Topic: Spider Man

Personally I haven't hated this or whatever, but I certainly haven't loved it. It is like the best bits from the first two games combined together, but somehow they are packaged in such a way, that despite being the best bits from each, they don't hit or land in quite the way they did the first time around.

I didn't play the first two but did watch a couple of videos giving a brief run through of the games so starting SM2 wasn't like jumping in at the deep end if what you are saying is correct i am glad i didn't as i am enjoying the whole SM2 experience.

Personally, I think you made a mistake starting here. Spider-Man 2 is a direct sequel to the first two games, not just another standalone story in this universe. If the emotional beats often missed for me who has been here all along, I think you'll never realise just how lost you are when huge moments land here that you have no context for in terms of their importance or significance.

@Pizzamorg what score would you give spider man 2 ?

Personally, I think you made a mistake starting here. Spider-Man 2 is a direct sequel to the first two games, not just another standalone story in this universe. If the emotional beats often missed for me who has been here all along, I think you'll never realise just how lost you are when huge moments land here that you have no context for in terms of their importance or significance.

When i said i watched a couple of videos giving a brief run through of the games they were 20 minutes each so i think i get what happened in the first two and as it says below they recommend you play them because they were great games but its not going to ruin SM2 if you dont!

Spider-Man 2 has its own story, skills, and suits. You have different enemies that weren’t present in previous titles, such as the Lizard. If you have some background from the comic books, you shouldn’t be too confused, even if you didn’t play the previous titles. The story doesn’t draw from a previous event and starts on its own foundation.

https://thenerdstash.com/do-you-need-to-play-spider-man-1-bef...

Personally not a huge fan of scores, I kinda feel like they are a trap, but at a push I'd say maybe a 7? But I'm not done yet, so this could end up going quite easily up or down.

You cherry picked one paragraph from an article that if you read the whole thing actually contradicts your point lol

The entire third act basically is concluding character arcs for both villains and heroes from the original two games, and closing some narrative loops carried from the originals (which also forms certain character motivations that propel some characters throughout this game, there is nothing new established for them here). You will be able to figure out what's going on for sure, but you won't really appreciate the significance of these moments.

You will be able to figure out what's going on for sure, but you won't really appreciate the significance of these moments.

I am 15 hours in and have completed 52% of the game and i haven't yet thought i had missed out on some detail by not playing the first two games.

I explained that "Brief" was probably the wrong word as they were both 20 minutes long and that as I was aware of the story in the first two games I didn't feel the need to play them before starting SM2 as it states in my "cherry pick" (below) you dont need to play the previous games its a personal choice there is no right or wrong here, i am loving the story and game and that is all that matters.

you shouldn’t be too confused, even if you didn’t play the previous titles. The story doesn’t draw from a previous event and starts on its own foundation.

You do you @Max_Headroom - but you've undoubtedly worsened your experience by skipping the first two.

Anyway, I finished the game yesterday. Nothing really changed for me by the end. If the only thing you want is flash and spectacle, I think you will enjoy Spider-Man 2 in general. No one does set pieces like Sony first party, and given on a technical level how insane this game looks and runs, it is honestly just sorta mind blowing playing this at times.

Combat has also been refocused to a more ability driven loop, and the rules of engagement have been made more complicated, with the introduction of things like a parry, which is not used too often in general encounters, but mastery of this is vital to make it through the game's boss encounters, which are now much more like proper boss battles, and less like sort of mini-games like a lot of them were in the original.

Some people will love all of this, I personally did not. I found the control scheme for the abilities really just made everything feel very clunky, convoluted and cluttered. I didn't really feel much like Spider-Man at all as I was cycling my abilities like I was playing a Diablo game, missing the simplicity of the original, that allowed you a proper Spider-Man experience straight from the comics. I appreciate though this is all taste, nothing objective about this.

I also found the parry extremely punishing in a lot of boss battles, and in a franchise where we've been dodging for two games, to suddenly have to remember to parry was just something I never properly managed to get to grips with (especially as soon as boss battles ended, I basically never needed to think about the parry and could go straight back to the more intuitive dodge system). You could argue that is my problem, and it is, but it also shows to me how unnecessary of an edition the parry was, which only really serves to make boss battles needlessly frustrating. If the parry is removed or massively reworked for the next game, I will not be surprised nor will I complain.

As a story, Miles Morales showed significant emotional growth over the original game, and was also significantly better paced. It was less of a Summer blockbuster than the original, and instead a tighter, more intimate, character rather than action driven story. I appreciate this is again something of taste, and some people will love that change, others will not.

The problem here for me is that it feels mostly like a sideways move in how it handles storytelling. It is probably no more or less emotionally effective than MM was, but things don't hit the same when you are basically just doing the same things again with a different characters. I feel like it also reintroduces many of the first game's pacing problems. Between the big set piece moments is a story that often feels rushed and undercooked, I think had set piece moments been shorter, and the character moments been more fleshed out, this would have been a much more satisfying experience for my tastes. But if you like this ratio of action to story, I am not going to yuck on your yum.

So yeah, all of that being said, I did not for a second think this a horrible game, as negative as I might come across here across all of my posts. I just feel like I have a lot more to say on the things that don't work for me, because everything else in this package (beyond the technical showcase wow factor, of course) is just completely solid but also completely unremarkable. I did not love this like others have, but I think it is absolutely fine. And to me, that is okay.

@Pizzamorg eh forgive me but i still don’t get your opinion on it , so basically is it the story and too many combat options that put you off ?

Effectively. Combat driven by abilities is not what I want in a Spider-Man game. The animations are incredible for this stuff, don't get me wrong, but I was never really all that engaged by this and I thought the controls were horrible personally. Mandatory parrying in boss battles is not what I want in a Spider-Man game (at least not in this form) anyway. Story was serviceable, with some incredible set pieces along the way, but I would have liked more evolution like MM showed to the original and it is a shame to see some serious regression in places, especially with things like the general pacing of the story.

but you've undoubtedly worsened your experience by skipping the first two.

Wrong as I have said several times "i am loving the story and game and that is all that matters" i have not found any mention of the previous game plots confusing so obviously as it said in the article and several others its not essential to play them that is all move along now

Being confused about the story and missing the emotional impact and importance of beats are two different things as I said before. But yes, moving along.

@Pizzamorg oh, i skipped miles morales so thats probably why i wasnt understanding much, but i have to agree about the ability and gadget bloat. im from the tobey maguire era when spiderman just used straight up hand to hand combat, for batman its understandable but in this game you NEED to use gadgets because mashing square either isnt gonna cut it, or take forever. the combat beyond the flash and gadget has no depth, and they mask it really good with the flashy animations.

initially i was impressed by the combat but the more i play, i take back what i said about it finally being on-par with arkham games, the depth still isnt there and i find myself just mindlessly mashing abilities out and constantly launching enemies in the air as a cheap way of not getting hit.

again, i skipped MM so i cant relate but i wouldnt be surprised if the story really is a downgrade from the previous two, and honestly im only in it for the gameplay. sometimes ill watch the cutscenes i care about or before they get too cheesy or ill just skip them lol.

as for controls, i kind of agree. either its the camera being dumb or my inputs not registering when i dodge or god damn parry, with its finnicky timing.

edit - i have to admit though its still the best combat spiderman game ive ever played. its just not arkhams level.

Being confused about the story and missing the emotional impact and importance of beats are two different things as I said before. But yes, moving along

As the old saying goes "You cannot miss something you never had"

It is a shame too @nomither6 because some of the gadgets / abilities have real story significance, so weaving them in across the game where you unlock them with the story and build an arsenal as you go, I think would be fine. Having lots of abilities for the final stretch would feel like a nice sense of progression from those humble beginnings of you just punching and webbing, and would thematically fit with the escalation of the narrative. And like how much more impactful would it feel getting those Symbiote powers as Pete, if you didn't already have laser beam shooting robot arms from the start? But having effectively eight combat powers per character all the time just made it feel like a generic ARPG rather than a Spider-Man game to me.

And like I say, I just found the whole control scheme for this so cluttered as well. I wanted to feel a sense of mastery of the game, but like you, the whole design is so sloppy, it often turned into me just mindlessly spamming abilities because the encounters don't feel designed well enough for this new ability dump combat loop.

The parry especially though is horrid in my opinion. Spider-Man doesn't need to be a souls like and when a boss is machine gunning attacks at me, and a parry mandatory attack is just in the middle of a massive combo with one brief flash of yellow as my only telegraph, it caught me out every time. Even with maxed out health too, usually only two or three of these "mistakes" were the difference between success and a game over. It just felt so punishing.

I am a long time Monster Hunter player, and they have some of the dirtiest windows for blocking / parrying. And even they would blush at some of the about cluster effs some of these boss combos deliver and how much damage they do when you make a "mistake".

Welp Miles Morales sold me on Spiderman 2. Was gonna wait for the GOTY edition and the price cut but I gotta keep going now. Hope I can play mostly as Miles. Miss MJ as well. Her missions were always fun.

@Ryu_Niiyama There's some content you can play as either and some that requires a specific Spider-Man. I think there's a bit more to do as Peter but he also gets some new skills to make him as fun as Miles.
MJ stuff is way better than in the first game IMO

@Voltan Good to know. I really enjoyed the stealth of the MJ missions (especially GCT) so if they are better I am in! Pete is cool but as I have done his song and dance (and have lost a lot of patience for him after One More Day) for decades and I just really enjoy Miles and his comic run more. Still so stoked he got a stand alone game as I never thought that would happen in my lifetime. Plus his move set is more fun (when I saw the reduced gadget set I thought he would be bad but I had way more fun than in Spiderman 1) to me.

No spoilers please as i haven't finished the game.

If the next spider man game doesn't have Peter will you still play it?

I mean I think Miles Morales is the best of the three games, so if the next game is another Miles focused game bring it on.

@Max_Headroom no