Summary
No longer content with the odd, middling movie tie-in, fans expect a lot more from superhero video games nowadays, and that’s mostly down to Rocksteady’sBatman: Arkham Asylum. WhenArkham Asylumfirst hit store shelves in 2009, it broke the mold for the superhero gaming genre, andArkham Cityproved that it wasn’t just a fluke, and that superhero games could genuinely be excellent. Though it took a good few years, Spider-Man finally joined those upper echelons back in 2018 withInsomniac’s firstSpider-Man, and now, a few years later,Marvel’s Spider-Man 2has proven that Insomniac definitely has the stuff.
In many ways,Marvel’s Spider-Man 2is the perfect sequel, taking everything that was good about the first two games and turning them up to 11, while also trying to fix anything that fans weren’t too keen on the first go around. By all accounts,Marvel’s Spider-Man 2succeeds in that mission, but it also brings a handful of new things to the table, and there’s one new mechanic that feels like a natural evolution of one ofBatman: Arkham Knight’s best features.
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How Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Improves on Arkham Knight’s Bat-Family Mechanic
Batman: Arkham Knightdoesn’t get the best wrap nowadays. With a disastrously buggy launch on PC, a predictable plot, and an overemphasis on vehicular combat,Batman: Arkham Knightwas viewed as a tad disappointing on launch, but that’s not to say it didn’t have some really great ideas. Along with the most refined and intricate combat in the series, one ofBatman: Arkham Knight’s standout featureswas its Bat-Family mechanic, where during a handful of main story and side missions players would be joined by one of Batman’s several sidekicks.
Usually present for just a combat encounter,Batman: Arkham Knight’s Bat-Familymechanic let players switch between the two playable characters on-screen at any point during the fight, giving them access to a whole new moveset and arsenal of gadgets. Players could also initiate a range of unique co-op takedowns, resulting in a fancy animation that saw both heroes spring into action together. And while Batman isn’t really a talker, these brief encounters did yield some fun interactions between the characters, giving the game a greater sense of scale by implying the characters' shared past.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2has its very own version of thisBatman: Arkham Knightmechanic. The first mission inMarvel’s Spider-Man 2sees bothPeter Parker and Miles Moralesjoin forces to take down Sandman, and players swap between both heroes repeatedly during the encounter. Again, likeArkham Knightbut dialed up to 11, the banter between the two Spider-Men is one of the biggest highlights of the extended set-piece, with Miles and Peter making constant quips to one another during the fight.
These encounters occur a few times duringMarvel’s Spider-Man 2’s story, and it’s a highlight of the experience every time, feeling like a novelty every time that the Spider-Men web-swing alongside each other or perform a co-op takedown together. However, one of the biggest improvementsMarvel’s Spider-Man 2makes to thisArkham Knight-inspired mechanic is the ability to run into the other Spider-Man during open-world gameplay. Upon reaching a random crime event, there’s a chance that players will encounter the other Spider-Man already engaged in battle. It’s not only fun to see another Spider-Man in action alongside the player, but it also goes a surprisingly long way in making these characters feel like real people, going about their lives regardless of the player.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2is available now exclusively for PS5.
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