Spiderman 2:
The
gameplay in Spider-Man 2 is stripped-down to a fault.
In this day and age, most third-party games are released
across multiple platforms. When the game in question is a major licensed
property, like Spider-Man 2, it's almost guaranteed that you're going to get
the same game on several different systems. Activision did this, in part, by
releasing a Treyarch-developed Spider-Man 2 game on the Xbox, PlayStation 2,
and GameCube. But for some reason that game didn't make its way to the PC.
Instead, PC owners are getting a completely different game. Between the game's
overly simplified gameplay mechanics and its weak presentation, this is
definitely a case where "different" doesn't mean "better."
The PC version of Spider-Man 2 has overly simplified
gameplay.
At its core, the PC version of Spider-Man 2 is attempting
to do the same thing that the console game does. It takes only the most basic
shreds of story from the movie of the same name and inserts them into an action
game. In an attempt to liven things up a bit, the game does more than merely
pit Spider-Man against Dr. Octopus. You'll also face other villains, like
Mysterio, the Puma, and on multiple occasions you'll square off against Rhino.
When you aren't doing that, you're stopping bank robberies and beating up on
other, lesser thugs. Generally speaking, the game doesn't go out of its way to
tell any story at all. You'll get a cutscene here and there, but most of these
cutscenes are ugly. A few of them come from the console versions of the game,
and these look just fine. But the cutscenes that were created specifically for
this version of the game are awful. They run at a choppy frame rate, and the
scenes would probably look better if they were just rendered in-engine.
The gameplay in Spider-Man 2 is stripped-down to a fault.
The game controls like your standard third-person PC action game, with the
mouse controlling your turning and viewpoint and the keyboard controlling your
actual movement. The left mouse button is a context-sensitive, all-purpose
action button. If you're pointing your targeting crosshairs at an enemy, an
onscreen targeting device will say "attack" or "web" if you
aren't close enough to punch. Pointing at the side of a building or other flat
surface will let you "zip" to that location with a touch of the
button. In some cases, you'll be able to "shoot" web balls at various
targets. And when you're close enough to a swing icon, your targeting device
will light up and say "swing."
Graphically, Spider-Man 2 looks OK. Most of the game takes
place in a city environment, but the rigid, boxlike structure of the
skyscrapers doesn't make you feel as though you have any sort of citylike
freedom. The game's textures are passable, though most of the non-player models
are ugly and animate poorly. When you beat enemies, they blink out of existence
with a static effect that makes you feel as if you're playing some sort of
"Spider-Man in The Matrix" mod. The whole game just looks dull and
unexciting, both technically and artistically.
Each boss battle starts with a diagram that spells out
exactly what you need to do.
Most of the sound effects in the game are good, but this is
offset by some bad voice acting. You'll hear some of the voices from the movie
here, but Tobey Maguire must have used up all his voice-acting energy on lines
for the console version of the game. Here, the script is bad to begin with, and
the line delivery isn't any better. The game has some music, but it basically
just fades into the background and stays there.
Why didn't the PC get the good version of Spider-Man 2? Who
decided to make an entirely different and decidedly mediocre version of the
game specifically for Windows users? We may never know the answers to these
questions, but as for your question about whether or not you should spend your
time and money playing this version of the game, the answer is definitely no.
Download here.............
Spiderman 2: The gameplay in Spider-Man 2 is stripped-down to a fault.
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