Summary
The firstMarvel’s Spider-Manand its half-sequelMiles Moralesare both generally considered to be excellent games. Following inBatman: Arkham’s footsteps, Insomniac’s first twoSpider-Mantitles finally gave one of the most popular superheroes in the world a gaming series that it could be proud of. But somehow, a few years later, Insomniac has managed to top its previous projects in almost every way withMarvel’s Spider-Man 2.
By most accounts,Marvel’s Spider-Man 2is a better game than boththe firstSpider-ManandMiles Morales. With more combat abilities, more traversal mechanics, more fleshed-out villains and character motivations, more intriguing dynamics and relationships, and even more world-building than ever before,Marvel’s Spider-Man 2is exactly what a sequel should be, giving fans more of what they liked, and trying to fix what they didn’t. It also helps thatMarvel’s Spider-Man 2has more alternate Spidey costumes than both of its predecessors, but while there are more, they’re not necessarily better.
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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Alternate Costumes Lack Any Suit Mods
Technically speaking,Marvel’s Spider-Man 2has more Spidey suits than bothSpider-ManandMiles Moralescombined. Including the Deluxe Edition suits,Spider-Man 2has a total of 71 alternate costumes, all drawing inspiration from different Spider-Man TV shows, movies, and of course, comics.Spider-Man 2also has a nice blend of old and new costumes, with a slew of fan favorites from the first two games making a return and looking better than ever thanks to the sequel’s improved visuals. And with the vast majority of suits having multiple color variations to choose from, there’s even more depth to player customization than ever before.
However, there is one big disappointment when it comes toMarvel’s Spider-Man 2’s alternate costumes, and that’s the complete removal of Suit Mods. Introduced in Insomniac’s original 2018Spider-Man, Suit Mods used to be a bonus attached to each and every suit in the game. These bonuses ranged from taking reduced damage to increasing the AR scanner range, including increasing the amount of Focus gained from web attacks. Each suit came with a unique Mod, and once unlocked, they could be mixed and matched with any other suit design.
WhileSpider-Man’s Suit Modsdidn’t add too much depth to the game’s combat, they were a neat little addition that went a long way in making each suit feel like a real reward. Even if players weren’t too keen on the design they just unlocked, at least the Suit Mod unlocked alongside it might hold some value for the player. Even if players never used Suit Mods during theirSpider-Manplaythrough, it was nice to know that they were always there, being yet another thing players were being rewarded with for continuing to complete the game’s many side activities.
InMarvel’s Spider-Man 2, Suit Mods are absolutely nowhere to be found. While it’s completely understandable that Suit Mods were removed from the sequel - with them presumably taking a great deal of effort to develop and balance properly for not a lot of payoff - it’s still a big bummer that they’re not in the game at all. Rather than remove them completely, it would have been nice to see Insomniac try to improve on Suit Mods to make them even more rewarding, and the developer could have had a lot of fun adding in some completely unique, and maybe even weird and wacky combat or traversal modifiers. The addition of Suit Mods might have added a bit more replayability toMarvel’s Spider-Man 2, and when its length is such a big point of contention, every little addition would have helped.
