Publisher: Activision
Ages: Ten & up
Parental
Advisory:
Comic book fighting
The popular webbed wonder rules in theaters and stars in an enjoyable video game. Activision's Spider-Man 2 lets players fight and, even better, swing as Spider-Man- slinging from buildings, diving from rooftops and scaling Manhattan's heights. While the game could use more depth, the city environment and web-slinging and swinging are first rate.
The game serves the basic plot from the Spider-Man 2 movie that asks players to face off against the nefarious, mechanized, multi-tentacled Doc Ock. Players also get to take on various missions to perform heroic deeds and protect citizens from random crimes. In addition to fighting Doc Ock, players will take on Marvel villains Mysterio and Lizard.
The game offers exhilarating freedom that lets players soar through the concrete canyons of a virtual Manhattan with familiar landmarks and bustling and traffic-clogged streets. The free-form gameplay lets players web-swing to pretty much wherever they like to explore the city.
The game succeeds at creating a living, breathing Manhattan that's populated with cars, pedestrians and criminals, and Spider-Man jumps from street level to rooftops to patrol the city and swings from building corners, lampposts and even helicopters. In this game, unlike past Spider-Man games, Spidey's webbing actually attaches to objects. The more crimes players prevent, the more Spidey's hero rating increases, which provides access to advanced attacks and maneuvers.
The game tends to become rather repetitive after awhile, but it's lots of fun. The game is all about fighting, but the action isn't gory.
With more story and variation, Spider-Man 2 could have been a breakthrough game. But it's still worth a look.
7/14/04 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff
