Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was released on October 20, 2023. Fans of the previous game long awaited the release. The release was exclusive to Sony’s PlayStation 5 console. They knew the Insomniac games’ track record and their admirable work with the last two games in the series. It was expected that Insomniac would deliver another enticing experience to the audience.
Along with this, the game also takes advantage of the PlayStation 5’s true capability. Fast Travel, which utilises the PlayStation 5’s lightning-fast SSD speed, is worth admiring—the game’s graphical fidelity. The crisp textures, ray tracing and physics, are also second to none in the genre.
At first glance, one could suggest that the two games look more similar than different. But the graphical overhaul has been delivered, which was expected from a sequel to one of the most graphically solid games of the last decade.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Graphics vs the Original’s — The Good and the Beautiful
Any gamer who witnesses a playthrough of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is bound to notice the game’s detailed and high-fidelity graphics. The game sometimes looks gorgeous and photorealistic. Suffice it to say swinging through New York City has never looked better.
When Marvel’s Spider-Man was released in 2018 for the PlayStation 4, gamers were just as impressed and amazed with its graphics as they were with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2—also, the game’s fighting mechanics and gripping caught people’s attention.
But surprisingly, comparing the first and the latest entry in the Insomniac’s Spider-Man series, one will find a strange mix of strikingly similar elements and some that look much better. Most reviewers praised the game and said it is better than the two previous entries in the series.
Many people on YouTube have compared the graphics of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 side-by-side.
One significant change people will notice is the colour palette of the sequel game is slightly different than that of the original one. The game looks similar to the sequel because it is set in the same city. The colours, however, look very washed out and faded in comparison.
In the video above, one can also notice the reflections in the game when one wall crawls over a building’s glass exterior are very vivid in the sequel, thanks to ray-tracing.
Another significant difference is the traffic density. The amount of traffic in the original is scarce, to say the least, when compared to the sequel. The rivers and the water quality in general also look fantastic compared to the original.
The character models, as well as the textures in the sequel, also look a lot better as compared to the original. Assets like the rats, pigeons, the boat NPCs, which looked like they were out of a PS1 game in the original, look reasonably better in the sequel
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Graphics vs the Original’s — The Bad and the Ugly
Some adjustments made in the game are compromises or step-downs, whatever you want to call them. Although there may be reasons for the same, the adjustments are worth highlighting to see the bigger picture.
To begin with, the number of NPCs one can see in New York City seems less when directly compared to the original playing the game without switching between the original, like in the video comparison. This change is not noticeable when one goes about playing the game usually.
In another video comparing the graphics between the two games, we can also infer that the LOD is somewhat reduced when objects are viewed from a distance. When one climbs up a large structure and zooms in on distant objects, the LOD actually seems shabbier.
The video also suggests that it may have been done to make up for the inclusion of another section of New York City in the game. That is the Brooklyn, Coney Island and parts of Queens.
To conclude, one can safely say that apart from these minor compromises which are made to incorporate a more vibrant and dynamic game world. The sequel is surely a substantial improvement even if it is arguably not a drastic one.
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
