The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game TALK
Be warned, the following blog post may contain mild spoilers and will contain strong language. You have been warned, and either way, I hope you enjoy this post. I may not make total sense, but my feelings were very strong at the time of writing this and I just needed to get those out as quickly as possible.
I had every single intention of making this post a review. I outlined the original post as such. Had a structure and idea of the way it would unfold, plus I even had a ‘final thoughts’ section and rating…because people like that. HOWEVER, during that planning stage I decided a review would be me bashing this game for most of it and a discussion was more in order.
Calling this a discussion though implies that more than one person is involved in the post, and since not many people comment, I couldn’t even call it a discussion. So now I’ve settled on ‘talk’. Don’t get me wrong, not many people comment, but plenty of you read my blog posts. Trust me, I’ve seen the figures and I’m very grateful indeed.
So let me begin this ‘talk’ by explaining my reason for this blog post. I’ve never been one to shy away from talking about anything, except politics, and when it comes to Spider-Man and all things related, I have strong feelings.
If you have the chance, go ahead and read my review on the movie. It doesn’t have much to do with this blog post, but I just wanted to plug it. Now that that’s out of the way, this game. This bland and very boring game. This clearly last generation video game ported over to PS4 and Xbox One. This superhero game that at times as Spider-Man in very different locations, yet makes me feel like an insect in a glass. This game that takes ideas and trends from other video games and puts them here without trying anything different. This game with feels like a remake of a game from over ten years ago that hasn’t done much different, or BETTER, to make me pay full price for it. This game which treat Spider-Man a little better than he has in the past, but powers him down to standard human strength. This game with so of the most generic voice over work in the last five years, just slightly better than the original Resident Evil on PSone.
FUCK THIS GAME.
And yes I’m serious. Oh god I hate this game. Its one of those game that I clearly don’t like because of all the reasons mentioned above. Its boring and repetitive…its nothing else really. Boring covers the story. Voice work and graphics. Repetitive covers the style of game play and everything else.
I have so many thoughts on this game and yet all I can think of is the few fun things found within. Like the web swinging. Yeah…thats fun. Just before I was hunched over on a flag pole about 18 stories off the city streets. On my map I noticed my a police car driving past with sirens blaring. At first I was just going to admire the view some more and let the cops do their job, but I thought what the heck.
With the press of a button, I fired off a web, and began to swing around the corner of the building heading toward the police car. Another press from a different button and I fired off another web. Momentum was quickly building. I angled myself with each web fired and I released the web after each swing. The sound of the siren continued on, and then I jumped off a building wall and landed on the roof of the police car – cut to a scene of the police car joining a car chase – and Spider-Man is on the roof of the last cop car. And button press and I land, very firmly, on the roof of the escaping vehicle. Inside is a hostage surrounded by gunman. I take them out by dodging and weaving bullets eventually saving the hostage…this was fun.
You see, for all the many MANY things The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game fucks up, it does a few things right. Web swinging has never felt better. Not perfect yet, but a major leap over the previous game in the serious. No buildings, no swinging. This game will force you to swing low near cars and public transport as you hear the rushing winds around you. Plus you even get, FINALLY, two different buttons for web swinging. Left and right triggers (both consoles) fire webs in each direction. Doesn’t seem like a game changer, but can be really fun when you go for that movie style feel.
Then we come to the extra costumes found within the game. By completing side missions, Spider-Man finds technology he can use to build new suits. At least 7 are included and each comes with its own stats and levelling up system. Adds a little something and encourages use of each suit.
What really lets this game down…oh man, is the combat. When the Batman Arkham series came around years ago, developer Rocksteady pulled off the combat perfectly. One button for attack and another to dodge. Seemed like the perfect system to clone and use in every single video game from here on, which has been many times.
Sadly though, its never been pulled off as well as it could be especially when it seems so suited to Spider-Man games. I mean in the Arkham series, the whole spider-sense tingle icon even appears above the head which this game uses. At least here it has a reason, but its never done as well. One button attack and one dodge. Yet out of the 10 times I’ve used the dodge button, it only works about half the time. WHY? Combat is a major part of this game. MAJOR part. You would think Beenox (developer) would fine tune the combat after STEALING it off the Arkham series. Its not hard guys.
Maybe the fucked up dodging only took place with one controller, so I tried another one…STILL THERE. SHIT.
Apart from combat, which is ALWAYS the same thing over and over, this game as the same four archetypes at use here. The standard thug, the fast thug, the big brute and the armoured up thugs. Each is recycled over and over and over and over and over and over again. Maybe they had a baseball bat instead of a knife. Or maybe a laser gun instead of a rifle. But each time is the same fucking thing.
The graphics next…holy fuck. Since when did a sequel in a series take a step back in graphical power? This game actually looks worse than the first in the series. Sure, Spider-Man looks highly detailed in his trusty red and blue…but change his suit and the textures look bland as hell. Everything and I mean that, EVERYTHING looks so washed out. I thought at times the colour on my LED LCD TV was going….but nope, it was just this game. And no, it wasn’t when I was using my spider-sense within the game. Characters models…oh shit, I’m laughing right now writing this, the models of each person in this game look like they’ve been lifted from the original, way back in 2002, Spider-Man 2 video game. Sure they’ve been given a polygon increased and HD mix, but they all look that boring. Lip Syncing….fuck it, Beenox has chosen to make everything seem delayed. I mean why lip sync when Spider-Man wears a mask?!?
HAHA very funny, but when it comes to other characters, they just don’t match up.
HERO or MENACE…this must be a fucking joke. I heard about this system months before released and decided it will either be a good addition or crap. It couldn’t be anything in between. The way this system works is that during the game, random side missions will pop up. If you choose to ignore them, Spider-Man will be looked on as a Menace. You will be given points and that meter on the screen fills up. If you go ahead and complete the side mission successfully, you’re praised as a Hero and people will love you more. PROBLEMS arise right away. You see, you’re never given a time frame with these side missions. They appear on the map, and if you decide to complete another mission before, the first one will flash red and eventually time out. BAM FUCKER!!! You’re now a menace.
Seems easy right…okay so you go ahead and follow a fire truck to a burning building. Using your spider-sense, you locate people inside the smoke and fire filled building and save them. Oh cool, right? WRONG. The controls during indoor segments of this game are so terrible, that you’ll either be unable to find your way inside the building, or once you get in, be unable to save the people. Even if you do manage to save some of the people, you’re still branded a menace. Well fuck me.
So if you’re like me, I ignored all the burning buildings and focus on the other side missions, only problem is, each time you complete them and basic NEWS feed appears on screen completely ruining the feeling of quick movement this game has. Stops you dead in your tracks and you’re forced to hear this crap feed with a frozen screen…it just doesn’t feel right at all.
I’m getting angry now.
Toward the beginning of this post I mentioned that at times you feel like an insect in a glass container. Never has this been more true then when you’re forced into story missions where you’re (not always) forced to take down thug after thug. You can freely swing around, because in these sections, your webs are free to stick to anything…clouds I guess. FUCKING CLOUDS. Hey Beenox, I thought we moved past that.
Stealth in this game doesn’t always work. More often than not, its luck that you can stealth takedown a thug, and luck they don’t spot you. Then there are other times when the thug AI is so stuffed up, they don’t noticed you beside them This gameplay also falls back on the boss battles.
BORING. Sadly this game is boring. Web swinging is fun, and that will make you enjoy it, but when you just want to swing around the city, and get branded a Menace for ignoring terrible side missions, you can’t even enjoy that. Have I mentioned the task force? Don’t think I have. The task force are like the cops in GTA games. Continue being a menace and the task force will come after you. Later on, they even set up electric traps to block you web swinging…NOT FUCKING FUN AT ALL.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game could’ve been a fun game, but it feels like a rushed movie game, not a well made superhero game. Avoid it. At all costs. I paid full price for this game so you wouldn’t have too. Trust me…I’m your friendly neighbourhood blog poster.
Truthfulnerd 