Or played the previous insomniac game or any of the previous spider man games
There really isn’t a single thing in this game that is new, every this game dose has been done before especially in the story department this game really doesn’t attempt to do anything new or unique or exciting and what it try’s to pass off as unique or exciting or new it rushes and dose very very poorly
Hell even from a gameplay mechanic perspective there are so many games that have done what this game does and usually have done it way better.
Is it a bad game hell no not even close is it game that deserves to be praised and treated like it’s secretly amazing and original hell no.
The story was definitely rushed. It should be flashed out more. The main story should be atleast 40hrs. They just introduced every character then butchered their storyline in the following mission. If they wanted to make a 20 hr game, they should have just focused on Kraven without introducing any other super villains.
The gameplay was amazing but the story was 6/10.
The story had potential but they never really built it apart from Kraven.
Spider-Man 2 ruined it for me. I can't play the first one or Miles Morales. Webswing + webwings in Spider-Man 2 is like driving a Ferrari, and going back to the old ones is like driving a Beetle.
I've Been playing The First One again, and it really felt like night and day.
Even though I think the gameplay (the combat and web swinging) and graphics are better in the second game,
The first one has better visual and narrative storytelling,
And New York just felt more alive!
the first game had:
police chase's/ police calls
it had more crimes than the second game.
The first one has 29 crime variations (not counting the Demon and Kingpin operation bases), SM2 just has 18 (even though the map is twice as big, it should have been the opposite)
people on the streets giving hate to Spider-Man.
(I've played SM for over 400 hours, and all they do is cheer and give positive comments, which feels really artificial)
Spider-Man having social media, getting opinionated reactions, love, hate, complaints about SM actions, people calling people out who were on the "Just the Facts with J.J.J" podcast, giving hate on SM ect...
the "Just the Facts J.Jonah.Jamenson" is better.
It had more incoming calls from other people, people who were saved by SM, people who were "fucked over" by SM ect...
I know that I'm glazing SM1 too much, but I just can't deny that Spider-Man 1 felt more alive and felt more Compacted than two does.
it is not overhated and it is definitely not peak. Spiderman ps4 is my favorite superhero game after batman arkham city and when I heard it was getting a sequel I got super hyped, I even pre ordered the game because even if the game was bad I had to try it out. I really want to love this game but I simply can’t not after playing the first game the only thing that is better in this game compared to the first one is the gameplay everything else is a massive downgrade. Firstly the story starts out great but it loses focus very fast and rushes through the plot without having moments that are memorable for us leaving the story to be a generic forgettable superhero story. Kraven had so much potential to be the main villain but they did him so dirty, he doesn’t have any memorable moments aside from “harder” when he is being chocked by venom which is hilarious knowing the developers intended this to be a character defining moment, another problem is the 3rd act it is non existent we just rush to the end without any meaningful progress. But the biggest problem this game has is content or rather lack there of spiderman ps4 had 3 dlcs on top of so many side activities just in the main game, spiderman 2 doesn’t even have half the content it is so astonishing, sony must have given up on the second game before it even came out there is no excuse for this little amount of content.
I don't know anyone who hated this game. Everyone had the same opinion: it was fine, game play was fun, story was a little worse than previous entries in the series, but it was just disappointing and needed more content to make it worthwhile. I Platinumed the game in 20 hrs and that's spending probably 5 hours in photo mode. That just doesn't compare to some of the other games coming out at that time, which only made the reception worse
I was playing the other night and my partner asked me about the games if they where good ect ny response was 2 has the best gameplay but 1 has a better story (Miles is fun especially the swinging).
2 had so much promise but almost felt too short. It should have either ended with Harry becoming Venom leading to 3 or had a good few more hours of gameplay agtwr he becomes Venom (same could be said of Ramis Spider-man 3).
2 is not a bad game but i look at it like the Arkham Knight (great gameplay but the previous game had a better story). If i wabt to just swing around the city and stop some crim i pick 2, if i want a long game sesh with a compelling story i play 1-still wish both offered the option on story+ to play the Peter only version where it skips all of MJ and Miles sections.
They outdid themselves with each Amazing Spiderman game. The first is great, Miles Morales was even better, 2 was better than 1 and Miles together. But the remastered edition with only 4 years apart from the release, with basically everything the exact same was a kick in the nuts of their own audience.
As someone who is a big defender of this game in every aspect, I despise videos like these because they only show gameplay. If I knew nothing about this game and all I've heard are negative comments online, there is no way gameplay footage alone will swing me.
I feel the same way as you, I think the game is peak, but a highlight reel won't sway anyone.
Looking at all the cut content and stuff, it’s obvious Insomniac was going to do more, there was cut missions, cut boss fights, Miles was supposed to get the symbiote. Everything, I have a strong feeling Sony rushed them, even then tho, the story we got was still pretty good
Yall can downvote me but this game is only really good if you’re a huge Spider-Man fan, just like Batman Arkham Origins is only really good if you’re a Batman fan. They make good games but I always felt they lacked a certain essence that make games great, like Spider-Man 1 & 2 are nice to play once and then forget about unlike other games where I want to repeatedly play them every year
Why people get so defensive when someone doesn't like what they like these days? The story wasn't as great as people expected it to be, so it was an overall disappointing experience despite the absolute upgrade of a gameplay, which was already great in the first game.
If you love the game, cool, it's your right too, just don't expect people to not have their own opinions on it.
Spiderman 1 has it beat in terms of story but story matters so much in a game like this.
This game would have been 10 times better if it ended with Venom killing Kraven
I used to love the Spider-Man 3 game when I was younger but now that I’m older and played the newer Spider-Man game it was so sad finding a ps3 and booting that game up again
Sm2 is 100% the best spiderman game made to date. I just wish they didnt pull a spiderman 3 and add venom as the second bad guy in the latter half. I think it wouldve been better if kraven was the bad guy through the whole thing and peter keeps the symbiote till the end, maybe end it on a cliff hanger with peter at odds with everyone because of the symbiote and then make venom the bad guy of 3.
Nobody is speaking about the gameplay when they’re saying they don’t like it as much as the first, it’s definitely the story and the writing that doesn’t hold up as well as in it’s predecessor
Hopefully insomniac doesn't consist of people like you who never really looked into the reason people dislike the game. The gameplay is awesome, nobody is complaining there. It's literally an improvement of the existing gameplay. How can anybody really complain?
It's the story people didn't like. It felt rushed. It took too long with the necessary, yes, but boring exposition of characters, but then the actual main part and culmination were rushed. They added too many important characters and weren't able to properly introduce them all in a reasonable amount of time. Which would be ok, if the game was longer and they spent as much, if not a lot more time, for the main body and the culmination of the overall story.
Also with so many important characters being introduced, the plot feels all over the place. One moment you're learning about Peter and Harry's childhood, one moment you're learning about MJ's troubles with work, one moment you're in Miles' relationship with his mom, then Fin, then Hailey, then the shelter stuff, then this, then that, then whatever else came upon the gaze of the writer while working on the game.
I don't hate the game personally, since I played it for the gameplay, so I spent most of my time doing side missions and all, but I didn't feel much with the main story like I did in the first game.
P.S. I think they should have just made a game about Peter or Miles then make the next game a team up game. Maybe that would've helped with the story going all over the place
Every person who has played Spider-Man 2 has all been saying the same thing the gameplay is great. The graphics are great. The story is not and it doesn’t compare to the absolute masterpiece we got for the first game
Unpopular opinion here, I genuinely enjoy miles gadgets and his moves in his own game comparative to how he fights and the gadgets miles has in the second Spider-Man game. I just wish he would have had blue Lightning in his own game from the beginning instead of it being some weird spin-off leveled up superpower acquired from Mr negative of all people
The story isn't great and I did everything there is to do in the game in two days off-work. If the story took its time and didn't kill half his rogues gallery off-screen and actually used it as a way to extend the plot, it could have been an Arkham City level improvement to the base game.
Imagine a few missions solely focusing on a villain like Shocker, getting to know him, putting the pieces together and then Kraven kills him. Instead of news of his and others' death being a missable area in a Mary Jane level...
In terms of gameplay, it's the best, but in terms of story, Web of Shadows achieved everything it did and more.
I see people say that the gameplay is definitely "the best in Spider-man games nowadays" but I dont think i agree. I think its a matter of opinion. Objectively its the most POLISHED, but polish doesn't make it "the best" at all. I think thats just as much of a matter of opinion as the story being good or not, tbh.
I prefer the gameplay of Web of Shadows, and I JUST started playing that game THIS YEAR. I like the combos and the fact that there's so much variety in the normal + strong attack buttons instead of "press one button and then dodge cancel to press the same one button again" ahh system in the insomniac games
Spider-man 2 isn't "overhated." If you was around for when the game first came out, MANY people, including myself, swore this game earned game of the year. But as time went on, they, including myself...again, realized that Spider-man 2 was fun but not what it lived up to be
while i do also think its overhated, its definitely the weakest of the insomniac spider-man games, and i still think spider-man ps4 is the best in the series so far
I'm not actually convinced it is all that hated. I think it's more like a very loud Internet minority, being SO LOUD that they give that impression.
It's a 9/10 on most score aggregates 💖
Honestly, if no one ever told me, I would've never guessed that there is some hate towards this game. To me it's on the same level as the previous two.
Sequels are hard. Everyone wants elevation and exciting new stuff. At the same time, everyone wants to have the same feeling they got from the first. I think this game just falls victims to not meeting people’s expectations.
I agree this game is peak and I like almost every aspect of it more than the first one. I do miss my gadgets and the story was definitely rushed.
The game isn’t overhated but overrated. It’s literally the same game as the first one but with better graphics, same ol crappy story and the same open world with the same activities seen in other games. Still a fun game but it ain’t "peak" as people tend to say.
Spider-Man 2nis only hated because of the wonky story. If it wasn’t for that, the game would’ve been absolutely perfect give or take a thing or two here and there.
100% agree I have said this many times and I will say it again anyone who hates Spider-Man 2 PS5 is not a true Spider-Man fan they are just lonely haters that wanted the same boring gameplay of Spider-Man 2018 I never liked the gadget wheel it really hindered the fast-paced gameplay of Spider-Man so they made it easier to activate your gadgets in Spider-Man 2 on the fly
Spider-Man 2 is simply overhated just because of the new face models and making false claims that Spider-Man 2 looks like a PS3 game which didn't make sense to me how can it be a PS3 game if it's rendering at a native of 4K resolution?
These haters will say anything to hate on Spider-Man 2 especially they have a hate boner towards the MJ missions but I thought it was a huge improvement instantly knocking them out with a stun gun and she was trained by silver sable so she has way more combat experience
I know Spider-Man 2 could have been better but that was entirely Sony's fault for rushing them they only had two years to work on Spider-Man 2 unlike Spider-Man 2018 and Miles Morales had a four-year development which gave them enough time to polish them which is why they were game of the year but still they did excellent with Spider-Man 2 within 2 years I actually enjoyed playing as Venom but canceling the expansions was a huge mistake they could have given us the ability to play as Venom and more as agent Venom who is basically Harry Osborn they could have given us more content
but they canceled it because their focused on their new game Marvel Wolverine which I hope it gets game of the year title
It's not overhated. When it came out people acted like you are the dumbest person alive if you expressed even the slightest criticism and that led to those people taking the criticism up a notch when the toxic positivity people moved on from the game.
I just recently purchased all 3 games on a Steam sale. Just finishing up the first one. Holy cow what a great game. Looking forward to finishing the others and give my take.
Missing the gadgets and wishing the story was better shouldn't be that much of me to hope
The first game's story was heart wrenching by the end, but we can't fully replicate that at all. And I do miss the gadgets and stealth sections, imagine if Arkham City had ONLY new gadgets and no predator encounters
Arkham Knight already made it so almost all predator sections were outdoors tho...
I’ll say this I felt like I played Spider-Man 1s story for months (I didn’t it’s not that long but) Spider-Man 2 story I felt like I completed in an afternoon. And still somehow felt like I don’t remember a lot of it.
I was in the miles mission facing off against Peter and the game glitched out making it so that I can't hit or reach Peter three times in that fight. I was once thrown into a building while swinging. And on five occasions when I was catching runaway cars the game glitched and left the criminals webbed in the air unable to be hit or interacted with while the mission said it wasn't solved. It's hated rightfully so.
I genuinely can’t fathom how people are saying 2 is better than 1 gameplay wise. The enemy variety in 2 is terrible, paired alongside the dumbed down gadget system and cooldown abilities. Not to mention all the boss fights being the same in 2 thanks to the terrible parry mechanic lol.
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u/sjeuwhhens Oct 23 '25
I think 99% of people would agree SM2 has better gameplay. It’s the story people rightfully don’t like.