Spiderman 2 review

OK, so I’m late to the party. Who cares? Say what you like, but older games still deserve a bit of the spotlight. Anyway, I first walked into getting Spiderman 2 after thinking something along the lines of “Well, it’s always cool to just swing around. Surely the game can’t mess that up, whatever happens”. It didn’t. Swinging around Manhattan feels great, pulling of that inch-perfect jump onto the rooftop (Just me?) all feels brilliant. There’s also a few nods to the previous game, but I won’t post those here for fears of people killing me because of potential spoilers.

Sure, the missions are by-the-numbers and just a bit repetitive, mostly involving a lot of punching and kicking, but fans of the comic-book hero are sure to find the super-villains they love in there, including Mysterio and Rhino. Black Cat also makes an appearance in the early stages of the game, leading you on a (Slightly dull) section of following her, but it’s still nice to see her in there anyway. The game is also broken up with chapters that seems to solely require you to gain “Hero Points”, the game’s currency. Sure, these are the most boring parts of the game, but at least it gives you a fair amount to spend on upgrades.

As I said before, the swinging is nailed in this game, also made more realistic by the fact you need an anchor point for your web line now, which is a change from the “swing anywhere” mentality of its predecessor. A good thing if you like some small realism in your comic-book games. Combat is handled simply at first, with a single attack button and another for using your web-line to tangle up your foes, but this expands as you begin purchasing upgrades at the “Spidey Store”. This also adds a slight RPG element to the game, as you purchase new moves and new web-line powers as the game goes on.

The story… Was there one? I couldn’t seem to find any underlying story line, just a random mish-mash of different events. I’m probably missing out on something major here, having not watched the film it’s based on, but still.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. One of the best things in this game is that you are sometimes left to just swing around Manhattan. The game map is vast, and covering all takes some time. Even travelling from the northern-most point to the southern-most point with the fastest swing speed takes close to 3 minutes. Nothing like your true open-world games, but impressive to see on Gamecube nonetheless.

Anyway, to sum up this review, I’d like to give out some scores and reasons.

Gameplay- 7/10. The swinging saves this part of the game, with the rest (Combat) just bringing it down.

Replayability- 6/10. The completist within you is sure to want to collect the many different tokens the game has, and that feat takes quite a while, featuring over 300 over them. Not to mention the “Hideout” set, which are especially difficult to find.

Lifespan-8/10. The main game lasted me around 10 hours, but the amount of time it takes all depends largely on how fast you want to get through the game.

Comments and critique down below.