Spider-Man 2

"WICKED web-swinging fun - a very enjoyable title."

FOREWORD

Having always been a big fan of Marvel games in all their differing styles and formats (platformers, beat'em-up's, adventure games) I was VERY keen on getting my hands on a copy of Spider-Man 2 for the PS2. Was I impressed ? Read on ...

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

You control Peter Parker (Spider-Man) in what is, I have to say, a very fluid and wide game. You manoeuvre around the city in three dimensions, swinging between buildings, up to rooftops, down to street level, completing objectives as you go. These mini-objectives are limited in number but varied in scope - they include trivial things like rescuing escaped balloons for squealing children, to stopping armed robberies of armoured cars and jewellery stores ... through to fighting supervillains ... all the regular spider-man stuff really ...

The game is divided into chapters, and you have a set number of objectives put into a 'to do' list for you to complete before you can move to the next chapter. The chapters move the plot of the game along, and for those of you lucky enough to have seen Spider-Man 2 at the cinemas, then the plot of this title goes along quite happily with that of the movie.

The objectives are varied and traverse the majority of the city, which keeps the game bright and interesting.

GRAPHICS - 8/10

Whilst there are sections that are really quite STUNNINGLY handled, such as swinging through the city at high speed with NO slowdown of ANY description, or leaping from the top of a HUGE building and hurtling towards the ground (with increasing speed blur and wind noise as you fall) only to web a nearby building just before you splat to save yourself from a liquid end ? There are also sections of the game where it falls short of remarkable ...

... for example, in the opening credits as the camera spirals through the city, the detail on the buildings is NOT impressive ... you get the impression almost that in order to comply with the restraints of the hardware on the PS2, the game's designers have had to sacrifice detail to increase speed of play ...

... this feeling is short-lived, however, as the game is graphically on the WHOLE very impressive. Some of the characters you interact with look rather blocky by today's standards, and there are occassionally instances when you think "Come ON ... THAT coulda been done better", but those moments are few and far between thankfully.

Generally speaking the game is visually impressive - nothing in it for me NOT to recommend it to you ...

SOUND - 8/10

Whilst the voice acting is GREAT - Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Alfred Molina having been hired to do the voiceovers for their respective characters, there are - certainly in Tobey's case - only a certain number of lines he uses in the game for the "regular" objectives, so there is a certain amount of repetition during play of some lines ... I won't spoil them for you, but after a few hours you might like to pop a cd on there ;)

HAVING SAID THAT, the QUALITY of the voice acting is top notch. The actors (as you would expect) put a lot of effort into their voice acting, and it comes across during the game's cinematic scenes particularly. Some of the voice acting by the extras is also funny - I particularly like the black lady who says "Spider-Maaaaaaaan don't you LET that person fall" ... bless her.

Anyhow ... the villains are also well done, and FULL CREDIT has to go to Bruce Campbell for his work on the help screens and tutorial ... that guy is fuuuuuuuuuuunny :)

CONTROLS - 9/10

I have to say that, like most other Spider-Man titles, the controls ARE a little fiddly at the beginning ... Spider-Man has LOADS of combinations and moves he can pull off (most of which need to be purchased), but once he has done so and you've done them a few times to get the techniques down, you'll find you're swinging through the city like a PROPER superhero !!

There ARE times when, because the controls ARE a little fiddly, you might find Spider-Man doesn't respond QUITE as fluidly as you would like, but those ARE few and far between thankfully.

In general he's quite a spritely little character, and responds very very well to your commands.

PLOT - 7/10

Having so many enemies, the plot of a Spider-Man title can generally be taken for granted. This PARTICULAR title tries to stay as close to the plot of the Spider-Man 2 movie as possible, so if you have watched that you will know (at least for the mostpart) what to expect.

In order to improve the longevity of the title there ARE guest appearances by such characters as (SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW) the Black Cat, Mysterio and the Shocker ... all of which help to bolster the length of time you'll spend playing, AND serve to distract you from your main objectives (which is sometimes a good thing).

Whilst the plot may be quite similar to most other Spider-Man titles, THAT IS WHAT SPIDER-MAN DOES ! He's a crime-fighter ... this is about as good as a crime-fighter's life GETS ;)

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

Whilst there are times when the gameplay is a little ... measured ... for the majority of the time you'll be so happy swinging through New York that you won't really be paying attention to the ultimately limited scope of things ... whilst there are numerous different types of crime to thwart, they are NOT limitless in scope, and generally fall within abooooooooout 10 categories I'd say off the top of my head ...

... but it's the sheer FREEDOM that is given to you by the title ... you can go ANYWHERE in the city (not INSIDE most of the buildings granted, but) from the tallest skyscraper to the street itself, you can go ANYWHERE.

THIS is where the game's appeal lies ... I have honestly never played a Spider-Man title that boasted (quite rightfully so) having SO much freedom to manoeuvre and travel ... it's great !!

REPLAY VALUE - 8/10

Whilst the plot may not have AMAZING replay value, you will invariably wind up picking the controller up time after time just to have another little play around the city and stop the occassional crime ...

... I'm still playing it and I completed it a while ago now ;)

VALUE FOR MONEY - 8/10

Whilst it's still brand new it's going to be quite a pricey title compared to most of the second-hand stuff out there ... but I for one was happy I bought it. Worth every penny I'd say ... it has provided me with HOURS and hours of playing enjoyment, and that's what video games are ultimately all about, non ?

OVERALL - 9/10 (This is NOT an average)

A very enjoyable game and a TRULY worthy addition to the set

MAIN GOOD POINTS

* Beautifully handled graphics when moving at high speeds.
* Good plot, for a Spider-Man title
* Good voice-acting and varied speech to keep things interesting and upbeat.
* The cheesy grin factor of swinging through the city and NOT splatting into buildings.

MAIN BAD POINTS

* The limited number of different crimes to sort out may leave you feeling like you're repeating yourself.
* VERY very occassionally Spider-Man might not respond 100% to your commands, and this can make you look like a t!t in front of your mates.

SO SHOULD YOU GET IT ?

Yeah ! If you're a fan of Spider-Man and/or Marvel titles in general, then this is a worthy addition to your collection. For its freedom of movement and enjoyable web-swinging action, I for one am VERY happy to have bought it !!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/05/04