"And then, we take it up a notch...BAM!"

Author's Rating:

Pros: The gameplay isn't linear, there's tons of stuff to do, Spidey is clever as always

Cons: People yelling, "Help! He stole my purse!" or "Mommy, my balloon!" can get old

The Bottom Line: 
I love this game. It's good, old-fashioned super-hero fun. Swing around Manhattan and serve up some justice Spidey-style!

Author's Review
I may be doing this a little backwards, but oh well. I'll review Spiderman 2 before reviewing Spiderman. Besides, Spiderman 2 is more up-to-date in terms of story and graphics, but that being said, I strongly suggest playing the first Spiderman game so you can catch the inside jokes in the second game.

Plot: You're Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spiderman. You're just an ordinary guy thrown into an extraordinary situation, and now that you've got superhuman powers and the ability to fling sticky web all over the place, it's time to swing all around New York City and beat up the bad guys!

Of course, there's always just one, big, super mean bad guy in every superhero tale, and this time it's Doctor Octopus. Dr. Otto Octavius's experiment to harness the fusion power of the sun has gone terribly wrong, accidentally fusing four artificially intelligent mechanical arms into his spine. Eight limbs doesn't seem to stop him from his mad obsession to finish what he started, however, and it's up to Spidey to stop him from destroying New York City.

Oh, and you've got to try to win Mary Jane back.

And keep your job.

And stop annoying mobsters and escaped ex-cons from stealing stuff.

*sighs* It's not easy being Peter Parker.

Gameplay: Oh so fun. Not kidding. You're literally swinging around New York City, and this time you're allowed to land on the street and speak to people on the sidewalk, an option which wasn't available in the first game. You can latch onto helicopters and bum a ride, jump onto moving cars, ricochet yourself off of flagpoles (that proudly display the American flag), and even climb up the Statue of Liberty.

Even though Spiderman 2 is a sequel to the first Spiderman game, fear not! There's still ample training time and troubleshooting sessions in the beginning of the game to give the player a feel for the controls and understanding the map of New York, mission icons, and other tricks of the trade.

You're not mindlessly putzing through the game and waiting for the next robbery to occur, however. Well...I guess in a way, you are, but you have to accumulate a minimum number of points first to progress through the main story.

Spidey Points: I really don't know if they're called "Spidey Points," but that's what I'm calling them. Points can be obtained a variety of ways, and you can't go forward in game levels until you've completed a few assignments given to you on a little checklist, racking up points along the way. Points can be anything - from performing your daily civic duty and stopping a thug from stealing a purse, preventing gang fights, helping out the police, et cetera - or, you can collect points as Peter Parker and complete a few photo op assignments, deliver pizza, or meet Mary Jane for dinner (on time). Once you've finished the assignments and stacked up enough points to move on, sometimes the game will automatically start a new chapter, but sometimes it's up to the player to go to a specific spot in New York to start the new chapter.

Beating up the Bad Guys: Spidey Points can also be used as a type of currency that can be used to "purchase" new abilities. For example, if you've gathered around 1,000 Spidey Points, you can spend 200 on a web upgrade, 500 on a combat upgrade, and 250 on a speed upgrade. Spiderman can learn different abilities pertaining to how he can use his web, how he can swing through New York City, and how he can kick butt. His web-slinging can be used to tie up criminals, give them a gob of webbing in the face, yank guns or knives out of their grasp, or swing them around rodeo-style and slam them into pavement.

Ah, justice.

Combat upgrades are basically new ways to fight. New punching and kicking combos can be used, and as you progress through the game, the combos can eventually be used alongside web tactics, so a plethora of web-slinging and butt-kicking can ensue. This is especially helpful if Spidey is surrounded by thugs, but sheer numbers is not a problem if you've managed to upgrade your combat moves. People say that this game is full of button-mashing, but I disagree. It's really a matter of whether or not you feel like browsing through the combo list. Button-mashing can get you out of a few tight spots, however, knowing actual combat moves not only looks fancy, but it also helps in the long run. The game is cleverly designed to teach you important moves you'll have to use later on. Button-mashing can only take you so far.

Speed upgrades enable you to swing through New York faster and swifter than before, so you can hurry to the scene of the crime in a punctual fashion (something Peter Parker has a hard time doing). In addition to speed upgrades, other swinging upgrades can be purchased such as acrobatics, wall-sprints, slingshot moves, and web-zips for those tight corners.

Missions: Like I said before, completing missions help you accumulate Spidey Points. Examples of missions include photo ops for the Daily Bugle, meeting Mary Jane for a movie, or delivering pizza. Additional missions can be smaller but help rack up the points, such as collecting tokens around New York City. Tokens are essentially small golden icons, usually about ten points apiece, that are spread and hidden all throughout New York. They can range from buoy tokens (floating out along the Hudson River or the Bay area) to skyscraper tokens. Collecting them all is easier said than done. It's a giant Easter Egg hunt. I don't have the patience for that.

If you don't want to look for tokens, there are always hint markers. Hint markers are little, green, question-mark icons that are scattered throughout the streets of New York. If you want a few pointers, just visit a hint marker. If you want to hear the narrator say something sarcastic, hit a hint marker. If you want to pick up five points, swing on down and check out a hint marker. Spidey gets prizes and bonus points for visiting every single hint marker and finding every single token...but like I said, good luck with that.

If you don't want to do either of those things, just talk to the good citizens of New York, and they'll help you out! Citizens that are walking along, minding their own business, can eventually appear to have a little question-mark icon on the tops of their heads, indicating that they're in peril (or they want to squeal on someone). Sometimes, as you're swinging between buildings, a person will be jumping up and down, flailing their arms wildly for your attention, which is usually a good indication that someone's in trouble. The situation can be anything ranging from a mugging, a gang scuffle, a carjacking, or an accident. Spidey has to help the person in need before time runs out in order to accumulate points. Sometimes you'll have to help the cops subdue someone, or you'll have to stop someone with road rage, or even take someone to the hospital. Whatever the cause, once you start the mission (which begins by talking to someone), you have to finish it, otherwise you lose points instead of gaining them.

Not quite a mission, but something to do if you're tired of fighting crime is stopping by a challenge marker. These little icons are purple and you can gain a lot of points depending on the difficulty of the challenge. Some challenges are merely swinging through Manhattan and passing through checkpoints along the way under the time allotted. Other challenges specifically require you to swing on a flagpole before running on the side of the building, then doing a triple-sow-cow in midair before web-zipping around the corner aaaaaand...yeah you get the point. I wasn't very interested in the challenges simply because I sucked at them and gave up.

Tiny missions, which are usually random and are up to the player to finish, aren't detrimental to your point system. The smaller missions include a child losing a balloon, someone being mugged in an alley, or a break-in taking place. These missions are completely random and you'll run into them every now and then while swinging through the area. Lots of times, I ignore the stupid brat that loses a balloon. Sorry kid, but there are more important things Spidey has to do.

As a treat, Spidey isn't only confronted by the major antagonist, Doc Ock. There are other villains in the game that pop up sporadically, and you're given the ultimate pleasure of taking them out. Spidey is not without his witty dialogue, either, so listening to him banter back and forth with the bad guys is entertaining. In Spiderman 2, you run into Black Cat, Rhino, Mysterio, and Shocker. Defeating these guys earns you bonus points.

"Mysterio? I think I had a bowl of Mysterios for breakfast..."

Spidey-sense: As in the first game, you have the opportunity to use your spidey-sense to anticipate and dodge harmful and quick attacks, such as bullets, punches, or Doc Ock's crazy mechanical arms. Those things hurt. A spidey-sense gauge indicates how long you have before it slowly runs out, and if you're low on spidey-sense, you can perform a few tricks (like flipping in mid-air) or beat up punks flawlessly (getting hit doesn't earn you spidey-sense). Basically, the more fashionable and suave you are, the more spidey-sense you earn. Superheroes have to be graceful and perfect under pressure, right? Successfully dodging attacks while using spidey-sense also helps fill the gauge back up.

Dialogue! One of my favorite features in the Spiderman games is the dialogue. Tobey Maguire comes back to grace us with his voice in Spiderman 2, as does Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane and Alfred Molina as Doc Ock. The only thing missing is J.K. Simmons as the disgruntled Mr. Jameson, but I'm not complaining. Getting most of the major cast to do the video game is a pretty big feat, and it sounds great.

The thing I love best about Spidey is his sarcasm and wit. Batman was a little emo. Superman was serious most of the time. But not Spidey. He's still just a college kid trying to earn a decent living, and he's not without his humor. Throughout the game, Spidey has a bunch of random but unique quotes that will make you grin. I laughed a lot as I swung around and beat up bad guys. Sometimes he'll talk to himself about a recent turn of events, and sometimes he'll yell at crooks and police. He'll even talk to the citizens of New York City.

"Give it to me straight...do I look fat in these tights?"

Hence, the quote in my title. As I was beating on a thug, Spidey belted out that line. It took me a very long time to get the joke. Finally, though, I realized that he was doing an impression of Emeril. Hahaha. Appropriate.

I can't even begin to tell you how many quotes he's got, but there's a lot. A few funny tidbits:

Thug: "Get him! He put my brother in the slammer!"
Spidey: "...Who says 'slammer' anymore?"

A tied up cop: "If I could just...reach...my utility belt..."

Random citizen: "Get a job!"
Disgruntled Spidey: "If you only knew."

Spidey in a fight: "Quit hittin' yourself, quit hittin' yourself, quit hittin' yourself!"

Spidey after falling in the Hudson River: "Nothing like a little New York water to clear out the sinuses..."

Not only do you have real dialogue between Spidey, the cops, the citizens, and the other main characters in the game, but there's also a real narrator who has a sense of humor of his own. The narrator, who's voice belongs to Bruce Campbell (the mean usher at the theater in the Spiderman 2 movie), returns for a second time in the Spiderman 2 video game. He was the original narrator in the first game, and he's just as sarcastic in the second game. Some of his statements even include inside jokes that you can only catch if you've played the first game. The narrator acts as the "tour guide," who explains the hints as you visit hint markers, and also gives you a small tutorial in the beginning of the game.

Cutscenes finish off the game to add a little theatrics and introductions into missions that are more major than just a simple bank robbery. They aren't abundant in the game, but because this game is more about action than plot, it's not necessary for the cutscenes to dominate the game (ahem, like I think it should in other games, like Final Fantasy XII).

Overall: Spiderman 2 is an incredibly fun game to play if you ever want to be in Spidey's shoes. As an Illinois girl, swinging around New York City is as close to the real thing as I can get to (at least for now), and the city's details are intricate and careful, down to the very precious landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and Ground Zero (where you can see the spotlights shining at night as a tribute to the Twin Towers). You're allowed to visit Ellis Island and explore the entire region of Manhattan (but unfortunately, not Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx), and the overall experience is absolutely great. As such, it's a large game, but I haven't come across any glitches or tweaks. This is a fun game through and through and you won't be disappointed.