KnowaKnowsGames
1 review liked by KnowaKnowsGames
Spider-Man 2
2004
The order in which I've been playing the Spider-Man games is certainly strange, but I'm actually glad I didn't play this one first because it may have made a couple others more difficult to enjoy.
It has a surprising amount of things going on for it. The web swinging is difficult at first, because it is the most physics based, which means you must really take into account your speed, mass and angle at all times to be fast. There's a learning curve when it comes to getting good at it, but it's extremely satisfying to pull off stylish and difficult maneuvers, definitely the most immersed I've felt when webbing through everything as bug boy.
The combat is dead simple at its core, but you get to unlock a bunch of different moves that can be used to get more effective at it and, while I was lazy and stuck to whatever easy move got me through the fight easier and faster, there's definitely space to learn some combos and make your playstyle flashy during combat as well.
You'll usually jump into combat with side activities when not in a mission, and hell, there's a really good variety of those for a game that's 4-6 hours long. Carjackings, chases, gunfights or just being jumped by goons are what you spend time on the most. There's also simpler stuff, like small random events of someone needing to be rushed to the hospital or catching a child's lost balloon, as nothing is too small for Spider-Man to save.
The main missions are probably the most unremarkable part of the game, a few of them follow the movie its based on loosely, while others tell their own story, but there's still a decent amount of variety in the activities you do in them so that it doesn't feel like a chore. A couple of the boss fights may drag, but you'll find that there's usually a simple strategy waiting for you.
The city map is way bigger than I expected and more than makes up for the lackluster visuals, having to change your swinging strategy to adjust to different building and road sizes as well as less populated areas is great, but despite the big size it still never felt like anything took too long to do.
This game may not be my favorite or the most polished but it cemented the formula many Spider-Man games would follow and got the best web swinging while at it. It's definitely harder to get into, but well worth it if you don't mind the more dated aspects. This game and Treyarch deserve a lot of respect for how much of a technical achievement it is to capture what makes playing as Spider-Man so great all the way back in 2004.
It has a surprising amount of things going on for it. The web swinging is difficult at first, because it is the most physics based, which means you must really take into account your speed, mass and angle at all times to be fast. There's a learning curve when it comes to getting good at it, but it's extremely satisfying to pull off stylish and difficult maneuvers, definitely the most immersed I've felt when webbing through everything as bug boy.
The combat is dead simple at its core, but you get to unlock a bunch of different moves that can be used to get more effective at it and, while I was lazy and stuck to whatever easy move got me through the fight easier and faster, there's definitely space to learn some combos and make your playstyle flashy during combat as well.
You'll usually jump into combat with side activities when not in a mission, and hell, there's a really good variety of those for a game that's 4-6 hours long. Carjackings, chases, gunfights or just being jumped by goons are what you spend time on the most. There's also simpler stuff, like small random events of someone needing to be rushed to the hospital or catching a child's lost balloon, as nothing is too small for Spider-Man to save.
The main missions are probably the most unremarkable part of the game, a few of them follow the movie its based on loosely, while others tell their own story, but there's still a decent amount of variety in the activities you do in them so that it doesn't feel like a chore. A couple of the boss fights may drag, but you'll find that there's usually a simple strategy waiting for you.
The city map is way bigger than I expected and more than makes up for the lackluster visuals, having to change your swinging strategy to adjust to different building and road sizes as well as less populated areas is great, but despite the big size it still never felt like anything took too long to do.
This game may not be my favorite or the most polished but it cemented the formula many Spider-Man games would follow and got the best web swinging while at it. It's definitely harder to get into, but well worth it if you don't mind the more dated aspects. This game and Treyarch deserve a lot of respect for how much of a technical achievement it is to capture what makes playing as Spider-Man so great all the way back in 2004.