Spider-Man 2’s Mary Jane stealth missions are the worst

My entire adult life has been spent as a professional journalist. I enjoy interviewing, researching and watching some of the most talented people. Dragon Ball Z fights on YouTube while I procrastinate on a deadline — I’ve done it all. Or maybe I haven’t. Because, in Spider-Man 2Being a journalist involves almost exclusively sneaking about and stun-gunning mercenaries. The thing is, I’ve never done this before.

Of the many revisions that Insomniac Games’ 2018 Spider-ManMary Jane Watson becoming a reporter is my favorite addition to the comic book lore. It gave the character an organic reason to intersect with Spidey’s adventure, untangling the machinations of Martin Li/Mr. She investigated the negative side of things with shoe leather, while her partner used webs and jokes to take on criminals. What I didn’t love was how this was expressed in gameplay: stealth missions.

Spider-Man 2This trend is a bad one, I can’t stand it. This is partially a matter of preference — I’m of the mind that stealth should either be the primary focus of a game, or an optional way to engage with an encounter. It annoys me when an action game grinds to a stop to allow the player to engage in stealth. Intellectually, I understand why it could be a good idea — it’s nice to break up the pacing rhythm, to broaden the range of experiences a player will have in a game — but in practice? In practice, I find it to be a real drag.

Stealth sections are also a poor way to engage with Mary Jane’s role in Spider-Man 2’s story. MJ has been a journalist for many years. You can also read about how to get in touch with us. involve being a snoop, it’s not particularly novel or engaging, especially when just about every one of Sony’s big marquee games leans on this rickety crutch. There aren’t even any compelling, unique mechanics for these sections, even though the game has bespoke minigames for hydroponic farming and bee bodyguarding. Spider-Man 2There are many puzzles and light mysteries, but there are also quieter sections in which the player can just walk around as Miles to meet people. Why can’t MJ do that? Give her one of the bicycles that Peter gets to ride, and let the player see the city up close, from her perspective, to tell a story that Spider-Man can’t.

You can find moments of joy in Spider-Man 2 that seem to grasp this idea, as is the case later in the game, when the horror of what the black costume does to Peter is shown from MJ’s perspective — but those are moments that center Peter. MJ’s stealth sections seem to come from a commendable goal of giving the character her own mechanical conceits, but they do little to speak to who she is as a character, and remove gameplay options without replacing them with anything compelling.

Mary Jane is better off with a game that allows the player to engage in who Mary Jane is rather than reminding him or her of what she’s not.