Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Review: 4 Ups & 2 Downs

Downs...

2. The Open World Feels Frustratingly Ordinary

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Web Wings
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Unfortunately, not every facet of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is so superlative-worthy. While it's very much an exemplary sequel, there are certain aspects of its potential that feel frustratingly unrealised - the biggest of which is the open world itself.

Insomniac has given players two, expansive new areas to explore in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, bringing Peter Parker's childhood stomping ground of Queens to a Marvel game for the first time since 2005's Ultimate Spider-Man, as well as Brooklyn, which houses Miles' school, Brooklyn Visions Academy. Manhattan is of course back as well, and while all three of these areas are beautiful to swing by and web-wing through, there's scarcely little to hold your attention.

One of the best things about Marvel's Spider-Man was how it utilised Manhattan as a vehicle for exposition and character development; landmarks guided your eye to Marvel monuments and real-life locations, while backpacks provided neat little character moments that fleshed out Peter's past. Marvel's Spider-Man 2, however, has comparatively little in that department.

In the place of backpacks we have photo opportunities, with Peter and Miles making spare cash for the Daily Bugle by sending in snaps of quirky or otherwise heartwarming NYC moments. These are pleasant in and of themselves, but they're a disappointing follow-up to the lore blow-out we got in the previous two games. There's just not much that feels as Marvel-y about New York this time - something that jars especially given so many of the side missions could've been better served by a cameo or two, along the lines of what we've seen in the likes of Ultimate Spider-Man or 2008's Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.

There are tangible connections to the Marvel Universe in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - and obviously I'm not asking for Spidey's story to be taken away from him and for it to obnoxiously defer to tedious MCU-style storytelling methods - but given how little there is to do in the world and how high the stakes get in the story, New York can feel bizarrely ordinary.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.