Marvel's Spider-Man 2: An In-Depth Critique 

Install Raid for Free ✅ IOS/ANDROID/PC: t2m.io/Whitelight_Jan24 and get a special starter pack with Silver, XP Brews and Chicken⚡ Available only via the link and for new players. See you on the battlefield! 💎Use promo code RAIDXMAS 💎available for new and existing players by the end of January. 📱Link for IOS users to enter Raid Shadow Legends codes ▶ plarium.com/en/redeem/raid-shadow-legends/. Yeah, I'm late to the party on Spider-Man 2 but let's be honest, when am I early? Thanks for waiting. This was a stunningly controversial game, and playing it, I was just as conflicted. Wish Insomniac the best following their unfortunate leaks. If you're aware of them, I do *hope* to cover whatever they've got cooking, Spider-Man or not.

I give it three minutes before he mentions Web of Shadows.

"They talk like their employers are watching" is maybe the best description of how these characters talk that I've ever heard

I hope Insomniac sees this video. I had fun playing the game but jesus do I agree with this video on so much. The bland characters, the janky boss fights, the podcasts. Game just felt rushed and incomplete.

YES! White is the only reviewer to mention that depraved politeness that soaks the Insomniac Spider-Man universe. There's no grit, there's little to no seriousness and the stakes just don't feel very real when "corrupted" characters vent frustrations that feel as significant as accidentally kicking a table leg and hurting your toe. If a character in Insomniac Spider-Man games dropped their coffee by accident, they'd say something like "Gosh, darn it! What a fumble!", only for 4 more characters INCLUDING f*cking Spider-Man swooping down with praise and relief like "Are you kidding!? You're such an AMAZING person, everything you say is so effervescent and you're an irreplaceable beacon to this bustling city!" and then the character would invent an app that prevents people from ever dropping coffees by installing nano mechs inside of Earth's core that detects the presence of coffee in the atmosphere and reverses the Earth's gravitational polarity, because everyone in this goddamn world is a more brilliant scientist than Goku's father

Unlike the first game, not having comic book writers working on the narrative was very apparent. It was like Arkham Knight’s lack of Paul Dini, all over again.

This is an incredibly cathartic video, the line “they talk like their employers are listening” is so accurate and better than I could’ve ever worded it.

When you talked about dialogues of characters around miles, i remembered what my friend said "its like one of those company HR videos where they tell you how to be a good person, so sanitised and on the nose that you can't help but feel you are in a school class"

Crazy how Insomniac went from their edgy humour and anti-consumerism messages in their early R&C days to making the most bland, generic, cookie cutter, safe dialogue in their recent games.

Between Insomniac touting this game as their “Empire Strikes Back” years ago, and the creative director confirming a lot of content got cut, I can only assume this game suffered from Marvel/Sony interference. That’s evident in Miles’ evolved suit being a literal ad.

I am genuinely so happy someone else mentioned how ‘polite’ all the characters are - to an awkward degree. It completely robs every interaction of any sort of drama. Everyone is so goddamn clean with one another, with all positivity, and inclusiveness, and absolutely no abrasion whatsoever. I am absolutely someone who believes in basic human decency, tolerance, and inclusivity of ALL types of people. But when the entire story of the game is a squeaky clean list of talking points where everyone accepts every single flaw in each other and the world at all times, it’s boring. So goddamn boring. And makes the explosive encounters where characters air their feelings so out of place. I’m rambling but i’m just glad i’m not the only one who felt this way about this story

This is pretty much a perfect critique of the game. It's got quite a lot of fair and insightful criticism that Insomniac should 100% be listening to, but doesn't fail to acknowledge the games many strengths. It's honestly quite refreshing to get such a nuanced and well though out take on the game after being subjected to months of people going back and fourth about whether the game is a masterpiece or complete trash.

"Sauceless" was an excellent word choice. The lack of bite to Peter's quips so that the jokes feel as safe as possible, even though Spider-Man's whole deal is mocking his enemies. The Symbiote Arc removing all culpability from Peter so that he doesn't need to feel any guilt about anything he said or did in the costume to the point that even Harry forgives him. Miles' desire for revenge never getting past a momentary desire and ultimately being something he never acts on or really causes anyone any problems. The most morally dubious thing that anyone in the story does of their own volition is MJ writing a slam article on Spider-Man, and the story immediately wipes that from everyone's memory so she can have a "You go girl!" moment when she tells off Strawman Jameson. It's like flirting with the idea of character flaws rather than committing to actually having them.

In case you wondering, first mention of web of shadows is6:33

Thank you for putting into words the nagging feeling I had about the symbiote storyline. Venom as a character was neutered and the lack of impact and consequences with the black suit was a huge disappointment.

God remember how mean the characters were to each other in the original Ratchet and Clank trilogy… I miss that.

Genuinely surprised you didn’t talk about the way the black suit adds literally nothing to the gameplay that you couldn’t already do. It doesn’t improve anything, base animations aren’t different, it’s just different L1 attacks that are just as strong as the Spider Arms. The cooldowns aren’t even faster. They genuinely didn’t do anything right with the Symbiote outside of the visuals/feel. Web of Shadows had it figured out almost 20 years ago.

mary jane out here taking out dozens of professional hunters in them lemon peppa steppas

Agreed by far the biggest fuck up was making venom completely separated from the wearer so it just becomes the evil monster taking over your body instead of a partner with a ya know SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP

THANK GOD someone finally mentioned the dialogue. I felt like I was losing my mind the entire game. The whole inauthentic, corporate speak every character oozes in each line was driving me insane and I could never properly put it into words. It’s an issue that I think has existed since the 2018 game just to a much lesser degree that has gotten worse with each game. It’s especially egregious here because the Black Suit storyline hinges almost entirely on character conflicts. Dialogue like this makes it absolutely fall flat and each conflict feels insincere and surface level. I’m incredibly worried that the Wolverine game will have the same issues.

10:55 I was castrated by an entire chat for having this criticism on the swinging. Apparently I was 'clouded by nostalgia' or nitpicky to prefer the swinging in those (now, rather old) games. It was strange no one knew what i meant by 'true loop de loops' and didnt understand that *these* loops are completely animation not physics based. Thanks for not making me feel crazy

I’m glad someone commented on how “nice” everyone sounds, I mean these are New Yorkers , how do you do you make New Yorkers sound so bland? Oddly enough this makes jjj stand out the most. A lot of great stuff in the game just a lot of weird narrative choices

"It's fresh in the sense that I've never seen anything this shit before" God damn bro, I gotta put that on a plaque or something.

Spider Man 2 is literally a fast food game. It tries to appeal to everyone, makes sure to be super family friendly so it doesnt offend anyone and can be consumed by all and mostly important, it treats you like a dumb child

This game is painfully safe. It's overindulging in safety. It's painfully lacking in any meaningful drama and darkness. It's painfully inoffensive and polite to the point it takes you out of the experience of how "utopian" it is. It's not "comicbook-y". The game treats you like a child, it's too afraid to explore anything complex or nuanced because it's too afraid that you feel uncomfortable or "take it the wrong way." It feels too much like "modern" writing. This "extremely safe" writing that tries so hard to appeal to everyone and make sure it doesn't make you feel uncomfortable, it makes everyone feel that desperation of dishonest and artificial restraint. The first game wasn't nearly this bad or obvious with it, but now looking back... I can see it permeates the whole Insomniac universe. Spiderman 2 is just so painfully safe.

Seriously, Yuri's thing as Wraith just completely breaks the emersion for me, woman if you have been capable of this level skill this whole time, then why the fuck did you need Spider-Man in the first game and its DLC, I could've bought her as a gun toting anti-hero like Punisher, but this makes no sense.

It's so weird how this is a crime fighting game set in NYC and the police are basically nowhere to be seen.

I honestly don't understand how people were genuinely upset Spiderman didn't win GOTY. Like be so for real

The MJ segments are so bad. Imagine playing Arkham and then you have to play as Alfred or wheelchair bound Barbra for 20 minutes.

Not having Agent Venom Harry and Miles in thee game's story was one of the biggest missteps in the game for me. Its weird that the game barely connects Miles' and Peter's stories together despite this being one of the only mainstream SM stories that involve both Spider-Men as an acting duo. It also makes Miles involvement in the final bossfight feel very tacked on

How the hell did this game mess up the symbiot story more than the movie where the dude didn’t even want to do it

49:47 What do you mean "It's never been done like this"? Venom's entire moveset is taken frame by frame from Ultimate Spider-Man, the game everyone forgets exists.

I think the overly polite dialogue is an Insomniac problem, not a Spider-Man problem. They had the same type of dialogue in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, with all the characters constantly thanking and apologising to each other. They have clearly had the capability of writing well in the past, such as in the PS2 and PS3 R&Cs, so there must be new direction or new writers influencing it to be this way.

"Talk like your employers are listening" is their "dance like nobodys watching."

There are some things in the first game that I liked that's not in MSM2. For example: -Enemy bases, there are only hunter bases (they aren't great) and they can only be played once, no waves of enemies or whatever. -Car chases are boring now. -Police basically don't exist, no firefights on the streets. -In Miles Morales you could press triangle to pull and kick the enemy after a combo and in MSM2 you can only pull them. -Can't change weather/time. -Some gadgets were really good in the first game and don't exist now but I get the reason. -Stealth is watered down/non existent. I love the game but so much is missing.

"The webswinging is incredible. Unfortunately, it's sort of a piece of shit" I love you Whitelight

The biggest issue is that Insomniac took the wrong criticisms to heart. Taking out the police for people who were never going to play the game. Bubble wrapping the characters so they don't ever cross into being uncomfortable. Expanding the MJ missions because, to quote, "she's a hero too". They were so worried about being inclusive and diverse that they forgot what truly matters, making a story about New York and its protector. They forgot to put the heart in. They screwed up details that matter to their representation (i.e. the Puerto Rico flag at Miles' place being incredibly wrong pre-patch), and butchered a dub (Spanish) to be more inclusive. They put their priorities in the wrong place, leading to a sterile story propped up by admittedly solid gameplay. I hate to bring up the hack but in the leak their DEI seminar video was posted. I saw it, I genuinely think it is the most infantilizing, racist, bigoted nonsense I've seen in a while. It imagines minorities as being so fragile they can't be empowered unless they are represented in everything. This was a mandatory watch for all employees. I think it's great to stand for equality but when your activism hurts your product you need to refocus.

"Not every game need to be a masterpiece" Given how expensive this game is and what it would take to recoup the losses as revealed from the Insomniac leaks, SM2 not hitting the mark might actually be a big problem. Especially if the path to improvement isn't clear.

Can't we just get a Prototype 3 already? :( Seeing Venom just smash through walls and being amazing reminded me of how much I would love to see a new one.

“Spider-Man 2 is a masterpiece…if you’re twelve.” This is the *truth* It blew my almost 8 year old son’s mind. He couldn’t even believe something like this could exist. I promptly told him I would simply beat the game and never play it again lol.

My biggest critism is that miles morales looks like ben shapiro melting into a black person

we got the Whitelight video before NG+ dropped LMAO

It’s about damn time

The more time spent thinking about it after the fact and the more that’s revealed about the development of this game, especially as they came closer and closer to release, it becomes increasingly clear that, as polished and enjoyable as the game is (I love it dearly, despite its many flaws) that both narratively and mechanically this game was ripped to shreds, maintaining only what was absolutely necessary to hit a rushed release date. The still upcoming patch set to bring New Game Plus, day and night options and myriad other features previously available on release in past titles makes it clear that Spider-Man 2 simply didn’t release in a feature-complete state

they took out the police? did they also remove every american flag in the game? the police make NYC NYC it wouldnt be a city without them, insomniac plz

When you mentioned how sterile and boring all the characters are I couldn't help but think about how I felt exactly the same way when I played the Ratchet and Clank remake and how horribly boring and sterile they made that as well...I'm not gonna pretend the original ps2 Ratchet and Clank was some masterpiece, and I'm sure most of my good feelings for it are related to my nostalgia, but got damn did they sandpaper down every single interesting thing that game had until there was nothing left but the most boring generic plot and characters you had ever seen...I guess my point is that modern Insomniac has a bit of a history of making perfectly serviceable games with perfectly bland narratives and characters...

Those wind tunnels bear a remarkable resemblence to Superman 64. Don't think that's a good thing.

“If it’s drip or drown in this world, MJ is sleeping with the Titanic” bro did not need to roast her that hard

On a positive note, the point about the Symbiote making you ‘feel stronger despite not doing anything at all in game was something I had never considered. My first time playing with the Black Suit, for some reason I played better and more aggressively than I ever did on Ultimate difficulty even when every stat was the same. It literally made you feel invincible.

NOT THE FRIDGE MJ NOOO HELP ME MJ THE FRIIIIDGE AAAAAAAA

This might be the best video essay ive ever watched (the video released 56 seconds ago)

The first game had a much deeper and better combat system imo. But it's like whitelight said, it wasn't difficult enough to force you to engage. So it's easy to think it was worse. Going back to the original after the sequel, I played a ng on ultimate with mods that removed attack delays for Spidey but upped enemy aggression and stats. Suddenly I was forced to use every option and mechanic and it's pretty great. You start to realize what gadgets do what best, which powers to utilize, and how to optimize your strategies. Especially if you're going for high combos and optional tasks in fights. Or even to survive. I actually would lose on this run a lot; esp early on without all the unlocks. Even having a weapon wheel was useful bc that pause to make a purposeful choice on your actions helped a lot when you're surrounded by enemies and brutes coming at you non stop. While the second game upped the difficulty it responded by dumbing down your options. You basicaly just spam attacks and gadgets until you unleash a special move. I beat it on Spectacular and got S rank on every conbat challeneg and I can't tell you offhand what each thing does best, but I can for the first game. I wish they expanded on this more strategic combat than just made it button mashy. Maybe map some things to buttons but kept the wheel and increased gadget options. The parry felt like a really uncreative step into making it like every other game instead of expanding on what made the combat unique in the first place.

It's almost as if there's a huge disk-sucking crowd of people preventing anyone from voicing any of their concerns when a Sony movie game comes out but when the dust settles people are allowed to actually talk about the games and every time there's huge issues we were forced to ignore.

"And in act 3 the city is almost exclusively inhabited by things that wants to uninstall your testicles" Whitelight Probably 14:31

Suddenly this game became Crysis 2 with aliens taking over New York, except in that game at least the millitary tried to stop the aliens. Scarecrow's feartoxin attack in Knight was foreshadowed in Arkham City and it was explained why there wasn't any outside interference.

56:00 The talk about how bosses can cheat to take back their turn reminds me of how infuriating Sigurn was in God of War 2018. You would get used to her patterns and how many hits you can deal when it's your turn, and then suddenly Sigurn would hyper armor through your attacks and nearly one shot you based on some hidden arbitrary amount of damage she had taken. Its definitely one of my least favorite ways to make a boss more difficult.

One thing that bugged me about the first game was that it felt sterile. This game is trying to win the sterile olympics

Truly the critique to end all critiques.

My favorite kind of Saturday is one where I can sit back and watch an hour and a half of Whitelight amazingly produced content. I love your stuff so much!

Part of this universes strength and weakness is its reliance on its sci-fi elements. Every character has to be a realistic sci-fi character despite also having Doctor Strange exist.

I think the games fast pacing hurt its narrative, imo. Before launch Insomniac stated the game would be about as long as the first, and that was when my worries started. There was so much more this game was juggling, how could they possibly do all of it well in the same amount of time as the first game? But the answer was right in front of me: they couldn’t. While playing it I was having fun. It felt like a rollercoasters of ups and downs. But then when credits rolled I started questioning a lot. Peter’s symbiote turn is too quick, Kraven and Venom are both great but neither are given enough time to shine, Miles feels so underutilized in the whole story, Norman has to suddenly hate the Spider-Men at the end to set up another sequel, etc. This game needed more time to breathe, and I’ll probably not return for another playthrough any time soon. I’ll definitely boot it up for some web swinging though, that’s still sweet.

10:37, jesus man, I've been watching you since that Web of Shadows video, but I really didn't think you were that much of an enthusiast. That wall run into a web strike was sick.

Babe, wake up

I think the police thing is a very immature thing for two reasons. 1 is that I think forcing your own political views into a franchise with a pre established relationship between its heroes and the “everyday heroes” being those that serve its citizens on a daily basis, look you don’t have to think that OUR world police officers are guardian angles and in fact think the opposite, but that’s not how it is in the MARVEL/SPIDER-MAN universe, I loved seeing the contrast of the annoying, ungrateful cops that don’t appreciate spideys efforts, and the ones that genuinely appreciate what he does for this city 2 is that they literally based one of the main protagonists (miles) tragic backstory off a HEROIC COP, don’t you think that’s disengenous and disrespectful to both the characters of miles and Jefferson? I get they aren’t real characters but I more so mean respect to the characters in relation to the fans, it’s also highly childish to act like the people you don’t like don’t exist, that’s my problem with representation in any form of media no matter what side you are on. Different races, cultures, sexuality’s etc shouldn’t be forcefully spotlighted or removed in your game with a pre established IP to express YOUR agendas, it should include those things I just listed in a respectful and seamless way, the only time you should make your own identity with a well known IP in any form is by creating your take on the character and universe, not stripping and cramming real world political things that you don’t and do like

The Miles vs Li story honestly comes out of nowhere and could have worked...if it was in his first game. I literally doesn't make sense to have MIles fight Phin because he's against revenge when afterwards he seeks out revenge. Plus Miles facing Li in his own game rather than fighting Phin about Roxxon, sure would have changed the story Insomniac were going for since Li was getting captured by Kraven, would have been super impactful and actually would have given reason to stopping Phin in a Miles Morales 2. Otherwise, write Miles like he's actually important since otherwise he feels like he's just "I'm here too!" in a story about Peter.

1:03:47 - on the depression side. One of my ex-colleagues is one of the funniest people i've known. Witty, charismatic, kind jokes always spot on. Always something to add or to turn a grim topic into a light joke that everyone liked. And then he stopped appearing in the office. Turns out he was battling depression for 2 years. Almost ODed on pills. He moved to his hometown and cut contact with everyone. The last time I heard he is now ok and getting needed therapy. So no, you cant say someone cant be funny coz of depression.

I played Prototype for the first time a few months ago due to Whitelight, and I found the progression of the city from normal NYC to a dystopian infected wasteland to be one of the best city progession systems in gaming, even today. It's a shame the Venom infection/invasion (and other sequences in other games) haven't learned from this.

U gotta remember the old Spider-Man games had no people or barely no cars on the street the city was dead… that’s why the swinging was so free

The city feels way emptier than previous games. Even in your clips we can see very few pedestrians, there's also lack of npcs on rooftops, lack of dynamic crime activities, civilians don't attack spider man on street, can't read newspapers etc.

I WANTED STALKER VENOM. I WANTED VENOM THE HATER. The worst part is they could have still easily done it with Harry as venom. Fuck it they could have still gotten their symbiote invasion thing after the stalker venom thing. Man why did this games third act get so rushed

This game costed over 300 million dollars. So much time and money was pumped into this game that its not surprising that the game plays it safe.

If there is one thing I hate in any game, it's when it starts preaching and talking down to me

Crazy how modders solved these issues and Insomniac *sitting there on piles of money* like "eh, what more do you want from us"

I know it’s stupid, but as I was playing I genuinely thought “Ohhhhhh, can’t wait to hear what Whitelight thinks of this Web of Shadows-as-Hell- third act. I haven’t even started the video and I know it’s gonna be good, love your work man

Anything that wasn't traversal in this game felt like an afterthought, the webwings, slingshot and loop de loop were great additions which felt like a natural progression from the first 2 games with the new sense of speed and verticality you can attain. Stealth took a big hit in that the only new mechanic being the weblines but even then it didn't really feel like anything new, hell, they even reused the ceiling animations from the miles game and just copy and pasted it for peter. (THERE'S ONLY ONE, which is strange considering in the 2018 game, during the grand central station segment as MJ, peter has numerous ceiling takedown animations, why were they not present?) The combat turning into a god of war runic attack style system didn't really meld with me, i ultimately used it when i need to rest my thumbs so i could watch the cool animations play, one thing that holds it back imo is that they take sooo fucking long to charge, and they don't even charge in between encounters, like you could stop one crime whilst using all your runics and then go to another one but they're not even charged up at all which leaves very little for variety in gameplay.

When MJ and Peter talk, it's as painful as listening to two teenage virgins in their first relationship. When they kissed at one point in the game, it felt uncomfortable.

I'm always surprised by how much people loved the "We are Venom" scene in the game. Yes, in a vacuum, it looks & sounds really cool. But there's no substance to it because it doesn't make sense. Why is he called Venom here? It has nothing to do with his goals like every other version of the character. Why is it 'we', if the symbiote doesn't have a personality of its own / is taking over an unwilling host for its own benefit. Shouldn't it still be 'I' based on how the story was set up?

5:37 to skip to Raid Shitty Legends ad.

A video essay so good, I might start simping for a youtuber. Jokes aside, I agree 100% on how non consequential the symbiote was. Worst offense in my opinion is how Peter's ultimate conclusion with the symbiote arc has literally nothing to do with Peter's actions but only Miles and Lee. He doesn't lift a finger to get over his issues that the symbiote prayed over.

I think the best point here is about how off the dialogue feels. Peter does seem like he's "trying" with MJ.... 'I don't deserve you!' is on paper a sweet thing to say to your partner but it doesn't feel natural. At least, it doesn't feel like a couple about to move in with one another. That is something a 3-month old couple would say.

Okay but why did “Web of Shadows 2… more like Web of Shadows Poo” make me spit out my coffee 😂😂😂

The writers admitted last month that Sony forced them to release the game earlier, so that’s why the third act especially, feels rushed. The game was probably originally envisioned to come out in 2024. But this isn’t a problem that’s unique to insomniac.

I heard someone say this and I agree. I think they should've had only one ability wheel. Miles would be his powers, and Peter would have gadgets. You then make the gadgets more unique and niche in combat than what we got. This makes the two spidermen feel different and unique, instead of copies with different suits. When he gets the symbiote, you can replace his gadgets with powers, but i feel it would add depth to the gameplay while also giving credence to their actual characters not being the same

I’m from NY nobody is as polite as people are in this game glad someone mentioned it.

50:08 I disagree COMPLETELY with the point that a power fantasy is at its best when you just barely have to pay attention. To quote Hugo Martin, game director of Doom Eternal "A power fantasy earned will always be more satisfying than a power fantasy that had been given." A power fantasy is almost always more satisfying when you are forced to work for it because it's not inherently shallow, unlike a power fantasy that is given. This relates to skill expression and how the combat and web swinging are better when they're deep. I do recognize however that they did not have the time to make the Venom sequence super complex or deep and it serves it's job in both the narrative and the gameplay incredibly well.

I platinumed this game in 25 hours, which... wow, my fastest one yet where I wasn't ACTIVELY trying to platinum it quickly. I still love the game, it was a grand experience, but fuck I wish it had more substance

Real talk tho, when is Whitelight gonna stop edging us with all these Arkham Knight mentions by dropping an Akrham Knight critique. Soon enough I'll have to submit myself for scientific studies on finding out what's beyond blue balls.

Don't know if this is worth mentioning, but during the car chase crimes. When you land on the car, if you wait for a moment, you're presented with a more stylish way of stopping the vehicle. The square button prompt will be replaced with a circle prompt. 19:04

At 47:17 you mention how you think they throttle your top speed, fun fact about that. In Spider-Man 2018 during the shocker chases, if you are too fast when chasing him, they will speed him up to a comical degree in order for you to not be within takedown range. I'm not sure if any other chase does speeds up enemies but I do know for a fact you are slowed down if you are too fast during the scripted chases.

It's a shame the symbiote storyline turned out this way. Yes, the symbiote generally makes Peter more of a jerk but there were better ways to go about it. I think Spectacular Spider-Man did it best as far as I know since it seduced Peter away from his friends as the situation around him worsened. Imagine an alternate take like this: Peter's descent mainly comes from the stress of having to deal with so much at once and his inability to rely on others to handle far more serious matters. You could show Peter struggling to navigate both his social and superhero life more intensely than ever because he's never had to deal with so much at once and that it's making him absolutely miserable. You could foreshadow Peter's increasing frustration with his own inability to handle this and maybe even his frustration with Miles as he still views him as not fully ready yet due to the carnage brought about by the Miles Morales game. The symbiote could then prey upon it., whispering in his head that he doesn't need them to get the job done and amplifying both his power and his anger at the same time. That could be a better reason for him to try and kill Kraven as he just wants all of his problems done with it at this point and when Miles comes in to stop, he views it at getting in his way again. IOnce Miles and Peter fight, instead of having Peter rip off the suit due to Miles's encouragement, actually have Miles beat the suit outta him so that it shows that Peter underestimated how much Miles has grown. Once he gets his bearings together, he could see how much damage he's caused to his friends and that'd make him realize that the suit has been screwing with him the whole time and that he needs to get rid of it. Once Venom arrives properly, he could do the same to Harry. You could probably have some deep-seated jealousy he has over Peter due to the fact that while he's growing weaker, peter's only getting stronger and him taking the symbiote possibly robbed Harry of his only chance to keep up. By the time Venom takes over Harry, both the symbiote and Harry could see Peter as the enemy and instead of simply trying to take over the world, they do everything in their power to make Peter's life even more miserable while proving themselves as superior to him. You could have Scream and the other symbiotes show up, taking over Peter's loved ones and have the symbiote-ification of the city be nothing more than an aftermath to the carnage they're ensuing. This forces peter to genuinely try to rely on others to help him pick up the slack when it comes to critical moments. Maybe the final fight with Venom could be changed so that Peter actually tasks Miles with fending Venom off as long as he can while he helps MJ get the meteorite and the final fight being Peter vs Harry as it should be. It'd make the whole symbiote storyline much more personal and give Peter an actual arc that would make the ending a bit more meaningful. At least, that's my take on how it should go. Probably better alternatives out there, but it's the best that I could come up with.

I agree with almost every point in this video. It has pieces missing, the story felt rushed in the end, many of the walking simulators felt boring but workable, the combat and swinging redeems it a lot. I wish there was more to do in the game as side activities, because honestly sometimes i just ignore the stupid stuff like car chases and just go swing and enjoy the scenery or do tricks and stuff

By far the best critique of the game. Personally, it disappointed me as a sequel: there are clear improvements in some departments but the bad stuff is really BAD. The story in paritcular, at least to me, falls shorts of the pacing and characterization we saw in the first game and that's ironic, since it's supposed to have even higher stakes. And you nailed it with the excessive and absurd cheesyness and niceness of the characters: not that it wasn't present in the first game, but at least it was somewhat believable and genuine, in this one it just makes you cringe and just think "NOBODY in real life talks or behaves like this". Also, I know there are far more important problems but... I couldn't stand the amount of inclusive and social justice stuff/topics they constantly threw at me. I know that a game (and especially a superhero game) can also be an opportunity to spread awareness and good messages, but like this is just annoying and pointless.

My problem is that SM2 lacks identity. While showing gameplay in the beginning of the video, I couldn't differentiate which gameplay is from which game - SM1, MM, SM2

You did NOT just Raid Shadow Legends us!

Yes! I've been waiting for this. Your first Spiderman critique is how I found your channel.

That bit about using photo mode for Daily bugle quests is actually genius. Like if you could see people reading the photos you took. Perhaps have objectives for each photo taken like: -Must have 3 crooks -At least one crook is webbed up

Shout out to all the people that were here 3 thumbnails ago.

Storywise, both Venom and Kraven were both phenomenal characters but in the grand scheme of things, they stole eachother's time and spotlight. Kraven was filler in Venom's story and vice versa. The third act is the most clear evidence of that because it felt like a whole other, different game shoehorned into a 3-4 hour gameplay sequence, it actually makes me a little angry at how different the whole symbote invasion would've been if it had it's own, 10-15 hour long, separate game? Like come on. And this is just my own subjective opinion, but what irks me personally is that the first game was built - despite Spiderman overall being overused in both Marvel and Sony movies - on a fairly new and original things/ideas. From using new/barely used characters like Black Cat, Negative Man or Yuri/Wraith to even such small and potentially insignificant detail like the existence of F.E.A.S.T - so many things were just... refreshing. And what did they do in the 2nd game? They cast everything aside. Black Cat was once again a poor DLC bait, Wraith was well... there, Negative Man had his own, conflicting journey that could've been "more". Those were the characters that were NEEDED in the story, like how different the whole invasion would be if Peter instead of only having his own mini-me would've had [potentially playable] others to help? Like it's own mini-avengers line up? Those are the two arguments that I felt the most after playing the game. I enjoyed what I saw and played but at the same time I can't help but feel how different Insomniac could've played this out, which for me is a downgrade from the 1st game.

crazy 11 minute wait for web of shadows mention

Fantastic video. I legit don't get how they fucked up the symbiote storyline so bad. It removes any and all accountability from their hosts making for an insanely dull story that is hard to get invested in because nothing feels earned. Harry literally going "Pete? What is happening?" during the final bossfight is such a slap in the face. Also I am happy the music and performances made it work for you in the moment, but I swear the Scream bossfight is the dumbest shit. As you pointed out, none of the conflict was set up. One could even claim the exact opposite was established with Peter going "you know you don't need to work at the Bugle" or something right at the beginning of the game, only for Scream to go "how dare you ruin my life like this, forcing me to work for Jameson" That entire scene could have been so good but it's completely unearned. Also, while it's messed up to think about, had they established conflict between Peter and MJ, then the scene with her running from him in the tunnel would have hit a lot harder. I just don't get what they thought they'd gain from making it all the actions of evil alien goo. Uhhhh... but yeah. As always your perspective is super well reasoned and relatable, I love your script writing, and I'm happy you aren't afraid to call out negative aspects when you see them. Great stuff