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:: Spider-Man 2 for GCN Review (NOTE: Reviewer Reviews XBox Version) |
Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a something…or...other. Oh yeah…whatever a spider can. Like spiders really save people from thugs. The second installment of the multi-platform game titled the same as the movie is out, and while the first was decent but full of little annoying quirks, surprisingly, this one seems to fix those but bring other problems into play. First off, the reviewed game is the Xbox version. While being identical across all three platforms, this version supposedly sports the best graphics, apparently determined by the shininess of the windows. How mesmorizing.
The game begins with a rather movie-like introduction as a camera pans around New York City, Spider-Man’s home town. The square windows and building edges have a semi-seizure effect as they become…jagged, for lack of a better term. The game supports progressive scan, which would’ve definitely come in handy if I had an HDTV. The pounding theatrical beat meanwhile makes the scale of this city quickly apparent. And it is. It takes a good 10 minutes to go from the north end to the south. However, in the beginning you’re handicapped with a slow swinging speed, making crossing the city even more daunting.
The game is loosely based on the motion picture, not because it dives into some bits of it. It covers absolutely every major event in the movie, but for the sake of prolonging the game a couple extra bosses we know all too much were thrown in. Shocker makes a return, but since he and the others are absent from the movie these extra boss encounters are awkwardly tied into the game. There’s no real motive or reason for defeating Shocker with the exception of being persuaded into action to get a high after the depressing shut downs MJ gives Peter Parker or his web headed alter-ego.
Besides the main story, the game progresses by rounding up thugs from random bank robberies or visiting the Bugle for some good old criticism from JJ. The game really hits everything that is Spider-Man, but the presentation in doing so is really half-assed. For one thing, when dressed simply as Peter Parker, the looks like a total geek at about 5 feet tall with a jacket that must be hiding 4 spare Spidey uniforms, a packed lunch and an extra pair of socks.
In between story driven segments, you’ll be free to swing around and see what the city has to offer. There’s a lot of medallions hidden away on rooftops and in hideouts (read: bars) waiting to be found, and markers which prompt time trial events, definitely the most challenging aspect of the game. You’ll also find hint markers that are better left untouched, and of course there’s always the random deed to perform for the regular city dweller. These are either spontaneous, like rescuing someone from muggers and stopping a gang war, or ones that are prompted by speaking to citizens, such as saving someone from falling off a building. All in all there can’t be more than a dozen of these tasks, some cropping up more often that others, with minor variations of the selection. Once, for example, instead of escaping from an armored car robbery in a car, thugs escaped in a helicopter. Hell if I knew what to do in that situation.
Stopping criminals involves little more than button mashing sometimes. The Xbox controller isn’t really suited for combos. I imagine the GameCube controller significantly better off, despite the absence of some buttons, while the PS2 should be a breeze to play with. New combos can be bought from distinct locations, labeled on the main map. These are bought with hero points and new “stock” of combos is available after completing a set of assignments. Some of these combos only differ by one button and result in some moves being performed in undesirable situations.
It’s hard to say how the graphics have improved over the previous game. There are a handful of well done CG moments, too few for my liking, but they help inspire unlike the games real time cut-scenes which are dreary and dull. The vehicles are generic and so are the regular thugs and citizens. No emotion is expressed on these people’s faces, something that becomes more tiring with every mini-mission. When a citizen needs to be transported to a hospital, he simply pants “It hurts, it hurts!” tending to his leg as if it’s nothing more than a bruised knee. It makes delivering pizzas, which you can actually do, look more urgent.
On the positive side you can journey to the city streets without falling to your doom. In fact, there is no loading within the city. Unlike the previous game, the webs Spidey shoots actually attach to buildings so you can’t make it by merely on clouds. It poses some strategy on the player’s part to time the webbing in order to slingshot over smaller buildings and cut down on travel time, if you have to get somewhere in an allotted period. As you go through the game you can upgrade your swing speed, letting you swing much higher over building tops.
The in-game sound is dull. Although you hear the cars bustling around down below and the occasional citizen shouting out for your attention, you mostly hear a lot of wind. Music only plays during a boss battle or when there’s a specific destination to get to, another shortcoming. Voiceovers are uninspired, but done by all the crucial actors. The best voiceover and animation belongs to the sleek Black Cat character, and is leagues above any speech you’ll hear in the game.
The complete city is at your disposal. Once you’ve beaten the story mode, which accounts for about 50% of the game, that’s all you’ll end up doing. Roaming around trying to get more points by helping people out until you beat the to-do list and figure out it was all for namesake and nothing is unlocked. Sure the game is better than the last. But times have changed and certain things are just common place. A good move was changing the indoor/outdoor balance from the first game, as now nearly every mission lies outdoors.
I recommend the game for a rental, but nothing more. I liked the movie but despised most of the game ‘cause of sheer repetition. Probably the most fun I had was stopping robbers on a rooftop (of all places) by tying one up and swinging him into his friends, sending them right off the building to their doom. Ah, the life of a super hero…
Final Rating: 6.5
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| Reviewed by Koren Korok ::
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