So I Just Finished Marvel's Spider-Man 2... 

I'm actually glad Martin Li didn't die when he used his power to neutralize Peter's symbiote. Reason being is that him as a person recognized the mistake he made and came to terms that he became the thing he hated. On the opposite spectrum, Li always saw his powers as a curse - a literal demon. Li virtually using his power - the power that caused immense suffering and agony to countless people - to create Anti-Venom so it could save all of New York is a redemption for the power itself as well. It also echoes the phrase "When you help someone, you help everyone."

I think Symbiote purposely make Peter avoid miles.

a tip for the mysterio finisher challenge is that using mile's mega blast refills it to max which makes it pretty easy halfing the time

I honestly thought Peters arc was better. It really hit me when we found out how Peter felt about the villains he's fought and how things turned out with Aunt May. It really got me in the feels when Peter said that he needed the symbiote because and I quote "it makes me a better Spider-Man!". Feeling too weak to protect the people you love and feeling like you need to be worse or angrier to do so is so incredibly hard. Also I'm biased because Peter is my favourite SM but Miles didn't bail Peter out with the symbiote. Peter was the one who ripped it off. Miles only beat him because the bell was there. He also didn't bail him out with Rhino. He only got free because Miles fucked up. Miles is not a better Spiderman he's just different. Peters been saving every motherfucker for years. Miles was fully willing to sacrifice some civilians for vengeance. Not better just different. Edit: for the people in the replies saying Peters arc feels incomplete ITS THE MIDDLE OF A TRILOGY. Obviously its incomplete bro the storys not done yet. Luke Skywalkers arc wasnt done in Empire Strikes Back and neither is Peters in SM2. Theres still at least one more game to go.

something i haven't seen anyone mention is venoms appearance, yes it is very much the classic venom look for all intents and purposes. but the suit has changed depending on who uses it. we see Norman pass it to harry with no excess abilities or suit. with harry it doesn't actually become a suit until harry sees Spiderman and wants to do what he does, Peter imbues some of the "spider powers" and the suit keeps the sleek look after becoming vemon but the size seems to come from the suit being around kraven and the teeth from the lizard. maybe im reaching here but it seems like its not necessarily learning but mirroring what it sees and comes into contact with and all that ultimately becomes the culmination of "Venom"

My main issue is the lack of unique suits, like Peter has like 6 mcu suits that could have just been 1 with different styles

To your point about the Anti-venom symbiote, I was wondering the whole time if they would just lock us out of that progression tree at the end or whatever, and it seems to be a choice based on the game mechanics, rather than story cohesion.

I did feel like the story of this game was more rushed than the first game. That doesn’t mean that it’s an unfulfilling game, but some things felt disconnected unlike the previous ones. I see us moving slowly from a Peter centric game with the introduction of a few potential Spider people and I am excited to see the future of this franchise. There’s so much to explore and I hope that Insomniac gets to do so.

One thing that seems odd is how the Symbiote didn’t cause any personality changes in Harry the first time he wore it. It was only when Peter started wearing the Symbiote that it began to change the personality of the user. Then when Harry gets it back, the personality changes are there. I’m guessing because Peter had a deep well of pent-up emotions from which the Symbiote could draw from, that’s why the personality changes were there. Then with Harry, because his cancer caused him to feel a greater sense of negative emotionality (as is the case when people feel an extreme level of sickness) and also because the Symbiote felt rejected by Peter, that’s why the personality changes occur in Harry and this is why the bonding between Harry and the Symbiote was stronger.

Bryan Intihar said in IGN podcast about the combat change he said that the reason is obviously making more balance but also reducing the "I win" button issue that have been in the first game and MM in order to engaging the combat part more and I think that's the improvement over the original in that aspect

Regarding morality winning over power with Anti-Venom and the Symbiote, I'd argue that still happened, just not as you might have expected it. Li and Miles made amends in that moment inside Peter's mind, one giving up his own abilities to make amends, the other moving forward, ignoring the hatred that fueled him for most the game. Li's literal powers were sacrificed because reviving Peter was the right thing to do. Peter has always been responsibility, and Miles has always been community. Miles' ability to reform an enemy, and make him part of the community to give up his own power, is fueling that morality over strength dynamic. Anti-Venom is born from that reformation, and that sacrifice of strength. Anti-Venom IS morality over strength, but built by multiple characters, a sum greater than it's parts. It couldn't happen unless Li and Miles put their weapons and anger down, and work together.

That Howard mission still lingers on the mind. Like wow.

the mysterio challenge with takedowns was really easy for me because if you use your big venon explosion by pressing both sticks it fills all your finishers so thats 3 quick ones then making sure hitting people in the air to make it fill as fast as possible

This game is better than both previous games for me. Only thing that the first game did better was maybe the story and more gadgets and the second game added more gameplay options with the abilities for miles but here in the latest game we have more of those. This game as a whole is better than both previous attempts from insomniac.

The think games story felt rushed specifically the symboite part. I wanted more of black suit spider-man. They could have had him brutalize villains, piss off the media and more. It wasn’t used to its full story potential. Venom should have been more explained. Why did he instantly turn Harry evil the second time he had the suit? How can he make mini symboites?. It’s shown but not explained. The story had fantastic moments but pacing was off compared to 2018 and even MM. Also we should have time changing options and Replayable missions but I assume they’re coming in a future update so they’re not a big problem right now.

I love how even with the anti-venom suit peter is still not strong enough to save harry he full on died but by steping back and letting miles help harry is revived (still sick but alive)

You have to upgrade your characters to build extra focus when hitting webbed enemies, throw a few webs out or use a gadget to we’ve enemies then hit them and the focus meter fills up fast. Easy gold in the mysterio challenges

Dude how you’re able to pump out videos like these so quickly is honestly astounding, keep up the good work bro

I wanted to replay Spider Man 2 immediately after finishing it, which doesn't happen often with me, shame about the lack of new game +. It was just a blast to play. One of the main gripes I had though was that Miles felt quite sidelined, I think he could have been integrated a bit more into Peter's story line with the symbiote , but having Peter at the end give Miles that blessing of being the main Spider-Man was really nice. It'll be good to see Miles be at the forefront of the next game and see how they decide to handle things like the Green Goblin coming into the picture, also how they bring along Silk while still juggling Peter popping in. I hadn't thought about it whilst playing but the game does feel a little distant from the first one, like James said something does feel a little off, it doesn't feel so much like a continuation but instead an insert of stories and characters that you'll need the context of for the next, and probably final, game. That being said it was a great game and I can't wait for the next one.

Harry's arc is actually more fleshed out tbh. After loosing the symbiote he knows he is going to die and feels helpless since the symbiote doesn't bond with him again and since he doesn't know what the symbiote is. The fact that according to him Connors was the one who made it and he is the Lizard rn and peter cannot remove the "suit" without his help which even he is unsure of makes him even more helpless and desperate. After Kraven's invasion in EMF Harry basically looses his dream he worked so hard for and nobody other than him cared about it. This desperation builds up even more when he realizes peter keeps the suit for himself and after listening to Norman and peter's convo, this desperation changes to anger and eventually hatred when peter (after removing the symbiote) doesn't want to give the symbiote back to him, which again he feels is because peter wants to keep it for himself. This hatred is what acts as and catalyst for his transformation to Venom.

Love this casual style of video that you can kind of listen to as a podcast! Loved hearing your thoughts on this as always. Keep up the good work!

My favorite new combat move is the aerial hold X "bounce up" move. It's so fun and hilarious to just dribble an enemy like a basketball.

personally, i think while 1 has a stronger plot, i'd say 2 has more of those hard hitting character moments that are seen at the end of 1, i think that's the best way i can summarise how i feel about the story

I think Yuri as wraith is cool i just think it needed way more run way. They could have made Yuri dress in a more amature outfit similar to how peter forst started with his wrestling outfit. And then they could have made the arc much longer with spidey begrudgingly helping her as she digs deeper into uncovering whose behind the gang. And then by the end shw fully becomes wraith. I think most ideas in this story were great but just needed more time to marinaded. As soon as an idea is introduced it feels like we are aready moving on from it. I think harry as agent venom teaming up with peter could have had a longer arc too. An peter in the black suit and his gradual build up of anger needed more time to explore. I felt like it was resolved too quickly. Overall great game though!

I can't believe I didn't recognize "The Flame" until the moment he picked-up that vial. What other psychopath has such orange hair? That was like a minute before Yuri told us his name.

Something i noticed about the focus meter is that parrying helps regenerate the meter. Youre rewarded for that which is cool.

This was a great analysis! I'm in the process of doing a psychological analysis of Spider-Man 2 and in the game I see a lot about dealing with your darkness and transmuting it into something positive.

One of my favorite parts of stealth was creating my own web above the enemies, I just wish we could have made more web lines

I really liked that MJ got to be less stealthy and more badass in this game. And...If one pays attention to dialogue...It makes SENSE. She got training in Symkaria from a literal mercenary princess.

Spider-men 2 is a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned, it improved on every level, I like that when it comes to side missions & collectables they didn’t go overboard this time, the story felt just as emotional as the first if not more,now comes the long wait until spider-man 3

I liked the story a lot, did anyone else find it kinda short though?

The "Trying to process" videos are my favourite. They come out pretty quickly after release so I still remember the game clear as day and cab compare thoughts and your thoughts are always very well articulated considering they are relatively fresh. Also nice that they're around an hour long👀👏🏾

20:20 When you finish all the hunter bases you find out all of kravens family is dead, so they probably aren't coming

Haven’t seen many people talk about the music in this game. Especially while playing as Peter, a lot of the tracks that would play while you were swinging around actually gave me chills on multiple occasions

Thank you for your amazing points, I loved the side quest with Hailey, miles girlfriend and how the sound is mute for her being deaf, I’ve seen a lot of racist incel attacks under other videos with comments, they were even mad about the museum quest and showing off too much woke black culture even though these were real people they were showcasing, very sad to still see that

I dont think the Kravinoff family will happen because if I remember right, when you finish the last base, the recording reveals that one of them (Kraven's daughter, i think) killed the rest of them and then you hear a gunshot at the end, implying she's dead too. And, whichever Spider-Man you're playing as comments something like "Wow, we were preparing for them to show up, but turns out it was for nothing" So, that one was less dlc tease and more just to further show off how superior Kraven was to the rest of his family

20:20 At the end of the base mission line you find out that the whole kraven family killed each other off and they won't actually be an issue

What I find interesting about the plot in this game is that for me it has the exact opposite issue of the first. I think the writing in the first game for the first two acts could be pretty rough at times but the third act really struck the landing and was great. With Spider-Man 2, I found the first two acts to be written much better but third act and the ending especially left a bit to be desired.

About Yuri's turn, considering that in the comics she does become Wraith, I think they felt they had to address it because people would be expecting it. But I also agree that it might be a little rushed. We didn't get that much screen time with her in the first game. With Turf Wars you can understand why she would go down this road, the fact that she became wraith off screen didn't help.

Your argument for the meaning of the Anti-Venom symbiote I think perfectly encapsulates what even the comics origin of Anti-Venom meant for Eddie.

I have a tip for getting finishers quickly at least for Miles. Using your ultimate ability and it will fill your bars and refresh abilities. Then spam your abilities and you’ll refresh your ultimate. Rinse and repeat. Miles is the better combat fighter against regular enemies (Peter is better against symbiotes)

Harry was also angry at the fact Peter didn’t seem like he wanted to get rid of suit later in the story and the lack of urgency Peter had when trying to find a solution to get the suit off.

I really think the main story of the game is just absolutely amazing. It's so much more ambitious while keeping those personal character moments we love. However the final act of the game while awesome is just rushed. Like they fr just dumped nearly 30 years of symbiote lore lmao. I still do love the ending.

Little piece of gameplay advice because I figured this out while struggling with the Mysterio challenges myself. If you upgrade certain abilities in Miles' skill tree, you can make it so your L3 + R3 move fills all three of your focus bars. Then, also due to the skill tree, you can make it so each finisher fills up like 30% of the L3 + R3 bar (I forget what it's called in the game) then use your abilities to pretty quickly fill up the rest of the 10% or so before rinsing and repeating. It's pretty mindless from a gameplay perspective so I don't like that it's optimal, but I completed that challenge that wants you to kill like 20 enemies in less than a minute by using that strategy and I have no clue how you'd approach it otherwise. The challenge you showed onscreen that wants you to get like six finishers would be a breeze with that strat.

I definitely liked the bases from the first game more as well. It really felt like it was just pure action whenever you went into one, wave after wave of enemies and it felt non stop and there was nothing more satisfying in the entire game than stringing together a 100+ combo Fisk or Sable base (maybe aside from speedrunning some of the stealth challenges). Going after the secondary objectives was so fun too, seeing your challenge number go up as you completed it, things like finishers, as the wave continues really gave me this sense of "Shit, am I gonna be able to get this done in time?" And then finishing it off *right* at the end of the last wave just felt so, so good. In Spider-Man 2 it feels just kind of strange that you're instead encouraged to slow down, take down all of the side objectives like preventing reinforcements around a much more complex base, which can take minutes sometimes, and then wipe out everyone else in half the time with no challenges to go along with it. Like it's this slog to start off and then you get into combat without any of the challenges that the first game had, rather than starting with stealth and then just going balls to the wall as soon as wave 2 started. I also wish that there were separate web gadgets during stealth, like give us the impact web and trip mine back and then just have it switch to our standard array of new gadgets when out of it so that stealth is more engaging and less one-dimensional. As it stands I never felt the urge to actually use stealth outside of specific story missions where that's how combat started anyway, so I really hope they do something like this to shake things up either in the DLC or the next game. Given these are like my only complaints whatsoever when it comes to the gameplay, I prefer everything else about Spider-Man 2's gameplay systems, so to have these two things be the only downside is pretty small pickings in the grand scheme of things.

I get your examination of Yuri's character and the police idea, but like.. I think it was solely because she's Wraith in the comics so they always had the intent to do that 😅 I will agree that I think they maybe rushed her turn and development in the dlc and that was a mistake but I do think she was always going to turn (I personally love her character and hope we see more)

Still watching but a lil tip for the focus meter: webbing enemies is great for it and then for the mysterio missions abuse the mega venom burst. Once you spec into it, when used it fills out your focus meter to full so you can just use it twice to get the finishers required since it builds faster than the focus late in the game haha

I'd just like to point out that Kraven's entire family is dead. They turned against each other and he kill Ana himself. So they aren't ever being shown again. Little thing I noticed when u mentioned setup for DLC

I honestly wish they would have explored and shown off more of Yuri's dark and ruthless side. In the first game and its DLC, she was set up to be a killer, a false hero. I would have loved a mission where we are tasked to frantically save enemies from being killed by Yuri during a fight. And like what you said, I feel like while Peter had the symbiote during those missions, he could be more ruthless and just like her. Then they could have explored the hypocrisy from Peter with the symbiote as he was just saving people from Yuri a mission ago. Idk, I just wish there was more to those missions.

Amazing video so far bro! For the finishers Mysterio, I had to use the Mega Venom Blast to get full focus bars

7:57 if you max out miles skill tree. When you do the big venom blast or whatever it gives you three focus bars so you can just finish everyone that’s what I did it was kinda easy that way

For the mysterio finisher mission, just do the miles ultimate since it auto fills the 3 meter bars, once you do those 3 finishers, just spam the venom abilities and it quickly regens the ultimate then do ultimate again, get full bars and do the other 3, easy gold

(Spoilers if you haven't completed all of the hunter bases) - just wanted to correct you here James because you said the introduction of Kraven's family seems like a likely setup for DLC but after completing the final base the realisation is that Kraven's family is already dead and therefore the Spider-men don't need to prepare for anything.

man i LOVE LOVE LOVE miles swing animations, I would love more miles games

The removal of gadgets, specifically impact web and tripmine was a mistake in my opinion. I understand that they didnt want a "win button". In spiderman ps4, the spider drones combined with spiderbro was ridiculously op. But why not nerf them instead of outright removing them? The combat system is extremely similar to the Arkham series which came out 14 years ago. Button mashing square over and over. The gadgets allowed players who didnt care for button mashing to creatively complete a level through stealth. Now i find stealth to be very repetitive from doing perch takedowns so often.

I think a very core issue in the story is that, as Main villains, Harry and Kraven only get real interactions with Peter. Harry only really talks to Miles as Venom at the end and calls him after the first hunter bird side quest and that line about how he feels useless and wants to help and not even Peter will let him is resonant but a more solid dynamic. I wish there was one more mission featuring "Safe" symbiote Harry where he's alongside Miles. Where we can develop Harry's negative traits and show the damage the symbiote can do. Sow the seeds of Harry's jealousy towards him. It would allow for more interesting interactions between Miles and Peter since Miles would already have some inkling of what the Symbiote would do but his confidence and in some part, spite towards Peter in act 2 would let him not think much of it till the Lizard mission and obviously then leave it set up for what the game currently has in stock. Cause Miles becoming, for all intents and purposes a "Better Spider-Man" that can handle things on his own for the most part is great and I think him having to be a part of addressing Peter's plot lines from a neighboring position would allow for that theme to be developed more fully. Side note, but I actually quite liked how Anti-Venom is empowered by the joint effort of Miles and Mr.Negative since Peter has become Stronger for helping Miles become the one capable of rehabilitating Martin. The Anti-Venom is a symbol of Peter's ability to Mentor Miles. I think it's significant that Miles' powers are developed from his maturations but Peter's are given to him by those close to him. How Peter has grown his support network is important to his narrative even since the first game and the DLCs. Vs Miles who always had a very explicit support network but had to fill himself out more properly.

Did anybody notice that the scene where lee and miles are in the mental raft. The way miles gets attacked was almost to the T how it happened in the ps4 promo when peter was falling during the construction scene

I’m not crying your crying good video like always man keep up the good work 🫡🔥

I don’t think I’m a genius for picking up on this but at the end of the game in both scenes you see Norman he’s wearing green. I think it definitely means he will be goblin as opposed to Harry.

Just want ya to know I regularly watch your Ragnarok video and how it broke you lol like that video and Whitelights Far Cry 5 video are some of my favorite long form uploads on the platform. I hope you and your family are well and finding continued success and I'm excited to watch this video as well once I find some food. Lol

I actually really enjoyed this game and I completed it at 100% and I do feel some parts were rushed and didn’t leave you to marinate in what was going on at times. I do feel the game improved in every way mechanically and I feel the side stuff is improved. I felt in the first game and I’m miles it felt almost stuffed. This game felt like they were trying to establish other villains and that they are either reformed or being established. In ways I feel it’s better personally.

The mysterio focus meter takedown mission can be remedied by one specific upgrade that makes shooting enemies with web shooters boost up your focus meter way more quickly than before. I figured that out and an impossible feeling challenge was completed gold in like 2 or 3 tries. There’s always a solution it seems in this game lol

Kraven's family all died so that is not going to be side-content likely. Carnage should be DLC imo so we can finish symbiote storyline and not worry about it going forward.

I thought the Venom sequence was done perfectly when it happens. Due to the fact that we spend the first 2 acts wearing the symbiot and playing a psychologically deteriorating Peter, while also being gradually empowered with new abilities, makes the corruptive influence feel like a genuine threat, yet difficult to resist due to how incredibly fun it is to wield its tendril powers. But then when Venom arrives in a form far beyond Peter at his most destructive, and they give control to the player, and let you literally slaughter and ragdoll all these innocent security personnel, it was just perfect. Unhinged in it’s violence, and utterly animalistic. Topped off with a shockingly graphic decapitation. Did wonders for establishing the stakes and making venom scary. Makes me really want a new prototype.

20:22 After you finished all the Hunter bases you're informed that all of Kraven's family died already and he's the only one left. So I don't think that will happen, although I am curious to why the Hunters are still in New York even after Kraven's death??

For the kraven family dlc idea, at the end of the Hunter based you find out that all of his family members are dead

One thing I find curious is how they're going to handle the character of Silk. Because for all intents and purposes she appears to be Miles' age. I mean we haven't seen her face, heard her voice or had a confirmation on that tbf but a big part of Silk's identity is that she only exists because she was bitten by the same spider as Peter. So whether it's going to be that Peter is reverting back to Spider-Arms in SM3 whilst Cindy becomes Silk because he gives her the Anti-Venom symbiote in maybe saving her life could be why they have a connection due to the whole 'DNA' and 'Shared Symbiosis' connection without it delving into the romance side. Especially if she does end up being only 18-19 or however old she is by the time of SM3.

In the first game Dan Slott provided story contributions so maybe that could be why some parts feel like it doesn’t feel the way SM1 and MM felt

For the mysterium with the 6 combos you just need to enter it with a full venom burst, use it to replenish your 3 bars of focus, then spam abilities until you build the venom back up and do it again. It was extremely easy and left over 2 minutes on the clock I think, just gotta cheese it.

Wasn’t the lets say ‘pay off’ of the bases that we learned that kraven’s family is all dead. I thought peter said in my game something like we’ve been prepairing for his family but they are all dead. So i don’t think that will be a dlc

I think the way Peter and Miles were balanced in the game was great. Miles felt important but it didn’t take away from Peters story. Peter is my personal favourite but I did love the Miles sections because Miles is great too. The symbiote arc was done extremely well and I love the design. The gameplay was an excellent improvement over the first game and it was heavily expanded. It feels like the definitive Spider-Man experience in video games. I love this game so much. I loved the first game. I’ve been a massive Spider-Man fan since I was 3 years old and I’m 15 now and he is still as important to me if not more important to me because I am feeling a lot of the things that Peter did. Peter dedicated his life to doing the right thing and that has always hit really hard for me. Peter is the everyman hero and that is why he is my favourite superhero. This game perfectly captured the heart and soul of Spider-Man. The Miles story hit very hard as well. It sort of felt like The Last of Us 2 because Miles was able to forgive Li and resist his urges to kill Martin Li even though Martin Li killed Miles father. Peter and Miles try their best to help everyone. Peter doesn’t antagonise Sandman he is pleading for him to stop because he wants to help. Miles is able to forgive Li because Li recognises that he was wrong. He uses his powers to prevent Peter from being corrupted by the symbiote. Miles has a really good relationship with Hailey. I love the part where Hailey puts the scarf on Miles. It felt like a brilliant beginning to their relationship. The way that Aung Mays death was handled was extremely tragic and emotional. Aunt Mays death was the first game scene to make me cry. Seeing Miles in Peters mind trying to comfort Peter but he can’t because it’s just an illusion. It was tragic. Peter feels like he has to much on his plate and he’s trying to do so much. His normal life and his superhero life clash and he is torn between how he wants to help the world. I like how Peter takes a break at the end. He needs some time to recover from all the stuff he’s been through, to re set up the Emily May Foundation and to dedicate more time to his relationship with Mary Jane. Peter trusts Miles more than he trusts himself and it is a really nice moment for Peter and Miles especially. Kraven is brilliantly handled. He reminded me of the Kravens Last Hunt comic because he wants to die because he feels that he has done enough in his life and he doesn’t want to go out peacefully he wants to die in hell and fire. Kraven ultimately won because he got to die at the hands of Venom just like he wanted. He felt ripped out of the comics. He is huge and he is extremely strong being able to almost kill Peter which is a good reason for Peter to get the black suit. Peter feels that he is dependent on the black suit and he relies on its strength because of all the pressure he faces. This is a very well done interpretation of the symbiote arc. I’m happy that Peter got the Anti Venom suit. It was a very nice moment of fan service and it makes sense for the story. Venom in this game was a dream come true. He was terrifying and his design was perfect. Also his voice is so cool as well. Tony Todd did an amazing job and he felt like the definitive voice for Venom. All the acting in this game is great. Yuri knocked it out of the park. His performance was so emotional and meaningful. Yuri has always been a brilliant Spider-Man actor but I think he has become one of my favourite versions of the character with this game. He is in the hall of greatness with Josh Keaton, Christopher Daniel Barnes and Andrew Garfield. This game is my favourite Spider-Man game. It delivered an impactful narrative while also having addicting and extremely entertaining gameplay. Great job Insomniac.

This probably won't happen but it would be cool to do a Cindy Moon game like Miles Morales and have Carnage be the enemy in that. That way it doesn't feel repetitive to have more symbiote enemies all over in SM3 and allows them to make a quicker side game. Though it will most likely be DLC for this game as you mentioned.

Haven’t seen the whole vid yet but on your point with the focus meter there’s a load of upgrades that build it much faster so I personally don’t think it needs touching on. Miles has one which fully fills it all when you use his ultimate

Watched this review a second time, and need to say, im glad this game had more focus on Peter. Im a Peter fan through a through and miles had his standalone game. So it just fair that Peter was more in focus. And I don't think the third game will be a miles game. Just because Peter has now more time for his personal life, I don't thin Peter will retire as spider man in third game. If Green Goblin will be the main villain. It's just natural that Peter will deal mainly with Norman Osborn. I guess they will introduce Gwen Stacy and Goblin will kill her. Or Goblin will kill MJ. I think the third game will be an even more emotional journey for Peter.

I really wish that some of the combat side quests were replayable, my favorite thing to do in the first two games was just go back and take everyone down with maxed out abilities. Now it's like by the time I get to one crime, I can take almost everybody out in about 30 seconds

My worry is that Spider-man 3 is gonna feel overbloated with the addition of cindy moon unless they make it to be a lot longer then the previous 2 games. The pacing in this game felt a bit all over the place at times with insomniac trying to flesh out both Peter and Miles. And with Spider-man 3 lilkely having 3 playable spider characters I feel its just not going to work unless they make it longer. Here are overall issues I had with the game. lack of content where both Spider-Men team up like an outpost or a combat challenge stealth was very weak since you could just spam the new web line with no cooldown gadgets felt like a straight downgrade to the previous game with no web mines or bombs lack of open world content exclusive for Peter not much interesting content post story completion (MM had a whole collectable side quest after story completion) no option to change time of day symbiote powers remain white independently of what symbiote suit you're wearing no character bios no podcast replay, I've missed quite a few of them no mention of Taskmaster even though he shows up on Kraven's map of NYC at the beginning no combat challenges for Peter the pacing moves at neckbreak speed at times Miles new suit looks like if they made Aron's beats into something you could wear Miles kinda does fuck all for a good chunk of the game feels like 70% of Peter's suits are MCU ones which is very annoying Miles gets a multitude of Symbiote suits while Peter only gets the classic one lots of setting up for future games or DLC which makes some missions have unsatisfying conclusions half of the sinister six just gets killed off screen (read back to the pacing issue) I personally disliked how one dimensional Venom felt since he was just a monster that wanted to take over the world, which isn't who venom is as a character Norman getting angry at Spider-Man felt a tad bit shoehorned in considering Harry actually lived in order to set up green goblin

Peter ripping off venom and rejecting the symbiote adds to venom's anger and Harry's anger towards peter tips it over the top which makes sense when its no longer harry its venom now.

i rarely see people who enjoy thr mj missions. i love playing mj, which each mission you get new fresh abilities to play with as her, she adds a whole new dimension to the game play for me. plus its story significant to the first game!!!! mj isnt just a damsel in distress, and she can take care of herself. they seriously leveled her up

At 39:00 i love the way you summed that up between peter and miles!

Yooo, if you want to build your focus meter faster, you have to web shoot enemies. Using gadgets helps as well.

Love the game, but my biggest complaint is that after Harry falls unconscious again after being resuscitated by Miles, Peter doesn’t even attempt to give Harry the Anti-Venom symbiote… He knew it had healing properties in its original state. I’d accept a narrative explanation for why it wouldn’t work or what Peter planned to do with the symbiote during his break from being SM, but they never even addressed it… (unless something totally flew over my head)

I like how in the scene after the mission where peter gets the symbiote, he tries to take it off and the blade kraven stabbed him with falls out. I originally thought that it meant that without the suit peter would still die from the stab but then later on it shows that he is fully capable without the suit and it was his choice to keep it on. It doesnt force conflict and instead makes it a more organic problem of peter thinking he CAN always save everyone, he just has to be stronger, and that he can be stronger with the suit. It forces him to learn that that's not possible and it's okay.

As a long time Spidey fan, the game was good, but not great and the thought I had when I finished was that the cracks are really starting to show. The black suit is basically cosmetic and doesn’t really matter in actual gameplay, but my biggest disappointment was the Venom villain plan being the same as Web of Shadows. Imagine a really personal intimate story about Venom getting the symbiote and trying to systematically tear down Peter’s life and see him overcome a monster who’s not trying to destroy the world but trying to destroy him. It’s not perfect but I personally think after the first game’s third act and ending, doing another city wide thing like that wasn’t needed and kinda cheapened their individual stories. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, I had fun and they’ve made a lot of improvements but it just felt like a really safe sequel

While I understand being disappointed by Yuri and the mistakes she's made, it's worth remembering that these games are adaptations of existing stories; she didn’t make her turn just to address the copaganda criticism, but rather Yuri becoming Wraith is a storyline ripped straight from the comics, and the game team just used their adaptation of that established origin and storyline to make a commentary on real-world social issues. Similarly, while I do understand feeling conflicted about Peter's Anti-Venom powers, but just like Wraith, it's not something new made up for this game, it's an adaptation of a very obscure arc from the comics. Honestly, I was just blown away to see an adaptation of Anti-Venom at _all,_ even if it is very different from the comics version (most notably, in the comics Anti-Venom wasn't bonded with Peter, he was with IIRC Eddie Brock and the arc was about both of them trying to redeem themselves for the harm they had caused together as Venom).

I typed out an entire comment about how I both loved and kinda didn't like Miles' story before realising just how nuanced and amazing it is. On a sidenote, my headcanon is that Peter told Miles that there's no real need for him anymore because he wanted some time off and wanted to warm that idea up to Miles

my only main negative with the game is they Force an ugly suit on miles for the finale, a suit which had zero buildup, and came out of nowhere, and its just plain ugly imo oh yeah i didnt like the MJ missions, but they were better than spiderman 1 last thing, I found the connection between miles and hailey a bit forced. overall, amazing game. cant wait to buy it (i just finished watching dantdms playthrough)

When it came to Peter's attitude when he does side missions while wearing the black suit. I thought maybe this is why Peter isn't noticing his change in demeanor. He is still making quips, still getting the job done so no reason to think twice About the suit. Even certain bits in main missions he still his old self so of course he wouldn't believe it's affecting him later and then becomes too addicted to the power to care.

Tobey: Want forgiveness, get religion Andrew: Not my policy. Yuri: Pop some more pills and say how you really feel.

The only thing im mad about is them leaving out the tripwire grenades

I find it interesting that both sides of the Morales debate actually agree on the factual state of things. You listen to everything that is said about Morales vs Parker in this video and the longer rehash of Spider Man (2018), and the synopsis of everything that is said is "Peter needed someone's help; Miles got there on his own". Everyone agrees. It's just that some people apparently see the guy that "didn't need to be spiderman to be a hero" and the guy that needs no help at any point to make it thru all the trials of being a superhero as the more identifiable character. Strange to me.

This whole review is propping up miles and im here for it

Building up the focus meter as Miles is stupid easy by late game. Once you have the ability on the shared tree to build mega venom burst quicker, and the version of the same skill on Miles tree plus the skill that makes it so that using mega venom burst fills up your focus bars... you just need to fill mega venom and use it, and then by the time you've used three finishers, you're almost done charging the next mega venom bar for use. You can kind of just cycle like that forever. It makes every boss fight with Miles a cakewalk, even on ultimate difficulty

So I'm not sure what you upgraded, but I actually was pretty easily able to first try gold all of the mysterio challenges. The Takedown one was very easy for me - I think it's because I upgraded/unlocked a lot of abilities that helped me fill on focus easily. Maybe that's why I had a different experience than you in those missions.

8:05 MILES BURST FILLS UP ALL UR FOCUS!!! its an ability u have to unlock. u do one of those, buncha finishers, and then youll be able to either do the finishers thru just gaining focus or waiting on another venom burst. im saying this but its been a month so i hope u got it now lmao

I know other people think it has flaws. But for someone who enjoys Spider-Man a lot . It was a 9/10. I believe the third game will be the biggest game yet and conclude the story Villains in the third game I want is carnage, doc , green goblin, chameleon, taskmaster , kingpin

I found the Mysterium challenge with finishers to be easy enough, because I upgraded the abilities that build extra focus if i'm punching a webbed-up enemy or fighting in the air. The Mysterium in Roxxon Plaza though I cannot imagine getting in less than a minute. It took me over two minutes to beat that many enemies. Maybe on minimum difficulty it will be possible, but absolutely not on normal or higher.

They nerfed Peter way too much in this game and made him hella incompetent like multiple times…

The mega blast for miles gives you 3 full focus so just use it to clear enemies and get focus quickly, it builds up decently fast if ur using ur abilities and KOing enemies

Peter needs to be the main focus for the third game and he needs to be getting back to actually being a badass again and not needing to be saved by his student

Do you think harry or Norman will become green goblin in Spider-Man 3? I’m a bit conflicted. On one hand i think the other cure Norman was working on must be the g serum and I’m guessing by the end scene Norman will give it to Harry. Another thing I noticed was when Pete, miles and mj were planning how to save harry with the puzzle pieces on the table they used a puzzle piece with a green goblin on it to represent harry. Not sure if that meant anything or if it was just an Easter egg kind of thing. Not sure how I feel about harry potentially being a villain in the next game again. Unless Norman uses the serum and becomes green goblin but then I’m not sure how harry would survive unless the g serum wasn’t the other cure he was working on.