Spider-Man 2

"A little bit of good...a little bit of bad..."

Spider-Man 2
(Xbox)

Review by Pure Invasion a.k.a. Kyle Roy

Introduction :

It's Spider-Man, what type of an introduction do you need? Well, needless to say, all through development, this game was said to be a GTA inspired web-swinging adventure. For the most part it is, that is without the blood, prostitutes, swearing, music and I could probably find a few more...

Gameplay:

The controls in the game are actually quite impressive at most times. The combo attacks that you gain in later levels are sometimes quite hard to pull off effectively in order to get the fluid animations that you wish to desire. Though once you do achieve your desired move, it becomes pretty damn cool. After all you can hang enemies from light posts, smash them into the ground via web lines, piledrive them into the concrete...actually it all becomes pretty damn cool once you can buy some of the cooler moves (around Chapter 6-7). You could spend hours swinging around the virtual re-creation of New York. This is actually the first Spider-Man game I've played since the days of the Spider-Man/Venom games on Super Nintendo, and for the most part, I'm throughly enjoying it...

Story:

It's pretty much the same story as the movie, with a few added things to help draw the game out. You'll encounter Doc Ock, Black Cat, Shocker, Mysterio, Rhyno (who deserved more in game time), among many others. The game stays true to the comics and the movie in that each characters feelings towards Peter/Spider-Man are accurately portrayed. The story in the game feels a bit forced though as there's too many enemies/disasters happening at once and it feels like everything except for Doc Ock were thrown in the game to drag it out (which they were). Another annoying part in the story is the "Hero Points". Now, it's a cool feature (it's basically your form of money in the game), though it grows annoying as time grows on. It seems that the only thing keeping the game going is the chapter after chapter goal of gaining a certain number of hero points. It gets quite annoying when every chapter you see the same thing in your to-do list, "Gain 3,000 more Hero Points"...I mean c'mon, where's the creativity...bottom line that's the number one annoyance in the game. On the opposite end of the Hero Points idea it has numerous fetch items just like GTA. Whether it be race tokens, skyscraper, buoy, secret, hideout...it really has enough items to be found that'll keep you busy for a period of time...

Graphics/Sound:

It could have been better graphics wise...though it certainly could have been worse. Having the game on Xbox gives a slight upgrade, though nothing too special. The sound department is well done as most characters in the movie voiced their characters in the game. Web swinging is rather bland due to the lack of any sound at all. All you hear is the odd whoosh of wind, and the ever-so-frequent cry of a citizen that can't fend for themselves.

Play Time/Replayability:

To beat the game fully (to the final Doc Ock fight) took me around 8 hours. After you defeat Ock it throws you into another Chapter which gives missions that are only put there to drag the games time on...and on...and on...and on...though once you clear Chapter 17 you do gain some decent unlockable bonuses...though they are still nothing more than an idea to drag the game out in time. This game has decent replayability factors. It's no GTA in the replay area, though it does what it can. Collecting all the tokens and gaining a bunch of "Awards" will keep the dedicated coming back for more...the others will simply forget about them...

Final Recommendation:

If your a Spider-Man fanboy...or love the movies...or love GTA but wish you were a spider then buy it. All in all, I bought it the first day it came out and have been annoyed by small things, but it's overall a great gaming experience...7/10 for the web-slinger...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/04