Spider-Man

Swinging Four Ways

HIGH Dragging a gunsel into the shadows and webbing them to a wall in a single, effortless motion.

LOW Being unable to tell an enemy from a wall in 2099.

WTF Wait... he ate Uncle Ben? Ick.

I would say that I'm a fan of Spider-Man, but I am usually not a fan of Spider-Man games. I have fond memories of web-slinging on the Genesis and Neversoft's entry on the PS1 is still the best adventure to be had with Peter Parker's alter ego, if you ask me. Besides those two outings, old Spidey has been stuck starring in a long string of unsatisfying, unhappy titles.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Language, Violence

Game Description: In Ultimate Spider-Man you get an incredible opportunity to play both a hero and a villain. Control Spider-Man as he faces criminals with strange abilities to defend New York—then switch sides and become the deadly villain called Venom, smashing Manhattan and destroying everything in his path. This original storyline picks up right where the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics left off, for an immersive adventure.

So I planned on taking Spider-man 2 (and Gene's review) to task here; planned to gripe about the repetitiveness of the street crimes, the flighty combat, the lousy camera, etc. But…I can't do it.

Spider-man 2 seemed to me like the product of relentless scouring of Internet message boards, videogame reviews and fan input. To be this in tune with the audience is a badge of honor that the intuitive Treyarch developers should wear proudly. As a result, Spider-man 2 is not only the best superhero videogame I've ever played, but also the closest thing to a superhero simulator in existence.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Violence

The transitional relationship between movies and video games can often be compared to that of oil and water. One simply doesnt mix in the other. Movie-based games often hide behind the illusion of presenting players with the chance to relive the motion picture story through the eyes of the protagonist. In most cases, however, the character is guided through a distorted version of the film that is barely recognizable in a game that seems to have been neglected in its production. Before I even started playing Spider-Man: The Movie, it already had two factors going against it—the first being that it is based upon a film. To this day I can still remember the movie-based atrocities released during the Super Nintendo/Genesis era that did little more than provide gamers with some horrendous gaming experiences. The other stereotype I blindly branded Spider-Man with was the expectation of playing nothing more than an ordinary 3-D beat em up. After all, the last Spider-Man game I played was on a 16-Bit console in which there was little else to do other than line up villains for beatings. To my surprise, Activisions take on Spideys movie proves that an exception to the rule is always possible.