Highlights

  • Marvel's Spider-Man 2 expands on elements from the previous games, including traversal, combat, and items, but also improves the infamous Mary Jane stealth sections.
  • The missions with Mary Jane have been reworked to be faster and more open-ended, with new tools like a non-lethal stun gun. However, future games can make these missions even better.
  • To empower Mary Jane further, the next Spider-Man game could offer more options for stealthy and aggressive gameplay in her missions, as well as incorporate her into important tactical or espionage missions.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is out now, and the game expands upon most elements that were present in its two predecessors. This means that traversal, combat, and items have been changed in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, but the infamous Mary Jane stealth sections of the first game have been reworked as well. While these missions have been improved, the next game in the franchise can make them even better. While the first Marvel's Spider-Man game was critically acclaimed, it certainly had its critics. One of the most common points of contention was the inclusion of the Mary Jane sequences.

Warning: the following contains spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man 2

These missions give players control of Mary Jane as she has to sneak her way past groups of enemies, eventually gaining access to offensive stealth tools later in the game. Many maligned these missions as boring, especially in comparison to the exhilarating open-world Spider-Man gameplay that makes up the bulk of the game. In Spider-Man 2, these missions are back, but they are faster and more open-ended, as Mary Jane has trained with Silver Sable between games and can use a non-lethal stun gun to quickly dispatch enemies. These improvements set the stage for even better MJ missions in future Spider-Man games.

The Next Marvel's Spider-Man Game Can Continue to Empower Mary Jane

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While Mary Jane starts Marvel's Spider-Man 2 as a noticeably more powerful ally to Spider-Man, she only continues to get stronger as the game continues. Her close-range stun gun eventually gets upgraded to include a web-shooter, and later a sonic attachment that can dispatch symbiote enemies from a distance. These new features deepen Spider-Man 2's Mary Jane missions, but Insomniac can push things even further.

Since the final Mary Jane mission of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is essentially a level out of a third-person shooter, the next game could simply follow this approach for the Mary Jane sections. Instead of forcing players through linear stealth sections, these missions could offer several different options for both stealthy and aggressive gameplay, perhaps even allowing players to go in and out of stealth similar to franchises like Metal Gear Solid and The Last of Us. This way, the missions could be deep, satisfying challenges in their own right, and wouldn't feel like a less enjoyable alternative to the Spider-Man gameplay.

Insomniac's next Spider-Man game could also benefit from a story perspective if it were to take this approach with Mary Jane. Instead of just helping out Peter and Miles, Mary Jane could join the ranks of an elite force such as SHIELD, using her experience, training, and intelligence to help with tactical or espionage missions of great importance. This would make sense as a natural progression for this version of the character, who appears to be getting stronger and more confident with each game. Perhaps these theoretical Mary Jane missions could even be a springboard for the character's own half-sequel.

Players continue to be divided over the inclusion of the Mary Jane missions in Insomniac's Spider-Man games. While these slower missions are still some of Marvel's Spider-Man's most critiqued moments, it's clear that the developers care about them from both a gameplay and storytelling perspective.

That said, if Mary Jane is going to remain a playable character, her skill set will need to keep being expanded, and turning her into a highly-trained, capable operative who uses non-lethal firearms and various stealth tactics makes the most sense in terms of both narrative and gameplay. Even if future games don't have Mary Jane as a playable character, her missions set the stage for enjoyable action-stealth set-pieces as non-superpowered characters in the franchise.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is currently available on PS5.