with marvel’s spider man 2 Outside, you might be tempted to devour Insomniac’s new superhero adventure as quickly as possible like a hungry Venom. I won’t blame you. The sequel’s overarching story is a complex web of threads that tries to unravel. It’s tempting to zoom from one mission to the next, ignoring all other activities until New York City is properly saved from Kraven’s wrath.
If you find yourself in that boat, consider this a PSA: Don’t skip it. spider man 2Side missions. Though they’re not as flashy as the main campaign, the sequel’s best moments lie in consistently quiet explorations that emphasize compassion and community support over comic book violence. These are the moments that best represent what it really means to be a superhero.
community support
Like the previous two Spider-Man games, Insomniac’s open world set in New York City is filled with alternate stories. Initially, Peter and Miles may stay to clean up the mess left by the Sandman or take jobs as local photographers. These are not just blank checklists to complete; Even something as simple as collecting every Spider-Bot in the city leads to some sort of narrative payoff that’s usually worth seeing through to the end (especially since 100% completion only takes 35 hours ).
However, the real fun of the adventure comes in the side missions proper. During the story Peter and Miles receive some local requests through their FNSM app that emphasize the “friendly neighborhood” part of Spider-Man’s work. Instead of dealing with evil supervillains, these are much gentler missions that involve the two connecting with their community on a more human level.
spider man 2The best quest comes when the heroes are asked to locate a missing grandfather. This is a simple mission, as players have to wander around various locations in Brooklyn to find a wandering man. It doesn’t just end in an exciting action set piece; Instead, Spider-Man is sitting with an old man in a park, who shares the story of how he and his wife met. It’s a tearful scene and establishes Spider-Man as not only a superhero, but a member of the community.
It’s a much-needed change of pace after the first game in the series, as the side missions there cast the web protagonist as a vigilante monitoring the city for the NYPD. Additional activities centered more around breaking up drug deals and beating up low-level criminals. This is an approach that led to some justified criticism of the game at the time, as it assumed that a superhero was largely a cop fighting crime. spider man 2 Revises that thesis to emphasize the importance of being a support person in the community.
A few mile-specific side-missions take this further. A main quest opens up a side story where Miles needs to track down some stolen devices and return them to a museum. The missions themselves are standard superhero fare, as he roams the streets chasing runaway trucks. However, the conclusion of that quest is its real heart, as it rewards players with a fully explorable museum celebrating black musicians. The mission is not to beat up criminals, send them to jail and abolish punishment. Rather, it’s about giving back to the community and honoring its history.
spider man 2The best missions are consistently concerned with compassion, with both heroes taking the time to really understand and love their city. And it wants players to feel the same way. One of the best side-missions in the group lets players control Miles’s deaf friend Hailey Cooper, with whom he communicates through sign language. It’s a simple mission where she sets out to find a graffiti artist who tagged a flower shop, but during this time all the sounds stop. For a brief moment, players get the chance to experience New York City from her perspective as she demonstrates her own street-level heroism that is just as important as Spider-Man’s.
Stories like this unlock spider man 2A more nuanced take on superheroism amid a massive comic book story with supernatural stakes. The hero is not just the one who can defeat the bank robber; Sometimes, it’s that person who takes the time to help a blind woman find a service dog.
marvel’s spider man 2 Now available on PS5.