In 2002, Sony released Spider-man, the movie was based on the Marvel comic of the same name, Activision released a game at the same time based on the movie and it was relatively well received but had its fair share of problems. Two years later a sequel has been released for Spider-man and Activision are there to release Spider-man 2 the game. Activision have promoted Spider-man 2 as being a completely different game with freedom like never before, so, is Spider-man 2as good as it sounds or is it a traditional lame movie-to-game conversion?
Spider-man 2 follows the story of the Spider-man 2 movie. Peter Parker is finding it hard to adapt to the responsibility of being Spider-man and keeps letting his friends Mary Jane and Harry Osborne down. When he finds out Mary Jane is seeing another man, he begins to contemplate whether it is worth being Spider-man anymore.
Spider-man 2’s biggest asset is its completely open-ended game play. As mentioned earlier, Players are given the freedom to swing anywhere around New York City and can even visit some interior locations such as a game arcade which hosts real mini games (such as air juggle). At the very beginning of the game there is a basic tutorial to take players through all the new controls and abilities Spider-man has. After this, it is up to the player to decide where to go. The player can follow the story or do sub missions which include saving lives and even delivering pizzas. Random crimes are consistently happening throughout the city and are a great way for players to practice and hone their combos.
Spider-man 2 has a completely reworked fighting system. When fighting enemies the action slows down, similar to Devil May Cry to really make Spider-man’s combos look good. Spider-man has many moves such as evading, jumping, swinging, sprinting and the ability to grapple. There are over twenty five combos to defeat enemies, fighting never looked so good. Mastering all these controls takes a while and gamers will originally stick to the punch and kick buttons. Once the combos are perfected Spider-man looks great as he is pulling off each move. There is also a Spider reflexes option (which is similar to focus mode in Enter The Matrix) that slows down time and makes Spider-man more powerful and responsive.
The previous Spider-man game was overly restrictive and didn’t allow the player to go to the roads of New York City without dying. This time around, New York City is absolutely huge and the feeling of swinging between buildings just like in the movie, is unmatched. The fact random crimes happen (and can be solved for Hero Points) means the city is constantly changing and evolving. Hero points are used to upgrade Spider-man’s combat, webbing and swinging abilities. New York City also changes from night-time to daytime and certain events only happen at particular times of the day. To progress through the story mode it is essential to solve the random crimes as it makes Spider-man more powerful. It is literally impossible to progress through the story mode if Spider-man doesn’t possess certain abilities.
Camera problems plagued the first title and they have been fixed but are still a bit of a problem. Spider-man moves so fast that it is sometimes hard for the camera to keep up and it will lose track of the action. The player is able to rotate and fix the camera though, so it is less of a problem than in the previous title.
One of the drawbacks to the random crimes happening in New York City is the fact the player doesn’t know what the crime is until they talk to the non playable character. Certain objectives are really difficult and if the player had the choice to accept or reject helping it would have been easier, as failing to help does lose the player hero points.
The entire city of New York is surrounded by water, Spider-man cannot swim and if players dive into the water they are treated to a animation of Spider-man leaving the water with a witty remark. Unfortunately, the citizens on the street cannot be attacked (as Spider-man) can do no evil, all attack attempts on citizens are just missed.
The graphics are impressively good at times and sub-par at other times. Character models look dreadful, especially Mary Jane and Peter Parker which helps to take away from the authenticity of the title. The cityscape looks great and like the movie. The non playable character’s don’t vary much in appearance and look very familiar at times.
Kirsten Dunst, Tobey Maguire, Alfred Molina and Bruce Campbell have all lent their voices to the game. Music is standard and not too inspiring, custom soundtrack support is unfortunately not included which would have been a great way to take advantage of the Xbox’s capabilities. At times, the voices of the tutorial man and the non playable characters will talk over each other which can be very confusing this can make the player lose track of their objective.. Like the previous Spider-man games Spider-man comes out with a few witty remarks to either give hints to the player, or to stop the game from becoming too quiet.
Spider-man 2 has turned out to be a great game. It doesn’t take too many risks or push the barrier but Spider-man 2 is a free flowing game and feels like it is giving the player freedom. Spider-man 2 could have turned out terrible as it was rushed to co-incide with the release of the Spider-man 2 movie, but it is an addictive title that is extremely authentic. The graphics need to be improved and the story mode is too short but If you’re looking for a quick Spider-man fix, then Spider-man 2 is a great pickup. Movie to game transitions are normally average but we applaud Activision for the effort they have put in for Spider-man 2.
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