Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Platinum: Still One of the Easiest Out There (Honest Review)

With the movie out, I’m seeing the name Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 everywhere again. If you caught a trailer and thought “oh right, I never finished the game” or “is it too late to jump in now?” — this one’s for you.

I bought it day one and tore through it. Swinging around New York felt so good that I basically speedran the story on pure vibes. A lot of the small stuff is a blur because of that, but one thing stuck with me hard: the platinum was ridiculously easy. I did the side content, took my detours, and before I knew it the platinum was just… there.

So here’s my answer to “is it too late to start?” up front: the platinum is still very easy. If you only want the platinum trophy, Dedicated, a single playthrough does it. Give it the time and you basically can’t get stuck. There’s one thing that changed between launch and now, though, and I’ll be straight with you about it later on.

Quick aside: the game that got me into Spider-Man in the first place was the 2000 PlayStation Spider-Man. It was the first Spidey game I ever picked up, and honestly, back then I knew almost nothing about the character. Even so, I’d still call it one of the best games I’ve played. Tons of Spider-Man characters, a great crash course in the world — and above all, the Venom in that game is where my whole Venom obsession started.

Platinum difficulty & time

• Release date: October 20, 2023
• Played on / version: Launch (pre–New Game+ version)
• Total playtime: 25–30 hours
• Time breakdown: ~15h main story + 10–15h post-game (100% districts and cleanup)
• Playthroughs: 1 (the platinum is a single run; suits and abilities carry over, so full 100% completion needs an extra New Game+ run)
• Platinum difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
• Sense of achievement: ★★★☆☆
• How close I came to quitting: ★☆☆☆☆
• Need for a guide: Medium (just know to grab Slack Line early)
• Missable elements: None (no time-limited trophies; but grab Slack Line early)
• Online requirements: None
• Biggest wall: Superior (100% all districts)

The trophy set is 42 total (1 platinum / 2 gold / 17 silver / 22 bronze). There’s no difficulty restriction on trophies either, so if you’re only here for the platinum, run it on Friendly and relax.

The whole loop is just: finish the main story, take every district to 100%, then mop up whatever’s left. Clear the map activities and most trophies pop on their own. That “never wondering what to do next” flow is a big reason it felt so easy to me.

⚠️ Missables & stuff to know first

There are no time-limited trophies here, so nothing really “locks you out.” But there’s one thing that changes your efficiency a lot, and one thing that’s different now vs. launch. Let me get those out of the way.

Grab Slack Line early. The condition is 25 stealth takedowns from a web line. It’s not hard, but once you push the story far enough, street crime turns almost entirely symbiote-flavored and your stealth-takedown chances drop off a cliff. Some people report going a full hour post-story without the right crime spawning. Do it while normal street crime is still around — mid-to-late story is the safe window.

You won’t fully brick it, to be clear. Even after the credits you can use Miles’ invisibility to enter stealth, or hunt down the “monster hunt” crimes where Hunters and symbiotes mix, clear the symbiotes, and web-line the remaining Hunters. It’s just a pain, so early is easier.

The other thing is New Game+. It didn’t exist at launch — back when I played, there was no NG+ and I platinumed in one run. It’s since been added in a free update. The platinum, Dedicated, is still a one-run job, but if you’re chasing full 100% completion you’ll need the extra NG+ clear. Just flagging it since it’s genuinely different now.

And don’t hoard upgrade materials. Skill points and every resource type pile up naturally on the way to 100%, more than enough to max everything. There’s a farming spot for gear parts too, so no need to save anything.

The one real wall: Superior (100% all districts)

The only trophy in this game I’d call a “wall” is the gold one, Superior — take every district to 100%. It’s a collect-everything boss. It’s not hard, it just eats time. Every activity type has its own trophy attached, so as you push toward 100% the silvers and bronzes unlock in bunches.

One heads-up: very rarely, people report a bug where a Hunter Base doesn’t appear even after clearing all the hideouts, or the district counter doesn’t tick up correctly (mostly on early versions). Keep one manual save before you start on the Hunter hideouts so you can roll back if you get unlucky. It didn’t happen to me, but it’s cheap insurance.

🎯 Tricky trophies

More “easy to miss / easy to misread” than actually tough.

Top priority is Slack Line, like I said — farm it while normal crime is still spawning. Set a web line, perch on it, and pick off enemies below with stealth takedowns.

Just Let Go has you find the science trophy Miles and Phin won together — and it’s Miles-specific. On top of that, late in the story the terrain changes and it can stop responding for a while, so if it won’t trigger, go back after you finish the story.

You Know What to Do is Peter visiting Aunt May’s grave — this one’s Peter-specific. And it’s May’s grave, not his father’s. Mix that up and you’ll be standing there wondering why nothing happens.

Soar is reaching Astoria from the Financial District using only your Web Wings. Wind tunnels (updrafts) are allowed. Drop into the ring line along the river, and around the second ring pull up once and swap onto the northbound line — it connects cleanly. Catch the updrafts right and it’s easier than it looks.

Home Run! is just rounding the bases at the Big Apple Ballers Stadium. Start at home plate, run counter-clockwise. Takes a minute once you know it exists.

Then the combat-counter trophies: Surge (use symbiote abilities 25 times during a Symbiote Surge), Evolved (100 kills with Evolved Venom abilities), Armed and Dangerous (100 kills with Spider-Arm abilities), and Overdrive (as Miles, pull in 6+ enemies at once with Reverse Flux). Most of these fill up during normal play; if any are left at the end, just spam that ability on purpose and they close out fast.

Efficient Platinum Roadmap

The route I actually took (day-one, one-run platinum):

1. Ignored difficulty and blasted through the main story (the swinging was too fun, so I did a fair bit of side stuff too)
2. After the credits, filled every district to 100% (huge batch of unlocks here)
3. Cleaned up the leftover action trophies (grave, science trophy, baseball, etc.)
4. Mopped up the combat-counter trophies for the platinum

That got me there. Looking back, though, Slack Line just happened to work out for me — depending on order, I could’ve had a rough time.

The most efficient route for someone starting now (with my hindsight baked in):

1. Early-to-mid: push the story, and grab Slack Line first while normal crime still spawns
2. Once a district hits Lv.2 the fog clears and markers appear — clear activities in areas the story already took you through
3. Make a manual save before entering the Hunter hideouts (Superior bug insurance)
4. Finish the main story
5. Finish 100% on all districts while picking up the character-locked trophies (Miles’ Just Let Go / Peter’s You Know What to Do)
6. Buy all suits and all upgrades (you’ll have the materials by now); unlock the progression trophies
7. Clean up the leftover action and combat-counter trophies for Dedicated
8. If you want full 100%, run New Game+ once

My verdict

For sheer ease of platinuming, this is up near the top of everything I’ve done. Difficulty ★1, and I basically never came close to quitting. Nothing here makes you want to rage-quit — the platinum just drifts closer to you while you play. Give it the time and anyone can do it. As a first platinum for someone who got curious from the movie, I’d honestly recommend it.

I put the sense of achievement at ★3 because it’s so easy that there’s not much of a “I earned this” payoff — it’s less “I did it!” and more “oh, it’s done.” There’s zero stress in return, so treat that as a feature, not a knock.

As a game, the sheer thrill of the traversal is second to none. That alone is worth the price of entry. If anything gives people pause, it’s that the back half of the story stays heavy and serious with little change of pace, and that it’s fairly linear with limited freedom. The movement carried me all the way to the end, but that part comes down to taste.

Who it’s for:

• Anyone who got curious from the movie and wants one satisfying platinum under their belt
• Efficiency-minded players who don’t want stress from brutal trophies
• Anyone who just wants the rush of swinging through the city as Spider-Man

If you’re after a meaty, high-difficulty grind, it might feel a little light. Being honest about that.

A little aside: I couldn’t stop taking photos, and the Venom is peak (⚠️ mild spoilers)

I’ll be honest: I didn’t grab a platinum clip this time — but the 100% completion screen above is the real deal. What I really have a mountain of is photo-mode shots, and everything here is stuff I took myself.

I basically never touch photo mode in other games, but Spider-Man 2 was different. Gliding between buildings, the beat of a pose, the city at dusk — I’d stop to hunt for a composition and lose half an hour without noticing. It’s Spider-Man, after all. Every shot comes out looking like a movie frame, and that’s just fun.

The thing I photographed most was Venom. I wasn’t really into the movie’s Venom, but this game’s Venom design is peak — the texture, the presence, all of it. And you get a section where you actually play as him. I’ve always leaned more Venom than Spidey as a fan, so that genuinely made my day. Just moving him around put a grin on my face.

The black-suit Spidey is a blast too, and looks incredible. The look and the movement are a different beast, and photo mode eats it up.

As a piece of fan service, it’s top-tier for me. The easy trophies are a nice bonus, but honestly, “I love Spider-Man and Venom” is enough to get your money’s worth. That kind of game.

Then and now: you can play the black suit again

Back at launch this quietly bugged me: when you roam the post-game world, you’re stuck in the Anti-Venom suit. I’m not big on that look, and I really just wanted to swing around as the black suit. There was no NG+ back then, so there was no way to replay the symbiote stretch, and I kind of shelved it after the platinum, hoping for an update.

Then the March 8, 2024 update added New Game+. You carry over suits and abilities and restart the story, so you get to replay the whole symbiote-era black suit again. That update also added new suit styles, letting you tweak the look and even the ability colors of the symbiote suit. Big win for black-suit fans.

Photo mode got love in that update too — you can change the time of day post-game and the lighting is easier to dial in. The more you shoot, the more you gain. I’m planning to go back and reclaim all the time I left on the table.

A reward on the shelf (⚠️ mild spoilers)

As a little platinum reward, this Venom statue ended up on my shelf. To be straight, it isn’t a figure of this game’s exact model — but the Venom sculpt, and the way Miles and Peter tie into the pose, the design just nailed my taste and I grabbed it on the spot. It pulls a corner of the room together nicely. If you want to mark the occasion, a piece like this is a solid way to do it.

📚 You might also like these guides

• Best PS5 Games for Your First Platinum (start here)

Next up is still undecided — come back and check in. This review is based on my own playthrough; trophy names and conditions use the official English trophy list, cross-checked across multiple sources, and I’ve kept major story spoilers out.

Japanese version of this guide: note. Originally written in Japanese by the same author, then rewritten in English for this site.