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Oct 20, 2023 · Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, return for an exciting new adventure in Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise for PS5. Swing, jump and utilize the new Web Wings to travel across Marvel’s New York, quickly switching between Peter Parker and Miles Morales to experience different stories and epic new powers, as the iconic villain Venom ...
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Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, return for an...
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Spider-Man is an incredibly confident sequel and one of...
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Spider-Man is an incredibly confident sequel and one of 2023's best. Incredibly fun to play, fast-paced and full of heart, it takes the best of the Spider-Man lore, and the best of Insomniac's penchant for excellent gameplay sequences, and combines them for arguably the best Marvel game ever. Read More.
- Comparing Fidelity, Performance, and VRR-enhanced modes on PlayStation 5.
- What mode will you play Spider-Man 2 in?
- What We Said About Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- Score: 8
- Summary
- IGN Recommends
By Michael Thompson
Posted: Oct 16, 2023 9:59 pm
As Spider-Man 2 swings onto PS5 in the third Insomniac game, the shackles are off on the technological baseline now that there’s no PS4 version to support. Traversal speed is more than twice the previous maximum, with you able to literally fly around New York like a spider bat. Miles and Peter can now catapult themselves, cannonball style, through the skies like Sonic, and yet it never causes issues on the PS5’s blistering memory and SSD speeds, allowing it to stream in even higher traffic, building, and pedestrian density. Water has been a key improvement over the prior games, with full geometric surface bodies now morphing and wrapping around boats and characters and playing a bigger role in the city interaction, your traversal, and even some key action scenes.
Ray tracing is not only improved, with reflection quality and materials increased over the previous remasters, but they are also integral to the art design and are enabled in both performance and fidelity modes. Those same water bodies now use a mix of ray tracing and cube maps rather than the old SSR solution, amplifying water quality significantly. Many of the updates we saw in the remaster are here, such as the AI-generated muscle deformation system which significantly improves suit animations and provides more human shapes and tension; also, that’s a key aspect for Venom’s morphing powers. This remains a consistently impressive effect as it’s incorporated into combat skills throughout your play.
Two Is Better Than One - Modes of Play
With PS4 out of the equation we see two modes: Fidelity is the default and remains the showcase with its capped 30fps frame rate and dynamic resolution scaling, often being close to 4K, with the low point being a counted 3200x1800p. Character models, facial animation, and emotional nuance are all improved – an evolution of the previous games, not a revolution – but when your baseline looks this good you are not in dire need of one. Insomniac's own hair spline technology has been improved far more though, with Peter, Mary Jane, and Miles hair having more bounce and body than a Baywatch episode. MJ is the star of the show though, with her hair volume and physics being amongst the best. She has several wardrobe changes throughout the story, and yet clipping is almost non-existent. Complemented by more RT reflections than a cutlery drawer, the physics-based rendering (PBR) materials still balance the line between the Uncanny Valley well. This makes the 30fps cap a much easier pill to swallow, aided by an improved per-pixel motion blur.
Fidelity mode (30fps)
Fidelity VRR (50fps)
Performance mode (60fps)
Performance VRR (70fps)
Unlocking The Potential
As before, Insomniac have not stopped here: 120Hz screen owners are offered a 40fps fidelity mode, halving the gap between 30 and 60, with 25ms frame time being exactly in the middle. It loses none of the quality but gains even higher performance. Variable rate refresh (VRR) screens are also catered to, pushing the Fidelity mode to a new maximum of 50fps, with a more aggressive dynamic resolution. Scale employed sacrificing a slightly lower base for sometimes 66% higher frame rates, although often 40+ is the readout.
As a sequel in a spectacular series, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is both blessed and cursed. Its story of two Spider-Men is a great time and a Spidey fan’s dream to play through as comic book pages are brought to life, elegantly walking the tightrope between light humour and heavier themes. Meanwhile, Insomniac refines a successful formula of combat and ...
Read the full Marvel's Spider-Man 2 review
Performance in Fidelity – and even 40fps Fidelity mode – is largely a locked affair aside from small dips in cutscene switches and some minor stutter between shots. The unlocked mode is great, but a VRR screen is required as the variable rate improves input latency, and due to the 60 to 70fps range it is a small but noticeable boost on player control and fluidity.
Building on the Amazing
Some rougher edges do remain. Alpha effects can have mixed results and quality, specifically in smoke. Ray traced geometry is largely great, but some obvious low triangle count and bugs can crop up within the BVH proxy objects, and incidental buildings and textures can vary in quality, although the speed at which all of this hurtles past makes them a minor blemish.
Some of the excellent animation and facial expression can look a little odd on occasion.
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Spider-Man 2 is, on paper, the perfect sequel. It takes all of the elements that made the first games so much fun and builds and improves on them. Bigger battles, improved ray tracing, wider story choices, more flamboyant combat, dual characters, improved visuals, staggeringly fast and dense city travel are all excellent. The sheer wow factor it de...
Oct 16, 2023 · Marvel's Spider-Man 2 delivers Insomniac's best tale yet, and despite its open world falling short, is a reliably fun superhero power trip.
- Simon Cardy
Oct 16, 2023 · The Verge gives a positive review of Spider-Man 2, a PS5 game that features two spider-men, Peter and Miles, and a variety of villains and missions. The game is praised for its story, combat, and web-slinging, but criticized for its side quests and repetition.
- 1 min
- Andrew Webster
Oct 16, 2023 · Pros. A visual, sensory, experiential PS5 showcase. Bigger but not bloated open world that’s a joy to traverse. Excellent storytelling that resonates. Refined fast-paced combat with even more Spidey powers. Cons. Some late-game difficulty spikes and mechanics. Introduction.
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Oct 16, 2023 · Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is a constant joy and a pleasure to play, with some of the most meaningful side missions in the open world genre and enjoyable combat that only gets better as you gather...
