The Amazing Spider Man 2 (2014 video game)

Plot

After Dennis Carradine, the man who murdered Peter Parker's Uncle Ben, is murdered by a serial killer known as the "Carnage Killer," Peter Parker also known as the vigilante Spider-Man decides to track down Carradine's killer, and bring him to Ravencroft, a prison for the criminally insane. Oscorp CEO Harry Osborn and billionaire Wilson Fisk announce that their companies are working together to fund the Enhanced Crime Task Force, a privatized police force meant to contain criminals and Spider-Man, following an attack on Oscorp Tower by Herman Shultz (one of Carradine's contractor whom Spider-Man encountered before Herman became Shocker). When Fisk offers to take Oscorp off of Harry's hands, Harry rebuffs him. Fisk then decides to wait until Harry dies from the disease that killed Harry's father, Norman Osborn.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is met by a man named Kraven, who came to New York City in an attempt to hunt and kill all of Oscorp's cross-species experiments. Kraven offers Peter a chance to act as his protege. Peter accepts and the two work together to find Carnage Killer. Peter eventually manages to get a description of the Carnage Killer. He uses it and a map, which he took from a Russian hideout, to track him down, with the help of Kraven. They find the killer who reveals himself as Cletus Kasady. Spider-Man and Kasady fight, and Kasady is defeated. Peter refuses to kill Kasady, after Kraven urges him to. Kasady is apprehended by the police and taken to Ravencroft where he meets Harry Osborn's assistant Donald Menken. Kasady is then experimented on with a symbiotic red liquid code-named Venom, which was originally meant to cure Norman Osborn's disease.

Soon after a man named the "Kingpin" begins filling in the power vacuum. Peter makes his way to Harry's apartment in order to receive information on Wilson Fisk, who he believes to be the Kingpin. Harry tells Peter that he is dying and asks him for Spider-Man's help, believing his blood can help him with a cure. Peter visits Harry as Spider-Man and tells him that he cannot give him his blood to avoid another incident like the Lizard incident and needs time to research his blood, in which he turns down Harry as researching his blood is nothing but a waste of time to Harry. After the discussion, Spider-Man makes his way to Kraven's loft, after discovering Fisk paid him to hunt Spider-Man. While there, he is tranquilized by Kraven and forced to fight him in Central Park. Kraven reveals he only trained him in order to make Spider-Man a worthy opponent. Spider-Man defeats Kraven and coerces info from him on how to get to Kingpin.

Arriving at Fisk Tower, Spider-Man infiltrates one of the trucks and rides it to Kingpin's hideout. Spider-Man then proceeds to fight the Enhanced Crime Task Force soldiers and street thugs before entering the hideout and confronting Kingpin. Spider-Man defeats Kingpin and begins hacking his computer for incriminating evidence. But he is forced to leave after a man calling himself Electro causes havoc in Manhattan. Meanwhile, Harry,who remains as the head of Oscorp, discovers and injects himself with Richard Parker's spider venom, which gave Peter his powers, as well as hearing from his employer about the rumors that the Kingpin is trying to take over his company are true. Spider-Man finds the insane and grotesque Harry who dubs himself the "Green Goblin," and is forced to defeat him.

Afterwards, Peter visits the Ravencroft Institute, after large riots break out. Spider-Man finds Kasady, at Ravencroft. Trying to stop him, Spider-Man is violently sliced in the head. Quickly recovered, Spidey and Cletus engage in combat. Kasady is overwhelmed by the symbiote, which was experimented on him by Menken and dubs himself Carnage. Spider-Man then gently confronts Kassady (players get to choose the sequence of questions Peter asks.). The symbiote eventually gets burned and damaged by Spider-Man's seismic blast and Kasady is taken into custody. Sometime later, Peter visits Stan in his comic book shop. There, Stan encourages him to be the man Uncle Ben would have wanted him to be before Peter resumes his role as Spider-Man.

In a post-credits scene, the Kingpin explains that he will continue to finance the Enhanced Crime Task Force without Harry. Chameleon, who was actually posing as Donald Menken all along, visits the Kingpin and asks him what their next plan is and the Kingpin replies that the real work begins.

Gameplay

The game retains its open world gameplay of previous entries in the franchise. The game's free roam area of Manhattan is more expansive, spacious and detailed than that of the previous game's, and most of the story takes place in the open world. In addition to advanced combat and upgrades, there is different types of webbing (example, the player can use different webbings to freeze or blow up something on impact), and web-slinging is similar to that of Spider-Man 2 and its subsequent based games. Unlike the previous game, all versions of the game have free roam, with the exception of the 3DS version, which is a side-scrolling game in the same vein as previous Nintendo DS Spider-Man games. The PS4 version can be played on the PS Vita using remote play, with optimized controls.

The game re-innovated the web swinging mechanic, allowing for a more interactive and engaging experience swinging through New York City's open world. Unlike The Amazing Spider-Man video game, in which the player's web attaches to thin-air allowing the player to swing from anywhere in the city, regardless of whether buildings are present. Now the player is only limited to the space around them in order to swing properly; if there is no object a web can attach to, the player will be unable to web swing and fall. Additionally, the method of web-swinging has also been changed. Players playing on console systems will now web swing using the left and right triggers of the controllers. The left and right triggers take control of Spider-Man's left and right hands, respectively (example, if a building appears on the left, the player is better suited to use the left trigger and if one appears on the right, the player would be better suited to use the right trigger to swing.) Both triggers can be held at the same time which allows players to boost Spider-Man´s swing speed.

Morality is used in a new system known as "Hero or Menace" where players will be rewarded for stopping crimes or punished for not consistently doing so or not responding. The player is able to upgrade Spider-Man's web shooters. During certain sections of the game, the player can control Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker and walk around doing detective work.

Players have access to Peter Parker's home, and his room allows players to replay previous missions from the main storyline, purchase upgrades and equip the various costumes available. Audio logs of many characters can be collected from all around the city. Players can use the Metro to go back to Peter Parker's home.

Additionally, new enemy types have been introduced. Armored guards can be taken down either with a stealth attack or by the Ionic Web upgrade, which allows players to break down armor, thus leaving the guard vulnerable to damage.

Furthermore, the city has been expanded to incorporate unique districts that allow for more open space to the player. The crimes from the first game have been expanded on, but it also includes new crimes such as arson and hostage situations. The crimes also progress dynamically, such as fighting criminals on the street then chasing one that gets away in a vehicle. Unlike the previous game, there will be constant random side activities. Additionally, the use of the Web-Rush system returns and has been expanded on from the previous game, now allowing for critical strikes, dodges and rolls. There are also new upgrades and abilities introduced into the game, some of which have been expanded on from the previous game.

The player can, as before, use their in-game smart phone to access the map, which provides the player with information of activities taking place in the area at the time. Players can use the map to track current activities and missions the player will be able to participate in throughout the game. Missions include:

Players will also use the in-game smart phone to manage in-game messages and upgrades for their suit and skills.

Missions have been altered to fit players' play style. Rather than players navigating through a linear level, levels have been redesigned to be more open, allowing players to explore the map and providing them with different ways to approach the mission. Players can now choose between a silent, stealth approach and a combative, open approach to engage their enemies. Additionally, stealth based attacks have been improved since the previous entry, since players are now able to silently take down enemies from a distance. Players are able to silently take down enemies from any surface the player is on, whether it be the ceiling, the wall or the ground. Players are also able to repel from their webs and perform inverted take downs on enemies.

The game will have an alternative storyline that differs from the film. Therefore, the events in the game will be different than those in the film in order to avoid any spoilers.

Development and release

The game was announced at New York Comic Con October 2013 slated for a Spring 2014 release. It was announced that Beenox would be developing the game.

Motion capture performances were provided by Aaron Schoenke of Bat in the Sun Productions, as well as Sean T. Krishnan and Alina Andrei.

A small teaser trailer was released at the New York Comic Con in 2013 to support the first announcement of the game. In January 2014, the first trailer for the game was released to the public. The release date for the console versions was announced in March 2014. The walkthrough trailer was released on 27 March 2014. The launch trailer for the mobile version was released upon the release of the game.

Reception

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 received generally mixed reviews upon release, with most of the criticism aimed at the graphics, story, and glitches. The iOS version of the game has a weighted aggregate rating of 58/100 on Metacritic, based on 11 reviews, and 57.50% on GameRankings, based 8 reviews, the PlayStation 3 version of the game has 59.00% on GameRankings, based on 1 review, the PlayStation 4 version of the game has 54.02% on GameRankings, based on 5 reviews, and 50/100 on Metacritic, based on 7 reviews.

The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions were reviewed as "inferior" to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, primarily due to the fact that the older console versions suffered from poor lighting, frame rate drops, and poorly detailed textures. The PS4 version of the game received a 5.4/10 from IGN. The Xbox One version of the game received a 5.5/10 from Digital-Tutors stating the biggest issue was "...it just isn’t polished, and based off of the many issues we found with the game it looks thrown together in a rush trying to get it out the door in time for the release of the movie." ABC's Good Game hated the game, both Bajo and Hex gave it a 4/10 with Hex saying; "This feels like a poor copy-paste job of The Amazing Spider-Man, with most of the good bits removed."

Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead scored the game a 2 out of 10, saying "It's like a part of me has died". Whitehead was very disappointed in the game because, as he is a big fan of Spider-Man, he felt that the game provided no significant fun for the player, whereas past Spider-Man games at least provided something. Whitehead stated: "Sullied by lacklustre gameplay and trampled by technical shoddiness, this time Spidey hasn't been done in by the Sinister Six, but reduced to a Terrible Two."

Tom McShea from GameSpot scored the game a 5/10. McShea called the representation of Spider-Man "enjoyable", and liked the "satisfying" boss battles, but criticized the controls, side-missions, and combat. McShea summarized his review by saying: "The biggest failing of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is how familiar it feels. In fact, there have been other open-world games starring Spider-Man that walk a remarkably similar path. So there weren't many surprises, nothing that jumped out and made me take notice. Still, being able to spend time with Spider-Man was enough for me to stomach the various problems, just because he's a fun character to listen to. There's nothing majorly wrong with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, after all. There's just not a lot right with it, either."

Richard Grisham of GamesRadar was more positive of the game, giving it a 3 out of 5. He called the combat "shallow" but "enjoyable", praised the collectables, and liked the "entertaining, fun" story. He did feel as though the game was a dated experience, and disliked the controls and mission variety.

In his review for Polygon, Justin McElroy scored the game a 6/10 and wrote: "I've accepted that there's probably never going to be a truly great Spider-Man game. If the dispiriting The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is any indication, Activision and Beenox may have reached the same conclusion. There have been many worse Spider-Man games than this. But I can't recall one that's swung so conceptually close to greatness only to let poor execution drag it back to Earth."