Tag: Yuri Lowenthal

Spider-Man 2 Review: Being Stronger Togethor.

One of my favourite games of 2018 was Insomniac’s Spider-Man.
It felt fantastic to swing around New York as the titular web-swinger, fighting criminals and saving people.
Along with this, the game also had one of my favourite Spider-Man stories put to screen, with the emotional impact of one scene even making me tear up.
The game’s sequel, Miles Morales was also a lot of fun with its new combat features.
So, needless to say, I was incredibly excited for Spider-Man 2, especially with the reveal that the main antagonist would be Venom, my favourite Spider-Man villain from when I was a kid.
Having now completed the game, I can definitely say that Spider-Man 2 was worth the wait.

Spider-Man 2 delivers a strong Symbiote story.

The game centers around the return of Peter Parker’s (Yuri Lowenthal) friend Harry Osborn (Graham Philips).
Supposedly cured of his illness thanks to an entity known as the Symbiote, Harry aims to heal the world with Peter, fulfilling his deceased mother’s dream.
However, this plan has to take a backseat with the arrival of Kraven the Hunter (Jim Pirri), a man who begins capturing and hunting the super powered individuals of New York in the hopes of finding an equal. 

Kraven also has a pretty killer theme.

This leads to the release of Martin Li (Stephen Oyoung), who Miles (Nadji Jeter) pursues to seek justice for his murdered father.
Spider-Man’s intial battles with Kraven also leads to him gaining the Symbiote, as Spider-Man 2 produces its own version of the famous storyline, and does it exceptionally well.
I loved how this game handled the Symbiote’s influence over Peter, with Yuri Lowenthall giving an excellent performance as the corrupted Peter
As for the game’s villains, Kraven is both a big threat and also has an interesting motive, which results in a great ending for him, story-wise.
And then there is Venom (Tony Todd) and, I have got to say, Insomniac knocked it out of the park with their version of him.
Not only is Tony Todd excellent as the voice of Venom, but there are also a lot of great surprises surrounding this depiction, which I will not spoil. 

Venom’s first appearance in the game is epic.

So Peter Parker’s story with the Symbiote suit is excellent, as are the depictions of Kraven and Venom but what about Miles?
Well, his storyline with Martin Li is also one of the best in the entire game, with the way it ends being especially poignant.
Unfortunately, apart from this storyline, Miles does not really have anything interesting going on in this game.
Not to say that the rest of his content was bad, but it did pale in significance to the rest of the story, with Miles feeling just like he was along for the ride in the third act.
This was especially apparent with his role in the final boss fight and the ridiculous looking suit he constructs for no reason. 

This “Miles Morales original” is just hilarious to look at, and not in a good way.

Speaking of boss fights, this is where my review turns back to being positive because the bosses in this game are a massive improvement over the first two.
There are so many great battles in this game, from the Lizard, to Kraven, to Venom.
My two favourites are ones I cannot spoil but, for me, they were the highlights of my playtime;
a playtime which, unfortunately, ceased recently.
While I do love the main story, I personally found the post game content to be kind of lacking compared to the first game.
A lot of the side missions are great but they are pretty easily completed, leaving not much left for me to do, apart from maybe start a new playthrough.

On the plus side, I am confident that a lot of the side missions we get in this game are building to DLC content.

My time with Spider-Man 2 was still a lot of fun though, with a lot of great fighting mechanics and an easy to use leveling up system.
My only criticism surrounding the game’s combat is that it just felt a bit too easy at times.
By the end of my playthrough, I had not died for hours, practically steamrolling every fight with my overpowered abilities, which left little use for stealth.
The only part of the game where stealth is really essential are the Mary-Jane (Laura Bailey) sections, which make their return.
Thankfully these sections are much better than they were in the first game, with one chase scene Mary-Jane has being especially thrilling. 

The Mary-Jane stealth sections are massively improved from Insomniac’s original Spider-Man.

Still, sneaking around as MJ does not even come close to the joy of swinging around New York City as Peter and Miles.
Overall, Spider-Man 2 is a worthy sequel to the first game and Miles Morales.
My only major criticisms are Miles’ role towards the end, the ease of combat, and what feels like a lack of post-game content, although that latter criticism could be fixed with DLC content.
Aside from my criticisms, the game has fun combat (even if it is too easy at times) a great story with compelling villains, and an excellent rendition of the Symbiote storyline.
I look forward to what comes next for Insomniac’s Spider-Man and their eventual Wolverine game.       

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review – A Fun Time in a Short Time.

4 stars
I really enjoyed Insomniac’s 2018 Spider-Man game, which offered some fantastic gameplay, along with a compelling, emotional story and a brand new take on Peter Parker (Yuri Lowenthal).
So, I was pretty excited to get into the next installment, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which sees players take control of Peter’s up and coming protégé, Miles (Nadji Jeter), as he has to save the city on his own when Peter goes on vacation, in what is a shorter experience than the first game but still an enjoyable one.
Now, I really enjoyed Miles as a character in my favourite movie of 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, so I was interested to see how Insomniac would depict him there.
Thankfully, Miles is just as relatable as Peter was in the previous game, offering a completely different arc from his, as Miles has to prove himself as worthy of the Spider-Man title to the rest of New York. 

Miles trying to impress the city as their new hero is an engaging journey.

Not that his efforts will impress J. Jonah Jameson (Darin de Paul), whose hilarious podcasts can still be listened to throughout.
As for the actual story, it is a good time, although nothing new.
The main antagonist of the Tinkerer (Jasmin Savoy Brown) is interesting and has understandable motivations and a great ending to boot.
However, the second antagonist, Simon Krieger (Troy Baker), is a very different story, being generic as they come.

Krieger is an incredibly bland antagonist but the Tinkerer thankfully makes up for him.

The gameplay is just as fun as it was in the first Spider-Man game, with enjoyable combat and stealth sequences and some great boss fights.
As for the web swinging mechanics, they are complemented by the improved graphics.
Speaking of graphics, unfortunately, this is where I have to get into my one problem with the graphics update, which is the new face model for Peter Parker.
I thought the one in the original game was perfect because of how it accurately reflected not only an older version of Peter but also one who we had never seen before.
The new face model, however, claims neither title.
It makes Peter look way too young and, even worse, look exactly like Tom Holland.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Tom Holland.
I do like his portrayal of Spider-Man, but this redesign takes the unique approach to Peter’s look in the first game and replaces it with what feels like an attempt to pander to fans of the MCU.

The redesign was definitely a bad idea because the original look suited this version of Peter better.

It’s like if they went back to the older Spider-Man films and digitally replaced Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield with Tom Holland, it just wouldn’t work because all three actors made the character their own and neither one could take over their exact interpretation.
Thankfully, though, Peter’s new face isn’t shown much and, even if it was, it wouldn’t be bad enough to take away from the overall experience too much because of how enjoyable the rest of the game is.
Overall, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a fun experience that gets you acquainted with another great interpretation of Miles and sets up some interesting events in the next game, if the post credits scene is anything to go by.