Spider-Man 2

"I shelled out US$40 for a TECH DEMO?!"

I miss the good ol' days of the 16-bitters. Ah, twas a glorious age of gaming, you young readers. The air was full of 16-bit music synthasized to the limits of the day's hardware, where shoulder buttons were found on only one system's controller, where movie-quality graphics and plot were not needed, and where a series was released, at most, twice a year by the license-owning company, sports titles excluded.

Geez, why do I suddenly feel old? I'm only twenty.

Spiderman 2 for the DS suffers from many things, and delivers many dissapointments, but the largest problem is that the game suffers a fatal flaw that affects many movie titles (oddly, many of which have either THQ, Atari, or EA Games logo on it): lack of development time.

Back in the old days of the 16-bitters, movie titles and various other big-license games were, at best, blah, and usually were typical side-scrolling brawlers, though a few found homes in other genres, such as the Super Star Wars series. However, Spiderman 2 DS is a 2D platformer, and immediately I feared the worst.

But, then I read a VERY nice article in [censored] magazine, which had the development team for the game saying several nice things about the game, as well as a semi-positive write-up by the magazine's staff. With a bit of extra cash, I went and got me a copy.

The first thing I noticed was the FMV that looked like something the N-Gage could dish out.

Take that as you will, but if the GBA can handle viewable quality FMV in a first-gen game like Legacy of Goku or multiple episodes of FMV-format TV shows, and given the power of the DS, the quaility should have been MUCH better than what was shown.

Immediately, I feared for the worst.

And the worst came about in a suprising manner - it let the good come first. Web-slinger's graphics are absurdly good in this title; the animation is smooth, the backgrounds, buildings, and foreground objects look and move great, the hazards look nice, and the foes look well for universal grunt fighters. Believe it or not, but the game is actually 3D animations along a 2D plane, and it suprisingly turns out great.

But problems soon set in, even though the graphics are nice and the sound is tolerable. First of all, that blasted siren in the background (or most, anyway) gets on your nerves VERY fast. Second, pulling off combos against your foe can be quite clumbersome, espeically since you can't pull out of an attack to turn around if you punched the wrong way, leading to cheap hits.

Speaking of cheap hits, that gorgeous fire along the walls will make you wondered if you were burned with the game - both figuratively and literally. Heck, the whole first level has fire hazards in countless places, and it is VERY easy to smack right into a flaming pipe or an electric discharge without meaning to.

Had the web controls been adequite, this would not be a problem. Alas, the web abilities are far too haphazard; sometimes I swung when I wanted to go up, and at times I did the exact opposite. With a LOT of practice, one might figure out the sublties, but I for one had a heck of a time just trying to move fast enough to try to meet my goal.

Like most movie cash-in platformers, there is a time limit, one that will leave newbies crying in anger when they die not from that final blow, but from an artificial element. True, the clock could represent when the building would fall if it was on fire or when a villian could escape your radius, but good gravey, this is taking it too far.

Oh, and about chasing villians, saving hostages, and flipping the odd switch - good luck. The abhorrent level designs, while usually massive and nicely rendered, are horrible for platforming. The first level alone seems like it was generated by combining random areas from previous games or from an HGTV show, and should you survive the hazards, the random foe will lie in wait, taking advantage of your innability to see up or far enough ahead. This is a problem I have with most portable games in general these days, and not just this game. However, the fact that the characters are larger than is required is too annoying.

Notice how I never mention the second screen? There's a reason - you use that to either solve elementary-grade puzzles with the pen or select a special attack. The former is a practice that I have found to be overused far too often of late, and the activation of special moves with the touch screen, well... I have mixed feelings. I miss the excellent controls of the Activision Spiderman game for the N64 or PSX, where the overal control set-up was MUCH simpler.

Probably most annoying is that most of the moves are unlockable either by completing impossible goals, finding them in near-impossible areas in the levels, or by having a copy of a previous Spiderman GBA title. Normally, I don't mind this if the abilities have an "obtation" curve (think learning curve, and apply it to items to catch), but sweet Elements, did they have to be so annoying? I went over half the game with at most one ability.

Oh, and the GBA Spiderman game being used to unlock things? While I appreciate this nifty trick, couldn't they pick a more varied selection of titles for use like Sega's Feel the Magic did, with no fewer than 5 games spread out over a period of three years. Call me crazy, but this feature, while nice, is useful only when a game is able to be FOUND, nevermind had.

Finally, the lack of a multi-player ability, coupled with limited replay value (yet massive frustration value) kills this game. Were it not for the absurdly gorgeous graphics, I'd say this game should rate aroudn a two or one. However, given that the graphics ARE servicable, the game is fun for a brief time, and the fact that I reserve scores below a four for pure trash (ie - N64's War Gods), I'll be generous.

Bottom Line - This game is kin to so many 16-bit Sonic/Double Dragon clones, it is nowhere NEAR funny. Save your cash and get something better, like Super Mario 64 DS or pre-order the Castlevania DS game intead; you'll be putting your grey-hair on hold for another two years.


*Best Feature - Graphics. Light-years ahead of the GBA, though not as good as the PSP's ability. Still, VERY smooth animation makes this one to at least view once.
*Worst Feature - Awful controls, bad level layouts, and an overal rushed feel.
*If you Liked - Star Wars: Episode III DS, Super Mario 64 DS, Spiderman 2 (PS2, GC, Xbox, GBA, PSP, UMD Video)
*Guilty Pleasure - Falling down a six story shaft without slowing down and NOT SPLATTING WHEN YOU HIT THE GROUND. Talk about your wacky "fiziks..."

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/05, Updated 11/20/07

Game Release: Spider-Man 2 (US, 11/16/04)