True, I already saw what all the ciminal gangs looked like too. Seems they fell prey to the Cuntaku hit pieces of the first game. You know, the people who would "never rely on police protection, like ever."
If they portrayed actual crime statistics of NYC, they'd be called all the bigots and racists, and every other weaponized BS 'phobia' or 'ist' under the sun.
I don't mind the criminal issue - though I think it would be better for variety if we had many different visuals for enemies we fight. Men, Women, young, old, black, white, asian, hispanic - etc. Just that little visual variety can go a long way.
The cops felt relatively real in Spider-Man 1. They had issues, they could be corrupt, but you also had people who genuinely cared and wanted to see changes for the better. That seemed to all be thrown out the window for Spidey 2. So many scenes where police are to be expected and you see nothing.
If they wanted to focus more on other first responders, then cool! But you don't need to take away what you already had. Add in missions where you help direct traffic during a high speed ambulance to get to the hospital, or help the firefighters clear buildings and get people out.
The biggest annoyance I had above everything else was the complete lack of italian and jewish heritage or cultural artwork that is seen across these regions in IRL NYC. You can have BIPOC art, but you can also celebrate jewish heritage, and italian culture. NYC is so great because it is this massive city born from immigrants all coming to the US to start a new life and chase that classical American dream.
At moments, Spider-Man 2 has that classical Spidey feel. From Peter's awe over the Emily May foundation and his love of science and progress. Yes, it is very much idealistic in how they portray it and in any practical research field, you would need entire buildings dedicated to just one of these fields and not small little secitons - but that is the point of Comics. To make them feel more idealistic.
Or the scenes of Spidey helping out a homeless man or just sitting and talking to a grandfather who is remembering the past. Those are beautiful, touching moments that *feel* like Spidey. That *feel* like what you would encounter within NYC. But then you have Miles side quests which are all the most heavy handed, slacktivist bent malarkey that feels like the writers never went to NYC or any place that isn't some heavily curated bubble of theirs.
. Midjourney has threatened me for asking for a sleepy looking person with bloodshot eyes. Bloodshot is banned
. Got a similar threat and refusal for asking for “steam rising from hot coals in a relaxing Swedish sauna”. Sauna is a banned word.
