No video game is perfect. Whether it is a narrative masterpiece like The Last of Us and its sequel or a title with inventive gameplay like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, there is always legitimate criticism to be leveled at every release. Some fans will take issue with bugs, particularly weak level design, lacking boss fights, and so on. However, not all criticism is justified, even if it is seen regularly. One perfect example of this is being seen with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and it is not the first time that it has appeared.
Just like fellow PlayStation exclusive God of War Ragnarok, some players across the internet are taking issue with a handful of animations being reused. However, when stopping to look at why those animations are being reused and thinking about the narrative of each game, this particular criticism falls flat. Though Marvel's Spider-Man 2 could end up having some problems that are worthy of being brought up, this one feels like a stretch.
God of War Ragnarok and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Reusing Animations Makes Sense
In the case of God of War Ragnarok, a small group of vocal gamers complained about how Kratos threw his Leviathan axe in the same way that he did in God of War 2018, with similar complaints about how he entered boats cropping up. However, both of these things made sense. Not only did it allow Santa Monica to spend time and resources on content that mattered - like new enemies and the Draupnir spear - while also getting the game out to players more quickly, but Kratos has no reason to throw the axe differently when his current tactic gets the job done just fine. Similarly, someone who has been entering and exiting boats one way for years is not going to suddenly change the way they move within them.
The same logic applies to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. With the original game and its spin-off Spider-Man: Miles Morales perfecting web-swinging, it makes little sense to waste time reinventing the wheel. Instead, Insomniac Games would be better off adding new features and fixing the few things that did not work - something that the studio is clearly doing. Web-swinging speed has been greatly increased thanks to player feedback, while requested features like web wings and web launches are also confirmed for the upcoming release.
Beyond that, just like it makes sense for a veteran warrior like Kratos to fight the same way, it makes sense for an experienced Peter Parker to swing around like he does in the 2018 release. The moment players take control of Peter in Insomniac’s game, they are stepping into the boots of a Spidey who has been fighting crime for quite a while and has long since mastered the art of web swinging. As such, he is likely comfortable with his style of swinging, so while some extra tricks and maneuvers can be added, it would be odd to change up his swinging too much. Instead, any new animations should go to Miles, who is still finding himself as a hero.
In general, complaints about reused assets for sequels are odd, as few players would like to see games take longer to release just for a couple extra animations. Ultimately, though they look nice, they add nothing to the gameplay itself. After all, some of Elden Ring’s animations feel like ones FromSoftware has been using for over a decade, and the game did not suffer from it in the slightest. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a similar case, as its reused assets did not stop Nintendo from achieving greatness.
While there is no telling how Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will turn out, it is hard to imagine Peter’s similar swinging holding the game back in a major way. Just like God of War Ragnarok’s ridiculous boat criticism, the complaints about reused animations in Insomniac’s latest game feel like an odd push for some unnecessary innovation. Sometimes, iterative sequels are just fine, as games like God of War 2018 and Marvel’s Spider-Man got nearly everything right on their first go. Simply improving on that groundwork makes much more sense than trying to fix what isn’t broken.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is scheduled to release in Fall 2023 for PS5.
