You may have heard about a little video game coming out tomorrow: Insomniac’s “Marvel’s Spider-Man” for PlayStation 4. It promises to be the most innovative and engaging of all the games based on the wall-crawler.
Yet there is a little gem from two console generations ago that laid the groundwork for all Spidey adventures that followed, Treyarch’s “Spider-Man 2.”
It was released on June 28, 2004, for the PlayStation 2, Gamecube and Xbox (stripped down versions were made for the PC, PlayStation Portable and Gameboy Advanced, but those were inferior to the others).
The game is based on the movie of the same name and featured its cast members lending voices to the main characters including Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson and Alfred Molina as Dr. Octopus.
It expands on every aspect of gameplay from the previous game (the tie-in to the first Sam Rami Spidey flick, which was pretty good itself), now adding in a fully open-world experience. Players were able to swing through a fully 3-D New York City and combat included web attacks and a counter system.
By far the biggest advancement was the swinging system. Gone was the unlimited swing from Treyarch’s first Spidey game, or the flying around from the 2000 Neversoft Playstation 1 game. These were replaced with a new realistic momentum based system.
Now players had to make Parker web swing on parts of buildings, which have specific points the webbing needs to hit in order for a successful swing. No more holding the swing button and flying through the air.
In tight spaces players could also do a quick web zip move to keep the momentum going or allow themselves to reach another building. Later on in the game upgrades could be bought to increase the speed of swinging and number of webs that could be made at once, along other abilities like wall-running.
All of these combined to make web swinging around the city smooth as butter and a lot of fun. The fact that you could climb up the Empire State Building and jump off and save yourself with the web captured the hearts of many players.
It no longer felt like a chore or a contrived action to web swing, and no Spider-Man game since has captured the exhilarating freedom of it like the “Spider-Man 2” team. It sounds cliche now, but you really did feel like the web-slinger.
The plot of the game follows the movie while adding a few twists into it. Peter Parker still can’t find the right balance between his personal life and his duties as a superhero. He misses classes and social events.
In the midst of this renowned scientist Dr. Otto Octavius tries to replicate nuclear fusion and a catastrophic accident happens that turns him into the insane Doctor Octopus. You fight him a few times throughout, including the iconic train scene, and then stop him from making a minute sun, just like the film’s ending.
But in-between these missions are encounters with other members of Spidey’s rogues’ gallery, like Mysterio, Rhino, Black Cat and The Shocker. They have their own story arcs that are really well done, Black Cat and Mysterio’s especially.
In addition to the main story, there are plenty of other things to do in the city. There are a plethora of races to find, each putting the web-swinging controls to the limit. While they can be mildly frustrating, they’re pretty fun.
There are also random crimes to stop throughout the city. Purse snatchers, little kids losing their balloons (the PTSD is coming back from those missions) and random thugs on buildings will pop up as you swing around.
Then there are citizens that flag you down and alert you of a crime going on. These range from saving a person hanging from a building, rescuing folks from a sinking boat, fighting dudes in mechs, surviving an ambush of thugs and taking an injured person to the hospital.
Other activities to do include taking pictures for the Daily Bugle and getting yelled at by J. Jonah Jameson, delivering pizza to rude customers (with the music playing during it becoming a meme) and racing the clock to meet Mary Jane for a date.
For a 2004 game this was a really good assortment of extra things to do. Plus completing these missions earns “Hero Points.” These are used to purchase upgrades for all of Spidey’s powers, unlock games in the arcade and to progress in the main story.
All of this combined to make a licensed game that stood on its own. Most games based on films, TV shows or comics around that time were absolutely horrible. Yet this one had so much effort put into it that it retains a spot in my heart as one of my favorite games.
It released to critical acclaim, with the Xbox version sitting at an 83 out of 100 rating on Metacritic. IGN stated in their review of the game “call it Grand Theft Spider-Man. And call it damn fine.”
It also received the IGN Editor’s Choice award in 2004. The Official PlayStation 2 Magazine ranked the game #80 of the Top 100 PS2 Games of All Time.
Thanks to an inspired main story, a life-sized open world sandbox of New York, addictive and fun web-swinging controls and a plethora of things to do on the side, “Spider-Man 2” stands out as one of the wall-crawler’s best forays into video gaming. It’s definitely my favorite.
Time will tell if Insomniac’s new title takes that mantle.
Henry Wolski
Executive Editor