Marvel's Spider-Man 2 struggles on the PC, but still dazzles

Everyone has a New York movie they love. For me, the first one, and one I still hold dear to my heart, is Die Hard with a Vengeance. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch, but it is a fantastic movie about New York.

What does that have anything to do with Spider-Man 2, you ask? Like Die Hard, Spider-Man 2 is a big, sprawling blockbuster that swings for the fences, but it’s also a film deeply in love with the city that is its playground.

It’s packed with villains – too many, to be honest – and fun things to do, but there are moments of sweetness and intimacy that surprise the most. For every spectacle involving mammoth-sized sand people or Venom in his full glory, there are tender scenes that focus on the people who make New York what it is.

Every time I felt like Spider-Man 2 was getting to be a bit too much, it was this focus on the human element that drew me back in. It’s what makes Insomniac’s latest such a surprising front-runner for the best game of the year.

The Story & Gameplay

Set a few years after the first game, Miles Morales and Peter Parker have settled into a life of two Spider-Men for one New York. It’s never easy, and even with two superheroes, the task of juggling two lives feels insurmountable. But, somehow, they make it work.

Then Harry Osborne, Peter’s childhood friend, returns with a newfound lease on life. His sickness, which claimed his mother years earlier, seems to be in remission. Harry is healthier than ever, in fact, and stronger, too.

At the same time, a dangerous new villain called Kraven the Hunter arrives in New York. For him, the prey isn’t just Spider-Man, but every supervillain and hero around. It isn’t long until the Big Apple turns into a battleground that leaves ruined lives in its wake.

Gameplay elements remain largely the same as in Marvel’s Spider-Man, and its spin-off, Miles Morales. The playground now expands from Manhattan to the surrounding boroughs, which makes one of the best open worlds even more vibrant and inviting.

Both Spider-Men have their unique side-missions, and both are of varying quality. For example, hunting for little Spider bots is tedious no matter the character.

Combat has seen minor improvements, most notably in new web mechanics, allowing for Spider-Man to create even more elaborate traps for villains. New skills have a hot bar for up to four favorites, and a nifty parry mechanic can take down bigger villains with ease.

But combat has similarly expanded with the number of villains on screen, and not for the better. Some of the showdowns are simply too cluttered and difficult to parse. Eventually, you just get pummeled by rogue gunfire off-screen without any chance to counter it.

Similarly, boss fights feel way too long, with multiple instances dragging on for no reason – and then ending in forced cutscenes that make them pointless to begin with!

These are minor niggles in an otherwise fantastic whole, but they are noteworthy for the missteps that they are. It’s not like this genre has taken any major leaps since Arkham Knight, and I wish that Insomniac would have tried something more daring.

The plot sags a bit towards the end, too. Like Spider-Man 3, Sam Raimi’s curtain call for the webslinger, Insomniac’s story has too much going for it to get a satisfying ending. Instead, most of the third act feels like a setup for yet another sequel.

Some side-quests even end with a “we’ll know more in the future!” type of callback. It’s cute in the way that comic books can be, but knowing that any potential sequel is another six years away doesn’t make it any easier.

But here’s the thing: I spent 30 hours with Spider-Man 2, and I completed the game 100%, collecting all the trophies along the way. I still want to go back and just swing around the city. Exploring the nooks and crannies, and trying to see how far I can travel with that amazing new wingsuit.

For an open-world game to entice me to go back – and never use the fast travel mechanic – is not a small feat. It’s a testament to how deeply Insomniac loves New York, and how well their meticulous detail to it paid off.

Spider-Man 2 is a joyous experience to play. It’s a delight not just as a Spider-Man story, but as an action-adventure game. It reminds us how great this character can be at his best, and raises the bar for every other game in this genre that follows.

Accessibility

Like with the PS5 version, the PC experience of Spider-Man 2 is superlative. Everything from audiovisual to motor impairments have been taken into consideration. You can adjust difficulty to suit your needs, including enemy aggression, fail-states, and whether or not you have rapidly press buttons during quicktime events.

The audio cues are clear and well balanced, and there’s a superb addition to highlight important sounds in the sprawling mix. Dialog subtitles vary from the generic to hard of hearing and even to include background sound effects.

Visual adjustments include different forms of color blindness and pattern recognition. The latter of which is super important for a game like this, where Spider-Man flies through the city at a rapid pace. It’s a major help that gamers with cognitive disabilities can have an easier time spotting collectibles and enemies.

Spider-Man 2 also supports different controllers on the PC, including the Switch and Xbox ones. I tested the game out on the Xbox Series X controller, and found the experience just fine, if missing some of the wonderful haptic feedback additions you get on the PS5 controllers. Nevertheless, this is a fantastic gaming experience no matter how you play.

Technical Aspects

In the first weeks of release, the PC port of Spider-Man 2 suffered tremendously from poor performance. My rig (RTX3070, R5 5600, 32GB DDR5), struggled to maintain even 30 frames per second on 1440p, and I noticed only minor improvements when dropping that down to 1080p. Simply put: the first month was nearly unacceptable in terms of quality.

But after four weeks, Spider-Man has received some noticeable improvements and updates, which have tweaked the experience closer to what it was on the PS5. It’s still not quite as good, and it’s going to tax your rig heavily even with modest settings, but it is better.

The game still looks gorgeous, and New York has never been captured as vibrantly or with such romanticism as here. Swinging around the city is a joyous experience that’s almost meditative and relaxing even if you’re not out fighting crime. I’ve found myself returning to do some winding down with Miles and Peter even after completing the main story.

As Spider-Man 2 updates further, I’m sure it will live up to the fantastic console performance. But, as of now, I’d say give it a month or two more.

Who’s It For?

Spider-Man 2 is one of the best comic book adaptations into games ever made, and one of the best licensed games out there. It’s a heartfelt tribute to an iconic city and hero, and features a touching and exciting story worthy of both page and screen.

The PC version struggles a bit compared to the console counterparts, but those willing to overlook some issues on a technical side will discover a deep and rewarding gameplay experience that will captivate just the same as the first one.

If you’re a fan of Spider-Man and good action adventure stories, you owe it to yourself to give this a try.