Highlights
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2 received positive reviews and was a successful game, but lacks endgame content.
- Gotham Knights, despite its mixed reception, has a game mode called Heroic Assault that could solve Spider-Man 2's endgame problem.
- Implementing a similar mode in Spider-Man 2, with wave-based battles, stealth sections, and boss fights, could provide some proper-post-game challenges for players. It could also offer exclusive suit styles as rewards for progressing.
As indicated by its high review scores and impressive sales, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has been a massive success for Insomniac Games. A great story, improved combat and traversal, and can’t-miss side content all make it a game worth playing to 100% completion. Unfortunately, the one big downside of the title is that there is not much to do once that goal is reached, and with Insomniac trimming the fat, players could be done with the game sooner than they like. Fortunately, another superhero game holds the answer to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s endgame woes: Gotham Knights.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 ’s new game plus update should help alleviate this problem somewhat. However, while the added replayability will be nice, more endgame content is still something that players want to see.
Admittedly, Gotham Knights was far from the most successful superhero title. An awkward story, an interesting-but-repetitive gameplay loop, and clunky traversal for heroes like Batgirl were just some of the problems the game faced, leading to a mixed critical and player reception. The game's poor performance did not help matters, as it resulted in a painfully slow batcycle, frame rate problems, and other issues. However, there were good things to be found in Gotham Knights, with a prime example being its Heroic Assault game mode. It is this mode that could help greatly with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s big post-game problem.
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Heroic Assault Gave Gotham Knights Players a Lot More to Do
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Take on Heroic Assault Would Need Very Few Changes
Beyond some balancing adjustments to make the mode feel fair to those playing solo, while also taking into consideration the lack of a gear system, Heroic Assault in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 could essentially work just like it did in Gotham Knights. In Heroic Assault, players choose a floor to fight on, and then they take out large waves of enemies in a handful of rooms to complete the floor. Each room offers a different objective to complete, with players needing to defend a certain area, escort a payload, and so on. Stealth opportunities are available to players in certain rooms on the floor, which would be a must for a Spider-Man 2 version since the game did not use its stealth mechanics enough.
Heroic Assault also offered boss battles every five floors, rewarding players with a challenging fight against a named villain from Gotham Knights’ main story. This is another thing that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 could borrow, as players could fight Mysterio on floor 5, Lizard on floor 10, and so on. While rewards would have to be a bit different since players would not be looting chests full of mods and gear, Insomniac Games could allow players to unlock exclusive suits in the mode instead, with a new Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 suit style unlocked every five floors after beating a boss. Ultimately, Heroic Assault is the perfect mode for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, as it instantly fixes the problems of limited stealth sections and no tough endgame fights.
Why a Heroic Assault Mode For Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Just Makes Sense
While adding a big new mode like Heroic Assault may seem like a bit too much work for Insomniac Games, as the studio has its hands full with Marvel’s Wolverine and other Marvel projects, there are a few things that make it seem like a viable option. First, free DLC has leaked for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 already, and assuming that the Beetle-focused content has not been scrapped, its existence indicates a plan to support the latest Spider-Man title after launch. Additionally, PlayStation exclusives are no stranger to free and paid updates, whether it be The Last of Us 2 Remastered’s No Return or God of War Ragnarok’s Valhalla content. If Santa Monica can add an entire roguelike with meaningful story content to Ragnarok in a free update, a wave-based Spider-Man 2 mode seems viable.
