I feel I should probably disclose that I’m a tiny bit biased towards anything Spider-Man-related (except Madame Web. Everyone was right about Madame Web). He’s been my favourite superhero for as long as I can remember liking superheroes, and he tends to add a few plus points to anything he’s in for me. But no such shenanigans were required for Marvel’s Spider-Man, nor its Miles Morales-starring spin-off, or indeed the full sequel, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, that launched on PS5 in 2023.
So I was hesitant to review the PC port, and slightly conflicted while playing it. You see, it’s the same great game as I played on PS5, that sees Peter Parker and Miles Morales team up to take on Kraven the Hunter (the best of recent versions) and Venom (see Kraven the Hunter, several words ago). But even after a handful of updates, it’s not quite running as smoothly as it should be. It is better though, with fewer frame drops and visual bugs, and it hasn’t crashed since the latest update went live, so there’s that.
One of the more problematic areas was a sequence of portal-hopping with Black Cat that either struggled to keep up or crashed altogether for me. Since the latest update it feels noticeably more competent, but the push for better aesthetics on PC has come at some detriment to the game itself unfortunately.
I play on an RTX 4070 which is able to handle it in both quality and performance modes, but there’s a notable difference between the two, leaning towards quality mode ironically. It also runs on the Steam Deck, but the loss of fidelity and overall clout really hurts what is, otherwise, a stunning game.
Regardless, though, if you can find a sweet spot in the settings or you have a PC powerful enough to remain unphased by such issues, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PC is still a fantastic game. It really is one for the fans of the first one, though, as everything has the sense of being the same but more. New York itself doesn’t feel bigger, but there’s more in it for better or worse, and with dual protagonists the voice cast and number of characters that cycle in and out of your earpiece have grown.
Switching between Spider-Men never feels all that different though. While Peter feels a little weightier, Miles unique Venom powers mean that their skill sets and combos remain different enough. In the moments where you have control of both and can tag each other in the combat is sublime, even if I’m still not buying the fact that none of these thugs die. Smashing someone through a car and then leaving them hanging from a lamppost can’t be good for them.
The story in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 contrives reasons to have you switch back and forth, and sometimes you can do it at will as you free roam around, but once the story begins to take certain turns it locks you into either for extended periods. While I enjoy the story, there’s sometimes too much going on with too many characters. The non-violent stealth sections are back though not as egregious as before, but there are extended flashback sequences now and then that, while fleshing out the backstory, hold up the pace. It’s all in the name of emotional pay-off, but there are few outright surprises in the narrative.
You’re probably not here for the story, regardless of how well it’s written and acted (and it really is), because all anyone really wants to do is swing and glide through Manhattan. As before, this is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at its best. When you’re swinging between traffic and using helicopters as latch points, turning pirouettes in the sky, and charging up the side of buildings, it’s such an exhilarating rush that it’s hard to stop.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is still a superb game on PC, but the glitches are so numerous that they’re hard to ignore. If you can somehow see past them, or indeed if Insomniac continue to patch them out, then it’s a worthy port. The spread of activities is massive, with tons of collectibles and unlockables, 9 bazillion side concerns and nodes to explore on the huge map and some of the most fluid and satisfying movement and combat you’ll find. It’s a difficult game to heartily recommend right now, even as a Spider-Man superfan, but give it a bit of time and it may well be worth your time.
