Spider-Man 2

For more than forty years, fans have been thrilled and excited by the adventures of the Amazing Spider-Man in the pages of his comic book. Thanks to the superb effort put forth by Activision and developer Treyarch, these same comic fans now have the opportunity to live out those adventures with the release of the Spider-Man 2 video game.

Although Spider-Man 2 is based on events in the recently released movie, the bulk of the game is actually based on the four decades of comic books. Besides playing through scenes with fellow movie stars Doctor Octopus and Mary Jane, Spidey also crosses paths with other Marvel mainstays such as Rhino, Black Cat, Mysterio, and more. The voice acting and character representations are all beautifully done. Stealing the show once again is the incomparable cult icon, Bruce Campbell. Campbell's sharp wit and wise ass comments make for a fun diversion from the usual routine. But the real stars of the game are Spider-Man himself and the city of New York.

The gameplay in Spider-Man 2 is reminiscent of the Grand Theft Auto series of games. While there are certain key missions to accomplish, the game is fairly open-ended. You can spend hours swinging around the city, stopping muggers and saving pedestrians to your heart's content. And when you decide it's time to move on, just swing on over to your next destination marker and advance the story. And speaking of swinging, controlling Spider-Man's trademark mode of transportation takes a bit of getting used to, but the mechanics behind it truly make you feel as if you are everyone's favorite webhead swinging to and fro. It's all very instinctive. In fact, the same can be said for most of Spidey's controls. He can sense when an attack is coming and immediately dodge the oncoming danger, then launch into a counterattack of his own.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the real stars of Spider-Man 2 is New York City itself. The map is huge, and includes all of the major landmarks of New York: Central Park, the Empire State Building, Times Square. They're all here. It's even possible to hitch a ride on a passing helicopter and make your way to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It's simply amazing how much effort went into faithfully recreating the look and feel of the city.

Visually, Spider-Man 2 continues to impress. From the top of the highest skyscraper to the back alleys of Soho to the billboards in Times Square, everything looks like you would expect in the city. The game runs at a smooth frame rate, and rarely has any skips in animation. Spidey moves as only he can, soaring through the air and twisting around with acrobatic flair. The game easily pushes the GameCube and PS2 hardware to the max ... especially when you take into account the size of the city. And while the graphics are also suitably impressive on the Xbox version, that version does fall a bit short of what the Xbox hardware is capable of. It still looks as sharp (or sharper) than either of the other two versions of the game, but it just seems to be missing a bit of the polish seen in some other Xbox games.

If there's any fault to be found in Spider-Man 2, it's that there's just not enough of it. I don't mean that the game is short by any means. Due to the open-ended nature of the game that really isn't an issue. What I mean by "not enough" is there isn't enough variety in the side missions. Although there is a lot to do in the game, after a while it can start to feel a bit repetitive. Another minor irritation in the game is the long delay in saving any progress. This happens because the city is not broken up into levels, but rather loaded as one large level. This makes for fluid gameplay when moving from one section of the city to another, but it also means that you could go make yourself a sandwich and have a bite to eat by the time the game's progress is saved.

Spider-Man 2 is easily one of the best comic based video games to ever hit home consoles. It's a fanboy's dream in terms of living out the life of a superhero. Just remember that it's only a game � leave the underoos and silly string at home.

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