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Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise coyly took advantage of its title to include not one but two Spider-Men. That doesn’t mean that super-powered characters are the only ones who’ve been playable, though, as Insomniac has committed to giving important characters their own missions regardless of whether they can cling to walls or not. Thankfully, Insomniac didn’t reduce these roles purely to stealth sequences in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and the result is a more aggressive Mary Jane Watson as well as an outstanding mission featuring Hailey Cooper.
Marvel’s Spider-Man’s series does seem to be coming to a close and as such it could be unrealistic to presume that Hailey will be reprised with as large of a role as she had, at least given the fact that she had her own optional side mission. Narratively, however, Miles Morales and Hailey are officially a romantic item now and it would be a shame if Insomniac failed to build on the foundations it crafted for Hailey’s “Graffiti Trouble” quest to expand on her unique gameplay perspective further.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Hailey Cooper Side Mission Can’t Be a One-Off Gimmick
If nothing else,
Hailey’s side mission in
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
was fantastic because it finally gave players a decent look into the kind of person she is, particularly when she’s on her own and not exclusively portrayed as a scene partner for Miles to interact with.
This mission allows her to be her own character, and as a deaf person Insomniac creatively decided to render the sequence inaudible, express Hailey’s thoughts via emoticons (a clever repurposing of emoticon and sticker features from Marvel’s Spider-Man’s Photo Mode), and have Hailey communicate via smartphone text messaging. In gameplay, player actions for Hailey are obviously simple in relation to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s web-slinging, wall-crawling action. But, a spray can mini-game literally shakes things up and again helps to illustrate parts of the character that players wouldn’t see otherwise.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 Needs to Let Miles and Hailey Flourish with Better Character Development and Chemistry
The crux of the issue is that with Hailey taking center stage, perhaps missions for her wouldn’t seem necessary to fill in those gaps. Plus, “Graffiti Trouble” is optional and players could potentially miss out on what little it adds to her character anyhow. If Hailey is going to be playing a big role in Miles’ life now, it is essential that Marvel’s Spider-Man 3—or whatever installment they appear in next—pays a lot of attention to their development.
This is arguably what Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales needed to achieve since it had the time to do so, and nudging them together like shy kids separated at a high school dance in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 felt hasty as a result. Therefore, more missions for Hailey could be paramount in a sequel if that’s one of the only ways players may get to see that development unfold.
It would be great to play a mission from Hailey’s perspective where she and Miles go on a date, for instance, and see more intimately what she thinks of him with emoticons representing her thoughts. Any time spent with these two alone could be integral to their relationship seeming natural and earned, and depending on how much time passes between Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and their upcoming appearances it will be imperative that their chemistry is depicted well.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a relationship with Spider-Man if there wasn’t at least a little turmoil and hardship, but that’d hopefully be depicted well, too. Unfortunately, with the threat of a final Marvel’s Spider-Man chapter looming, Insomniac might not have an opportunity to flesh her character out as much as she deserves, regardless of whether she’s playable or not.
