Second Emulation

Swinging High with Spider-Man 2: A Deep Dive into PS5's Web-Slinging Saga

• Shawn Juarez • Episode 48

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Swing into the exhilarating universe of "Spider-Man 2" with me as we explore Insomniac's latest marvel for the PS5. Get ready to master the art of weaving through New York with new gameplay mechanics, like an intricate parrying system that'll have your spidey-senses tingling during combat. Plus, glide over skyscrapers with an innovative web wings feature that adds a thrilling dimension to Spider-Man's acrobatic repertoire. Discover how the shared skill trees for our beloved heroes, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, offer a strategic layer to your adventure, as we unpack the impact of their unique powers on your experience as a web-slinging savior.

Prepare for an emotional rollercoaster as we dissect the narrative pulse of the game, where heart-gripping character arcs take center stage. Feel the weight of Peter and Miles' journeys through grief and loss, and witness Mary Jane's commendable transition into a figure of strength and partnership. New faces like Harry and Dr. Connors stir the pot with intriguing dynamics, while we scrutinize the game's handling of darker themes, including a compelling look at Miles' journey with rage and vengeance. The storyline is rich with complexity and emotional depth that rival the best of what the Spider-Verse has to offer.

Wrapping up, my verdict resonates with an enthusiastic eight out of ten for "Spider-Man 2," with its blend of stirring narrative and polished gameplay. The prospect of future content has me perched on the edge of my seat, eager for your suggestions on what swingin' topics we should tackle next. This episode is a tribute to the craft of Insomniac Games and a testament to the power of interactive storytelling. So, fasten your web-shooters and join us on this high-flying exploration of a game that's as much a visual spectacle as it is a homage to our favorite webhead.

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  📍 Welcome to Second Emulation, the podcast that explores all things pop culture, from movies and TV shows to the latest anime releases. Join us as we dive into the world of entertainment, sharing our thoughts, opinions, and insights on the latest trends and releases. With a focus on what's hot and what's not, we're your go-to source for all things pop culture. So sit back, relax, and let's get started

This episode is going to be about the new Spider Man 2 game produced by Insomniac, which will be its third installment in the Spider Man series on Sony PlayStation, and the game was released in October 19th or 20th, and it's one of my first official  PS5 games that I pre ordered and this episode won't come with my first ever review of the game, so let's get into it. 



Now, one topic I'll be, uh, talking about is going to be gameplay mechanics.  Now, with this new installment, there were some new things that were, we were introduced to, uh, throughout this game. And a few of them I have here, which are going to be  pairing.  This was one thing that we were introduced to, to the game, um, and for those who don't know, in the earlier installments, you couldn't parry or, um,  you know, essentially you could block attacks or perfect dodge, but parrying wasn't a system where essentially it allowed you to counter, uh,  um, An opponent's attack. 

This was a new uh, mechanism, gameplay mechanism that was introduced that allowed you to counter a opponent's attack based on the color scheme that was displayed on that Um, villain, or your opponent.  Bo Uh, Red meant it was, uh uh was counterable. Uh, Red meant that the likely success of you be able to parry and do a counter not as likely. 

So, the gameplay  for this made it so you'd be able to pull off counters through parrying. Very interesting. You know, I myself found, uh, using this mechanic, um, not so much because it didn't seem feasible when you are going to go up against multiple enemies at once. Um, for those who've played the first two iterations of Spider Man,  this type of mechanic would be best suited if you were If it was like a one on one not fairly good for going up against swarms because normally in these games You know once you encounter one, um enemy Uh, most of them just come and they try to overrun you so you have to be very mobile You can't just stick around and be out on one place for too long.

So  It's only You know good in those one on one situations where you can actually, you know, create space Um and knocking not get overwhelmed. That's where I see the pairing mechanic be much more successful  Which you know not saying that I didn't use it it just in those situations where you know, you had the space and you were you know, setting up combos  or You're either gonna get like get taken out, you know from the back  One up or get hit We're lifesavers, but at the same time, you know, I found myself also trying to initiate a Perry and still get hit, um, from the back.

So  it was like, you know, a high risk, high reward type of situation where if done, you know, successfully, you know, you were rewarded with a counter. If you weren't able to do it, you still get hit.  So, uh, keep that in mind.  Another new mechanic was web wings, which was added to the traversal, um, in regards to web slinging. 

Now,  this was, you know, a nice, neat feat, which allowed getting from point A to point B, uh, very quickly.  Now, I find myself using it not as much, probably only when trying to get from, you know, crossing the lake.  Two different barrows,  but at the same point, you know, once you've unlocked fast travel,  I find myself using fast travel, um,  more often than not.

But the web wings did were a very interesting mechanic. to utilize. Now, the issue I had with the web wings is that I was so used to doing, um, the web pull, uh, to pull myself, um, to open or the web shop is that there'd be moments where I would be in combat or in a chase and I would press the button to activate the web wing when I was in mid chase and it would, um, They would activate and then I like, you know, float  off into a different direction or it would, you know, stop my motion. 

And so that would one thing that would throw me off 'cause I wasn't fully utilized.  I wasn't used to using them as much. It was a new mechanic. Um, and so I was just so used to, uh, the previous mechanics that they had, uh, for trying to just getting around,  uh, through, through the game. Now  a new thing that they had which were kind of like getting with traversal was I did like that  It wasn't like a timer.

So when the web wings are out you weren't limited  to just  you know I said  time from and then they just did grade  It kind of reminds me of like Mario and Mario 3 of the Cape where you had it and you just kind of like  as Buzz Lightyear would say Falling with style is essentially what the web wings were because you didn't create your own  Propulsion you were essentially just using the currents and just Falling with style.

So you needed momentum, um, to kind of keep progressing forward, uh, when you're using the weldings. And if you weren't getting any type of speed or current, you would still just fall towards the ground. And so I did like that mechanic and there were opportunities where you had to, you know, opportunities to ride the air current or use, uh, industrial fans that would, um, build sink that would. 

Jets are there to kind of prepare yourself up, so you get more height, so can fly, or glide down. Now, an interesting  part here, which I thought was very interesting, that they did, Um, gameplay mechanic was, shared skill trees. This  was something that was gonna be very interesting.  I wasn't sure how they were going to do it because Miles and Peter Parker play very differently and Obviously for those who played, you know,  Miles Morales game, they both actually have different abilities across the board  And so how  would their skill trees differ?

Um, you know, obviously they're both spider man, so they would have to actually have some,  you know, things that would interconnect and with the skill tree  and,  uh,  with a shared skill tree, they kind of had that solution. So beyond You know, unique abilities. There were skills that they both shared, um, that were not unique to each other.

So combat abilities and traversal and stealth.  Some that were just, you know, obvious. They both shared  and I thought that was pretty cool. Um, another one that they end up sharing that they took away from the first two games was  suitabilities. Now  this, what I mean by suitabilities is that in the previous games, When you unlock the suit, that suit had augmented abilities that would improve your stats. 

In this game, um, that is not the case. The suits now have a shared stat modifier that you unlock that is shared between Peter Parker and Miles. So once you have the skill points to, you know, they call it, um, suit mods or suit skills or suit gadgets. Forgetting what the term is, but once you have the skills, um, available, you can unlock this, uh, skill tree for your suit,  um, and it's applied, uh, to both Peter and Miles.

The suits themselves are just aesthetics. They provide no additional stats.  Um, whatsoever. So  I thought that was kind of a bummer, but the same time, it does make sense because, you know, one suit could have an advantage of the other. And I'm assuming they want to have an equal playing field across the board.

Um, you know,  as for like different gameplay styles, 

and it does make sense. So, you know,  Some people might favor one suit over the others and mismatching the abilities and so this allows for people to kind of like keep the stats no matter which suit they wear.  Now, the biggest discussion was like, how would you be able to play between the two? Now, would it just only be mission based as you progress through the story?

You know, one mission throughout the story would be Peter and vice versa. Would you just be stuck with one throughout the entire story and that'd be it?  And that is not the case. The new mechanic here is that you can decide whichever character you want to play with, and switching between the two is just as simple.

You could play as Peter Parker throughout the main game, or play as Miles Morales, and at any moment, you can easily switch between the two, and it's seamlessly, it's seamless.  And so, even though there are some missions that require one or the other, but,  That was a new mechanic that they introduced is that you can switch between the two and that switch happens seamlessly. 

And so I thought it was pretty interesting, Uh, new mechanic to,  to introduce, which is something that  I myself was figuring out how they were going to, you know, implore that, because you know, having two Spidermans, Both have  two different distinct abilities and how they approach situations. So,  and, you know, one might be better at, you know, handling a scenario than the other.

And if I'm only, if I pick one,  Am I just stuck with that? You know, that character for the rest of the game until, you know, the end. So, I did like how they did have a solution for that. And this was kind of cool that it didn't matter at any point in the game. You could just switch between the two at any moment and vice versa. 

Now, pivoting over to the next topic here is going to be storyline and character development.  Now,  playing this game,  I felt like for character development, the characters that we have, you know,  we pick them up.  Continuing from the previous two games, so they're just progressing on the path that was already laid out for them from, you know,  Spider Man and then Miles Morales.

So they're already on that path  for Miles. He's, you know,  progressing with the  The aftermath of dealing with, you know, loss of his father, how he comes to terms with, you know, Mr. Negative is still alive and how he has to, you know, live and internalize that type of like  resentment and rage for this person that killed  his father. 

And,  um, for Peter Parker, you know, same as well, you know, the loss of Atmay,  which is also at the hands of Mr. Negative. Both,  you know,  Suffering losses by one individual and seeing how, you know, each one deals with it in a different way. But since Peter Parker is, you know, much older.  Then Miles,  he's come to, you know, terms and how to deal with that loss in a much  mature way.

And Miles being younger, we kind of see how,  you know, someone at his age handles that type of loss and what, you know, his reactions are, you know,  are when he is ever confronted with that person again  and Mary Jane, even though she's present,  she is still dealing, kind of like picking up the pieces a bit of,  you know, her life and  Peter Parker's life,  even though they kind of keep her  In the background of just I wouldn't say as a C type character She is supporting But  they do give her much bigger role like they did in the previous game  now  They do. 

And what I mean by they do give her a much more, uh, developed role is that she's not just sitting on the sidelines. So she is more involved. And so that's nice to see. Um,  her character development. She's not some just damsel in distress like they've used in the movies. And that's a breath of fresh air. 

And we're also introduced into some other characters like Harry, um, Dr. Connors,  and some other, you know, new faces that we probably didn't see before.  Now,  with those character developments, we kind of see, like, the bond between, you know, Peter and Harry, how close they were, like, that brother involvement, and how the loss of Harry was, you know,  detrimental to Peter, you know, even though he moved on,  Harry kind of felt like he, you know,  had been, you know, stripped of all those, you know, that time,  like he, he had missed out. 

And so we kind of see that development between the two flashbacks and kind of really just setting up for what we already know is supposed to be this tension.  Now,  what was interesting in this game, it felt like there were  four different stories going on in this game. And what I mean by that is that we're introduced, based on the trailer,  to Kraven.

Now, So, uh, just on the trailer alone, we're  given details that Kraven is going to be this  big player, this existential threat to New York to both Peter Parker and Miles and to like every, you know, rogue gallery of villain and not villain of the Spider Man, you know, universe because, directing He is a game hunter.

He's gonna hunt everyone down and This is going to like, you know  blow out into the streets  and You know what we get with Kraven is the exact opposite  Like yes, we get that build up from the initial trailer that leads, you know our first encounter of gameplay  of You know  kind of like  meeting and experiencing what Kraven Kraven and his hunters are all about.

But after that,  he's like gone in the wind.  We we don't hear about him again, or have another encounter with him until, you know, other certain events have happened.  And it's unfortunate.  And it's kind of a letdown,  because they built him up to be this to be bigger than he was initially, and they used him as a tool, essentially to set up the actual villain of the story. 

And it was sad. Now we will play with AAA Lumiere's would be great, but it  seems like a stepping stone Tudum It We want to find out what we want the game is about But guys, I was in the violent Shang Tsung You should find Do it Play against him Hang You can play against him and Spoilers at me 

All right And i'll leave that there. You get to fight him at least twice. And  those combats, you know,  didn't make you know,  film president.  like he, he gave me a hard time, but it wasn't like, you know, he pushed me to, you know,  to the edge orit exhausted me and like, he wasn't. on a pedestal, essentially. Like, the way they wrote him, the narrative, it wasn't what  they established him to be.

And so it was a letdown, when you get to that point in the story, and then you see what befalls him, and I was like, Oh, that's it? And then we just never his story's done.  And that was kind of a letdown  Because they use him for like  Maybe up until half  of the game  Maybe even less than that and then you know, it sets up for the second half of the game  now 

With that, the other story we also get involved in is with Miles trying to deal with his anger, you know, again, this goes back to Kraven as we find out that while Kraven was hunting, he's taking out, he's hunting out these rogue gallery of Spiderman's villains, and obviously, Mr. Negative is part of that, and he's after Mr.

Negative.  and Mr. Negative is is captured  and so what does this do? This brings back all these unresolved feelings of anger and resentment and Miles and  throughout the game, you know,  I was going to say Peter, Miles is dealing with that in his own way throughout the game, which you kind of see.  a little bit of that narrative, uh, for miles, uh, that was written forien told me required Spiderman when the deal with the loss when uncle Ben dies, it's like that.

It's like,  when you get to that point, when he's able to reconcile, it feels like the way they wrote  that, this whole narrative for miles and Mr. Negative,  And how he's dealing with, that internalizing it should have been how I more so fitted for like Tobey Maguire spider man  Because it was written for the like it fell out of place for miles  if and Some people would be like oh no, you're just harping on them  I mean,  people can say that.

It's my, it's my opinion, but I felt like it, it felt out of place because you would assume that  Peter Parker, you know, also going through the loss, like the same type of loss,  losing his aunt, the same, you know,  time that he had lost his dad.  And also training him  or tutoring him.  Not once, you know, did Peter Parker help him go through that loss and vice versa. 

I mean, he had been so bent on Peter Parker training him to be a better Spiderman.  And kind of neglect that, hey, my tutor also was going through the same thing. I should also be there for him. 

And then we also, you know, deal with, like,  you know, the Harry and Peter Parker relationship.  And that kind of you know ups and downs  and we kind of got like  we get to see behind the curtain of what they, their relationship was like and what kind of like, what was the linchpin  of  Force them into wanting to like to save the world.

Cause we hear that line a lot. I wanna heal the world What was the initial kind of like seed for that? And we like kinda like get more background to that. And,  What kind of like, I guess you could say they're trauma bonded because  You know.  Harry loses his mom, you know, Peter Parker's lost his uncle. They both share something in common and they both want to be able to, you know, leave the world, uh, better than they, you know, than they found it.

And so  they had a project that was, you know, dedicated to both their aunt and his mom.  And so we kind of see that unfold.  And then this segues into what the final story. That, you know, is  like the outter crust. So we have the Kraven, Miles, The Harry and Peter, And then, The Final storyline that gets that's in there, That kinda like It's like, The tape, That's holding everything together Which I feel like, They just took from a previous game, Is the  The Venom storyline the symbiote storyline  which I Assume was that you know was gonna be very bare bones and basic like cuz we all know the symbiote storyline Peter gets it But they changed they altered it and a few things But then they go into like the left field they go  They they introduce  The web of shadows  story plot  and  What I believe to be Knol, the king, or the god of the symbiotes.

Because,  the symbiote shows up on a rock that has a symbol That's very iconic to Knol, the god of the, of the symbiotes. And so.  And they, and I don't know if that was intentional, but we do get this whole, you know, after Peter Parker's, you know, the initial venom, the symbiote suit, his initial plot of that's done and then we get venom, you know, and in his, you know, embodiment. 

then the story goes into the web of shadows type of plot device and hive mind  and It's very like for those who played well with shadows and you play this you're gonna be like, oh, this is very familiar  like this is very from like they just you know, and I don't know if  If they knew or maybe they pulled But  it was very recognizable hey  I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

I'm just saying like it they pulled inspiration and maybe they're setting up for a  you know, no to come in and like, you know, he's probably gonna be a threat  like to in the next game who knows but  I did like that they incorporated that they gave more mythos to like the symbiote. It wasn't just like some black goo showed up, you know, and then that's that they're setting the bricks down that was going to create a path to somewhere. 

and I liked it. But at the same time, it was also like, there was just so much going on storyline wise, that it just made it hard to just  stick with one and pick one as your favorite, because everyone's gonna You know pick all the venom storyline this simbio suit when Peter gets the black suit you know and just wash over  Craven because that's how memorable Crevent was he wasn't that he was kind of forgettable  like you played through his stuff and Once you get to you know the the moment where it's you know symbiote and venom It's pretty much a wash at that moment 

So I'm not one who's very keen or like someone who's like, oh the game has to be visually stimulating like the graphics have to be so Realistic so when you know I want to be able to feel the punches like the punches have to be coming off the screen and hitting me in the face like visually and and Graphics appealing the game is great. 

It's visually  AAA Plus, and I say this because  I come from, you know, I grew up in an era for the NES  and the Super Nintendo and the Sega and the N64 were graphics  were like just pixels. And so it didn't have to be in 4K or 1080p. It didn't have to look realistic. And maybe just me just think like, I'm just simple.

I didn't really care how great the game looked as long as it played well and I was able to, you know,  enjoy the game. And this is the first, you know, Playstation 5 game that I got to play on my PS5. All other games I got were PS4 Ports that I was able to play on the PS5. So this was the first game that got to utilize the entire console So I was just happy that I you know got to play and you know Got to play the game.

It looked great, you know just overall just That was amazing. And I'm not someone who's gonna you know, harp about graphics because  I'm just want to have fun.  When it comes to playing any type of video games,  I'm not a PC gamer. Um, I do do cloud gaming.  Um,  Once in a while, I have a console and a switch, but  I'm not going to like harp about graphics.

That's just not me. I'm fairly simple.  And so for me, it was great. I liked it.  Things you know  Things didn't mess up things were not out of place for me You know, I can't say the same for anyone else. But for me, I liked it. It was you know  When you swing that spider man he didn't blow up so  that's all I can say  now moving on  Longevity and replay value  Yeah This game, new game plus, like right after you beat the game. 

It gears you up for  new game plus, like if you haven't finished the game, um, you can finish up the game to other side missions. Unfortunately for me, I a hundred percent the game and we did all the trophy. So I got the platinum trophy and you know, new game plus is gonna probably be my next thing to do.

Um, but yeah, it has replay value. I'm, uh, You know, hoping or I'm hoping that we get some DLC because just like uh,  Spider Man Remastered or the previous iteration there was some DLCs So I'm hoping that you know, this goes the same round we get some DLCs on top of that But yeah, I'm definitely going to do a replay value and if you now haul Um So For all three games you can play them in order So you can  start with spiderman remastered go into  miles morales and finish it with spiderman 2 And  unfortunately, cannot carry all your save files Over which would be nice I'm just at a point now where Since I pre ordered the game I now have 5 skill points that I just can't use  I don't have anything Because all my Stats are maxed out on the game and  just can't use anything.

Um, so that's, you know,  little disconcerting. But I understand. 'cause I, you know, I did pre-order and when you pre-order, you get three skill points. So I just thought it would just zero out, but it didn't. So I'm like, oh crap. So now I have like extra skill points I can't deal with, but  I'm not sure if anyone else is.

Has tried the new game plus does it like you know all your stuff carries over? Do you have to like unlock everything again?  I'll probably end up seeing or look up videos to see if anyone has tried new game plus first find man to it has  Been a month already since the games been out so I'll probably look up some videos  Now, what is my overall experience and rating for this game? 

I would give it  an 8 out of 10. And the reason for that is that, you know, there are some things that bring that score down to an 8. Again, you know, character wise, I feel like Kraven was a letdown.  You know, for him. There were some storylines, some character development here and there. I felt like they  Should've just left alone.

Um, they should've gave Miles a different storyline, gave him a little bit much more to do after, you know, Finn's death. Um, he just felt out of place. He felt more like a side character in this game, even though he had some missions.  But it was more about Peter Parker in this, so I felt like he should have had, you know, a different storyline for him. 

Which is fine. It's hard to do a game where we have two different characters who have the same abilities, and so it was I was kind of odd having him there in the game. Me, personally, I played with Peter Parker. And I would switch it off to Miles when I had to do like missions that were only geared for him. 

But he just, in my opinion, felt out of place  for this game. 

And villains. I felt like this game was kind of lacking on  villains for the most part. The previous game we got, you know,  a good handful of villains. This one, not so much. And I think it's because they used Kraven to kinda just purge, you know, Peter Parker's villains, you know, to kinda like set up, and this is gonna be a spoiler, to set up Miles Morales as he is now going to be the main Spider Man for the next  game.

Um, and, you know. Future games for the insomniac Marvel's iron Man universe, so it just Interesting that they would use him to like take out you know a good chunk of the villains that were off screen so We'll find out how many more were killed off But it's interesting to see that. Maybe we'll get like  Some villains that are  tailored towards Miles Morales Spider Man, which will be interesting to see.

And maybe they'll pull some inspiration from like, you know, into the Spider Verse, across the Spider Verse. So, I'm a  Consider me intrigued and my interest peaked because I don't know if like this will have any implications going forward, but  I'm shrugging my shoulders and I have my hands up like, but who knows?

Again, my overall experience was good. I didn't have any high expectations. I normally keep my expectations very low when it comes to video games, movies, or books because I'm a fairly simple person when it comes to, you know, any sorts of media and things of this nature, because  I  if you keep them too high and to let down you just feel disappointed so I like to you know keep them low and be easily entertained and so again I stand by my overall rating of an eight out of ten. 

And this will be the one of hopefully many game reviews that I do over the course of this podcast and  Hopefully if you guys enjoy them, then I'll continue to do more, um, game reviews. They won't be as frequent, but they'll be, you know, still going on or I will choose to continue depending on, you know, the games that I play, uh,  going forward.

So  thank you for listening and I'll catch you in the next one. Bye.

 📍  Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Second Emulation, where we explored the latest in pop culture, movies, TV shows, and anime. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app, and leave us a rating and review to help us reach more listeners. And don't forget to follow us on social media for even more pop culture content and to stay up-to-date on all the latest news and releases. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions for future episodes. So until next time, keep on Emulating and stay tuned for more exciting content