Spider-Man 2

"Don't Expect This To Be GTA!"

I'm writing this review to simply explain what this game is about. Many who have complained cannot realize that this isn't GTA, and there aren't going to be all those extra missions and good stuff that GTA brought to us. Although it features open-ended gameplay as well as a city the size of Manhattan(duh), it's slated more towards a spiderman game rather then GTA. How so many will ask.

Well for those who complained about it being to short, there are over 100s of racing challenges that put your web slinging skills to the test. Also, a majority of other missions feature you trying to beat the clock going to a destination. Basically, this may not seem like much more then an addon for the game, however, thats what makes this game more. Those missions are slated to give your the spiderman experience in terms of movement. Its also probably what this game is based on, and not on fighting baddies on the street.

As for the fighting aspect, I wouldn't expect perfection being that they were focusing more on the web slinging physics rather then this area. It fights like any other action game, press a button and you do an attack. Buy some upgrades and you can mash the other buttons to do things. Then you got spider reflexes which is similar to "bullet time" except you can detect where the attack is about to come from and successfully dodge and counter it. In the end however, you'll notice the fighting remains rather the same as if you were to play other games unless you can use some creativity in ways to beat them up (going 50 stories up and piledriving strait to the ground)

Now the story is what got me down with this game. Although it tries its best to be spoiler free, without those spoils, the story is cut down to basically what can be explained on one piece of paper. Seriously, many who will play this game (and do not get stuck or aren't just dumb) will beat this game within a week, or at least 10-12, maybe less of gameplay. It takes longer to gather Hero Points (required to advance in the game) then it does to do the story missions. Though that may not sound bad, it gets the game in a repetitive mood not even halfway through and once the story is finished, thats pretty much all you can do to advance further (unless you do the races)

In a way, I was expecting more, especially with the Black Cat already in it. I figured they couldn't based this game on events that happened before, during but not on screen, and after the movie. Rather then that, they do some little during but not on screen gameplay, but not enough to make it notable. Overall, I think this area could've been improved and hopefully like the GTA series, they can only make the next one better.

The graphics aren't complainable and I won't go into saying there aren't many polygons, especially with such a large city with no loading times and long range visibility. I actually like the work they did (for nitpickers, you go make everything in this game look perfect, and see how long it'll take) as you can go from the 2nd highest building in the US strait to the ground in perfect fluidity. The slow mo in the spidey senses works as well and overall, my only nitpick is that there is no weather, but oh well.

Sounds could've used a lift, as many lines become repetitive (even in different voices or sexes, like they used the same script). I figured if they were to spend more then a day recording lines, they could've made it sound much better. As for hitting, Im not asking for perfected sounds and so for, it works and thats all I have to say.

Now after playing this game for 24 hours, I've found new ways to make this one last longer, and thats by beating this game 100% and that should be the goal for all those who complain about it being to short. It makes it much more fun as you will eventually try to find new ways to move faster and better. The races will take a while to beat the mega times, but you got to remember that this is a spider man game and not GTA.

Activision made this game expecting people to explore more on the web slinging then anything else and if you don't find any joy from swinging building to building, then I suggest you rent this one before deciding to buy it.

FINAL SCORES
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Graphics - 7/10 - not perfect, but its not bad at all.

Sound - 5/10 - seems like they rented a recording studio for a mere day and took snippets from the movie. no effort means no good score, but its not notably bad except for audiophillies. Also the music is pretty generic and bland.

Gameplay - 9/10 - A complete Spider Man experience with you being able to be spiderman with unlimited freedom. The swinging system is pretty fun and if you've liked tony hawk, you're going to love this.

Story/Missions - 7/10 - Although it may look like the goal is to complete missions, there are other things to do as well like stop crime on the streets and complete special races and challenges. The challenges and races add more to the exploration of webslinging, however the story missions are short and easy and after a few days of playing, the story is gone and so does the fun and anticipation in the game unless you find other ways to enjoy it like beating the game fully. I've beaten it already and I still have another 50% to go. Also the little things to do on the side, like stopping crime gets old since there are less then 10 different crimes to stop.

Overall - 8/10 - If your looking for a game to playout like GTA, meaning lots of missions and side quests and all those little extras, look elsewhere. This is spiderman, not GTA and the point of this game is to get the spiderman experience and thats what you get. From webslinging to stopping petty crime, thats as good as it gets and nothing more. Nitpickers, stop complaining.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/03/04