Robin Bhuyan
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the third installment in Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe, finally made its way to PC on 30th January 2025, promising an exhilarating web-slinging experience. The game, which was obviously among the most anticipated releases of 2025, continues the stories of Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they battle formidable enemies threatening innocent lives, navigate their personal lives, and, of course, swing through the breathtaking city of New York. While the PlayStation release received widespread acclaim, the PC version has been met with a mix of excitement and frustration. From jaw-dropping visuals and engaging storytelling to frustrating technical issues and questionable design choices, this port is a rollercoaster ride. After playing the game till the end, here we provide you a list of the positives and negatives, if you are thinking to buy the game yourself!
(Minor Spoilers Ahead)
The Good: A Thrilling Spidey Experience
1. Breathtaking Visuals & Open-World Design
If there’s one thing Insomniac nailed, it’s the visual fidelity of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. The game’s open-world recreation of New York City is nothing short of stunning. Unlike many open-world games that feel barren and lifeless, this rendition of NYC is full of life, details, and authenticity. From the glistening skyscrapers reflecting the city’s lights to the bustling streets below, the game makes simply swinging around feel like an absolute joy. There are certain minor flaws, such as the apartments always appearing empty, whenever you look from outside, but regardless compared to most open world games, New York city in Marvel’s Spiderman 2 still shines. The swinging mechanics themselves are some of the best ever designed in a Spider-Man game—fluid, exhilarating, and rewarding. Even after finishing the story, just exploring the city never gets old- whether you decide to swing from building to building or just want to take a walk in the streets!
2. Engaging Storytelling with Emotional Depth
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 delivers us with gripping story that keeps players engaged from start to finish. You might get bored for other reasons, but the story will never bore! It effectively balances high-stakes superhero action with deeply personal struggles, making for an emotionally resonant experience for players. The story manages to do justice to both Peter Parker and Miles Morales, giving them meaningful character arcs that feel true to their personas. Yes, the game might cater heavily to Marvel and Spiderman fans, but even newcomers can appreciate the well-paced storytelling that never overstays its welcome.
3. Enjoyable Combat Mechanics
The combat system is fast, fun, and highly engaging. Whether you prefer taking down the bad guys in a brawl or whether you prefer or stealthy web takedowns, the game gives you multiple options to approach combat situations, with a fun experience. The addition of multiple abilities for both Peter and Miles keep the action fresh. While some fights do feel a bit too drawn out, the gameplay does manage to remain satisfying and fluid. Taking down enemies in creative ways using Spidey’s abilities is entertaining till the end.
The Bad: A Web Full of Problems
1. Poor PC Optimization
And here’s where things start to fall apart—Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 runs terribly on PC. Even high-end systems with GPUs like the RTX 4070 struggle to maintain stable frame rates. Frequent crashes, performance drops, and severe lag plague the experience, making it borderline unplayable for some players. What’s worse, Sony barely promoted the PC version, which shows they possibly knew it was filled with issues. For a game that sold at full price, this lack of optimization is unacceptable. Many players have even reported crashes occurring right from the main menu. If you were expecting a smooth ride, think again—this one’s a bumpy mess. So unless you own an extremely high-end PC, don’t think even think of getting this game- at least not until they fix all these issues!
2. Repetitive Boss Fights
One of the most frustrating aspects of Marvel’s Spiderman 2 is repetition when it comes to the boss fights. Yes, the boss fights are fun not doubt but having to defeat the same boss again and again gets tiresome. In fact, if we talk about the final boss of the game, you need to defeat him a total of five times—twice as Miles and thrice as Peter—and this can make the experience feel like a chore rather than fun. This isn’t just a difficulty issue; it’s pure exhaustion. While normal fights are relatively easy, these drawn-out and difficult boss encounters might disrupt the pacing and make you question why the developers chose to waste your time this way.
3. Peter Parker is Overshadowed
This one stings—Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man, sometimes feels like a side character in his own game. Instead of being portrayed as the self-sufficient, experienced hero fans love, he’s constantly outshined by Miles Morales and even Mary Jane. Unlike the comics, here, we see Peter Parker being constantly dependent on others. While it’s great to see Miles develop as a hero, Peter feels nerfed, reliant on others, and not nearly as impactful as he should be. Fans expecting to play as a strong and capable Peter may walk away feeling a bit disappointed.
4. Playing as Venom makes zero sense
Playing as Venom sounds amazing, right? Well, not so much when you realize it lasts around an hour or so and makes no sense in any way. You get to control Venom just long enough to take down the first main villain, Kraven the Hunter, though by now you already know that Venom is the second main villain of the story. If Venom were positioned as an anti-hero, this could have worked but he is the ultimate villain who wants world domination. So, to allow players to briefly control him just feels odd and unnecessary, and it is disappointing that instead of Spiderman, it is Venom who puts an end to the game’s first main villain.
5. Boring Side Missions and Plot Inconsistencies
Most side quests focus on the personal lives of Peter and Miles, rather than meaningful contributions to the narrative. Furthermore, these quests often lack excitement; instead, they should have thought of incorporating minor villains or threats to the city that players could neutralize. Additionally, some players have criticized the developers for forced diversity in the story, introducing characters (e.g., gay individuals) multiple times unnecessarily when the narrative didn’t require it.
One of the biggest immersion-breakers in the game is the complete absence of other Marvel heroes. The Avengers Towers and Fantastic Four Towers are present in New York and there is a Dr Strange reference as well, which hints that Strange knows Spiderman. Yet during a catastrophe of this magnitude, where Venom has taken over New York and turned so many citizens into his minions, there’s not even a single mention of why the Earth’s mightiest heroes are not helping. We understand that it is a Spiderman game, but at the same time, they set it as a universe with multiple superheroes, so their absence should at least be mentioned! Every character, including the ones ranting on the radio act like saving the city is just Spiderman’s responsibility. The game expects players to ignore this obvious plot hole, but it’s hard to overlook, especially for Marvel fans.
6. The Mary Jane Problem
If you thought Mary Jane’s playable sections were tedious in the first game, brace yourself—it gets worse. Not only does she insert herself into life-threatening situations, but she also somehow manages to take down hordes of trained and armed enemies with nothing but a taser or sonic gun. It’s absurd! Peter and Miles, with all their superhuman abilities, struggle against these enemies, yet MJ makes them look like amateurs, despite the fact that she is just a journalist without any superhuman powers or even any kind of combat training or experience. Although this might be frustrating for some, the good thing is that she is not shown as a toxic character unlike some versions of Mary Jane. To the contrary, she is quite supportive of Peter and even Miles and Harry, till the end of the game.
Final Verdict: A Fun Game with few flaws, and a Terrible PC Port
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is undeniably a fun and enjoyable game at its core. The visuals are breathtaking, the story is compelling, and the combat is engaging. However, the PC port is riddled with technical problems that are going to hinder your experience. From poor optimization and frequent crashes to frustrating design choices, this version of the game is far from the experience for which you would pay a full price.
If you have a PlayStation 5, that remains the best way to experience Spider-Man 2. But if you’re limited to PC, you might want to wait for updates and patches—if they ever come. Right now, the web is tangled with problems, and no amount of Spidey Sense can save it!
Rating: 6 out of 10 stars
