Reviewed: July 22, 2004
Reviewed by: Jason Porter

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Treyarch

Released: June 28, 2004
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

8
6
9
8
8.0

Supported Features

Many gamers will remember the first Spider-Man movie based game, a mess of poor physics and frustrating controls that underwhelmed critics even while selling thousands of copies. In a surprising break from trend and tradition, Spider-Man 2 from Activision (developed by Treyarch) is a fun, addictive and at times almost breathtaking foray into the world of everyone's favorite underdog superhero.

Riding the waves generated by the genre-shattering GTA III, gameplay takes place in a much more open-ended version of Manhattan, a virtual playground in which our hero can swing about, saving citizens in distress, finding secrets and occasionally even moving the story forward with critical missions (yes, that was sarcasm). The allure of being able to fill the shoes of Peter Parker, Spider-Man in such a holistic way is almost irresistible. And, for once, this game has the torque to back up its concept.

Of course, playing through every bit of the movie still wouldn't top the play time out at more than three hours, so a bevy of other classic scenarios and super-villains have been brought in to round out the game and give it more variety. One of the first things I noticed was how well everything was fit together - the pacing of the movie-tied segments was such that confrontations with everyone from Mysterio (hah! Mysterio) to the Shocker seemed to flow right into the overall plotline of the game. This is an exceedingly rare feat; most movie licensees just opt out for "collect coins/pull levers" missions to pad the main events, or throw in unrelated events with no explanation as to why they take precedence over the main story.

As players progress through the game's many chapters, missions become more and more focused on the movie's plotline, building to a climactic finish that does the movie as much justice as any game could have.

With that being said, the other things players can take on in the game's virtual Manhattan not only feel natural but also reflect the style and sensibilities of the comic books, a treat for true fans of the long-running saga. Citizens in distress yell, scream and wave their arms trying to get Spider-Man to notice them. Talking to one triggers a miniature mission - anything from saving a dangling construction worker to stopping an armored car robbery.

The variety could have been greater than it is (you'll end up stopping dozens of carjackings between major missions), but there isn't too much room to complain when a game lets players use Spidey's awesome web-skills to catch an escaped balloon for a little kid (the nearby parent even tells him/her to thank Spider-Man when the mission is completed!). Developers Treyarch put a respectable diversity of things to do into Spider-Man 2.

Speaking of those web skills, this is perhaps the first time ever that a video game has captured what we all, as ten-year-old kids, imagined swinging through New York on a web rope must feel like. The physics are realistic enough to feel natural, while at the same time being hopped-up enough to feel super-powered. The feel of it is absolutely exhilarating. I found myself swinging everywhere just to savor the feeling, adding acrobatic twirls and turnarounds as easily as if I were inking a comic myself. I could almost feel the wind in my hair!

The simple swing controls really complete the package here - no "run, jump and hit these buttons at this exact time" or anything like that. Players just hold down the R button at any time while airborne, and Spidey will zap out a line of webbing at the nearest building, tree or traffic light in range. The open nature of the play field means that players can swing and zip from Roosevelt Island to Soho with complete freedom, adding even more enjoyment to this extremely well executed and quite unique element of play. Occasional minor surface detection problems were usually solved by lifting off the button and pressing it again, and posed no real trouble to the progression of the game.

As one might imagine, the core of Spider-Man 2's gameplay is beating up endless legions of thugs, robots and even the occasional thug inside a robot. These fights are punctuated by boss battles, most of which have a trick to them but none of which take a particularly devious mind to figure out.

The battle system is well done, although the 'Cube's controller is not well suited to it. There is a button for auto-targeting, which is a necessity during boss fights but often useless when surrounded by muggers with monkey wrenches. A simple strike combo setup begins with a single button for punching and grows into a four-button system utilizing aerial attacks and lots of cool tricks with web fluid.

New combos can be unlocked by purchasing them from one of several stores scattered across the city and are paid for with 'Hero Points.' These are simply points earned after each mission. A long, important or particularly difficult mission might net a player over 1,000, while mini objectives usually offer between 150 and 250.

New upgrades are available each chapter (which is the main reason for the chapter system), so it's important to keep checking back. At any rate, the combos all feel natural and serve many different purposes, rather than just being more complex variations of "hit-hit-hit." What's not to love about a game that actually lets players, with a single combo, tie up enemies and hang them from lampposts? It's this blending of functional, enjoyable gameplay with style elements that are taken straight from the comics that really makes Spider-Man 2 rewarding to play.

Of course, all is not perfect. As I mentioned before, some of the missions get repetitive and there seem to be occasional problems with surface detection. Spider-Man slides down walls in slow motion a bit too often for my taste, powerless to do anything until he hits a ledge or the game realizes its error.

There are other side quests as well, most of which involve collecting medallions. There are tons of Skyscraper, Hideout and Secret medallions to find all over Manhattan. It's a fun thing to do on the side, and each medallion nets Spider-Man a few important hero points, but other than that there isn't much to work towards. No hidden unlockables, alternate costumes or anything of that sort exists as far as I could tell. This lessens my enthusiasm for collecting somewhat.

There are also hundreds of time-trial races that can be performed for pride, hero points and not a whole lot else. These are likewise fun at first but repetitive after a short while. More time spent on varying smaller missions and the addition of unlockable missions and elements would have been preferable. None of these quibbles, however, is enough to wreck this surprisingly solid title.

Character animations are very natural, particularly on Spider-Man himself and the jaw-dropping Doc Ock, whose movements look so cool that during the first fight with him, I let Spider-Man die a few times just to watch his metallic arms in motion. Spidey's spider-sense dodging looks similarly neat, as do many of the combo attacks involving creative uses of web fluid.

Considering the size of the playing field and the "size" of a gigadisc as compared to the other systems' DVD formats, the graphics are well-done. However, they're not anything to get excited about, either. As usual, the importance of a near-tandem release with its movie tie-in has left this franchise game with disappointingly unfinished graphics.

Some of the citizens' voices can get a bit over the top, but it's all in the fun tradition of superhero comics, which are a bit over the top anyway. And watch out for the always-fun Mysterio to utter lines from the infamous game Zero Wing (of "All Your Base" fame) and the cult classic sci-fi flick, The Day the Earth Stood Still. In many subtle ways, the voice acting rewards us uber-dorks with more fan service than any other aspect of the game. Gotta love that.

The score is similarly inspired. Generally the music is taken from the orchestral score of the film itself, which is fitting and lends an air of adventure and drama that more contemporary sounds would not. The main trouble with this game's soundtrack is simply that there isn't enough of it. Spider-Man 2's open-ended gameplay in many ways emulates that of the GTA series; however, it doesn't have the musical gimmick that those games have.

In the GTA series, music is naturally fit to cars and the inside of buildings, where players can fiddle with several radio stations. It's the perfect trick - subtle, obvious and a great way to give the game a soundtrack while still keeping it relatively gritty. Spider-Man doesn't generally maraud about the city in an automobile, and so the game's soundtrack is sparse. This is too bad, as the sweeping feel of the story and controls lend themselves to epic music. Again, time constraints seem to have limited this aspect of the game somewhat.

The missions can get repetitive, but there are hundreds of them to take care of. The story mirrors that of the movie, yet it adds in a lot of twists and turns without feeling stilted. It has minor issues, but no one can deny how enjoyable the overall experience of playing this game actually is. Although it's no party game, and not as riveting as the worlds of Nintendo's first-party console stalwarts, Spider-Man 2 has more replayability than the majority of games on the market, which is doubly impressive considering its pedigree as the child of marketing execs and a movie plot.