Miles Morales having a standalone spin-off in Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise was a great way for it to introduce its new Spider-Man and acquaint fans with his unique abilities. This Spider-Man was more than deserving of his own starring protagonist role regardless of how prominent Miles may be now with Spider-Verse fame, and it only makes sense to see those gameplay additions honored with him as a second playable protagonist in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Now that both Spider-Men will be playable in the same single-player experience, it will be interesting to see how their respective gameplay, gadgets, and skills complement each other. Because there will be moments when players press a button to swap instantly to the other Spider-Man, let alone swapping to the other Spider-Man after a cutscene, the two protagonists will need to share a somewhat similar control scheme. However, their approaches to combat might be oriented differently.
Peter’s Symbiote Suit Might Make Him a Brutal Brawler
If Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s elaborate gameplay reveal is any indication of what playing as Peter Parker may largely encompass, the symbiote suit is likely to make the original wall-crawler an offense-heavy powerhouse. It might be absurd to predict that this will be the only gameplay Peter’s Spider-Man has in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but the symbiote hardly looks like it was designed for a fleeting moment in the game and seems like it is meant purely to dish out a spectacle of tendril-laden damage.
Peter won’t always be bonded to the symbiote, though, and it’s incredibly likely that he will have the same stealth opportunities that Miles has. Indeed, including the symbiote as a suit in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was not only a brilliant design decision but also a necessary one since Peter could easily feel lackluster compared to Miles concerning how unique he is.
Even if Peter isn’t packing a huge punch throughout the entire game, Miles still seems to be more equipped to deal with scenarios that require Spider-Man to tip-toe along web lines and maneuver through a group of enemies unseen. In this way, Miles’ Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 abilities may have the upper hand when it comes to how players may want to tackle any given group of enemies.
Miles’ Optical Camouflage Makes Him a Natural Stealth Archetype
Miles is clearly no slouch when it comes to taking on Kraven’s hunters and presumably any other enemy the game could throw at him, especially with new blue bioelectric abilities that can evidently chain between enemies during precise parries. That said, utilizing Miles’ optic camouflage in instances that afford stealth gameplay might be a more unique approach exclusive to Brooklyn and Harlem’s Spider-Man.
It is wonderful that stealth is still playing an important role in gameplay because it perfectly matches Spider-Man’s abilities, with Miles’ invisibility making it even more fluid and giving him more options than Peter might have to silently subdue enemies. This may all boil down to what kinds of scripted sequences the game gives Peter and Miles.
But if the gameplay reveal is any indication it seems like Peter will be unleashing the symbiote on hunters in an unbridled assault while Miles might have more opportunities to web hunters up to ceiling beams and use his invisibility to elude enemies, rather than feeling obligated to punch his way through them.
Between Peter with and without the symbiote and Miles’ abilities, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 seems to deliver on a lot of diversity in how fans can choose to play, and it will be interesting to see how Insomniac balances Peter and Miles so that one doesn’t eclipse the other and one doesn’t feel like a slog to play when the other is presently unavailable.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20, exclusively for PlayStation 5.
