Bryan Intihar, the director of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, offers an explanation for why the game’s iteration of Venom does not share the fire vulnerability of his comic book counterpart.
To provide context, the comics that served as inspiration for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 depict Venom with specific vulnerabilities such as high-frequency sounds and fire. However, players noticed that in the game, the character is entirely immune to fire. As explained in an IGN interview, this isn’t an oversight but rather an intentional design decision made to improve the gameplay experience.
In his interview, the director of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Bryan Intihar, explained that the “Fire doesn’t harm the Symbiote and Venom in this game, did you notice that?”.
“Originally, there were about five different weaknesses of the Symbiote, and we were concerned about how to communicate all these different elements,” he added.
For those who may suspect that Insomniac Games is attempting to conceal an error, there are both audio and visual indicators in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 that affirm the intentional design choice.
Bryan Intihar elaborated, saying, “We decided that, for our universe, we would stick to the vulnerability to high-frequency sound.” He further explained, “Someone asked, ‘Why is Harry not affected by the fire?’ and if you pay attention, in the Tombstone rescue mission, Peter deliberately asks, ‘Is the fire bothering you?’ to which Harry responds, ‘No, I don’t feel anything,’ ensuring that we’ve addressed this aspect.”
Despite this minor departure from the comic book source material, both critics and gamers are in unanimous agreement that the game represents a significant success in the realm of open-world superhero gaming.
Insomniac’s portrayal of Venom, in particular, has garnered praise, with GamesRadar’s Joe Donnelly lauding it as the finest rendition of the Symbiote character since the 1995 16-bit Spider-Man game.
The open world in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is so vibrant and immersive that Joe envisions Insomniac potentially creating a crime simulation game that could rival GTA 6.
