• ID = PS0813
• STYLE = Third-Person 3D Action
• DEV. = Treyarch Invention, LLC
• PUB. = Activision Inc.
• R-DATE = Jun-29-2004
• ESRB = T / For Teen
• PLAYERS = 1 player
• LIST PRICE = $49.99
  

Spider - Man is about to scale new heights. The highly anticipated sequel game to Columbia Pictures mega hit film Spider - Man is about to get even bigger as you take the role of Spider - Man through expansive locations from the movie. Patrol the streets and skies of a living, breathing, massively modeled Manhattan, scaling buildings, slinging webs, fighting crime and confronting numerous villains, including Dr. Octopus (Doc Ock). Prepare to go wherever a spider can as the game transports you off the silver screen into a larger - than - life adventure all your own. For a movie - like experience, battle the nefarious Doc Ock and his henchmen in locations taken straight from the film. In addition to the Marvel characters featured in the upcoming film sequel, additional diabolical villains from the expansive Marvel comic character roster make exclusive game appearances, including Mysterio and Lizard.

Go wherever a spider can - Immerse yourself in the city of Manhattan, which is constructed as a large streaming map populated by cars, pedestrians and criminals. Jump from street level to rooftops as you patrol the city. New web - swinging abilities - Realistic physics impact your direction as you swing from building corners, lampposts - even helicopters. Harness your super strength for powerful jumps and lightning - fast web crawling. Face the responsibilities of a Super Hero - Take time out from your main missions to foil random crimes in the streets. The more crimes you prevent, the more your hero rating increases, giving you access to advanced attacks and maneuvers.

Features:

• Explore a more open-ended New York City as you face off against criminals like Dr. Octopus, Electro and The Vulture.
• Use your spider-sense to detect danger - stop the random street crimes Spider-Man will run across, for enhanced reputation and bonuses.
• New web-swinging mechanics -- Move in all sorts of crazy directions and angles, then yank yourself along super-fast.
• All-new combat system with more amazing combos -- spectacular, over-the-top moves for the ultimate fighting experience.

As you'd expect, the new game works along the same basic lines as the last one but is actually a very noble attempt to completely expand the concept and the way it's implemented. The biggest change is the that the game is now much more free-form, rather than being strictly mission based, and you can swing around New York City all you like, getting involved in side quests (such as stopping minor robberies) before getting around to the wider plot.

The actual business of web-slinging has been greatly improved so that your webbing now actually connects with buildings, instead of just attaching to thin air, and so the whole business of getting around the city becomes more "realistic". The combat system has also been completely overhauled, although it's still fair to say that the interior levels are far less entertaining than bouncing around New York and getting involved in aerial scraps.

The game realises this though and the majority of the action now takes place outside as you not only follow the plot of the movie, taking on main bad guy Dr Octopus, but also tackling some of Spidey's other villains from the comic books, including the Vulture, Rhino and Shocker--as well as meeting alternative love interest Black Cat. Hopefully someday all comic book games will be this good.-- David Jenkins