Reviews by Ryan Genno


The StarSoldier
GAME OF THE MONTH COLLECTION!

SPIDERMAN 2

Artist touch: Sorry, I will add the coverart once I fix my photoshop here. Cover art rating: NA/10

Month it won: May 2007

(Activision, Jun 28, 2004)

Special note: This game roughly came out the same time of the hit movie.

Introduction and Story:
The Spiderman character from the dudes and dudettes at Marvel is easily one of the most popular comic book heroes of all time and the big Spiderman 2 movie made hundreds of millions at the box office. It is perhaps the best ever super hero to film created (it's better then part 3 anyway) but sadly that usually means that the overly hyped video game is really going to suck (like most other Spiderman games), eh? Fortunately, that didn't happen because Spiderman 2 the game is actually pretty good and fun to play here. I'm as shocked as you are and once you see the huge virtual New York City and cool move at your disposal you'll be impressed too.

Yeah, there is a lot people that already know the story but here it is anyway to fill in the 3 of you to what the heck is going on here. In Spiderman 2 you play a conflicted super hero that can shoot webs and climbs walls with ease just like a spider but his super powers also means he must protect New York City from crime while balancing his normal life as College student Peter Parker. His problems get a whole lot worse when his idol Dr. Octopus goes insane after a failed scientific experiment. If Spiderman doesn't stop the mad Doctor he could destroy the entire city.
Controls and Game Play:
What makes Spiderman 2 so much better then the last game is that you have the entire virtual 3D NYC to explore now just like other popular sandbox titles like Grand Theft Auto or Crackdown. Imagine being able to explore a huge city while you can scale any building and swing away from or into danger with a simple press of a button. It's not only cool to have full control of the web swinging super hero here but the game gives you a lot to do as well.

So what can you do here you say? You can either go on various side quests in order to help citizens from local criminals or other crazy stuff like delivery pizzas so Peter doesn't get fired from his job. Doing these tasks helps Spidey get Hero Points these can be use to unlock new moves or you can just go on other more important missions so you can prevent a huge disaster from the evil mastermind Doc Octopus himself.

All this sounds great but Spiderman 2 has its share of problems too. The big complaint I have is that the game is almost too big since it's way too easy to get lost or lose something just because this enemy or thing you have to track down may be up in a massive 50 story plus building and not the ground. Another problem is the main quest is only about 10 hours long so if doesn't take too long to finish the game.
Graphics and Sounds:
Although the main game isn't too long, at least it looks pretty damn good. Spiderman himself is well animated and seeing him swing, jump, and fight around high rise buildings to busy streets is just awesome. It really helps separate it from other games on the market especially when you let Spidey fall 100 feet in the air straight to the ground just to see what happens heh heh. The buildings can easily lose their detail textures when the camera panned out and sometimes they even disappear so it isn't perfect but overall the game still looks stunning.

Activision even got most of real actors from the movie reprising their famous roles again here in the game. That means Peter Parker is actually played by Tobey Maguire, the hot Mary Jane is played by Kirsten Dunst, and many more. The game even has Evil Dead star (and the French dude in the third film) Bruce Campbell doing the narrator voice that guides the players with the game's controls in beginning and he can be pretty funny too. It's a shame there is hardly any background music during most of the game but at least it kicks in on an important mission or pizza delivery.
The Bottomline:
OK, the game is a bit on the short side and the spidey sense radar can be a bit off at times too, still there is no denying Spiderman 2 is one impressive looking and playing game here. It not only controls well with two different modes for beginners or experts but the game has a lot of replay value since the game is so big. If you want to finally play a good Spiderman game or maybe you're like me and you wonder what a 3D Bionic Commando would look like then you have to check out Spiderman 2.
Conclusion:  
SPIDERMAN 2
overall rating: 78/100


For 1 player only
Rated (E) for Everyone

graphics: 8/10
sound: 7/10
gameplay: 8/10
replay: 8/10

-StarSoldier1
(Ryan Genno) 2007

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