The Absolute State of Spooderman 2: This Story Sucks

 

Full disclosure: I have not played this game. I don't own a PS5 and I don't intend to. I'm a PC Gamer by nature, so consoles just aren't for me - the Nintendo Switch that I own notwithstanding. I was however really hyped for this game and had hopes for it to improve upon the mechanics and narrative of the first. Judging by what I've seen from an 8+ hour playthrough by Gamer's Little Playground, I was not all that impressed. There are certainly some great additions that offer more freedom of movement; the web lines, and web wings specifically. And the in-game world is huge when compared to the first game. However, it still suffers from the same issues that were and are prevalent in a lot of open-world style games. Collectibles aplenty, lotta challenges, plenty of NPCs with some minor interactivity, etc, etc. None of that's bad, per se, but it's hardly anything to celebrate.

As far as things like the mechanics and combat, I'm not going to opine on that until I play this game on PC for when I eventually do a proper review. Hence, why this is not a Dank Clank Reviews post. So why am I even talking about a game I haven't even played then you might ask? Well, if Rags (member of the podcast Every Frame a Pause - EFAP) can judge the story of Last of Us Part 2 without having to play the it, why can't I? So, fuck it. Let's talk about the story of Marvel's Spooderman 2: Electric Boogaloo...

To put it bluntly: this story is bad. I was considering it a mixed bag at first, but time has not been kind to Marvel's Spooderman 2 as I've been picking apart a multitude of things. Not just plot stuff, but creative decisions that baffle me. And I'm not even talking about the whole Harry Osborn being Venom. To be perfectly honest, I've never been a Venom fan. Even in the comics, Eddie Brock/Venom's motive for hating Spider-Man was always weak. Which is why I tend to prefer how The Animated Series and later Spectacular Spider-Man approached the character. Turning Harry into Venom doesn't bother me. It's honestly one of the few things this game does that I genuinely like. Much in the same way I liked the story with Peter and Otto in the last game. Even if it does draw plot elements from the worst Spider-Man film (TASM2). Somehow, they managed to make it more palpable for this game's story.

Not so much for the B and C plots though, sadly...

The B plot involving Miles Morales has some potential. But it comes off as under-cooked. The idea of Miles going on a revenge trip against Mr. Negative - he was the one who killed his father in a failed attempt to assassinate Norman Osborn - isn't a bad idea for his character arc. However, the execution is really weak. In one particular moment of the story, we see Miles confront Mr. Negative after he had attempted to save him from Kraven's Hunters. There was hesitation on Miles's part because he obviously has unresolved emotions from the loss of his father. And seeing the man responsible for his father's death sets him on a potentially dark path. Perhaps mirroring Peter's own fall into darkness. While Miles is mad-dogging Mr. Negative, Peter's busy trying to save a bunch of people from sliding down a collapsing dock and into a spinning blade of a sinking ship. Peter's screaming Miles's name, but Miles is too distracted by Mr. Negative's presence. Eventually, Miles snaps out of it and helps Peter save the day. Leaving Kraven's Hunters to get away with a captured Mr. Negative.

Now I had assumed the next scene following these events would address this moment in some way. Y'know, Peter rightfully chastises Miles for almost getting him and innocent civvies killed. Miles gets defensive, but Peter stands firm in the fact that Miles needs to be held responsible for his nearly lethal mistake. And Miles's story from then on is his him struggling with his selfish desire for revenge and his responsibilities. However, the troglodytes writing this dreck don't do that. Instead we get Peter positively affirming Miles and then we move right along. What, does Miles need to join a gun club before Peter says anything critical about him?

This scene damn near had me put a fist through the wall. The plot never holds Miles accountable for this event. The most we get is "Revenge bad, m'kay?" from his Uncle Aaron and his mom. He never learns from it in any meaningful way. He just meanders around forgoing his responsibilities to play Spider-Man until it's time to fight Mr. Negative.

Let's contrast that piss poor excuse of a scene with one from Spider-Man: Homecoming. Remember when Peter tried to take on the Vulture and his goons and the chaos of the fight resulted in a ferry being cut in half? Peter tries his damnedest to save everyone but is instead saved by the timely arrival of Iron Man. Who in the following scene rips into Peter for his actions. He scolds Peter for going behind his back and defying his explicit instructions to let the professionals handle Vulture's arms dealers. And that his presence on the ferry made the situation worse and almost got himself and others killed. Tony's entire goal with mentoring Peter is for him to be better than he was. He acts like any father figure would. He's furious with Peter's because it comes from a sense of wanting what's best for him. He would consider himself a failure if Peter went on to be like him. Hence, why he takes away the suit and expels Peter from the Avengers Initiative.

The writers behind Spider-Man: Homecoming understood consequences. And it's from those consequences that the basis for the film's climax occurs. Peter realizes that he doesn't need the new suit or Tony's recognition to be Spider-Man. He does what he does because it's the right thing to do. He goes on to confront Adrian Toomes in his homemade suit, and by the skin of his teeth he manages to win the day. Proving himself as a hero and earning Tony's respect. Even declining an invitation to join the Avengers because he knew he wasn't ready yet. That he's still learning and has room to improve. To be better.

This game's narrative does a major disservice to Miles and the potential his character has. Apart from his resolution with Mr. Negative - which honestly isn't terrible, he has very little going on that stands out. He's just there. And the moments of significance he does have, are either poorly written or impede on moments that belong to other characters. Which leads us into the Symbiote Saga...

Now the first three quarters of the Symbiote Saga is serviceable. But the events leading to and the finale itself is frustrating as fuck. Because the writers did not have to make it this way. What do I mean? Well let's start at the point after the Black Suit takes Peter's body for a joyride. Peter sees the article written by MJ. Where it makes the accusation that Spider-Man was causing unnecessary collateral damage in his pursuit of the Lizard. An article that to him, likely bears a haunting resemblance to the ones previously written and published by J. Jonah Jameson. Only this was written by his girlfriend. Now I'm gonna skip past MJ's absurd notion that Peter's involvement caused more collateral damage than necessary. Because really the damage wasn't any worse than when Mr. Negative was driving an armored truck through streets a year and a half ago. And Peter's involvement stopped a bad situation from becoming worse. Moreso now in the case of the Lizard now that he has a significant power boost with the Black Suit. No, we'll let that shit go. Instead, let's talk about how much the writers like to use characters to express viewpoints they deem to be toxic.

When Peter is confronted by MJ over the Symbiote's antics from the night before, while also having to defend her article to Peter, Peter then retaliates by saying "I'm the hero here. Not you." Which is the writer(s) showing their hand a bit. My read on the story is that Insomniac's intentions for their take on the Symbiote Saga is to use it to portray Peter Parker as the jaded and disgruntled Spider-Man fan. The fans they see as being toxic. The fans who don't like the token replacement of Miles Morales and prefer Spider-Man stay Peter Parker. Because Peter Parker is Spider-Man. And Miles Morales is Miles Morales. Hell, later in the story Peter even diminishes himself further when he says to Miles "Why would this city need someone like me, when it has you." After Peter begins to descend further into the thrall of the Symbiote, you'll hear him angrily spout off lines that on the surface are meant to portray the Symbiote's influence on Peter's personality, but those lines take on a different meaning when looked at as a whole picture. Much like with Miguel O'Hara in Miles Morales: Across REFERENCE-LAND, the writer(s) essentially cast Peter as the antagonist who in their minds is everything they dislike. But in reality, is just the person with the better argument to their non-existent one. 

When Peter has beaten Kraven and is primed to kill him, Miles confronts him, which leads into a three phased bossfight. Where you play as Miles fighting Peter... who's wearing the Black Suit... a suit that historically makes him strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the entirety of the Sinister Six, and even the Avengers. As if that wasn't bad enough, the moment where Miles is able to "save" Peter by getting him to reject the Symbiote completely robs Peter of his agency. In every incarnation of this story, Peter's the one who realizes what the suit is doing to him. In Spectacular Spider-Man, it took Flash Thompson of all people to be the voice of truth to shake Peter's self awareness. To which he then realized what the suit was doing to him. In Spider-Man 3, he gets into a bar fight and strikes MJ by accident when she tries to stop him from hurting someone. The sudden realization of what he's done horrifies him enough to get rid of the Black Suit. In Marvel's Spooderman 2, it's all Miles. Because he's just oh so special. He beats Peter when by every metric he shouldn't be able to and gets him to reject the suit. This is beyond lame.

This sequence of events would've carried more weight if, as I mentioned before, they hadn't botched Miles's whole revenge plot line. Like, imagine if Peter berating Miles for his mistake is what pushed them apart. Peter acts as Miles's mentor in a similar way Tony Stark was to Peter in Homecoming. But here, Miles gets defensive and storms off. Leaving the two at an impasse. Miles goes off on his own and pursues Kraven's Hunters to find Mr. Negative. He starts to become visibly agitated and more obsessive as time wears on. Even pushing away Ganke and his girlfriend. You have Miles join Peter in their pursuit of the Lizard, only for Miles to realize that something is off with Peter, as is the case with the vanilla version of the game. Then when the Symbiote starts going crazy and trying to kill MJ you have Miles run to her rescue. Because even if he's on bad terms with him and no longer sees him as his mentor, he still cares about Peter. Then you follow with his capture by the Hunters. He fights Mr. Negative only to realize that revenge is a hollow pursuit. And that it won't bring him peace. Then, Peter shows up with the Black Suit to kill Kraven. Only, instead of a bullshit three phased bossfight, give us the option of who to play. If you can switch between Peter and Miles in-game beforehand, why not here? Either way, it should end with a cutscene of Peter mopping the floor with Miles. Miles is beaten and near death and is about to be dealt the killing blow by Peter, only then he hesitates. Perhaps Peter sees through broken lenses of Miles's mask showing the terror in his eyes. This shakes Peter to his core and he finally has that lowest point realization of what he's done. What he almost did. This would've given a greater emphasis to Peter taking time off - at least until the next game's story where it's obvious Doc Ock is going to return along with presumably the introduction of this universe's Green Goblin. Because then he's doing so not just because his best friend almost died, that shit happens all the time in the comics and yet he's still Spider-Man. He never needed a "break" then. Because his calling his to be Spider-Man. That's the entire point of the whole responsibility ethos. But we need to shuffle Peter off to make room for his more politically correct replacement. So any old excuse will do.

Honestly, all that's required is another draft of the script. I'm an idea guy. So seeing wasted potential like this is incredibly disappointing. You could've used the internal conflict of a mentor and mentee and you draw drama from it. Instead you go with this facial "equals" crap. Peter and Miles are not equals. Peter has far more experience and is already Miles's tutor anyway. Why wouldn't that apply to the superheroics? I shouldn't have to tell what are supposedly professional writers how to... y'know, WRITE a better story.

The C plot I honestly couldn't care less about. But I wanna focus on one specific event from it.

After Harry's reclaimed the Symbiote and becomes Venom - which they never explain why they call themselves that, because the name is supposed to be a reference to Eddie Brock's time writing trash tabloids "spitting venom" because Spider-Man cost him his job, but I digress, he confronts Peter and MJ. Then forces a Symbiote onto MJ turning her into Scream. Who honestly looks more attractive than her human form. Or the Insomniac writer whose face was plastered over hers. A fight between Peter and Scream ensues. Now personally, I actually thought the sequence was fine. It's honing in on a similar idea that Spider-Man 3 did with MJ becoming more bitter and resentful towards Peter's successes and her own personal failings. Now you have the added addition of an alien Symbiote fashioning those feelings into skewer-like words to stab Peter with. Figuratively and literally. What ruins the whole thing though is Peter's spinelessness. This was a problem with the first game too, but at least it was brief. Here? It's even worse. Peter is just a wet blanket who doesn't stand up for himself or criticize others (unless they happen to own and operate a gun club). His method of reasoning with MJ/Scream is to self-depreciate. And this continues into the eventual fight with Venom at Midtown High. Hearing Yuri Lowenthal's vocal performance during these moments where he's whining about how sorry he is and that he should've been better just made me want to puke. I'm surprised he doesn't make up a whip to flog himself for being white as well.

Not that I should have to do this, because actual fans worth their salt should know this, but this spineless simp ain't Peter Parker. In the comics, Peter knew his worth. He didn't take any undue shit from anyone. And when he did genuinely fuck up, he owned up to it and learned from it. Insomniac Peter Parker is just a mopey little Spider-Simp. And that sucks, because even despite all the problems the first games's story had, they didn't fuck up so bad to the point where Peter Parker stopped being himself. Here, he's either simping for Mary Jaws Jane, affirming Miles like the good ally he is, or getting bent over by the writer(s) so they can take potshots at fans.

The story overall is bad. I could spend more time pulling apart other aspects of it. Like how smart is a scientist to stick their hand in an unknown alien substance (what, did Damon Lindeloff take over writing for a minute)? Why is it that the Sanctum Sanctorum doesn't have a magical security system or alarms in place for when thieves are present? Where are the police when aliens start crawling out of the woodwork and take over the city? And where the hell are the Avengers? Don't tell me they're busy, because that'd be awfully convenient for the plot to just have Easter eggs that acknowledge them but never involve their presence. At least in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows they had some Avengers present who took part in the story. Insomniac just rips off a major plot element from Web of Shadows and doesn't even consider the implications. But don't worry, they lampshade it by making a cute reference to the intro sequence at Chameleon's apartment with a piano. And don't even get me started on the inclusion of the Anti-Venom Suit. Because that introduces a host of problems none of the hacks at Insomniac thought about before including it.

 

And if the ending is anything to go by, that diminishing of Peter Parker isn't likely to end anytime soon. I can see Insomniac adapting dogshit like The Death of Spider-Man from USM just to drive that knife a little deeper. Any writer that has to prop up one character by shitting on another is a bad writer. Full stop. The first Spider-Verse movie didn't have to do that (they saved that for the shitty sequel). If that's the direction for the third game, then I wash my hands of this series. Insomniac may say that Miles is their "Spider-Man" going forward, but one look at the sales for the overpriced DLC that was the Spider-Man: Miles Morales game will solidify why that strategy is financial sepuku.

Until the day I eventually review the game itself, the story for Marvel's Spooderman 2: Electric Boogaloo gets You're Trash, Brock out of ten.