Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2 was developed by Treyarch, and published by Activision. The title was made available for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, MacOS and PC. Released in 2004, Spider-Man 2 follows the events of the movie directed by Sam Raimi. Upon release Spider-Man 2 was met with positive reviews across platforms, from critics and players alike.

A Huge Friendly Neighborhood

Spider-Man is one of the most successful - if not the most - super hero franchise of all time, and at the time stepping into Peter Parker’s shoes was a dream come true. In this action-adventure game players are free to explore a huge map of New York City, which was praised extensively for its realism.

Spider-Man 2 is a vast improvement on the first game, and the swinging mechanics saw the most improvement of it all. Spider-Man actually shoots webs at buildings, and not at the sky this time around. On top of that the vertical crawling, and web-zipping were well-developed mechanics that helped push the game into classic status.

Spider-Man 2 was commended for revolutionizing the open-world genre. And at the time it was considered one of the best superhero games of all time. Setting up the foundation for various super hero games in recent memory was an accomplishment, and as such the game can still be played nowadays and be fun.

From Silver Screen to Home Screen

Plot-wise the game loosely follows Tobey McGuires’s second movie entry as Spider-Man, especially on the impact of balancing life as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Nonetheless, there is a lot of creative liberty, and new characters present themselves here. The game is divided into chapters, that take you across the movie’s plot and some unexpected interactions and welcome additions. Much like the movie, the story focuses on Dr. Octavius, Harry Osborne, Mary Jane and Parker.

As you navigate the chapters you need to use all your Spider-Man abilities to progress, defeat enemies, and solve puzzles. While swinging around New York infinitely might sound fun, combat, crawling and spider-senses all make gameplay fun. The game also adds various side quests, and real-life city emergencies that your friendly neighborhood superhero would assist in.

Conclusion

Spider-Man 2 had mixed reviews in portable consoles and computers, but the console versions are amazing games. It is hard to look at the PS4 & PS5 Spider-Man titles and not be reminded of this game, even games like Batman: Arkham City owe this game a nod - which by the way if you enjoyed those games you should play this.

PROS

• Marvelous Open-World
• Swinging Mechanics Are Amazing
• Huge Improvement Over Prequel
• One Of The Greatest SuperHero Games of All Time
• Graphics Were Great
• Story Was Fun and Had Some Surprises

CONS

• Soundtrack Loops And Can Become Annoying
• Combat Isn’t Very Polished
• Side Quests Become Repetitive

Based Very loosely on the blockbuster sequel currently showing at a fleapit near you, Spider-Man 2 the PC game has nothing to do with the number one-selling console game which is an entirely different - and sadly, infinitely superior - game.

What we have here is a Spidey-themed action title aimed squarely at the younger PC gamer - think bright colours, no real-life guns (the bad guys tote silly sci-fi bubble-pistol thingummies instead) and gameplay so easy you can sail through it in a single afternoon. Gritty it ain't.

That said, it's occasionally diverting while it lasts, especially when you're able to let Spidey loose in Manhattan. You can crawl up walls, swing from buildings and glide through the air like some blue and red albatross, stopping off every so often to web up a mugger's face before pounding him into Most other levels involve inane puzzles and unchallenging boss fights (again, younger players might find this more appealing).

Comic fans may enjoy the inclusion of classic villains such as Mysterio and Rhino, but the main baddie of the piece is the metal-tentacled Doc Ock, played, as in the movie, by Alfred Molina. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst also pop up to voice their characters, although Maguire's performance is pretty stilted and dreary - there's no doubt he'd rather have been poolside with a bevy of Hollywood honeys than cooped up in a studio spouting wisecracks for some daft kid's game.

THE BASICS:

Swing through New York City, foil bank robberies, return balloons to crying children, and battle such comic-book bad guys as Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, and the Lizard. New features include improved graphics, a huge explorable world, and a Spidey-sense capability reminiscent of Max Payne's bullet time.

HOW WAS IT?

This one's very early, but Treyarch has really captured the feeling of being Spider-Man, as you swing from building to building, legs and camera flailing. It feels more like taking part in last year's film, than playing one of the earlier Spider-Man games. Nice.

On the Silver Screen:

In a world where spider and octopus battle for supremacy, the world's fate hangs by a gooey, sticky thread. That thread belongs to Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire). With funding from Peter's longtime friend Harry Osborn, Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) has inadvertently transformed himself into a diabolical madman with metallic tentacles. To make things worse, Pete's sweetheart, Mary Jane, is dating the son of his boss, J. Jonah Jameson. That's one tangled web.

On Your TV:

Thanks to quicker, slicker webslinging, "doing whatever a spider can" includes freely navigating the accurately re-created urban sprawl of Manhattan, zeroing in on random crimes, and swinging low to stop them cold--someone should turn this guy loose in Vice City. In addition to tangling with his film nemesis, Dr. Octopus, Spidey also goes toe-to-toe with comic book baddies like Electro and the Lizard. On the celeb front, Tobey didn't have time to record voice work, but luckily, the lovely Kirsten Dunst did.

I have had the opportunity to play Spiderman games on three different systems over the years, and I must say by and large, that of all the Superhero games made, Spidey seems to get the best ones.

Since its launch, DS owners have looked forward with anticipation how developers are going to use its unique touch pad technology. And even I had given some thought as to what surprises Activision had in store for me when I received this title. I mean after all, it's Spider-man, the most user friendly comic book character in videogames.

Spider-man is a fairly linear title, unlike the console Spider-man games, there is no exploration factor since the game is more firmly planted in a 2-D world, rather then 3-D. Not that the game, which is viewed like a side scroller primarily, is completely free of 3-D elements. Rather as Spidey jumps, swings and crawls, the backgrounds stretch into the horizon, giving the player a feeling of visual depth. It's quite clever and works well with the game's overall dynamic. Spidey himself also looks pretty good for a blue and red cluster of pixels. He moves with a deliberate grace that at first surprised me, that and the ease in which he is controlled.

And speaking of controls, the title really doesn't rely heavily on the touch pad, more D-pad controls then anything. Sure there are a couple of scenarios that require you to whip out the stylus and begin slashing at the screen with wild abandon, but not enough for me personally. Other then that, there is a surprising amount of moves that Spider-man can do in this title.

Now the game is loosely based on the actual Spider-man 2 movie, only expanding on several of the (non)existent scenes. Each of the game's 16 levels involves completing specific requirements in order to complete the level. One level may have you defeating a certain amount of bad guys, where another has you rescuing people from a burning building. Not an entirely original idea, but the game is a bit above being just average.

At the end of the day Spider-man 2 is a decent game, better then the PSP version only because it does try to expand the gameplay by utilizing the DS's touch pad. I would say fans of ol' Spidey will want this one, as will gamers who really like action titles. Otherwise, the game could be rented and beaten in a weekend.

Spider-Man's doing whatever a spider can to empty out wallets the world over, and if you're a gamer, you aren't excluded from this fact. With Spidey licensed titles across all major platforms, it shouldn't be a surprise that Spider-Man joined in on the PSP launch, swinging his way into your PSP not only as a UMD movie, but also as an exclusive action adventure title starring the infamous web-slinger himself.

Spider-man 2 on the PSP isn't a straight up port of its big brother counterparts on the consoles; rather, it takes some of the worst elements from both titles and mashes them both into one mess.

The results, as you'd expect, aren't all that spectacular.

The one thing that made the console version of Spider-Man 2 noteworthy was the open-ended experience. It borrowed a lot from the Grand Theft Auto 3 series since Spider-Man could swing around the city at will, and a lot of fun was derived from just zipping around the city as fast as a spider can. Problem is that in Spider-Man 2 PSP, that entire free-roaming element is taken out. Instead, there really is no open city environment, and when you are swinging around out and about, it's done in a much more mundane fashion, with an invisible roof above your head like in the first Spider-Man. It's a shame, because the simple joy of Spider-Man's spectacular abilities feel completely dumbed down in Spider-Man 2 PSP; there's no joy in swinging in the open environments and no fun reaped from crawling around in the enclosed spaces.

Combat, likewise, feels like it was taken straight right out of Spider-Man 2, which isn't inherently bad in itself; it's just that the awkward and unresponsive control ruins the flow of it all. The worst offender is the often-sluggish analog nub; it just doesn't work too well with the fast-paced action of the game. The rest of Spider-Man 2 on the PSP, unfortunately, won't do much to sweep you off your feet since the level design, by and large, is mediocre and often aggravating.

Spider-Man 2's strong point is that it looks and sounds nice. It holds a lot of similarities between its big brother console versions, though it doesn't manage to uproot the throne from them. The animation looks smooth and the environments are solid, but there's a bit of ghosting when there's a lot of movement on screen, but that's more likely an inherent flaw of the PSP.

Even so, there are a lot of fantastic PSP launch titles, but Spider-Man 2 isn't one of them. If you absolutely need some Spider-Man action on your PSP, stick with the Spider-Man 2 UMD movie that came with your PSP. Otherwise, ignore, abhor, and direct all your scorn towards Spider-Man 2 if you can.