Spider-Man 2 PC | REVIEW

“A disappointing sequel that fails to live up to its predecessors or the expectations of modern gaming" 

PC | PS5

HOW I PLAYED: I was gifted a copy of Spider-Man 2 via the Epic Game Store on PC. I played on my R7 7800X3D, RTX 3080 gaming PC. I played at 1440p Maximum settings.

STORY — 10/20 

INTRO 

The landscape of Marvel was vastly different when the first Spider-Man game swung onto the PS4 in 2018. It was a time when the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was at its peak, with cultural juggernauts like Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther dominating the box office. Against this backdrop, Insomniac’s take on Spider-Man felt fresh and distinct. Peter Parker wasn’t modeled after Tom Holland (at least not until the 2020 PS5 remaster), and Mary Jane Watson traded her traditional supermodel/actress archetype for a more grounded role as a reporter for the Daily Bugle. These changes were welcome at the time, offering a new perspective on familiar characters. 

Fast forward to 2025... and the Marvel brand has lost much of its luster. The cultural fatigue is REAL, and Spider-Man 2’s shortcomings feel more pronounced in this current era. The game opens with a cinematic showdown against Sandman, a sequence that many hailed as “epic” upon release. Yet, beneath the spectacle lies a formulaic mix of simple puzzle mechanics and scripted action. It’s a flashy introduction, but one that left me questioning the hype. Was this truly a Game of the Year contender, or just another example of style over substance?
 

The cultural fatigue is REAL, and Spider-Man 2’s shortcomings feel more pronounced in this current era.

CUTSCENES 

From a technical standpoint, the cutscenes are impressive, showcasing the power of the PS5 with stunning visuals and seamless transitions. However, their overuse is one of the game’s most glaring flaws. Modern “narrative-driven” games often mistake quantity for quality, padding their runtime with lengthy, exposition-heavy scenes. Spider-Man 2 is no exception. The dialogue bounces between passable and cringe-worthy, with plot points that feel ripped from a mid-tier CW show. Instead of elevating the experience, these cutscenes drag the pacing to a crawl, turning what could have been a tight, action-packed adventure into a bloated, cinematic slog.

The dialogue bounces between passable and cringe-worthy, with plot points that feel ripped from a mid-tier CW show.

WORLD BUILDING

The world of Spider-Man 2 is disappointingly shallow. While the game bombards players with a plethora of side activities, most of them are filler—offering little more than throwaway dialogue or inconsequential rewards. The narrative spoon-feeds every detail, leaving no room for player interpretation or discovery. It’s a world designed for the lowest common denominator, one that lacks the depth and nuance needed to truly engage players.

OVERALL STORY 

Spider-Man 2 stumbles into the same pitfalls as Spider-Man 3 (2007), cramming in too many characters and subplots without giving them room to breathe. Many of these additions feel superfluous, serving little purpose beyond padding the runtime. The story leans heavily into modern tropes, many of which have been overused to the point of exhaustion. By the end, I found myself disillusioned with Peter Parker, who never quite feels like the hero he’s meant to be. Miles Morales, ostensibly his successor, fares no better. Without spoiling the plot, suffice it to say that much of the story will leave longtime Spider-Man fans scratching their heads. 

The game’s reliance on tired clichés and melodrama is emblematic of a broader trend in modern gaming. It’s a reminder that the industry is in dire need of novel voices and perspectives.  

GRAPHICS — 10/15 

CHARACTER MODELS 

The character models are solid but fail to push the boundaries of current-gen hardware. While they’re a step up from the PS4 versions, the improvements are incremental at best. If you’ve played the PS5 remaster of the original Spider-Man or Miles Morales, you’ve already seen what this game has to offer.

 

If you’ve played the PS5 remaster of the original Spider-Man or Miles Morales, you’ve already seen what this game has to offer.

ENVIRONMENTS

New York City returns as the backdrop, and while it’s visually striking, it’s largely indistinguishable from its predecessors. The addition of Brooklyn and Queens expands the map, but these areas lack the distinct personality needed to make them notable.

SPECIAL FX

The visual effects are serviceable but unremarkable. The symbiote animations, in particular, feel underwhelming, with some effects resembling glitchy remnants from Returnal (2021).

 

 

AUDIO — 10/15 

AMBIENCE 

The ambient sound design in Spider-Man 2 is virtually identical to its predecessors, which is somewhat expected given the shared setting. However, the game’s more intense action sequences could have benefited from a more cinematic score to elevate the stakes. While the music serves its purpose, it often feels too safe and fails to leave a lasting impression.

BOSS MUSIC 

The boss tracks are adequate but unremarkable. Given the lack of truly memorable boss encounters, the music doesn’t have much to work with. Most tracks are simply high-intensity background scores that fail to stand out or enhance the experience.

SOUND DESIGN

Where Spider-Man 2 shines is in its sound design, a hallmark of Sony-published titles. The environmental sounds, web-slinging effects, and combat audio are all top-notch. That said, some of the voice acting—particularly Yuri Lowenthal’s portrayal of Peter Parker—feels overdone. Whether it’s the direction or the script, much of the dialogue comes across as trying too hard to land emotional beats, often falling short in the process.

PERFORMANCE — 7/10 

FRAME RATE  

For a Nixxes port, typically the gold standard for console-to-PC adaptations... Spider-Man 2 is a disappointment. The game suffers from frequent shader compilation stutters and traversal hitches, even after the initial shader compilation step. On my PC, I was able to achieve frame rates above 70 fps (and into the 100s at times) at 1440p with max settings and ray tracing disabled. Enabling ray tracing dropped performance to a mostly steady 60 fps, but the stutters persisted, undermining an otherwise smooth experience.

 

 

STABILITY

For a port of a year-old game, Spider-Man 2 is surprisingly buggy. Cosmetic glitches were a common occurrence during my playthrough, and the game crashed multiple times. Thankfully, my save file remained intact, but the thought of replaying some of the game’s more tedious cutscenes was enough to make me dread the possibility.

GAMEPLAY — 25/40 

CONTROLS 

The controls are virtually unchanged from the previous games, which is both a blessing and a curse. While the web-slinging and combat remain intuitive, the wall-crawling and some traversal mechanics still feel janky and imprecise.

 

 

MECHANICS 

The innovative traversal mechanics, particularly the web wings, are a standout addition. Gliding through the city is not only faster but also more enjoyable than traditional web-slinging, to the point where it almost renders the latter obsolete. The speed tunnels further enhance traversal, offering a satisfying alternative to fast travel.
 

 

Combat, while refined, doesn’t feel significantly different from the previous games. The symbiote abilities add some variety, but the core mechanics remain largely unchanged. It’s fun, but it doesn’t feel original.

 

 

PACING 

The game’s pacing is uneven, with long stretches of filler content that add little to the experience. While the side content is optional, its monotonous nature makes it hard to ignore how much of the game feels like padding. Insomniac’s reputation for reusing assets and mechanics is on full display here, and it detracts from what could have been a more focused experience.

 

The game’s pacing is uneven, with long stretches of filler content that add little to the experience.

UI/UE 

The user interface is functional but cluttered. Menus and upgrade systems feel unnecessarily complex, with too much “fluff” that complicates what should be a straightforward experience. A more streamlined approach would have gone a long way.

BOSS QUALITY

As a self-proclaimed “Souls snob,” I found the boss battles in Spider-Man 2 to be underwhelming. Most encounters are either puzzle-based or overly cinematic, with little substance to back them up. The few traditional boss fights are dragged down by multiple health bars and recurring dialogue, making them feel more like slogs than epic showdowns. One particular boss battle, which revolves around Peter Parker crying and apologizing, is especially insufferable.

 

 

The few traditional boss fights are dragged down by multiple health bars and recurring dialogue, making them feel more like slogs than epic showdowns.

ENEMY VARIETY

The enemy variety is dismal. While the game introduces new factions, they’re essentially reskins of enemies from the previous titles. By the three-hour mark, combat encounters had already become a chore rather than a highlight.

 

GAMEPLAY VARIETY

The side content is largely recycled from the earlier games, with activities like collecting backpacks and taking pictures of landmarks feeling like uninspired filler. None of it feels meaningful or rewarding, serving only to inflate the game’s runtime.

 

REPLAYABILITY

Unless you’re a completionist who enjoys hunting down collectibles, there’s little reason to revisit Spider-Man 2. The lack of meaningful side content and the game’s redundant nature make it a one-and-done experience. 

BONUS — 3/3

As with most Sony titles, Spider-Man 2 excels in accessibility. The game offers a wide range of options, including colorblind modes, hearing accessibility features, and the ability to auto-complete quick-time events.

 

 

OVERALL — 65/100 

FAIR

 

Spider-Man 2  epitomizes the pitfalls of modern gaming. Instead of delivering a tight, action-packed experience, it tries—and fails—to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe, resulting in a swollen, melodramatic mess that feels more like a straight-to-DVD Spider-Man knockoff than a AAA title. The writing is riddled with clichés, the plot is a tangled web of nonsense, and the gameplay fails to innovate in any meaningful way.
 
In a year as stacked as 2023, Spider-Man 2 had no business being in the Game of the Year conversation. It’s a testament to how far the industry has strayed from delivering fun, captivating experiences in favor of chasing cinematic grandeur. If you’ve played the previous games, you’re not missing anything here.
 

PROS

✅ New traversal mechanics are a welcome addition.

✅ Plenty of abilities to unlock and experiment with.

 

CONS

❌ MID writing and a messy plot.

❌ Traversal stutters and cosmetic glitches.

❌ Lackluster boss battles and repetitive combat.

TLDR: 65/100 (FAIR) Spider-Man 2 is a disappointing sequel that fails to live up to its predecessors or the expectations of modern gaming. While the new traversal mechanics, like the web wings, add some freshness, the game is bogged down by repetitive combat, lackluster boss battles, and a bloated, melodramatic story filled with tired clichés. The open world feels shallow, with uninspired side content and minimal enemy variety, while technical issues like stuttering and cosmetic glitches further mar the experience. Despite solid sound design and accessibility options, Spider-Man 2 struggles to justify its existence, offering little more than a rehash of the previous games with a heavier focus on cinematic flair over engaging gameplay. A missed opportunity that feels more like a CW Spider-Man knockoff than a AAA title.

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