Great news, web slingers: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sticks the landing. Insomniac had the difficult task of developing a followup to two pretty-much-perfect Spider-Man games (Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales), and they took the number in Spider-Man 2 seriously. They doubled the amount of Spider-Men, doubled the size of the map, and doubled the action sequences, creating an amazing whirlwind of a game. Catch the trailer here (watch, runtime: 1:57).

The premise is simple: Swing through New York as Peter Parker or Miles Morales and try to defeat Kraven the Hunter and Venom, who are threatening to destroy your lives, your city, and everyone you love. Easy, right? The plot is intricate without being complicated, and there are enough emotional gut-punches to keep you sufficiently hooked.

The gameplay is familiar … but has a couple of new tricks up its sleeve. The foundational combat mechanics are pretty much the same, but they switched the emphasis on stealth encounters to louder, more exciting action sequences…

…this gives you the option to fight groups of enemies rather than picking them off one-by-one. The more “aggressive” you are, the more you are rewarded. In fact, the only way to heal is by increasing your focus bar, which can be done by landing hits and dodging attacks. Does that sound like foreshadowing to you?

⌛ Hours of gameplay: 15 hours for the main story, 5 additional hours for side quests, and 25 hours to hit 100% completion

? Price: USD 69.99

? Platforms: Playstation 5

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