Spiderman 2 for the Xbox is yet another attempt
at a superhero game. We all know superhero games suck ass, yeah
that’s right im talking to you Superman 64 and Aquaman: Battle for
Atlantis. However here comes Activision and Treyarch’s Spiderman 2
for all platforms. Now the 1st Spiderman: The movie was a
pretty good game and in its sequel they improved on it and im not
talking just a graphics upgrade but a major revamp.
First off, one of the biggest
complaints last time was that Spiderman didn’t have a big city to
roam around in, you couldn’t go on the floor or anything just stay
in the mission area. Also a big question was, “what is Spiderman’s
web holding on to?” Well this time around they have provided you
with a full living breathing Manhattan (a-la Grand Theft Auto) and
you need buildings around to attach you web to swing.
Not only did they add to the city
but the swing mechanics are absolutely outstanding. It’s really
exhilarating when they have someone stealing a car and you have to
chase them down as fast you can through the streets of Manhattan.
I’ve played the hell out of this game and I just love to swing, for
me this was the best part of the game.
The story follows loosely on its
movie counterpart and while it does do a great job of pushing the
story along to me it felt too linear. The citizens that need help
and the big city felt like it was a distraction to the game play.
But I didn’t care because it’s a great story and all games are
linear in some sense.
Now I’d like to touch on the bad
things on the game. First off one thing that I wish they did keep
from the original Spiderman was the camera. They had an up close
camera that I enjoyed. The camera in Spiderman 2 seemed a little too
far away. However this really isn’t an inconvenience it just takes a
little getting used to.
The graphics in the game are great…
sometimes. The frame rate is top notch most of the time but it does
get a little choppy but not so bad that it would affect your game
play. Also the character models in game seem really duplicated to
much and lego-ized, as do the cars. Mary-Jane, Dr. Octavius, and
other characters don’t really look like their real life
counter-parts in cut-scenes. Well in some cut-scenes they do….
Allow me to explain, some of the
cut-scenes use this really nice crisp animation with great faces and
great character models. These are usually the more important ones to
push the story along. Other instances that involve cut-scenes are
ones that you talk to Mary Jane or people on the street. Now these
cut-scenes use the in game engine and don’t look as good. This
cut-scene fiasco was my biggest gripe with the game.
Sideman 2 the game is in my opinion
THE best superhero game ever made, unfortunately it doesn’t have
much competition. The minor problems this game has can be easily
over-looked because of its beautiful rendering of Manhattan and its
awesome swing mechanics. The good people at Activation always put
out quality Spiderman games and this one is no exception. All in all
this is a quality game that will give great value for your hard
earned (or begged for) money.
~WL VooDoo
