Spider-Man 2

"Manhattan is your playground!"

He swings through the air with the greatest of ease... but, he's not the man on the flying trapeze... he's Spider-Man! No, I think I put that the wrong way- YOU'RE Spider-Man! And in this dazzling game, with many a web and wonder awaiting, you'll get that "I'm Spider-Man" feeling as you seldom have before!

Yeah, this game is good. But, I must say, for a Spider-Man fan like me, it has a sort of extra charm that goes beyond all gameplay. Even though the score was not influenced by it, I still can't help giving this game high praise. But trust me, even if you use the movies as your true Spider-Man references, or never even heard of Spider-Man, you'll enjoy this game... possibly as much as I did.

The first thing you'll notice when you put in the game is that... there's no introduction menu. You jump right into the opening cut-scene with a mere press of the "start" button. Now, what game does this remind us of? Yes, the famous, free-roaming engine of the GTA series. The free-roaming feature was a highly publicized feature of the game, and many hoped and prayed that they'd get it right. Well... they did.

If you didn't know, the whole game takes place in a half-scale replica of Manhattan. Although it's not photo-realistic, there are a lot of landmarks and buildings that you will notice as you go on through your adventures.

Well, you're free to explore every part of this Manhattan at your leisure. Yep, no annoying broken bridges or barriers (they couldn't stop Spidey, anyway!). Wait, I'm lying, there's ONE teeny, tiny restriction at the beginning (you can't go over to the island just off of Manhattan)... but never fear, it's lifted pretty quickly.

Graphics: 8/10

Anyway, after you get over the free-roaming part, you'll most probably take notice of the graphics. Well, I must say, this a Spider-Man 2 weak-point. I guess with all of that Manhattan, the game didn't have that much left, as details such as the ordinary buildings, cars, and people are, simply put, bland and generic. Spider-Man himself, however, is very nicely modeled and detailed (although a bit comic-book like... which I like). And time changes constantly in the game, complete with a moving sun and moon... and some niiiiice lighting effects.

The animations are nice and fluid, however, and they make up for the weaknesses in the graphics. You never really feel like you're stopping while racing to a point of the city- even if you fall from a 25-foot drop, you're able to shake it off and just keep running. But it's kinda depressing when you fall from a 100-foot drop and hear Spidey's bones crack- ouch.

Control: 10/10

But all of this doesn't matter without great control. Really, who wants to swing around for miles while fumbling around with some dumb control system? Not me. However, immediately after starting, you'll take part in a mandatory tutorial... narrated by the annoying yet extremely funny narrator from the last game. You'll immediately find out that while control is a bit different from the last game, it still feels just as natural... especially the tweaked web-swinging system. Here's how it works: Press R2 to shoot a web. The game calculates the closest point the web can stick to, and you'll immediately attach a web to it. From here you have three choices: jump off forwards while swinging (soon to shoot another web, thereby making progress), shoot another web WHILE still holding onto the first one (soon to catapult away), or just do nothing, watching Spider-Man sway to a stop (soon to feel like an idiot).

It's simple, fun, and it WORKS. With a bit of practice, you'll be doing 360 spins around trees and flips around thin bars!

Combat is just as simple and fun. While there's only one LABELED attack button, other buttons can be used in combination with this button to attack. Then, watch those suckers fly (with ragdoll physics too, I might add). However, I found I never truly needed those super-freaky web hammer kick combos at all during the course of the game. But what I DID need was the super Spider-Reflexes mode (AKA bullet-time) and constant use of my Spider-Sense to get through many battles. I must admit- some of those random thug battles can get hard.

Sound: 8/10

The sound in the game is kind of... how can I put this... nonexistent, unless you're in a cut-scene or fight or something. Then the sound is great and realistic. Sound effects sound real, and characters are voiced by actors from the movie, you can't go wrong. But while swinging around the city, as you'll do 70% of the time, there's little to no music, little to no ambient sounds, and... little to no sound, basically, save for the sound of your webbing and pedestrians' occasional jeers. But the times when there are sound make up for it.

Gameplay: 9.5/10

As said before, the game makes you truly, truly feel like you're actually Peter-Parker, AKA Spider-Man, and great gameplay only helps this feeling. Basically, you can do whatever a Spider can. Don't feel like walking on the floor? Crawl alongside the wall. It's that easy. But it gets even more advanced than that. Is an enemy hounding you too much? Back-flip away and web him up. But does he have a group of friends closing in on you? Web-rodeo him and send all of them sprawling. About to fall in the water? Web-Zip parallel to the ground and stick onto a ship. Really, they must have thought of everything here.

Spider-Man 2 is broken into 17 chapters, and each chapter has a set of goals. But it's almost always more than it seems. For example, if you have to "go to your apartment," you'll most likely get involved in some crazy boss-battle in the process. But the most annoying part of the gameplay must be the system of Hero Points.

See those pedestrians on the street? Some of them have "mini-goals" for you. Just go to them, talk to them, and you'll be pointed towards a crime. Beat up everyone and you'll get some well-deserved hero points! Sounds fun?

Repeat ten times for nearly every chapter.

Doesn't sound so fun now, ha?

You can also gain Hero Points by finding secrets or solving "random crimes," but still... the whole system is just so tedious. Buying upgrades and new moves with your accumulated Hero Points almost makes up for the tedium.

But there are some interesting goals to make up for the Hero Points system. You'll get to go toe-to-toe with a few comic book villians, and Doc Ock, of course. However, most of these battles are kind of easy, and it won't take more than two or three tries to defeat most of the bosses. But still, there are some crazy goals that will have you scratching your head... and having fun at the same time. I swear, the writers of this game must be either crazy or really, really smart.

But no amount of great gameplay could make me overlook the fact that... this game is too short. I beat the main part of the game in two days, actually. But there is the one last factor...

Replay Ability: 10/10

Trust me, ten days after beating the last boss, you'll still want to play this game. Why? Not only is swinging around town so fun... you'll be spending enough time beating the hundreds of challenges, races, and finding secrets to keep this game in your PS2 for months. Man, that's fun.

Overall: 9/10

I have said enough. If you're not convinced by now, give this game a try. I'm sure you'll like it. You have to like it, Doc Ock said so.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/04