A Critique of Marvel's Spider-Man 2: Good, but NOT a Masterpiece 

Sorry this took so long, but I really worked hard on this one. Hope it shows. There's plenty more I should have put in as well, but I either forgot about it or didn't have time to include. Like how I didn't mention that the Ubisoft cell towers were removed (thank god!). Or how Miles' invisibility power is completely irrelevant. But I had to release the video eventually, and I'm still proud of how it turned out. But enough about me: what did YOU think about Spider-Man 2? Anything you majorly disagree with me on?

The symbiote gradually using and twisting May’s words to manipulate Peter is a fantastic idea, wow. Two grieving brothers falling victim to a false extension of their mother figures is a wonderful twist on the usual post-TAS “symbiote make me mad” thing. There’s so much nuance there for the picking! It’s a shame that it’s only used for Harry and still ends with Harry not even having agency within the suit. Pain

I think the arms wouldn't have been so bad if the story had at least made a token effort to explain them. Like, have Peter mention that he built the arms out of some leftover Octavius tech that the police hadn't confiscated. Have him bemoan that he tried to sell them, but no company wanted to touch it because of the tech's association with Otto. Even if it hadn't been an airtight explanation, it at least would've been something so that broke ass Peter Parker didn't just make some super-advanced robot arms out of nothing like it is in the game.

Giving Miles the symbiote is such a simple idea, but it has so much potential. The younger and less experienced Spider-Man, who's still angry about his father's death, and the older Spider-Man, who has gone through similar events and wants to help him, while Miles tries pushing him away would be such a fresh premise for a symbiote story.

I'm really glad you touched on the whole MJ face situation. Of course it's awful her model was harassed over it, but that doesn't make her looking incredibly odd an invalid complaint. Especially when you look at pics of her model irl (even after the accident) who looks much better

Honestly I think everyone's faces look really weird in this game. Not necessarily the structure of the face, but the way it moves. Their mouths seem to open really wide, and its just really offputting.

Really wish we got more web based abilities for Peter instead of the dumb iron arms. Also imagine a web shield parry like web of shadows?

"A good thing can have bad aspects." Completely agree. In this world, people either blatantly hate on something or call it the best thing of all time. Im glad you called it a good game while acknowledging flaws it had, even if I didn’t necessarily agree with all of them.

I can’t stand insomniac Peter for the reasons you stated, thought I was going mad seeing everyone say he’s the best. Insomniac turned up the goody two shoes-ness to 11 with him. No backbone whatsoever, the kind of guy who’d apologise if he caught MJ cheating on him.

Venom riding a bicycle makes this a 10/10 game of the year Edit: I would like to retract my statement because I have just witnessed ,,that,, miles suit

1:39:08 There's something that always confused me, why was Norman creating those spiders in the first game? Didn't he notice one was missing?

I feel like if Silk is in the next game, they will give her web-based attacks for her combat just like Peter in Shattered Dimensions

I thought I was over the Peter face change, but then I saw flashback high school Peter and realized I'm still in the "face your greatest fears"-hole

harry having “the depth of a single drop of water” is definitely a new insult 😂

Man, if MJ can go Doom Eternal on entire bases and raiding parties of hunters and Symbiotes after just a few training sessions with Silver Sable and wielding just a glorified taser, imagine the kind of shit she could do after 24 hours of training with Shang Chi and a handgun. She'd be folding Goku like an omelette

Hrm, I don't mind the Spider-Arms in concept. My only issue with them is them is the fact they're nanotech that just materializes out of nowhere. If they came from the suit like how it works with the round bit on the back of the Iron Spider suit, I would like it more. But it feels like Insomniac didn't WANT to design their suit to accommodate the arms so they just said "Eh screw it, nanotech!" I have the exact same problem with the web-wings. I LOVE Spider-Man designs with web-wings like the original design, and wish they were more common... But in this game they're a gameplay mechanic that only appears WHEN you're using them. I'd much rather they be a part of the actual main suit's design.

Your criticisms in the story were very accurate and they express things other RU-vidrs I watched (such as Whitelight) didn't. Not because they weren't comprehensive, but because there is so much wrong with this story that it will feel wrong to different people in different ways. Such a shame when the 2018 story is so good. I enjoy watching videos like these because I have a particular taste in stories but not always I can identify why I liked or didn't like something. It requires analysis I'm not willing to do but you're excelling at. Thank you for the video! Subscribed.

I think the game is hard carried by many 11/10 voice performances and immaculate casting, it's a shame the script, story, and execution don't match up to it.

This and Whitelight’s critiques of the game are my favourite I’ve watched. The graphical performance is stunning and I’ll spend many evenings swinging through the city in the Raimi suit with a big smile on my face, but the story left me infinitely more whelmed than I expected. Even with the new update, I’m not remotely eager to replay the main campaign in New Game +, which wasn’t an issue with the previous two games.

Love seeing love for the 2021 Guardians game

1:17:21 PS5 Venom: “That’s really dumb, but he’s so cool. But that’s really dumb! But he’s so cool!!!”

Usually when something is between good and bad people use the word "mediocre"

One of my biggest problems with the mechanical arms is you get no ultimate and the mechanical arms just feel weaker so when I was playing I was just waiting for symbiote powers and when fully upgraded miles just felt better to play than Peter from time to time

i was there for those streams, and i agree majorly, i would take the first game over this one story wise. it feels so rushed and it all happens so haphazardly that i didn’t engage in it at all. when the important parts did happen they didn’t feel important or you knew it was gonna happen from the beginning and you can’t even take the ending seriously cause at the apex right before they go get the meteorite miles asks the deaf girl out for dinner. its impossible to believe this games story follows up the previous one.

The Miles actor in the mocap suit waiting for the directors signal, LoL : 1:25:22 Aaaaaand... Action!! 🎬

My biggest criticism of the story is also that several things were rushed &/or underdeveloped. The game is as long as the first game however, it could've stood to be several hours longer to make sure they had a sufficient amount of time to properly flesh everything out. The first game was able to do that, so I don't see how this game couldn't, especially with Sony & Insomniac throwing even more money at it.

I don’t think the ending was implying that Peter was retiring as Spider-Man. I think they were conveying it more as taking a break. A kind of tag out mentality. Honestly I think Miles had the weaker conclusion to his story in the end because it didn’t connect to Miles(s) struggle in the rest of the game. Because for the entire story. Miles has been so eager to do Spider-Man stuff & find Mister Negative. So much so that he leaves nostalgic of his conversations with his friends by saying ‘I gotta do Spider-Man stuff’. Which o thought was Miles rushing into his role of Spider-Man too quickly. Like his lesson would be to not take the people in his life for granted. Because if being Spider-Man has taught Peter anything. It’s that his loved ones will eventually get wrapped up in the conflict as well. But at the end of the game. Miles(s) ultimate takeaway from this experience is. He needs to become Spider-Man full time. Which isn’t a bad idea conceptually. For Peter’s sake I think it works because after loosing two best friends to actions he was a part of. I get that he would want a rest of from the mental tole of being Spider-Man. But from Miles(s) perspective. It didn’t feel right at all.

This game may share the title of one of the best Spider-Man’s movies but it sure feels like Spider-Man 3

I CHALLENGE SOMEONE TO COUNT HOW MANY TIMES DORITO GOD SAYS "BRAINDEAD" IN THIS VIDEO

*Sees video length* Holy shit Dorito God The Movie

When you went into the story, this video really just kicked into a whole nother gear. This ripped.

2:01:23 this happens in miles game too (ps4 in my case) The good thing is that you can choose the crime in the app, and not depend on it appearing randomly.

I figure that symbiote looks like tactical armor on Harry because of the SWAT looking Oscorp guys that were present with Doctor Connors when it arrived.

I actually agree with what you said about Peter's character. He's basically an example of the "Nice Guy" trope.

Okay... I didn't comment on this yet cuz I was so worn out from repeatedly voicing my criticisms of this game's story (especially the symbiote storyline), that I figured I wouldn't be able to leave much of an insightful comment.... I still can't cuz I don't feel like writing another essay so this one's for the algorythm lol. And to tell you that this honestly might be my favourite video made on this game so far. Right along with Whitelights. It's perfectly scripted and you make a ton of fantastic points that left me quite satisfied after having to endure the universal dickriding of the story for the initial month or two. Just sucks that I don't own a PS5 so I haven't been able to say much about the gameplay yet. From what I've seen it does look like a significant improvement in many ways, but there's also a lot of missed opportunities. I made an entire video on why the parkour sucks and how it needs to be improved, yet from what I've seen it remains essentially entirely unchanged

I was wondering what you were going to do once your costume and skin videos were done but This is definitely your best video!!! I appreciate all of your hard work constructing this.

My biggest problem with the Finale was that it made no sense for miles to be the final one to fight Venom. They literally had no chemistry and the game makes multiple points about his

9:51 wasn't me that suggested that, but I like the idea 😅 Great video!

Right now, the video is up for 55 minutes, can't even finish it yet, but it's already a GREAT rewiew!

I would have loved if they added a feature that if you went too fast you could slam into a building and take damage

bro wtf this video is so engaging like your so underrated keep up the good work man

Maybe the arms materialising is based on Tinkerer's tech from Miles Morales? It actually could have been a neat way to tie both previous games into this one a bit more.

I love it when I give new channels a chance to critique stuff Ive enjoyed and they do a good job. Great video man

I wish venom was making a messed up version of Harry’s dream and he was consciously working with venom instead of being a hostage to venom

This is actually a video I agree with. Like I cant really argue with a lot of your points . You’re very articulate with explaining the game and made me think several times about plot holes i didnt think about

58:53 yeah, stuff with Wraith should be Peter in the Black Suit being forced to confront who the Flame are and not wanting to kill Cletus because the Flame makes him a better Spider-Man.

I don’t know why more people don’t mention the Venom form at the end of the fight. Feels like something people would talk about

Thank you for the in depth critique, I was on the fence about this game but this review made me reconsider. Most reviews don't explain the important details, keep up the good work. Amazing video!

I love this video man! Gave a unique perspective despite I myself having already watched many videos about the game from different creators which I really cannot say for a lot of youtubers. Keep it up !

Its crazy how I literally finished Guardians of the galaxy yesterday and got recommended your video today. GOTG is amazing! I found you connecting the Promise with the ‘healing the world’ thing really cool.

1:13:52 although what happened to the face modeler for mj is terrible and I have nothing but sympathy for her I feel like if this information came out sooner there wouldn't be as many people saying that mj was turned ugly because insomniac was trying to push some "WOKE" agenda they still would have complained just not as much

1:02:56 There's a (random?) chance that Harry will come to help you if you're fighting people as Miles. Very easily missable and I'm astonished that it wasn't an actual part of the main story.

This is a really good breakdown of the game, youve managed to articulate my thoughts really well

The wall crawling is super restrictive especially when you compare the wall crawling to web of shadows. Like we can’t walk around in any direction on the wall and cant wall run downwards and we can’t fight or have combat on walls either. If they had those wall climbing mechanics it would make us feel more like spider-man.

The story development of spider man 2 is one of the worst

45:07 How’d you get the like button to light up at the same time?

I am totally with you on the Spider Arms. Like...did he...finish Otto's work? Really? Cause that was supposed to change the world. That's why they were doing it. So....Peter finished the work, made it safe, reliable and functional...and kept it for himself!? Then even further developed the tech. And he still can't cover his f*cking rent or whatever? He just REALLY needs a job as a teacher, apparently. Some HERO then, eh? I guess the people who don't have arms just don't count as full humans that could use his help. Peter, take a month, develop your super magical tech so that normal people can have good, reliable prosthetics. Then sell it. You are suddenly so rich you could sit at the same table as Tony Stark. And none of it would be dangerous, or even really weaponize-able, since Peter would be the one holding the patent anyways and he'd be the one controlling what aspect of the tech is even being made available. He doesn't HAVE to give people octo-spider-arms or whatever, just use what you've learned from developing your tech, and apply it to the "civilian" sector. It's literally how 90% of our technology came to be. It's just...man...at this point. Peter is poor, because Peter wants to be poor.

I do like then game but I didn’t like that there was NO new new game+ (sorry, didn’t type that earlier) , no ways to adjust the color of the spider arms to fit the suit and ways to change the symbiote colors from either white to black. You can’t even change the parries to fit what skill set ur using, whether you’re using black/white symbiote, non evolved/evolved venom, or spider arms

The aerial abilities are really useful when paired with the web pits. And I found the jump one to be great with tricks so you can recharge them faster. Since you can get an upgrade that ties their charge rate to your tricks

one thing i’m hopeful of in years to come would be a remaster of this game, but they explore more of the story and add some extra content, would be amazing tbh

Parry system can feel satisfying but it does feel iffy. And my biggest issue is that that the indicators for parry-only and dodge-only attack appears above the enemy, when the regular spider sense doesnt. And if im not wrong, i think it also uses regular spider sense on spiderman in addition to special indicators for the special attacks. Like i think maybe they should've all only been shown on spiderman or all on the enemies

They should've just made Peter the main playable character especially since they're adapting the black suit spider man storyline which requires Peter to be the main focus. Honestly im getting sick of venom why didn't they go for carnage being the main villain.

The fact that the black suit is basically just another skin in the collection is a travesty. It practically does nothing in gameplay aside from "rage mode"

RU-vidrs like you are great cuz you lay out a lot of the critiques I have way better than I could. Agree with all your points and ones I didn’t think of.

the electric web comes from the robot dogs and the hunters with basucas, and it comes from the tec from electros vest you can find it in the level with mj in the zoo where peter gets the black suit

14:27 I think another way to go about giving Peter more traditional abilities would be to essentially just give him his super moves from Marvel vs Capcom. The ability on square could be Crawler Assault, the one on triangle Maximum Spider, and the one on X be Ultimate Web Throw, and keep the Web Blossom for O.

a short slingshot on the ground, to keep combos going would fit well for spidermans triangle ability

I could see a world in which this version of venom worked. I think if they leaned in harder on the "heal the world" aspect, showed more examples of the symbiotes healing properties, and really argued for a world where everyone had their own alien pal attached to them it could have been interesting. But its very clear from the second peter gets the symbiote that its entirely a bad thing. I think if they scrapped kraven, and made the whole game about the symbiote they could have fleshed it out to a point where you could at least understand where the villian is coming from. But thats just not possible when they just introduce Venom so late. He kinda has to be an evil goop monster at that point.

I hate that the story was obviously rushed because there are elements that could have made a great story but the story is pretty bad with those few great ideas that had no time to do anything.

The shield enemies are the ones who throw the electric field. As for the story I largely share your sentiment. The opening was strong though which made the rest disappointing. As for Kraven I would've liked to see him *hunt* not have his soldiers do the heavy lifting. Taskmaster in the first game felt like a hunter since he would observe then trap spidey to confront him. I wanted that dialed up to 11. I was attached to Octavius industries and Otto. I felt nothing for the EMF when it was destroyed by the hunters. Edit: I thought I was the only one that thought Yuri's Wraite suit looks like a something out of CW arrow verse. For me this game is around 6.5-7/10.

I smiled at the Wraith part because right when I was thinking in my head "this costume looks like it came out of the CW superhero shows" you referenced the arrowverse

I think they should have kept the old gadgets but add the ability to create loadouts so you don't have to use the weapon wheel. Man I miss the web trip mine

Imo i liked the idea about peter having no spider legs up untill he left without symbiot. And keep him without abilities untill symbiot. It could be a great opportunity to put miles in more story missions as a main playable character in the first act of story (obviously cause gameplay as Peter would be boring)

This is a really great video. Lots of good points that you don't see in a lot of other videos.

You can use the combo of web grabber and ricochet web, it is strong as web blossom suit power in the 2018 game.

I’m not huge into the comics, but the life foundation make great bosses for a video game. Imagine being able to hunt them down as optional bosses to upgrade your black suit, like it’s mega man.

I also hate spider arms. They literally have no logic and leave Peter's addiction to symbiosis having much less impact on the player, If we didn't have the spider arms, when we gained the symbiote powers, we would feel all that strength and power that Peter feels

This game is nothing but a huge disappointment and you know it’s bad when they couldn’t even change the moveset for Peter and miles for them to feel different or give the black suit its own moveset instead of 4 limited moves which all the abilities were reused from WOS and Shattered dimensions honestly the more I think about this game the more wasted it was even the story was super trash and they managed to somehow screw up when they had perfect ideas but wasted them

A lot of these comments are fake Spider-Man fans and it shows. Great video, enjoyed listening for the full 2 hours, even if I didn’t agree with some of the minor points you made, 1 point i can agree with you on is that the story/narrative sucks big time whereas the gameplay is the games shining point.

42:54 again, not sure if it’s mentioned later, but Harry should be in a state of arrested development. He should still be mentally a bit of a teen and in dire need of help separate from his dad. A thing Peter ignores because he wants to ignore his grief from losing Aunt May. Would make a rivalry over Peter between him and Miles makes sense, and thus set up a Spider-Man for Venom to hate. And a reason to be mad at MJ for investigating all the problems with the symbiotes and or the Flame.

The soundtrack for Sonic Unleashed is so legendary that I hear it constantly in so many videos 😂 loved to hear it here as well! Great video. I felt super underwhelmed about the story and I couldn’t quite explain why. You did an amazing job clearing it all up for me lol it’s too bad insomniac didn’t place more priority on the campaign quality.

2:01:30 Schizo Spider-Man is my favorite bug though. "That fight was years ago Peter..."

simple Kraven should've been Venom. and I find it funny how the first game was more mature than this one, when the venom storyline should be the one that is more mature, tackling emotions, addictions, and abuse. oh well like I always thought this game is more for young dumb kids than growing teens and adults. and plays like an interactive movie; you just can't fail.

They should have gone all out with the game and effectively made two storylines to follow. One play through is Peter and the other is Miles. And there should have been more overlap, where Peter and Miles would intrude on each others stories either to help each other with their hero work, or with questions on what they should do as they are the only guys who can fully understand what the other is going through. Miles would be a more optimistic but less experienced, Peter would be more wise but more frustrated as he's been through a lot. Also, neither should be IDIOT PLOTS. Wherein the solution to all of their problems are talking it out with facts

Thank you, my issue with the hunt Kraven is doing is that it makes no sense. He is doing everything in his power to have the advantage in the encounter when he should just pull up and fight whoever instead of capturing them with a small army, studying them, and making stuff to counter them.His goal is to die against a worthy opponent and he does everything to not have a fair fight.

15:15 a quick forward slingshot? i mean slingshotting was introduced in this game, having it incorporated in his fighting moveset wouldve been neat

Geat video, very well explained and thought out. And great music choices. (I love the Sonic Colors OST 😂)

No gas. Love your content, Dorito God. Ik you won't be making MUCH more, but your drip ranking videos were so good that it was worth my permanent investment in your videos

I think its funny how everything you say i 100% understand, i don't agree with much of it but i think all of the pros and hype just make me like this game so much, and i like that two people can have different opinions without there being someone getting pissy..... unlike most things in life. Yay

Peter with the symboite was so undercooked…also should add a lot of elements that web of shadows has

I really want to take the time to pick through this critique. Would love to add and expand on things here and there

47:46 again, if Harry had found out through the Flame that Norman had other symbiotes…

I don't love stealth but I love optional stealth in games. I was really disappointed with the stealth in this game

This video presents a lot of valid criticisms-a chunk of them I share as well. The two points that jumped out at me the most were Peter’s relationships with Harry and Miles. I think Peter and Harry’s friendship was solid. My gripe comes from the Venom storyline seemingly presenting/concluding their “conflict.” Harry being secretly jealous of Peter doesn’t work when the game has to properly introduce Harry to the players. If they saved Venom for a third game, I think that would’ve helped their friendship develop more. As for Miles, their relationship always felt like a big brother-little brother with a significant age gap between them. It’s something I can personally relate to since my brother and I have a similar gap in age. They’re in two distinct phases in their lives so it’s hard to relate naturally to one another. What brings them together is their similarities in values and being Spider-Man. They feel like coworkers at times because in a lot of ways they are lol. They’re both Spider-Man and have to share the city together. One is more preferred to the other in certain situations therefore they have to respect each other’s boundaries. The game keeps them apart due to the narrative structure, but Miles reminds me of a little brother who just wants to hang out with his bro while his bro is out with his friends lol.

For those who haven't tried it, if you feel so inclined, play this game (and the other two in the series) on the highest possible difficulty. I didn't quite get into the fighting (and thus the whole experience) in the first game because it felt a bit like a tired button masher, but upon recommendation I increased the difficulty to the highest setting and it completely revolutionised how I approached combat.

Yeah he spent years building the doc oc arms to *help ppl who need prosthesis*, he apparently does create them, not only that but he’s apparently also perfected….nano-tech?? And he just sits on it….fuck them patients lolol

I can't help but feel like this game's story would've worked better if it was two different games, the first focused on Kraven and the Black Suit, which ends with Miles fighting Peter as the final boss as the Symbiote is taking over and saving Kraven (Or maybe something earlier in the game could make it so you choose which Spidey gets the Symbiote). The second game would be later on (Maybe save the story for a couple games from now), and have it be about Peter and Miles teaming up to fight Venom. It just feels so weird to me how fast this game runs through the story of the Black Suit and Venom that it feels like it was only a few days that Pete has the suit

I wonder if they could have taken inspiration from the Venom movies to make Harry more interesting. Wherein the symbiote gives Harry quirks and stuff that make him just more fascinating, like Eddie in the movies, but we aren't let on to what they are until much later. Perhaps Harry's flat personality is actually a thing Harry is aware of, and uses Venom to make him more spontaneous and 'cool'. Venom would be an actual 'friend' to Harry; a coping mechanism. Which would explain why Harry doesn't tell Peter about it nor the fact that it's sentient. This keeps that whole 'toxic ex' angle of Venom's character from various other comics and bits of media but subverts it onto Harry instead. Venom is played almost entirely seriously in this game, which is effective at times. Peter's symbiote moments vs MJ and Miles are really cool (out of context), and Venom's VA does a wonderful job in the latter half of the game, but I think they could have considered embracing the slightly more camp portrayal of Venom we see sometimes.

It would have been awesome to have a web attach to the ceiling and then grab a bad guy setting you up for an aerial combo or just web them up while hanging. Instead of ya know magical gravity beams.

personally I didn’t hate this game. It was great experience and realky felt great in my eyes, but i still kinda get what you mean in some points but not other points. I personally love the story and how it played it. I liked harry and I didn’t mind how the story turned out..