Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has more pressure on it to be incredible than it would seem, and it’s really the fault of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. It’s undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games announced right now and runs the risk of failing to live up to the hype. However, the hype isn’t the only thing Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has to overcome. It must also work to improve upon the template its predecessors established, which is a very tough bar to move.
Marvel’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales are incredible games. They took the best elements of past Spider-Man titles and combined them with Insomniac’s take on the successful mechanics of the Batman: Arkham series. The result is two of the best Spider-Man games ever made. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is going to need a lot more than better graphics to live up to these games’ legacy. Without a significant leap in gameplay, it will end up being a sequel that offers little more than being a prettier version of what came before.
Spider-Man 2 Must Make Big Gameplay Changes To Top The First Game
Marvel’s Spider-Man was released with great critical success. It was praised for its Arkham-style combat and immersive web-swinging, an area past Spider-Man games have been dodgy with. Spider-Man: Miles Morales launched a couple of years later and, for the most part, was the same game with some subtle improvements and tweaks to combat to fit Miles’ newbie status. Still, it was a great game. Insomniac has a lovely narrative team that told great stories with these games, so it’s no wonder that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will follow suit and hopefully overcome the problems even Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 encountered - a story bloated with too many characters and plotlines. However, the story alone cannot propel the game’s innovation.
Gameplay innovations are what will take Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to the next level. It can’t pull off what Miles Morales did with minor adjustments to the previous game’s formula. Staying true to the open-world superhero genre is a must, though, as the first game and Miles Morales did it so well. So, in this regard, improvements could come in the form of more variety in ambient missions, like the pigeon chases, and added narrative and gameplay depth for side-quests.
The gameplay aspect most primed for renovation is the combat system, to which Miles Morales added satisfying wall takedowns. Iterating on the best parts of Batman: Arkham’s combat was a smart move, and the previous games did a lot of work to make it stand out from its inspiration. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has a solid foundation to build on, opening the path for bold changes to the combat. One possibility is a form of tag-team-style combat system, which seems likely after seeing Peter and Miles fighting side by side in the reveal trailer. Gameplay innovations like this will make the game genuinely memorable and potentially send it to the top of the list of truly great Spider-Man games.
Source: Marvel Entertainment/YouTube