The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is an open world action-adventure video game based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man and the 2014 film of the same name. Developed by Beenox, it is the sequel to 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man, and takes place within the same continuity, different from that of the films. The game's plot expands upon that of the film by including additional characters and elements from the Spider-Man comic books and other aspects of the Marvel Universe.
The game was released on April 29 in North America and May 2 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, and Xbox 360, to mixed to negative reviews, with criticism particularly aimed at the plot, writing, repetititive combat and the Hero-Menace morality system. The Xbox One version was released alongside the other platforms digitally while the release of physical copies was delayed by two weeks. Gameloft also released a mobile version on April 17 for iOS and Android devices as a paid game. The game was also localized in Japan by Square Enix as a Sony-exclusive title. It is the last Spider-Man video game (and by extension, the final Marvel game) to be published by Activision (who lost the game publishing rights to multiple Marvel characters shortly after the game's release), and also the last major Spider-Man video game to be released for the Xbox and Nintendo consoles, as the license for Spider-Man games was passed to Insomniac Games, who went on to develop the Marvel's Spider-Man series published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation consoles and Microsoft Windows, beginning with the 2018 game Marvel's Spider-Man.
Plot[]
Xbox, PC, PS3[]
Peter Parker has been fighting crime in New York City as Spider-Man for two years, motivated by the death of his Uncle Ben at the hand of criminal Dennis Carradine. Resuming his search for Carradine, whom he failed to catch two years ago, Spider-Man tracks him down using a lead from Herman Schultz, one of Carradine's contractors. However, Carradine is promptly killed by the "Carnage Killer", a serial killer who targets other criminals. Spider-Man vows to capture the Carnage Killer so that they may face justice.
Later, Spider-Man stops Schultz's gang and the Russian Mob from destroying the Oscorp building while raiding it for advanced weapons to help them win the turf war they have engaged in. Spider-Man rescues an electric engineer named Max Dillon, who idolizes him, and defeats Schultz, who is calling himself the "Shocker" after stealing a pair of vibro-shock gauntlets. Before being arrested, Shocker reveals that all major gangs in the city are now involved in the turf war and are fearful of the Carnage Killer. In response to the attack on Oscorp, the company's new CEO Harry Osborn and billionaire Wilson Fisk join forces to fund the Enhanced Crime Task Force, a privatized police force meant to contain criminals, as well as vigilantes like Spider-Man. Fisk intends to take over Oscorp however, albeit patiently, waiting for Harry to slowly die from the disease that killed his father, Norman Osborn.
Spider-Man begins to be mentored by Kraven the Hunter, who teaches him his hunting techniques to help him become a better hero, while working together to track down the Carnage Killer. Using information Spider-Man retrieves from the Russian Mob's hideouts, they deduce where the killer will strike next, but when Kraven advises letting the Killer go free so that Spider-Man can continue to learn while hunting him, the wall-crawler rejects Kraven and confronts the Carnage Killer. Revealing his real name is Cletus Kasady, the Carnage Killer claims that he and Spider-Man are very alike and should join forces, but is promptly defeated and arrested. Kasady is taken to the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, where he is experimented on with a red substance code-named "Venom", originally meant to cure Norman Osborn's illness.
Following Kasady's capture, the gang war comes to an abrupt end as a crime lord known as the "Kingpin" seizes all the power. The Kingpin sends Felicia Hardy, a former bank robber who gained super-powers through genetic experiments funded by him, to kill Spider-Man, but she refuses to do so. Knowing the Kingpin will try to have her killed for disobeying him, Felicia reveals his identity as Fisk to Spider-Man before going into hiding. To learn more about Fisk's activities, Spider-Man visits Harry as Peter, only to discover his old friend's disease. Harry asks for Spider-Man's blood, believing it can be used to develop a cure, but the hero, afraid of the possible side effects, refuses to give it to him without properly researching it first. Impatient, Harry dismisses Spider-Man and vows to find another solution.
Meanwhile, Kraven lures Spider-Man into an ambush, where he reveals he was hired by Fisk to kill him, and only trained him to make Spider-Man a worthy opponent. After being defeated, Kraven reveals that Fisk is the one who sent Kasady on a killing spree, to scare the citizens of New York into supporting his plans for redeveloping the city, and to weaken Fisk's rivals so that he could take over. Spider-Man infiltrates Fisk's hideout, where he defeats him and tries to hack into his computer for incriminating evidence. However, he is forced to leave after Max Dillon escapes from Ravencroft (where he was incarcerated following the freak accident that transformed him into "Electro") and causes a blackout. Spider-Man tries to reason with Electro, who blames Spider-Man for abandoning him, but is forced to fight him, resulting in the latter's death.
Later, while responding to an attack on Oscorp, Spider-Man is shocked to find Harry, who has become the "Green Goblin" after injecting himself with Richard Parker's spider venom in hopes of curing himself. Spider-Man defeats Harry, who is mortally impaled by his own glider while trying to attack the hero from behind. Meanwhile, Kasady discovers how to bond with the symbiote he has been injected with and becomes "Carnage". He tries to escape from Ravencroft, but is defeated by Spider-Man after discovering the symbiote's weakness to fire. Wounded, Kasady begs Spider-Man to kill him, but the latter refuses, reminding him they are nothing alike. Kasady is subsequently re-incarcerated and the symbiote removed from his body.
After visiting his old friend Stan, Peter is inspired to be the man Uncle Ben would have wanted him to be, and resumes his never-ending battle against crime. Foreshadowing a cancelled The Amazing Spider-Man 3 video game, a post-credits scene shows Kingpin is on the phone with the Mayor of Manhattan about the Harry Osborn/Green Goblin incident and states that he will continue to finance the Enhanced Crime Task Force himself. After the call, Kingpin speaks to Chameleon, who has been posing as Donald Menken all along. When Chameleon asks what their next plan is, Kingpin states that "the real work begins."
Mobile (iOS)[]
To be added
Production[]
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game was announced at the NYC Comic Con 2013. It is currently being developed by Beenox Studios. Beenox has announced that some elements from the last game will carry over to this one, but it has not been specified at this point in time. Also, Beenox has announced that Spidey's webs will now stick to the sides of buildings, restricting webbing over Central Park. In addition to all this, combat will be greatly enhanced and the open-world will be enlarged as well.
The game will retain its open-world gameplay of previous entries in the franchise. The game's free roam area will be more expansive and detailed than that of the previous game's, and most of the story will take place in the open world. In addition to advanced combat and upgrades, there will be different types of webbing (example, the player can use different webbings to freeze or blow up something on impact), and web-slinging will be similar to that of Spider-Man 2. The 3DS version of the game will not have the free-roaming aspect that is in the console versions. The PS4 version can be played on the PS Vita using remote play, with optimized controls.
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 will be able to upgrade Spider-Man's web shooters. During certain sections of the game, the player will control Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker and walk around doing detective work.
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.
Costumes[]
- Vigilante suit (As featured in The Amazing Spider-Man 2012 film) - Damage bonus, heroic bonus, stealth efficiency
- Amazing Spider-Man (2012 film costume) - Critical hit damage, stick potency, sticky web duration
- Amazing Spider-Man (2014 film costume/2) (Default) - Damage Bonus, Combo streak bonus, shooting rate
- Superior Spider-Man #15-#30-critical hit rate, Damage bonus, Critical hit damage
- Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales) - healing rate, damage resistance, shooting rate
- Big Time Suit (Stealth Mode) - stealth efficiency, spider sense range, takedown range
- Scarlet Spider (Kaine Parker) - heroic bonus, blunt resistance, fire resistance
- Spider-Man 2099 - damage resistance, damage bonus, electricity resistance
- Flipside - damage bonus, Ballistic resistance, healing rate
- Spider-Armor (MK II) - damage resistance, combo streak bonus, critical hit rate
- Hornet - Combo streak bonus, Spider-sense range, Critical hit rate
- Ricochet - seismic radius, seismic speed, ionic potency
- Spider-Carnage - healing rate, damage bonus, critical hit rate
- Iron Spider Armor (originally pre-order at Gamestop) - damage resistance, fire resistance, ballistic resistance
- Cosmic Spider-Man Costume (originally pre-order at Gamestop) - healing rate, spider sense range, ionic potency
- Black Suited Spider-Man (originally pre-order at Gamestop) - damage bonus, tech piece bonus, damage resistance
- Spider-Man Noir (originally pre-order at Gamestop) - stealth efficiency, takedown range, ballistic resistance
- Spider-Armor (MK III) (Ends of the Earth armor) (originally PlayStation exclusive) - blunt resistance, damage resistance, seismic speed
- Electro-Proof Suit (originally PlayStation exclusive) - electric resistance, shooting rate, sticky web duration
Cast[]
- Sam Riegel - Spider-Man/Peter Parker
- David Agranov - Carnage/Cletus Kasady
- Ryan Alosio - Shocker/Herman Schultz
- J.B. Blanc - Kingpin/Wilson Fisk
- Steven Blum - Kraven the Hunter
- Mark Bramhall - Ben Parker
- Kevin Dorman - Green Goblin/Harry Osborn
- Chris Edgerly - Cash Register Thief/Dennis Carradine
- Ali Hillis - Black Cat/Felicia Hardy
- Misty Lee - Jean DeWolff
- Stan Lee - Himself
- Diane Michelle - May Parker
- Sumalee Montano - Whitney Chang
- Michael A. Shepperd - Electro/Max Dillon
- Glenn Steinbaum - The Chameleon, Donald Menken
- Fred Tatasciore - J. Jonah Jameson
Trivia[]
- During the visit to Kraven's home, Kraven will show Peter a room full of his latest trophies. The following are Scorpion, Iguana, and Nattie, the Cross-Species Spider-Man faced in the previous Amazing Spider-Man game.
- Curiously, despite Kraven managing to hunt and kill three of the last, it is unknown what happened to Rhino and Vermin since they aren't stuffed and mounted in the trophy room with the other Cross-Species.
- Sometimes when web-swinging in New York Spider-Man will ponder out loud what the problem is with hiring minions. This a reference to The Superior Spider-Man where Spider-Man, with Doctor Octopus controlling his body, eventually hires minions to help him fight crime in the city.
- The real-life Spider-Man comics actually exist in this universe, and most of the costumes in the game are based on different Spider-Man costumes from different Spider-Man comics; in the description for each costume Peter will reference the Spider-Man comic the costume highlighted is from, such as Ultimate Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider, however Hornet and Ricochet, other superhero identities Peter Parker used in the comics for a brief time and costumes in this game, are comic book characters in this universe instead of two separate superhero identities.
- During the break-in on Oscorp Peter mentions to Aunt May that Gwen Stacy works there, This is the only time in the game Gwen is mentioned and she isn't seen in the game likely to avoid spoiling the end of the film which the last game accidentally spoiled due to releasing before the film. However, Gwen is mentioned a few times in the descriptions of some of Spider-Man's suits such as the TASM2 suit the Electro-Proof suit and the first amazing spiderman suit as it is stated they "Broke Up".
- In the last game, Peter wasn't seen at all except for when he's in costume. In this game he can be seen fully, however unlike Harry Osborn or Max Dillon being modeled after their actors Peter isn't modeled at all after Andrew Garfield, instead, he's modeled to look like how he looks in the comic books.
- Despite being a movie tie in of the film, the game's plot actually doesn't have anything to do with the film, such as Electro, the main villain of the film and an important character only having two appearances in the whole game; the level where, as Max Dillon, he is saved by Spider-Man from the Russian mob and the boss fight as Electro. His role as one of the main villains is shifted over to Carnage instead.
- As well as this only by collecting all of Electro's Journals will his story be told, from his anger and frustration of no one noticing or remembering him all the way to his transformation into Electro. This information from the journals follows what happens to him in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
- There are two references towards Ben Reilly, the original Scarlet Spider.
- The first is a sign that says "Reilly's Energy Corp"
- Second, Spider-Man once in a while ponders out loud what it would be like to have a clone. This either references Ben Reilly or Kaine Parker. Though it may reference the Clone Saga in general.
- Carnage acts as the final enemy rather than the Rhino.
- After stopping crime and Whitney Chang, via the Daily Bugle news, reports on Spider-Man saving the day notice on the bottom yellow bar with moving text; on the yellow bar are Easter eggs referencing the Marvel Universe. Listed below are a number of them:
1. Dr. Michael Morbius: "The Living Vampire" is referenced in the DB news which states that "Nobel prize winner Dr. Michael Morbius has a rare illness" this is a clear reference the blood disease that would force Morbius to try and cure himself, only to end up turning him into a vampire like-creature.
2. The Man-Thing/Groot: In the yellow bar there is a message stating "Man claims tree has face" this could be referencing The Man-Thing as he looks eerily like a tree due to the moss and bark like body. However since there are more than one Marvel character who has the appearance of a tree (the tree monster from the old man thing comics or as the other possibility states) the reference could actually be Groot of the Guardians Of The Galaxy as he is pretty much a tree with a face and body who can only say " I AM GROOT!"
3.Grizzly: This Bronze Age Spider-Man villain is mentioned in the text "Man in killer bear costume robbing a bank" referencing the first time he fought Spider-Man.
4. Dracula: In the yellow bar one of the texts will read "Tomb of Dracula open to the public" this is an obvious reference to the Marvel comic series Tomb Of Dracula and its main character Dracula.
5. Devil Dinosaur: In the yellow bar there is a piece of text saying "Doctor maps out dinosaur DNA" referencing Devil Dinosaur and his friend Moon Boy.
6. Swarm: In the text in the yellow bar there is a line saying " large group of deadly killer bees on course for Germany" this references Swarm, a Marvel villain whose skin is made out of sentient bees which he can control freely.
- While visiting Stan's Comic store at any time during free roam look behind the counter Stan stands behind; upon close study you'll notice most of the action figures are wearing suits that can be unlocked in the game or suits that are only available to download, these action figures include Spider-Man 2099, Ricochet, Classic Black Suit Spider-Man (Not the New Black suit from the first game or the Spider-Man 3 Black Suit) Electro-Proof, New Scarlet Spider (Kaine Parker) and Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-man to name a few.
- Ironically at the beginning of this game, Peter is still looking for the man who shot his uncle, while in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the film which the game is loosely based on never mentions or shows if Peter is still searching for the shooter.
- Harry's armor differs from the movie, as it doesn't heal the user. Instead, Harry explains it is simply military-grade armor which can help him get around.