The Bottom Line: Treyarch was given great power with the Spiderman license, and they took great responsibility in creating a wonderful, if slightly flawed, game.
onetuffcowboy's Full Review: SpiderMan for PlayStation 2
(Prior apologies to Columbia Studios and Spiderman director Sam Raimi for butchering the film's opening script.)
Did I really like Spiderman? You sure you wanna know?
This review is not for the faint of heart. If somebody told you that this was another in a long line of horrible movie-based games, nothing but a shady attempt at a few extra dollars following the movie's release...somebody lied.
This, like any other review worth writing, revolves around a developer. That developer is Treyarch, a newbie to the Spidey universe. I'd like to tell you it's Capcom that's publishing this game. Heck, I'd even take Acclaim.
But alas, it's Activision, the vicious mutants responsible for creating and milking the evil Tony Hawk cash cow for all its worth. It makes sense, I guess; Activision published the wallcrawler's two PSOne outings, so I guess securing the rights to the movie license was a logical move on their part. I'm just glad Spidey doesn't ride a board in this game....
Anyway, all script-butchering aside, the latest Spiderman game actually does the property it's based on justice. It does so for a number of reasons--solid controls, a nice presentation tailored to the film and an overall feeling of excitement and adventure--though this game is nowhere near perfect.
To capitalize on the movie that has caught all of Hollywood in its multimillion dollar web, Spiderman the game features the voices of Tobey Maguire (Spidey himself), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) and Bruce Campbell (our hilarious narrator). Their performances, while not Oscar-worthy, are certainly worth merit, and let's face it, Campbell's so badass he can make pretty much anything rock the house.
Visually, Spiderman is strong, but not perfect. Naturally, the PS2 version is the worst-looking of the three (GameCube and Xbox are more powerful machines...duh!) and while there are a few shortcomings (read: more jaggies and a little slowdown), things are relatively nice.
The colors are vibrant, the animation is smooth, the character models well-rendered. New York City has never been depicted so nicely in a game before, as the city literally bustles with life and activity as you swing hundreds of stories above.
However, within the aesthetics lies my main gripe regarding this game: the inconsistent camera. While it is drastically improved from Spidey's first PSOne outing, there are still instances where the camera is impossible to deal with. Sometimes it'll get stuck behind a wall, blocking your vision, but most of the time it stops at an angle that doesn't let you get a good view of a ledge you need to get to or an enemy trying to lop off one of you legs. More than a few times you'll find yourself stuck or dying because of the wild, erratic camera.
Camera issues aside, Spiderman plays very well. Treyarch gives fans the best of both worlds, keeping the best features of the PSOne original while implementing some innovation. Those who played the PSOne original should feel right at home with this game; a lot of the mechanics are identical.
Unlike previous Spidey incarnations, this game spices things up a bit, so not every mission involves you running around beating bad guys to a pulp. A good many levels require some stealth (yes, Metal Gear Solid 2 has started a trend...), and you'll find yourself protecting and saving people more often than not. I'm particularly fond of this aspect of the game because Spidey is a superhero, one who has sworn to protect the public. Kudos to Treyarch for understanding this important, but often overlooked, aspect of the Spiderman universe.
Perhaps the best (and most innovative) feature of the game though is the aerial missions, where you control our friendly neighborhood wallcrawler high above the streets of New York City, swinging and fighting your way through whatever's thrown at you. Treyarch could've made the entire game in the sky above New York and I would've been really happy. As it is, this feature does a nice job of introducing new gameplay mechanics and breaking up the monotony of the indoor missions.
Spidey has been given a good number of moves to use, and the total number of possible combos (roughly 30 or so) allows for some freedom on the part of the gamer and helps keep the fighting from becoming boring and repetitive. This is good, considering fighting's pretty frequent here.
This game, while a 3-D platformer of sorts, offers a lot of variety, and in today's market overrun by short, repetitive action games, finding a game with a little depth is refreshing. Even more refreshing is the fact that this game is based on a popular license.
In fact, Treyarch does what few developers can--they use the license to enhance the game, not to merely rake in a few extra dollars. Spiderman fans will love some of the touches put into this game, and everyone else will appreciate the solid gameplay...even if the camera does give them the occasional headache.
Yes, the Xbox version throws in two extra levels and has nicer graphics. So the GameCube version might load just a wee bit faster. The PS2 version is still selling better (hey, whaddya know? Game Informer was good for something after all...hehehe...), but that's most likely due to the console's larger installed base. Regardless, PS2 Spiderman is an excellent, solid game worth your time, whether you like the franchise or not.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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