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

by Ewan Paterson

1. Some Side Missions Are Let Down By A Repetitive Structure

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Hunter Blind
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Side missions at least fare better than collectibles in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - particularly the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man app requests, as well as those that make use of actual Spider-Man villains, like Mysterio - but it's disappointing to see Insomniac defer to familiar structures for some of them. Kraven's Hunter Blinds serve essentially the same function as the Kingpin's construction zones from Marvel's Spider-Man, where you have to take down set pockets of enemies holed up in various locations.

Other side missions - like the Hunter drones Miles has to take down - also follow the same pattern in each encounter, while crimes in progress haven't really received that great a shakeup either. While not enough to take the shine off the whole experience, it is unfortunate that Insomniac hasn't been able to crack this big, repetitive Mysterio fishbowl after the previous two titles faced similar criticism.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Is Still A Phenomenal Sequel

Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Despite some open-world disappointments, the 22 hours I spent bringing my first playthrough of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 to completion was largely a total knockout. If Insomniac's last few PlayStation exclusives hadn't already cemented the studio at the forefront of the industry, then its latest effort surely must. It is an assured, epic step forward that leverages all the pathos and adventure of Marvel's comics without getting mired in the tendrils of nostalgia, and in turn delivers one of the most compelling and epic Spidey gaming adventures of all time. There are some frustrating oversights away from the main story, but Marvel's Spider-Man 2 can still happily take its place as one of the best PlayStation 5 exclusives released thus far.

Final Rating - ★★★★½

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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.