Released back in 2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the sequel to the Amazing Spider-Man game from 2012 and as such it continues on the same path with a new story and an assortment of improvements. The game is loosely based on the 2014 film with the same name, and unfortunately shows signs of having been rushed to release alongside the movie.
To start of, as in its predecessor you take the role of spider-man in the open world environment of Manhattan, NY which has been enlarged compared to the predecessor. Most of the story takes place in the open world, with some missions sending you into remote areas like the kingpin mansion or the city sewers for a spell.
Some improvements compared to the predecessor includes quite interesting features like a revamped web-swinging mechanic where webs has to attach to buildings while swinging around the city. Now players has to pay attention to their surrounding, as if there are no objects for a web to attach to they will fall. This gives the game a more immersive feel and it can be quite interesting to make a turn just by placing a web on the correct spot of a building and let the swing mechanism handle the turning for you.
There is also a morality system which has the city respond to spidey as a hero when stopping petty crimes etc in between missions, and a menace if you ignore them. This system could however have been worked on some more, as repeatedly fighting off petty criminals is quite repetitive and (to be frank) boring. It would be much neater if the occasional supervillain would drop by, or by an improvement to the combat system (more on that later).
The morality system also suffer from the fact that, due to the main plot, it doesn't matter. Sooner or later you will be regarded a menace no matter how many damsels in distress you save, as it will be part of the plot.
The combat is, in my opinion, the greatest issue with the game. By design spidey spends a lot of time fighting enemies, and part of it is enjoyable as you sneak about and perform stealth takedowns, latching on to enemies and pull yourself toward them. But the fighting is very simple and pretty much boils down to a predictable series of mashing the attack button and counter when enemies flash red (which indicates a pending attack).
Boss fights, ie supervillains, can be much more rewarding. Like fighting the lightning fast black cat who attacks with a sadistic glee from the shadows and disappears as quickly as she came. Or the gigantic kingpin whose devastating attacks can't be blocked, without a quite hilarious animation sending spidey flying through the room.
But the supervillains are few and far between, compared to the ordinary petty thieves you have to take down before being allowed the joy of a proper engagement.
Despite the issues I enjoyed my playthrough (on hardest difficulty as it got boring to fast on medium). Spider-Man is well developed with his trademark humorous remarks, which occasionally made me laugh and there was quite a few challenging and rewarding moments.
If you have played the previous spidey games it does however have a rather familiar feel to it, with nothing that really stand out compared to the predecessors.
In short I didn't find anything that I would could majorly wrong with the game, but not much majorly right either. Thus if you like the setting, do get it, spending a few days as spidey can be quite fun, just don't expect too much of it.
