The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Developed by Beenox
Published by Activision
*This is Maximum Carnage*
The Story:
The game takes place 2 years after the death of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben in the events of The Amazing Spider-Man and sees Peter trying to find his Uncle’s murderer however after he finds the killer; A sinister chain of events gets set into motion including An Oscorp worker called Max Dillon, Old Friend Harry Osbourne, Wilson Fisk; A Wealthy Man rumored to be the crime kingpin of New York City & The Mysterious Carnage Killer who prays on the criminals of New York. With this, Peter must don his Spider-Man costume and prepare for his greatest battle yet.
The Gameplay:
The gameplay in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is very similar to that of The Amazing Spider-Man with a few added differences. One of the new features is the web swinging which requires both the L2 & R2 buttons (on PS4) to be pressed and this gives you a feel of how Spider-Man would swing above the streets of New York City giving the buttons even balancing. Also returning for the first time since Spider-Man 2/3 is the Peter Parker missions in which you have to take photographs for the Daily Bugle and commute in conversations to try and dig the dirt out of heavy hitters such as Kingpin & Kraven. Also returning from the first Amazing Spider-Man is the upgrades system which allows you to increase the powers of your web attacks aswell as the easiness of performing close combat combos. The game does feature plenty of fun bosses however some of the bosses such as Green Goblin & Electro are lackluster when compared to the movie battles and they also change the canon of the story arc which it’s supposed to follow. In addition to this with the exception of a few bosses such as Kingpin; The combat feels slightly repetitive. Finally when it comes to gameplay; I have to mention the Hero or Menace meter which basically shows how the city sees you based on your actions which can only be kept up by playing mini-missions such as rescuing citizens from Burning Buildings or Stopping Car Chases which become repetitive very quickly. The worst part about this Hero or Menace system is the fact that you can’t even play the main missions without it making you a Menace which makes the game more annoying because multiple enemies hunt you when your a menace as the game proceeds.
The Sound:
The score in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is actually not that good with there not really being many memorable moments to mention. The voice acting is decent with Sam Riegel reprising his role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker from the first Amazing Spider-Man game however I don’t feel he performed to his full potential like he did in the first game where he was more jokey and sarcastic yet kept that serious element that Spider-Man is well known for where as Spider-Man/Peter is not exactly funny in this game and actually seems quite whiny. Steve Blum voiced Kraven the Hunter and perfected everything as the russian immigrant who comes to New York to take part in the greatest hunt of them all. While the other voice actors were great there is too many to mention individually but I will name one more in particular in the form of Stan “The Man” Lee who cameos as a fictionalized version of himself.
The Graphics:
The graphics in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 differ as the locations in the game such as the huge open world New York City & the secret hideouts and buildings you must enter look incredible with highly realistic imagery where as the characters look more cartoony and like they have appeared straight out of a graphic novel. Both look great and I feel the two different graphic styles really complement the game.
Lasting Appeal:
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has plenty of different things to keep playing for such as fully upgrading spidey’s moves, collecting all the costumes and leveling them all up, playing the arcade training in Stan’s Comic Book Shop and of course, Collecting all of the comic book pages hidden across New York.
Final Thoughts:
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a good game but overall a disappointment compared to the previous entry in the series. All in all, Pretty OK but could have been much more better.
My Score = 6.5/10
The Good:
- Voice Acting is Decent
- Gameplay is very Familiar
- Stealth Mechanics
- Plenty of Collectables
- Different Graphic Styles Complement each other
- Stan “The Man” Lee
The Bad:
- The Story messes up the Story Canon of the film
- Boss Fights get Repetitive
- Hero or Menace Mechanics
- Whiny Peter Parker/Spider-Man
- Non- Memorable Soundtrack
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is available now from all good retailers. Thanks go to Activision for Supplying the Assets used in this review. Be sure to let me know what you thought of the review in the comments section below and be sure to stay tuned to UGNN for all your gaming news and reviews and remember to follow us on WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Reddit & YouTube.
Review by Matt McNamee