Spider-Man 2

"GTA Meets Spidie...Everyone Wins"

There have been a plethora of games that have tried to copy the ‘go-anywhere-do-anything' style of the GTA series. Some games have had fairly good success at it (most notably: The Getaway), and some have failed miserably (Driv3r). Spider-Man 2 has done an outstanding job of combining elements of GTA with the web-slinging fun of the comic book super hero. The result is a solid action game, with a genuinely fun gaming experience.

Gameplay: 8/10

The gameplay in this title is outstanding. Those of you who played the first title will remember the fun that slinging around New York was. Well take that fun, multiply it by 10, and you have Spider-Man 2. One of the most brilliant things that this game accomplished was that the whole city of New York is open, with no load times, and no hiccups between areas. You can literally sling from one end of the Big Apple to the other. It's truly fun. I spent several hours simply slinging all over the place. Not really accomplishing anything, but that's the fun of this game. You're not forced into completing any missions, or doing anything. Obviously you should if you want to progress in the game, but you don't have to—and that freedom is awesome. You can't do anything per se, since you cannot be a villain, but you can do just about everything else.

You are able to go on missions by speaking to people, or activating hovering markers throughout the city. Occasionally, you'll be swooping through Manhattan and you'll hear people below you screaming ‘help' or some other cry for assistance, and you'll know that there's something going on below you. Also Peter Parker will sometimes interrupt you with a phrase like “Oh great! I'm going to be late for class!” and you'll be encouraged to go somewhere and meet someone, which also advances the plot.

The combat is pretty good. It's limiting, at first, but as you continue to purchase upgrades for Spider-man you are able to do a lot more. It is a fairly solid aspect to this game, as any action game should have. Where the game bogs down is during the boss battles. They are tedious at best, and can be so ridiculously irritating that it makes you pull tufts of hair out of your head. But this does not ruin the game, thankfully. I don't know when it became acceptable to make bosses impossibly difficult, or ultra easy to beat but with an annoying manner of defeat, but it seems that we've had a slew of games in recent memory that have adopted this strategy (Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Metal Slug 3, etc). Thankfully, the major portions of this game are consumed with web-slinging from building to building, completing various challenges and tasks—being that superhero that you were always meant to be.

Graphics 7/10

Overall the graphics are okay. They don't look as good as Ninja Gaiden, and don't look as bad as Drake and the 99 Dragons. But I'm not sure they could have provided Ninja Gaiden quality graphics and still allow for the whole of New York to be rendered simultaneously. The full motion video looks a bit awkward, especially when the camera is zoomed in on any of the characters, and the models move like they're doing “The Robot” anytime they move. The in game experience is pretty fun, you move seamlessly through the Big Apple, and Spidie looks pretty good doing it. You won't be dazzled, but you won't be disappointed either.

Story 8/10

It's your typical comic book game. Boy meets girl, girl meets different boy, boy saves girl, kill some bad guys. Rinse and Repeat as necessary. The voice acting is nice because it is done by the movie actors, and Bruce Cambell is your guide through out the game. You may not be fighting hoards of “The Army of Darkness” but having Bruce along for the ride makes it seem that much more fun. As I said, the story is not that great, but it's what you expect from a game based on the Spider-Man comic books. It's fairly fast passed, and you don't really have to do any of the story if you want to just go swooping around for a few hours. In a large sense the story is a superfluous addition to the visceral action, and tremendous gameplay. Spider-Man 2 provides you an entertaining adventure through New York, with a story to distract you if you need the distraction; but for those of you who just want to get down with Spider-Man without having to do linear missions, and a cheesy plot, this is your game.

Overall 8/10

I really enjoyed this game. It is a great distraction from some of the ‘heaver' titles this season (Riddic, Manhunt, etc), and provides excellent bang-for-your-buck potential. You can play this game for well over 30 hours, or you can beat it in 10. It's your choice. Too many games don't let you make that game. Spider-Man 2 tried to give you the freedom to just play the game, and do what you want, and it succeeded at that. Sure the graphics could have been better, but the gameplay was so good that you didn't notice that there was some fuzziness around some of the textures here and there. This game is like your first college girlfriend, it may not what you want to spend the rest of your semester with, but it's great fun for a couple of months.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/01/04