Spider-Man 2

"Finally, you really CAN do anything a spider can"

Like most gamers, I trodded into Spider-man 2 very cautiously. Knowing full well that movie license games aren't usually worth the DVDs they're printed on, I pressed the start button on my PS2 trying to keep in mind that the trend is changing... even if slowly (Chronicles of Riddick for example). I also knew that Activision, thus far, has treated the Spider-man franchise with a lot of respect and research.

Imagine my surprise when, not 5 minutes into the game, I find I am legitimitely ENJOYING myself. Not because I feel obligated to, not because someone is pressuring me, but because the game is actually fun. It's a strange kind of fun though. By technical merits, this game doesn't really stand out very much from the crowd. Yet on some deep, cerebral level (the same level Sega's Nights grabbed and held hostage when it released for the Saturn all those years ago), you can't help but have truckloads of fun swinging around the rendered city.

Graphics: 8

Spider-man 2 doesn't WOW you in any one category, but at the same time it provides a seamless world for you to explore. From the opening movie I was initially turned off. The city looks terribly bland, badly textured, and suffers from aliasing. It certainly seemed to be missing the character that made GTA III's city so convincing.

Luckily, the city (strangely) looks much better once you're in it, as opposed to when you're looking at it from afar. The buildings are detailed enough and any repeating/bland textures barely get noticed while websligning by them at breakneck speed (with the added advantage of very few hiccups in frame rate). However it certainly doesn't look as good as the XBOX version of the game (which features more detailed and realistic textures).

Virtual New York has all the life that you'd expect. Automobiles fill the streets, people walk the sidewalks and conduct business, and news choppers fly through the city. Despite any earlier rant against it, you really do begin to feel like you're IN the city after a few minutes. And the city is big... very big, without a spot of loading from one end to the other (there is some loading when entering certain buildings). I don't know what technology is being used here to load the city on the fly, but if some polys and textures had to be sacrificed to create this seamless experience, then I applaud Activision for making the right choice.

There are also the requisite day/night changes and some minimal lighting in the night sequences, though nothing to really speak of. However the change in setting does add much to the already believable world.

All things considered, this is one of the best uses of "low technical" environments to create a "highly believable" world ever.

Things get a little less commendable when it comes to character models. While the Spidey, Doc Ock, and Black Cat models look and animate very well, the rest of the cast leave something to be desired. Peter looks nerdy, but nothing like Tobey Maguire and Mary Jane isn't a girl I'd want to date (at least the way she looks here). Worse still, the civillian models talk to you without moving their lips (not even a change in texture from "open mouth" to "close mouth"). However, Activision has once again shown they know where to put their money, since these models aren't seen up close all that often.

Sound: 6

The sound is easily Spider-man 2's biggest failing. First off, the music. While the music isn't bad, it isn't really good either. A few tracks, such as the opening violin track from the movies, is nice for upper-level webslinging (it's quite soothing) and its hilarious when an Italian jig is playing as you deliver pizzas. However other tracks, such as fights and car chase tunes, are really nothing more than forgettable beats.

That in itself wouldn't earn Sound such a low score, but now consider the fact that the music kicks in and out very abruptly, and almost randomly. While swinging through the city, the music may suddenly begin playing. Strange to say the least. However most of the webslinging is done with a nice city ambience.

The sound effects and voices in Spider-man 2 also leave much to be desired. Sound effects are of the typical blam, kapow variety. Most of the "nice" sound effects (web slinging) are taken directly from the movie which is a nice touch. Unfortunately the city itself features an inconsistent array of sounds. You may websling along and suddenly be able to hear cars and crowd ambience, while at other times you'll hear nothing at all (and this has nothing to do with how high up you are). Pedestrians may yell for help, but because they always yell with the same volume, you'll never know where they are. I find it hard to believe that women can yell THROUGH buildings... yet it happens all the time in this game. The XBOX version may have fixed this problem though, as it supposedly supports surround sound.

In any case, you may not want to hear them too often anyways, because the voices in Spiderm-man 2 are horrid. Peter Parker always sounds like he's ready to take a nap, Mary Jane yells very unconvincingly at him, and J. Jonah Jamison is just a shadow of his loudmouth self. The only one worthy of any positive credit is Alfred Molina as Doc Ock, who gives a performance somewhat on par with his movie portrayal.

Gameplay: 8.5

This is where Spidey really shines, even in spite of its technical deficiencies. As you have no doubt heard, Activision has gone a different route for this newest sequel and opted for a Grand Theft Auto inspired 3D "go anywhere" city. This is the game's biggest draw, and the biggest improvement over any previous Spider-man game to date. In fact, the idea is so good, I can't believe no one has even attempted to implement something like this till now.

Essentially what the game offers is the GTA inspired "do anything at your leisure" game environment that has proved so fruitful in the past. Combine this with Spidey's unique method of travelling the city, and you have a game world that (in my humble opinion) is more fun to travel in than GTA. I've literally lost hours just traversing the city for fun, and it never seems to get tiring. Of course part of the reason for this is the excellent physics of the new swing system.

Gone are the days of "cloud" swinging. Spidey now slings to nearby buildings, and reacts realistically with them. I've waited years for this to happen, and I commend Activision for not just doing it, but for doing it in a well thought out manner. As you earn more points, you can purchase movement upgrades. Amazingly, these upgrades aren't just for show, they're all very useful and enhance the way you travel the city. When you sling around the city, you really can do EVERYTHING Spidey can. Wanna swing around a corner? Easy. Hold two web lines? Ditto. Commit midair flips and poses? Yup, you can do that too. Run along the sides of buildings? Uh-huh... You get the idea. The Tony Hawk-inspired creativity of the travel system is so refined, you may not ever want to actually play the missions... which is where things get a bit messier.

Missions in the city are broken up into random crime and story based. Random crime happens in the city, and all you need to do to get involved is ask someone on the street. I found this a bit irritating, since almost everytime a crime happens, you aren't allowed to participate until you land on the ground and ask someone like a doofus... espeically when the crime is happening just down the street. The "types" of crimes vary, but most boil down to robberies, car chases, or rescues.

Story-based missions require you to travel to specific locations, but other than boss fights (some of which aren't even that interesting) and races with the Black Cat, they differ very little from random-crime missions.

Of course, the fun factor of these missions depends on the fighting engine, and surprisingly I found the fighting engine to be fairly strong in Spider-man 2. Initially, from what I remembered from the previous games, and the preview movies I saw of this one, I automatically plugged Spider-man 2 as having a weak "100 useless combos" game with horrible floaty physics. Thankfully that wasn't the case. Spider-man 2 features an expansive combat engine with USEFUL moves, a "parry" dodge, a throw, and more. Like the travel system in this game, you can buy more fighting moves (most of which actually do have different, useful effects) which let you whack the opposition in more creative ways. While hardly as fun or deep as the swing system, the fighting provides entertainment in its own little way, and allows for much creativity. You really can imitate the way Spidey would fight by jumping around, dodging bullets and combing opponents in mid-air. The physics are a little wonky (punches stun to create a dramatic "boom" special effect, and floating opponents looks weird) but this time the unrealistic physics actually ADD to the fun-factor of the game. I challenge anyone to see the exhaggerated rag doll effects and not crack a smile.

Oh, and of course there's the obligatory Matrix slow-mo mode... but I'm not saying anything about that because we ALL know what it does.

The biggest knock against the gameplay is the repetitiveness. There's only so many types of crimes that occur in the city, and many of those crimes are very similar. Even the story mode (which is agonizingly short and easy to beat) feels repetitive and, often times, more of a chore than a pleasure. Thankfully, you don't have to injest it all at once thanks to the free-roam system.

Conclusion

In general, Spider-man 2 seems to be a game about two things. The first one is compromises. Activision had to make compromises to make the game they wanted to make, and I think they made the right ones. Although the graphics take a hit, the world is seamless. Although the models suck, you don't see them up close too often. There aren't many special effects, but you really don't need them. Activision made hard decisions, but in the end, I think they were the right ones.

Second, Spider-man 2 is a game about the player. Using their experience with the Tony Hawk franchise, Activision created a game where the player decides how much fun he/she wants to have. The freedom and creativity of the swing system and fight system make this very evident. For those who don't get a sense of self satisfaction stringing together moves in different, increasingly creative ways, this game is certainly not for you. For the rest of you, this could be a worthy purchase.

In the end, we have a game that's far closer to Tony Hawk than it is to any other game in the Spider-man franchise. I commend Activision for re-inventing a game that already sold well, let alone a license game that sold well, and congradulate them for giving us all a Spider-man game we can all enjoy for its gameplay (finally).

Pros:
+ Awesome swing system
+ Well thought out fight system
+ Believable sprawling city environment
+ Conscious improvement over the previous game
+ First game to make you really FEEL like Spiderman

Cons:
- Inconsistent graphics and sound
- Break in gameplay when talking to civillians
- Some uninspired boss fights
- Repetitive gameplay

Overall: 8 (Not an average)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/04