A game I have been Playing: Spider-Man 2

The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man! I have always thought of myself as a non-die-hard Spider-Man fan, I mean I did grow up watching the 1994 TV series, never missed an episode, and still remember it very fondly. When it came to the overall fandom, like the comic books, I never cared much.

I played one SNES game (I think it was on NES) and always remember a fight with Lizard and getting stuck at a specific stage because I could not figure out what to do and there was no internet back then, I think, or at least not accessible. Then I remember playing another Spidey game on the Nintendo GameCube and I want to say, this was the first open-world Spider-Man game, that I can recall.

Fast forward to 2023, and we get Spider-Man 2! This is Insomaniac's third game in the series, Marvel's Spider-Man in 2018, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales in 2020, and the elephant in the room, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023).

I very much enjoyed the first two games so I knew I eventually would want to play Spidey 3. I kept from reading or watching videos and reviews on it, apart from the "word-of-mouth" of the internet. On Christmas, I got an Amazon gift card (thank you, sis!) and with it, I purchased the game and like a gear little beaver, I waited four to five days for the thing to arrive.

This game, well, except for a couple of new tricks, Spider-Man 2’s combat and overall gameplay is very familiar, if you played any of the two previous games. It feels like home. The game starts with a bang, and it throws you right into the action. Like big time. Introduces a lot really quickly, without overwhelming you. Right the way, you can tell you are in for a wild ride! The story is wild, full of action and stealth missions, and also some deep and dark moments. And even though many of the missions may seem somewhat repetitive it really doesn't feel like so, at all! The game is pretty intense in so many ways and so much fun! The boss battles are pretty epic, especially the more you progress in the story, some can get really difficult at times and I have died more times than I care to admit, but it doesn't feel frustrating in any way. Well, there was one boss in particular that even my kid said I was never gonna beat, ever. I gave her the stinky eye!

It plays nice, although like any game this big there are a few bugs that I have experienced, making me have to restart from the last checkpoint in other to repeat a mission so the story moves along. Or getting stuck in a corner or being knocked into a cell where I can escape.

I am currently 36 hours in not sure how far along in the main story but I know it'll be at least a hundred hours or more before completing 100% of it.

If I had played this game in 2023, it would have been my game of the year.