Spider-Man 2 PS5 honest review (no spoilers)

February 3, 2024

In a bid to try to make our Marvel Spider-Man 2 PS5 honest review as non-biased as possible, we’ve spent the morning in a Clockwork Orange style chair and subjected ourselves to extreme levels of Spider-Man exposure. This is kind of taking the edge off our general excitement for the game so hopefully you get a more rounded view and honest opinion about what to expect.

Stanley Kubrik-inspired reconditioning aside, our review was always going to be fairly positive and the good news is that the game actually lives up to expectations with huge boss fights and a brilliant main story campaign. If that isn’t enough, there’s also the addition of an even bigger open world map that takes in both Brooklyn and Queens to add to Manhattan, which results in one huge sequel with new areas to discover.

We’ll get into the details a little bit more later on, but obviously without the skyscrapers you may have been wondering how the game allows the two Spider-Man characters to travel around these smaller areas of New York City. However, there really isn’t any need to worry, because you’ll also get wingsuit-style gliding with shades of Gotham Knights and the new slingshot move that will allow you to get way more speed than ever before.

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Graphics review

As you might expect, Marvel Spider-Man 2 on the PlayStation 5 is an incredibly good looking game. While it’s still based on the same style of play as in the first two games, the third story has clearly put a lot of efforts into crafting an even more beautiful game world to enjoy.

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There are plenty of moments where you’ll be awe-struck by the action or the scenery, and while that was the case in the previous games, it has definitely been elevated for the latest title in the series. Everything is delivered in 60 FPS when you play in performance mode and graphics mode targets 30, so either way you’re going to get one of the greatest Spider-Man experiences that has ever been created.

It makes us wonder whether or not Sony will ever recreate the games for the VR2 system, allowing you to fully step into the suits and actually become Spider-Man. Whether it ever comes to pass or not, you definitely get a lot of that experience in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 much in the same way the previous games gave you a big slice of being Peter Parker or Miles Morales.

The lighting effects are a particular highlights, especially when the sun’s low over the river and it doesn’t take long to see that the graphics have improved since Spider-Man Miles Moralis on the PS5. Prepare yourself for a visual extravaganza with fast-paced gameplay and slick blending into cut scenes.

Gameplay review

The graphics aren’t the only thing to be improved in Spider-Man 2, because the gameplay has definitely stepped up nicely too. Obviously this is a game based on the same mechanics as in the previous two titles in the series, but there are just so many new features to enjoy, which refreshes the experience significantly.

We’ve already touched on the traverse mechanics in the introduction to our honest review, but the addition of the symbiote suit transforms Peter into an absolute monster when it comes to combat. There are just so many options for mayhem when you’re in that form and while in previous games you’d look at a big group of enemies and see it as a grueling slug-fest, in Spider-Man 2 you just see food.

You can’t just whip out multi-take down moves willy-nilly, because you’ll need to build up for them. But there are more than enough options to do that in the build up to a group of enemies to ensure that you can just smash them with the tendral grab and smash move which looks and feels amazing.

Miles Morales has also got some new moves, including a similar area of effect electric move that allows you to take out a bunch of enemies all at once. There are shades of the previous game in this, but it’s good to see that it isn’t just Peter Parker that has some new tricks up is his sleeve.

In addition to the new moves that Peter Parker and Miles Morales have got, the game has also done a pretty good job at refreshing the enemies that you’ll have to take on. The way that this works is that some enemies will be more vulnerable to certain moves, along with which player you’re controlling, so there’s more variation to combat that in previous games in the series.

However, it’s the bosses in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PS5 that have had the biggest improvement overall. They’ve always been pretty impressive, but there’s clearly been an instantly noticeable effort to make them even more meaty with similarities to God of War Ragnarok.

The health bar is nice to have, but not a significant part of the improvement. Instead there’s just a bit more complexity to the fights with Insomniac Games learning from the better parts of the previous game, especially The Tinkerer final boss fight, which was a highlight.

Story review

The stories for the previous games have been impeccable and that’s the case again in Spider-Man 2, which focuses a little more on Peter Parker, while still doing a good job of covering both of the heroes, giving Miles more than enough hooks playing the story. It takes big pieces from the comic books to deliver a massively crowd-pleasing plot.

We’re not going to spoil any of them here, but you’ll definitely enjoy them for yourself when you play the game. And if you haven’t picked up on things, yes we definitely recommend you play the game.

It doesn’t take long in the story progression for the action to crank up to 11 and it pretty much stays there all the way to the end of the game. It drives you forward through the story quests at an incredible pace, so you might end up with a lot of side activity to do after you finish off the final boss fight.

The performances of the actors combines with the story to build real emotional connection to the characters and everything that’s going on. This is the hallmark of a great narrative game and we definitely put this up there with the year’s best and while we still think The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is the game of the year, Spider-Man 2 is a close second.

Side quests and open world activities review

It’s fair to say that the open world activities in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on the PS5 are similar to the ones in previous games, so there’s nothing much to elevate things to the next level for these. However, the side quests are a lot of fun and allow you to dig into the more personal side of the story for each of the two main characters.

It would have been nice for there to be more exploration potential for the open world activities, which would have made things a whole lot more interesting. You’ve only got to look at The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom to see how great this can be and how much it can extend the life of a game beyond the story.

If this had been a little bit more interesting then it probably would have been right up there with TOTK for the game of the year title. It’s far from enough to derail our honest review score too much, but in terms of setting expectations it’s just not a huge highlight.

Overall review

The reality is that if it wasn’t for The legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom coming out earlier this year, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 would be the game of the year. Admittedly, there are some other titles due in the last couple of months of 2023, but unless Avatar Frontiers of Pandora can surprise the world, or Super Mario Wonder really stacks up, tt will definitely be down to these two games with TOTK in the lead.

Being the second best game of the year for us isn’t anything to be sniffed at considering the fact that Tears of the Kingdom is pretty much 10 out of 10 game. Spider-Man 2 is a must-play game for Marvel fans, or anyone that enjoys open world games and third person action adventure titles. If you haven’t started your first play through yet, then you’ve got one hell of a lot of fun ahead of you and your two friendly neighborhood Spider-Men… Spider-Man’s… Spider-Peeps??? Who knows, but you get the gist.

Marvel Spider-Man 2 PS5 honest review score: 94%

If you’re looking for more gaming analysis, you can check out our honest game reviews section to compare the scores. Alternatively, you can visit the official Spider-Man PS5 webpage at https://insomniac.games/game/marvels-spider-man-2/ for more details on the game.