How Spider-Man 2 (almost) fixed its open world 

18:03 this is the only good part of the video

That point about a failure state for acrobatic traversal is really insightful! I would have never put that into words but it makes so much sense when spelled out!

Legend has it that to this day, camwing's swinging test has still not been interrupted.

Radioactive spider-induced frontal lobe shrinkage. Take your meds, Parker

The problem with New York being used as a videogame setting is I’ve already been there. And I don’t feel like going there three more times lol.

Goddamn the production value on these vids keeps getting better and better, it's always a treat to watch

The thing I missed the most in SM2 is the taskmaster missions, doing the stealth or drone chases or combat challenges. The were fun to redo and let me use the full capability of the toolkit the game provides. SM2 just has mysterio

I love the paper frame on your video samples, it really adds to the feeling that I am not just listening to a guy talk with some cool video and makes it feel a lot more like a dissection of the content with evidence. Great videos every time, (even though I don't notice them at first for some really annoying reason, I swear I only see them through your posts).

With some games, unlocking a new section of the map feels like an accomplishment when it's actually a challenge to get to a new section. I still remember as a kid unlocking a whole new section of super metroid. I wonder if that's what they were going for here. But in a game like Spiderman where you can just tarzan swing across the map and unlock them all, it's not a cool discovery or a milestone of accomplishment. It's just an awkward chore you can knock out in 10 min. (Even tho the web slingin itself is really fun.)

Dude, your videos deserve way more views, like a lot more. I sincerely hope you find your audience here on RU-vid, till then I'll be here watching this still underapreciated channel that has better editing and jokes than many of the big ones.

With these great movement mechanics and two spidermen, there should have been swinging races like ultimate Spider-Man, I think it was a missed opportunity

If TotK REALLY wanted to improve the weapon durability issue with a "portable super market" of stuff in your pants.. they should have made a base weapon that didn't break. What they did is almost nonsensical, while being borderline genius.

11:11 that actually has happened to me before once, they trapped me with a fake tech part box as bait and tried to jump me. Wish it happened way more often.

My biggest issue with Spiderman is that the games play themselves. You pointed it out in the video. It doesn’t feel like I’m mastering the movement, when a lot of the work is automated and done for you.

I will watch every video you make with this animated, emotive host. Just makes me feel good.

I think Miles is doing a 360 Illusion dive roll when he breaks. He's a lot more "acrobatic" and expressive than Peter in that he chooses to do more showy flips as Spider-Man, so it makes sense that he would do this roll, but it definitely looks strange when done in mid-air and removed from the context of the ground. He just kinda hangs there before the rest of the move actually happens.

I like how easy it is to be cool in Spider Man 2 with web swinging because I like quality of life features like which just let me have fun.

Honestly, I love a good checklist, and Spiderman 2 has a good checklist. Getting from place to place is fun and quick, and getting everything never felt like an insurmountable task because there's not too many of them and they gradually get introduced throughout the game. I think it's executed well and it works for me.

Spider Man 2 feels sort of unfinished in some ways. It launched much buggier than 1 and Miles Morales, there are major feature omissions like changing time of day post-game, the graphics are beautiful in a lot of areas but the sand in that opening chapter looks like a ps3 game. Insomniac are just on a level where their unfinished games still feel much better than most aaa games and those issues are a little easier to overlook because the overall quality is still very high. Spider Man 2’s traversal is fucking incredible but I was disappointed by the side quests, checklist Ubisoft style objectives in the open world and the fact that the random npcs walking around still feel like robots. The world looks a lot better, it’s nice there’s a mini Brooklyn and queens but the world doesn’t feel any more alive.

Swinging around the city is my favorite thing to do…because yeah it feels so satisfying.

the animation was fantastic again, loving seeing you guys increase quality with every video! i hope a stork brings you a sponsorship soon

Would've been a fun Easter egg for Peter to be able to crash and hear "Ooh, my back!" 😂😂

Incredibly well made video. Production quality and editing on a level that I thought only huge channel achieve. Terrific stuff man, keep doing what you're doing!

For the next main installment, I don’t really have a want for a larger map for spiderman. Rather, maybe some interior spaces that we can go in anytime and have challenges etc. I don’t know if this is in 2 since I haven’t got it, but I liked the shop robbery in the first where you can play a bit of it in the shop. Imagine that but expanded. Another thing, is I saw a lot secrets and hidden interactions in the second game. No indication that they even exist unless you find them. I wish for them to expand this. This could make the players want to actually explore New York City as if it is a living creature, rather than just being a sandbox to do some sick web swinging. Like, imagine you’re swinging and notice a street festival happening. And you get to walk through, interact with people. Playing mini games etc. Or you notice a cake van smoking. You go there to help drop of the cake to its customer, while not swinging to crazy so the cake isn’t destroyed. I feel like these develop on the things they added in a minor aspect to 2. Like I said, they already have some interactions and stuff that you have to go out and find yourself and the bike being usable is just fun when you can just swing across the map in a minute.

I think it's just at the point where no matter how "good" a game is, we don't have much left for good ideas in gaming anymore because it's so oversaturated.

I love you camwing you’re my favorite person today

I like the backpacks and collectibles, I don’t understand how ppl could be Spider man fans and not appreciate the lore or fun facts Pete or Miles talk bout when they pick them up, fake fans

This was entertaining but it felt like it didn’t have a conclusion. You made your final point about an improvement being more ways to fail then it just ends

14:59 what sense would it make for Spider-Man to crash after purposely putting away the web wings?

momentum in movement is always fun in games, love sliding around and grapplehooks, titanfall 2 is a great example of this, I mention this as I feel its why just cause 3's feels pretty good but once I had the jetpack from the dlc it trivialised that aspect of building speed to wingsuit, I'd love to see more games use momentum based movement or at least movement that feels influenced by it

pressing x to go from swinging to crawling is such a cool idea, that would make traversal more rewarding.

Damn this video is impressive. Editing, pacing and content are amazing. In summary this vid is as cool as my glasses

9:21 This is actually a big reason I didn't like exploration as much in TOTK compared to BOTW. Pretty much any interesting location from BOTW got turned into the entrance to a cave or something in TOTK. So, even though there is a lot of new stuff to do, I realized that there weren't very many interesting new places to do those things.

I love it when my favorite Heathcliff RU-vidr branches out into gaming content

The RU-vid algorithm's a fickle mf... Legit one of the best video essays I've ever seen on the platform, much less video game essays. Keep it up bro!

SWEET ANIMATION BROOOOO

I love when RU-vid randomly recommends me a channel I’d love, amazing content and cannot wait till the next video!

I don't see how having fails improves the open world experience. This video is more so just what you wish was different about Spiderman 2

What's funny is that the ORIGINAL Spider-Man 2 on GameCube, Xbox, and PS2 did not have any fail-safe at all when swinging (meaning you can go splat if you swing on a building the wrong way), as well as an even more natural way to do side-missions by helping random citizens of New York that appear randomly in your line of sight. Sure it might not be able to pull everything off as well as the modern Spider-Man 2 game on PS5, nor does it have as much content in it by comparison, but it has a really good foundation that never got replicated since.

This reminds me of how when Destiny 2 came out, I saw a lot of people complaining about how Bungie had barely changed the HUD and shooting. Like, yeah, they were some of the few parts of the game that weren’t broke and were actually pretty exceptional. People sometimes just want change for the sake of change.

This animation style is VERY gratifying - there's a certain je ne sais quoi in the bits where you check off things on the list that makes it oh so nice

People sometimes does not focus on minor details as it is highly underappreciated but they tend to forget that small details have ability to create a whole new perspective. Great video keep it up.

Man You hit the nail on it’s head for what I was feeling during playing the first Spider-Man Game. The “filling a checklist/completing chores” thing was just too much for me, so I enjoy how spiderman2 changed up the formula. First time watcher here but Great analysis and video!

Who could have guessed that making interest points nearby pop on your map to side track you from the main story could be so engaging? **I say, while Todd tosses another copy of Skyrim to the case pile behind me**

Love the aesthetic and writing in your videos.

Does anyone remember playing Web of Shadows all those years ago and face planting into a building if you didn't time your swings right? Good times, man...

Really glad this channel popped up on my recommended today, I love your style

I think videos like this are infinitely useful to me and anyone else who make games in their spare time. Also, since this is very high quality, it makes it very easy to watch. But, it makes me think about things I might otherwise not be thinking about when designing games.

The swinging being more complex could be interesting, but I fear it becoming too much. While I know people praise the web swinging of the old Spider-Man 2, I don't like it. It feels finicky and like, even though it feels like i could technically do many things, the required controls just don't do work when I want it to, and I was always losing momentum. This new Spider-Man 2 balances amazing experiences with usable controls, and I feel like adding more would almost require unlocking them in settings or something, because I would NOT want to have to time a button press to land on a wall. That's exactly the thing i didn't like about the old games. Great video tho.

BEEN HERE SINCE 300!! NICE TO SEE YOU GROWING U DESERVE IT

Ngl I enjoyed the backpack and landmark quests in both games On the other hand I hated the wave based strongholds and OH MY GOD i hate screwball so much

This is a great video. Very well made and thought provoking. Excellent work man, subbed! :)

this might be THE most underrated channel on this whole platofrm

That joke about you knowing a thing or two about animation was just *chef's kiss*

i hope to god you continue to make these videos because you enjoy it, because they’re seriously top notch. the algorithm is not being kind but you continue to improve your videos’ quality time after time. youtube is bound to give you consistent recommendation soon enough.

Taking the opportunity to not talk about spiderman, I always felt like Breath of the Wild was a great proof of concept but felt lacking in something specifically “Zelda-y,” which probably makes more sense as a fan of Zelda. I think TotK set out specifically to fix that. It’s something you feel on a more emotional and nostalgic level I think. I REALLY appreciated TotK not just for adding improvements, but also creating this sense of depth within the already vast world. Of course with the sky and the depths, but also stumbling on so many random caves and watching the world’s culture develop and mix. It brought me back to a childlike sense of wonder that I always had trouble finding with BotW, despite loving it.

People saying “wow this guy is yapping” or “wow I hope you find your audience” well here I am, I am your audience I know exactly what you mean in everything you say from beginning to end and cannot agree more. Although I’d like to say the wingsuit feels a little bit stiffer that JC4 I’d say it goes closer to JC3. Great video

Incredible video! Thank you for your hard work and for sharing this is.

Though it did get repetitive, I feel like Ghost of Tsushima had more organic engagement with the open world than Spider-Man with the wind mechanic, birds, and foxes; don’t you rope it in Ubisoft games now. Spider-Man still has the most fun traversal system, fulfilling a lifelong fantasy

Calling red dead redemption 2 check boxy tells me all i need to know from you lmao

I’m sorry but what more were you expecting out of TOTK? It dominated the conversation for an entire month then other games came out and people moved on. Same thing happened with dead space. And hogwarts legacy. And re4. And alan wake 2. And will happen with spider-man 2 in a bit.

When you find a backpack, your reward is 1. lore, and 2. a landmark token. Landmark tokens are used to buy suits to look cool and unlock new suit powers. How many of the suit designs do you actually like using and don't break the game's art style? I like about six. Changing suits any more than that feels silly because Spider-Man has a new look every day despite barely making rent. How many suit powers actually support your playstyle? I only use three or four. If you use all of them throughout the course of the game, you won't have enough time to learn how to utilize any of them effectively. So there are way more resources than you need, and you got bored of the lore a long time ago. *Why did you collect every single backpack?* Because you've unlocked so many map slices with towers that your brain is broken. Whenever you see one of these, or even are allowed to skip them and get all the map markers at once, you assume that's how you're meant to find everything and never consider any alternative. While you were placing your 200th map marker, you swung right past the exact radial alerts you praised Spider-Man 2 for. They were there the whole time, but you often can't even see them past the 3D markers. Don't worry, you're far from the only gamer with open world brainrot that ironically prevents you from engaging with open worlds, but to cure it you'll have to practice some serious self-control. I had the same problem, so I know the way to enjoy these games as if you're playing them for the first time. The first step is to turn off the navigational HUD you're using as a crutch. This will just cause a lot of games to become unplayable, so start with Assassin's Creed (2007) and Far Cry 5, I promise those two won't break. Instead of checking the map to figure out where to go next, you'll talk to NPCs, take external notes, climb tall towers and instead of pressing the "tell me where to go" button, look for notable landmarks with your eyeballs. You'll follow roads and rivers to new towns. You'll walk the streets or patrol enemy territory near areas you've received tips about and listen for people saying things that sound amiss or concentrations of activity around settlements. You'll get lost sometimes too. That's just part of the experience. Finally, once you're ready, you can come back to Spider-Man with the right mindset. This one's extra tricky, because without mods there's no setting to prevent you from pressing the scan or map buttons, you just have to be disciplined. Here's how you can find everything in the game without those crutches: Incomplete police towers glow red from hundreds of meters away Spidey will comment on crimes when you get close Police helicopters will orbit Demon attacks Sable checkpoints have bright searchlights scanning in every direction Backpacks emit an increasingly loud beep when you get close Research stations are obviously discolored and out of place Side missions show a waypoint within an 80m radius. If you have a no HUD mod you'll have to listen for the questgiver calling out to you, which will make them much harder to find Pigeons are impossible to miss Black Cat stakeouts emit scope glint. If you see a mural first you need to solve it in reverse order. Stand next to the mural, scan the nearby rooftops for glint, it should be somewhere above you, then point the scope at the mural and the receiver will be right next to it. If there's no glint you already did it Taskmaster Challenges are very hard to find Fisk Construction Sites are obviously half-finished buildings with tons of equipment. Just check them all for guys armed to the teeth Demon Warehouses have snipers positioned on the rooftops that emit red lasers. You're also allowed to screenshot the map provided in the main story, but you can't keep opening the in-game map to check your position Convict Dens are run down and filled with makeshift bridges and guard posts. Usually the snipers are what will give it away Sable Bases are impossible to miss If for any reason you get close to finding one of these, but then you lose track of it, dive to the street and walk around the block talking to civilians until you get a tip Additional considerations: Solve as many puzzles as you can without scanning. Usually this involves following color-coded wires or conduits. I found one puzzle in the main story that needed a scan, and two in the research stations. There was also a research station where I had to check my map Don't scan enemies in stealth encounters. This also renders the suit mod that keeps them highlighted unusable Unless you have a no HUD mod, synchronizing a tower will briefly mark all nearby points of interest. I opted to allow myself one freebie from each of these that I had to strategize what to use on based on how difficult it would be to find otherwise. This pairs well with fishing for tips since you'll often lose track of its exact location once you start to get close

This is so much better than most other criticisms of this game, the lack of hating every detail and actually explaining something that makes sense in character is so much better than just being upset your random preference isn’t in the game *cough cough* TheAmazingLucas

The gliding mechanic makes me wish we got a game about Spiderman 2099 instead, which could have meant a more original setting in the form of a cyberpunk/sci fi New York

“Why are there so many backpacks!” Because it makes sense. Look at Spider-Man homecoming. Peter throws and webs up his backpack. Later on in the movie he needs to get a new backpack. Imagine a Spider-Man who was spidermaning for years longer than 199999 Peter like 1048 Peter was XD You’d forget your packpacks too

7:50 the synchronization mechanic was literally ripped straight from assassin's creed bro 😭

the 3d animation was soooo good in this and i awas completely not expecting it lol

Speaking of traversal in open worlds can we talk about how Far Cry 2 has aged really well in that regard especially against its own franchise. In an industry full of a thousand 1 man army dudes ticking off checklists by walking any direction unrestrictedly across a countryside of some sort, Far Cry 2 uses restrictions to make traversal interesting. You can only use certain paths but they have different advantages. Some have vehicle patrols, some have outposts, some can't be driven down, some require a boat and this creates a choice for players. And these paths are curated for unique gameplay experiences like crossing bridges, creeping through jungles, etc. Even fast travel is limited to certain spots, which makes planning your route just as important as the destination, which is done with a paper map and compass. Immersive and practical. Now, due to lack change and variety this outstays its welcome but is still better than modern Ubisoft open worlds which amount to either fast travelling directly onto the objective or just mindlessly running a bee line straight to the floating waypoint marker.

your animation is so cool!!

I haven't finished the video yet but I just had to let it out of my system that, man, oh man, as an artist, your animated character is eye-candy. It's so nice and refreshing to look at! really neat and unique animation. Amazing job!

"You have to have points of interest in the world to connect with" This sentence only works on theory. Organic exploration without guidance won't always be rewarded. Being lost without guiding isn't fun or interesting. The player being able to go "anywhere" they want doesn't mean they will have the best experience and they can make bad decisions and have a bad experience...ultimately going to a wiki to seek guidance. Like everyone did in elden ring. The lack of guidance in a game leads to a whole lot of other issues that essays like these never touch. And devs are aware of these issues. That's why formulas and checklists exist. Because they work. Because they are accessible and easy to navigate. Players don't know what they actually want. But people like you think they know because you can't realize the cons of what you are desiring for. In your ideal world of your mind, everything works. But you guys never provide examples of what game did it right. Because you are advocating for something ideal not real.

Woah. A uniquely animated character video essay format. It’s not a zesty little teen titans slideshow. Dope.

I 100%'d Spider-Man 2 in 5 days because I had a week off work for Christmas Having to actually plan routes to intentionally cover more ground so I could specifically discover the spider-bots was easily some of the most fun I've ever had in an open-world game. I felt like I was actually learning my way around New York, swinging up and down streets listening for the bespoke bass thump they make when you first discover them. But you're 100% right that it becomes a slog once the main story peters out (pun not intended) - things like the two-heart Symbiote nest in the tunnel, the hilariously inconsistent difficulty of getting gold in Mysteriums, and the one glider chase mission that goes through the train yard, really stretch the seams of that last 5% of a not-quite-perfect game. Don't get me wrong - I didn't play this game like it was my full-time job because it's *_bad_* , but it's very much evolution, not revolution. Oh also discovering your channel through this video was a joy, sub'd

wowie i havent seen any of your videos before but i'm only a minute into this video and i really love the way its presented and the animations are nice to watch , its so cool and i hope your channel gets more attention :)

Banjo-Tooie is still the benchmark for a sequel being better than its predecessor.

I just came across your channel but this was such a well made critique. The content, the editing, the animation. Really nice!

It's really all about presentation because even BotW/TotK, Elden Ring or RDR2 are essentially checklists but they are never presented to the player as a checklist. Instead they trust that the player will have enough curiosity and agency to seek out the content themselves which means they have to engage more actively with the world as an interactive space instead of mindlessly chasing icons to fill a progress bar.

Idk how you make every video make me go 'damn Cam just made his best video ever' every time

Bro, you did not just put the Witcher III's side content in the same category as the check-boxy stuff from Ghost of Tsushima or Horizon - Witcher III side content is the furthest thing from repetitive. (Great video.)

godlike production quality, as always

0:59 what is Garfield OH is that starfield

You’re trying to find solutions for problems that don’t exist and wanting them to fix something that isn’t broken.

you are like a little lost razubuten, if i keep finding more of you i'll never run out of stuff to watch

>I wish the mechanics actually required me to put forth effort to look cool >Spider-Man 2 the game from 20 years ago: Bro I already did that.

Just stumbled across your channel and making my way through all your videos. This is all right up my alley 👍🏾

Great video but one thing you missed was that Ghost of Tsushima does something like this too, the entire map is grayed out and you only discover stuff through riding around in the open world, it’s still a checklist but they don’t give you everything all at once like most other open world games cough cough Ubisoft cough cough

14:49 tbf regular Spider-Man could tank a fall from that height easily, so it makes sense why their''s no damage animation

your animation glitch joke made me subscribe. Well done sir.

I respect your opinion, but I totally disagree if I'm swinging around the city to feel like I'm Spider-Man it will constantly be annoying with all the buildings in New York to hit them and die especially when you're on your way to your next mission it's inconvenient and I feel like if we had that in the first place, the game wouldn't be as praised with their traversals but I do believe that there should be an option or you can swing into things and be able to get hurt or take damage

I assume I kinda broke the system, because as soon as I was let in open world and realized that I would need to open it. I swung across all the city.

I must really fucking suck at this game because trust me when I say that I CONSTANTLY fail in 0 assist web swinging, and I'm someone who platinumned the two first games AND the remaster, so I should at least know what I'm doing.

I quite literally dont remember ever running out of weapons mid fight in LOZ

Solid animation, crisp audio, College grade writing for video essay. I hope this channel blows up cuz it’s underrated AF 🤙

I can’t lie dude I’ve never had a video of yours recommended to me before but u earned my sub in 30 seconds

You still have to "discover" the map. You still have a checklist. They just put a fancier hat on those. Love the game, btw

Ive adapted so much to the boring checklists by making a canon order in my head and playing them along the story that the 2018 Spider-Man felt like the Spider-Man 2 game even back then. But damn, I didn't notice how improved it was, also amazing video essay I subscribed

I feel lucky to have found your channel. You're fun to listen to l, and I really enjoy the topics you cover. Cant wait for more videos!

Spiderman 2 looks really fun, i'm looking forward to when they port it to PC! ...in 5 years.

The intro was perfect and hilarious 😂

love the little animations so much ❤