Spider-Man 2

"Best way to sum up Spiderman 2; raw potential"

Peter Parker leads a fairly difficult life; his best friend Mary Jane is loosing trust in him; he recently got fired in his pizza delivery job; he's on the verge of getting fired in his photographing job for the Daily Bugle; he's overdue on rent, and this is all thanks to his alter ego Spiderman. Spiderman, as some of you might now by now, is a vigilante that swings around Manhattan, beating up criminals, and assisting those in need. Who would have known it would be so difficult and frustrating performing the heroic actions Spiderman accomplishes in the Nintendo DS version of Spiderman 2? From the looks of it, Peter Parker is the one leading the better life here.

Simply watching the opening cutscene of Spiderman 2 makes you more anxious to play the game, because you'd be fooled to think the game would be 3D, just like its console cousins. Instead, the game is in a side scrolling format. That doesn't mean it's bad, it's just disappointing. Spiderman 2 is a pretty decent game, though it's definitely not worth the $50 (CAN) or $40 (USA) you've paid.

Spiderman 2 is simply raw potential that isn't developed enough yet, because it has the heart, but with a few more months of work, it could have been those must have titles for the DS, which is something Nintendo's system is really lacking right now. First off, the bad guys are pretty tough to bring down. Usually, when you perform the kick and punch attacks, they'll fly off on the third strike. Once they get up, they'll charge at you like a bull, and a good chunk of your health will be deducted. You could always slow down time by activating your spidey senses; though the timer that is timing your overall completion time will continue to go at normal pace. Secondary objectives require you to complete the level in such a fast time, it's almost ridiculous, and activating your spidey senses will stall your chances of achieving those objectives. Don't be surprised if you're graded a level F or D.

Moving along, the lack of variety in enemies makes the game quite repetitive. There are only three types of distinguishable enemies: Androids/Humans and flying robots. None of them require any special techniques, except for the flying robots in rare occasions. Each level pretty much follows the same formula; rescue hostages, kill baddies, reach destination and that's it. The only exceptions are boss bottles. The boss battles are probably the best part of the game, though that isn't saying much. The secondary objectives for the boss battles are even more ridiculous to accomplish than the normal levels. They'll demand you to beat the stage in a matter of a minute or two, while retaining 90% of your health. At the end, you'll be rewarded with un-useful moves and a lot more useful health and special meter upgrades.

Which leads to my next point; the special moves are nothing special. The entire bottom screen is used as a menu to store your eight rather pathetic techniques. Only by touching the certain move using the DS's touch screen feature will the technique be activated. You'll be sticking with three or two moves throughout the course of the game, because there are only three or two moves that are truly useful. The touch screen is also used for disposing bombs via leading a button from one end of the path to another, while avoiding electrical spots that will cause you to start over. Also, during boss battles, things will be thrown at you, and the only way for you to avoid these objects is by tapping them on the screen. Overall, the use of the touch screen feature is disappointing. The bottom screen would have been better off as a map.

The lack of a map is Spiderman 2's biggest fault. You'll be traveling around the different stages, killing and destroying bad guys, and rescuing hostages. Finding every hostage or bad guy is sometimes mandatory, and you'll often have trouble locating that one hostage or villain. It gets very frustrating when you spend half an hour searching for just one person because you have no idea where he or she is. However, it gets quite rewarding when you've memorized the entire stage and complete it thoroughly in half the time in the next attempt.

Another problem Spiderman 2 has is poor level design. The last non boss level will frustrate you so much, you'll want to destroy your DS, but because you bought it for such a high price, you'll be forced to endure that anger. Littered throughout the level are hazards and bottomless pits. The worst part of these pits is that if you fall in one, you'll die. In reality this makes sense, but in the video game world, it unbalances things. Spiderman 2 is hard enough as it is, and they just made it almost impossible with these gaps. What's even worse is that some of the hazards are placed near the pits, and knocking into a hazard could knock you into one. This level will take the average gamer an hour or two to complete, due to restarting countless times.

On top of all these problems, it's short! Like its console cousins, Spiderman 2 shouldn't take you longer than four hours to complete, including all your failed attempts on the second last level. Those that have the patience to go through Spiderman 2 a second time should be able to beat the entire game in 45 minutes.

One thing that Spiderman 2 does accomplish is that it does a good job of showcasing the power of the Nintendo DS. There are only three cutscenes in the game, but they're all beautifully rendered. You'd never expect a piece of machine so small to have this much power. These cutscenes weren't ripped off from the movie too, because neither Mysterio nor Vulture ever premiered in the movie. The still images that demonstrate the story are also well done. The dialogue is quite humorous too thanks to Mr. Jameson, Peter Parker's boss, who constantly orders Peter to take pictures for him for the Daily Bugle.

The only trait that will interest gamers for long is, well it's Spiderman! Web slinging is just so much fun. When you've mastered web slinging, you'll be quite rewarded with what you've accomplished. Speed running through every level is also pretty fun to master, and I hate to admit, gets quite addictive at times. Knowing where every hostage is, every villain and criminal in their exact locations and just surprising them with a punch feels quite satisfying. The main treat here, like any other adventure game, is speed running. When you've mastered web slinging, and your memorization skills are perfected, the majority of Spiderman 2's problems are obsolete to you.

But even without those problems, Spiderman 2 is still just an average game thanks to its repetitive nature, lack of diverse enemies, and its length. Though seeing as the DS is lacking great games at the moment, you should consider picking up Spiderman 2 if Super Mario 64 DS isn't available, but don't buy it for the full price, because you'll feel like you've wasted your money on a game offering so little.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/05, Updated 03/16/05