Two days away from its launch, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 looks set to hit PlayStation 5 as the 8th best game of the year so far. That’s according to the review aggregator site Opencritic where it currently holds a score of 91 based on 104 critic reviews.

Really, there wasn’t much doubt that Insomniac’s third Spider-Man game was going to be good. The real question was just how good it would be. So let’s put into perspective a little: the first game, which launched in 2018, boasts a score of 88, while the half-sequel titled Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales sits at 85. So, the consensus is that the new game is the best of the three. Although it’s worth noting that a theme of many reviews is that Spider-Man 2 doesn’t have quite the same impact as the first game. It’s a fair criticism but also a little pointless in some ways: the first game was a mystery, whereas now we know what to expect from Insomniac and this series.

Metacritic tells a very slightly different story. Over there the game has a score of 90 based on 129 reviews. However, Metacritic’s scores are harder to judge as the site assigns different “weights” to specific outlets which can shift the overall score by quite a bit. That score means Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is only ranked as the 28th best game of the year, tied with the likes of Dave the Diver, Quake II Enhanced Edition and Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty.

The critical success of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is impressive, but it’ll be the sales numbers where we see its true potential. The past two games have sold over 33 million copies combined. At this point, I think Insomniac Games is Sony’s best studio bar none. Since being bought by Sony in 2019 they’ve put out three games on PlayStation consoles, each one high-quality and a critical success. The only blemish is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’s sales numbers being just over 1 million copies when Sony and Insomniac last talked about it in 2021. Those numbers were undoubtedly not helped by the PlayStation 5 being difficult to find at the time, and its launch on PC earlier this year was something of a flop.

Insomniac also currently have a Wolverine game scheduled to launch next year. We know almost nothing about this game so far, but with Insomniac at the helm, I feel confident in saying it’ll be pretty damn great.

Before we jump into the numerous other reviews I’d like to point you toward the most important one: mine! I gave it a 5 out of 5 and said:” Insomniac has made an astonishing sequel to an already astonishing game. While it could be criticised for simply being more of the same, I couldn’t care less because more of something brilliant is still brilliant. “

Matt Miller of Game Informer scored Spider-Man 2 a whopping 9.5 out of 10, saying: “Insomniac has nailed that rarest of video game development feats. The team has landed a trilogy of games that all stand strong on their own merits but unite into a sweeping saga made better by experiencing its entirety. While more Spider-Man games will inevitably expand this mythology in new directions, there’s no need to wait. With Spider- Man 2, the developer has found what makes superhero stories worth telling (and retelling) and given its likable heroes the journey they deserve.”

Stephen Tailby of Push Square handed it an 8 out of 10, writing: “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a confident sequel that builds on the previous games in practically every way possible. Smart additions and refinements to traversal, combat, and open world activities mean this is the best Spidey game from Insomniac yet.”

And the ever-amazing Skill Up praised most of the game, including the voice acting. He did, however, find the game didn’t hit as hard as the first one, and that the story didn’t quite do it for him. In a news video published a few days later, he also stated that Insomniac continues to cement themselves as as the jewel in Sony’s first-party crown.

Gamesradar called it the best superhero game ever in their review which was written by Joe Donnelly. He had this to say while awarding it the full 10 out of 10: “PlayStation Studios and Insomniac Games’ much-anticipated follow-up, then, is the result of years of evolution and iteration, both from Insomniac Games itself, and within the wider superhero action-adventure genre. And it shows. Just about everything here is an improvement over the original game. The combat and gadgetry is a tangible, if sometimes shameless homage to Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham series. And the breakneck traversal is a tribute to anyone with a passing interest in the subject matter, or anyone else who’s ever dreamt of saving the world or defying gravity by flying through the skies”

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launch on Oct. 20 which is when I’ll be getting my copy. Watch out for a review in the coming weeks.