Spider-Man 2

"And all I can say is "WOW"!"

When I first heard that Neversoft was not making the Spider-Man the movie game, I ws disappointed to say the least. I couldn't figure out why they would switch from a company that was making good games, to a company I never even heard of. I kept up on Treyarch's Spider-Man The movie and the screen shots were impressive. However, once I played the game I really missed the "comic book feel", or the "animated series feel" that came with Neversoft games. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed in the direction that Treyarch took the games.

So naturally, when I first heard of a Spider-Man 2, that was to be released with the movie, I wasn't really too interested. In fact, I didn't even pay attention to most previews for the game. But as my anticipation grew for the movie, I was curious. So I read up and saw all the things Tey arch was promising for this game. I began to get excited for the game too as well. Free roaming around NYC? You bet! But that is not all this game has to offer, let us take a more in depth look at what makes this game good, and bad.

Graphics: 8/10
Ok, I want to give this part a 7, but I can't. And I'll tell you why. First off, the graphics over all are not that bad. Spider-Man looks like Spider-Man, MJ like MJ, Doc Ock like Doc Ock. But, the graphics on other things such as pedestrians and cars look very blocky and unpolished. In fact, I would say the cars are about as generic as you can get.

The buildings do look good though as well. Of course, the further you get away the less textures you can see, but that is to be expected.

So why can't I give this part a 7? I can easily forgive the blocky pedestrians and generic looking cars when I climb The Chrystler Building. Only by doing this do you truly realize just how big this city is. Then you realize it is all free roaming with no load times. That is quite an impressive feat.

Sound: 6/10
I should say sound, or lack there of. Sound effects don't sound all that bad. Punching, kicking, web swinging. It's all there. But something that I felt really hurt the game as a whole was the lack of music. There are many times where you are just swinging around for 10 or so minutes in complete silence. Every once in awhile a short clip of some music will kick in, but, that is about it.

But, every main character has speaking parts. Civilians with information about crimes all have speaking parts, and even while you are swinging through streets people will yell out things like "Look, it's the web slinger!" or "Hey Spidey, you da man". So those things score some extra points. But honestly, I found myself wanting to turn on the TV or my stereo just so I had some sound while I was swinging.

Game play: 8/10
Now, this is the games high point. As I have said before, you can swing around NYC with no load times what so ever. And the only slow downs in frame rate are when you have to fight 5 or more Thugs in a heavily congested area.

Ok, so asides from the web swinging changes what else do we have? Well, upgrades and combos are obtained a different way too. When you defeat criminals or solve other random crimes you are rewarded with Hero Points. These basically act as cash. You can go into any store and purchase upgrades and combos.

In addition to this, the game is Chapter based. Normally to move onto the next Chapter you either have to get somewhere in a certain time, collect a certain amount of Hero Points, buy a certain upgrade, or a combination of things. Completing a Chapter opens up new upgrades in the stores.

Also new are the random crimes. You can choose to either ignore these and continue on, or you can rush in and save the day. There are two types of these crimes. One is a Green question mark over a pedestrians head. By talking to them they will give you information about a crime in progress. The others are light blue markers which indicate a citizen in distress usually. The bad part about this is that crimes are very repetitive as there are only 5 or so different green marker crimes, and 5 or so different blue marker crimes. So a lot of the times you will feel like you are repeating yourself.

But if I had to make a comparison I would have to say "Look at True Crime". The random crimes in that game are just as repetitive and they all boil down to chasing someone in your car usually. So I really can't take away too many points because the crimes in this game are repetitive as well.

And you can always choose to continue the games story. The game hits a few plot points from the new movie, as well as some original ones. Rhino, Mysterio, Shocker, and Doc Ock all make an appearance here.

Even with all of these new features I do still find myself missing the extras that the Neversoft games had. Mainly the different costumes. But I understand these games are meant to be more movie based.

Replay Ability: 8/10
Well, after you finish all the story missions the game does not end. You are allowed to continue on, solving crimes, getting upgrades, or even complete some of the games many challenges. While I don't see a real reason to start a new game, there is plenty for you to get still. There are 150 Sky scraper tokens to find, 75 secret tokens, Buoy tokens, Hideout tokens, completing side missions which include the Daily Bugle missions, Mary Jane missions, Pizza Delivery missions, not to mention special awards for stopping crimes a certain amount of time.

In short, there is still a lot to do after you "beat" the game. I'm currently at 17 ish hours of game time with a little over 52% of the game complete.

Fun Factor: 8/10
Granted, Spidey fans will get more out of this game than the casual game player. That's the very reason I had to give this game a 7 instead of an 8. There just really isn't too much here that has the chance to draw in someone who may not be a Spider-Man fan. But at the same time, I have a friend who very much dislikes Spidey. And then I put him in front of this game and couldn't get him to stop playing. To each his own I guess.

Rent or Buy:
If you are a Spidey fan then buy this game. You will not be disappointed. If you are not a Spidey fan, give it a rent first. I personally love the game and have not been able to put it down.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/03/04