Spider-Man 2

"Finally a good Spiderman game"

Well it's finally here, what I think fans of Spiderman games have been waiting for. This Spiderman game is completely different than any other Spiderman game that has been made so far. It started with the Playstation and Dreamcast versions of Spiderman and then into Spiderman: The Movie. Those games were great and all but it seems that Activision/Treyarch decided to scrap the game engines for the previous two games and go with a whole new one. This worked out greatly and has made one of the best superhero games I have seen out there.

Story:

The story for Spiderman 2 seems to loosely follow the story for the movie. While it does kind of go along with the movie it does change since they added in extra villains to make the game longer. There isn't much to say about the story so I will move on.

Graphics: 8.5/10

I am going to go on and say that the Spiderman model is excellent. Though he does look a bit small on the screen he moves very fluidly and gives you that real Spiderman feel. The city is also excellent. You see familiar New York City sights such as the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty and you really feel like you are in NYC. The only problem with the graphics is pretty much every other character model. You see the same pedestrian models very often and while the main character models do resemble the actor, some of them look kind of boxy. The pedestrians have it the worst and they just look like big rectangles almost but this is understandable to me because they were focusing on main characters and considering that they were rushed to get it released along with the movie, they couldn't perfect everything. That is the only problem I have with the graphics and I give it an 8.5 out of 10.

Sound: 8/10

The sounds in the game are not bad. You get all the sounds associated with Spiderman sounding just as you would expect them too and you constantly hear the traffic and the wind whipping by as you swing along the rooftops and the pedestrian cries for help. The problem is that it is very quiet and I suspect this is so you can hear all the sounds of the city. It is quiet meaning there is no music really. Every so often you will hear music for about 5 minutes and then it will go away. But other than that the sounds are nice and I give sound a nice 8 out of 10.

Gameplay: 9/10

Ah, this is where the game gets good. Well Activision/Treyarch ditched their previous game engine and redid the ENTIRE thing. The webslinging is the singlmost bestest all around greatest part of the game in my (and many others) opinion. Now, instead of your webs shooting off into the sky, you have to actually attach them to something to start swinging. And with the swinging controls set to Normal (or Manual) you get full control. Gravity affects you while you swing as well making this an extremely impressive and realistic effect. The city is massive and will take you a while to explore so expect to be taking time incorporating the awesome swinging in the big city. Think of this game as Spiderman/Grand Theft Auto except you wont be jacking cars or beating up prostitutes but hey, you're a superhero right? The one problem with the gameplay is that the random missions you will encounter become extremely repetitive. You will find yourself doing the same of about a total of 10 different random missions a lot. And these are necessary to get hero points which is the game's currency. You use hero points to buy upgrades for Spidey. That is the game's other strongpoint. The RPGish upgrade system. You gain upgrades for things like combat and making getting around easier and quicker. This helps keep the fighting fresh by gaining new combos and new ways to encounter a situation. This keeps the game fresh. And once the game is completed you will find that you have only completed 40-50% of the game. So the replay value is pretty good. I give the Gameplay a 9 out of 10.

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

The difficulty depends on how well yo have grasped the game's combat and web slinging system. If you have this down the game won't be too hard. You will find some missions to be very challenging so don't think this game is extremely easy. You also won't find it frustratingly difficult so this game is fun in that way.

Replay Value: 8/10

The replay value I am giving an 8/10 just because you will end up finding many things repetitive and once you get 100% completion you are relying on the web slinging to keep the game alive. I would say that once the game is 100% complete it becomes a game that will be fun to put in every once in a while. Which is still good so don't think this game will get old fast because this game is easily a 20-30 hour game. You will spend 8-10 hours on the story alone. So expect to be playing for a while.

Rent or Buy: ???

This really depends on preference. I believe this game will appeal to anybody but some people may not like it or think it is worth $50. For these people I would say buy it when the price is right. If you are a fan of Spidey and his games this is a must buy. Spidey is one of my favorite superheroes and I am satisfied with this game. So it depends on what you want. This game is completely different from any other Spidey game while still remaining somewhat similar.

Overall: 9/10

I give the game a 9/10. It is a very well done game. I believe that this new system is a breakthrough and while the game has many faults I am not surprised due to the fact that it is a completely new engine and they were pressed for time to get it released with the movie. I believe the next Spidey game will be great with this new engine incorporated. I hope to see more Spidey games like this. Heck I hope companies making all the failing superhero games to pay close attention to what Activision/Treyarch are doing with this game and try to fix theirs. Have fun!!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/04