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Techtite's X-Box Game Reviews |
"In the end, this is one of those games that requires a review that is too long for any web site to offer. Its thrills just keep on coming, to the point that no review can do it justice." ---from the review ----------------- Sidebar : ----------------- No "sidebar" comments for this review. Yet... ----------------- Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted! ------------------
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Spider-Man 2
Click picture to order this game (X-Box) A Techtite ReviewImagine a super-hero game within an environment not unlike Grand Theft Auto: full freedom of movement, minimal load times. Now imagine the hero in question is Spider-Man, so you can literally go everywhere, swing from the low buildings, or even climb up the Empire State Building itself. Then imagine a game engine that lets you keep on playing, defeating various hoods, long after the core story is done with. Simply put; imagine a game that could've been a simple movie tie-in, but isn't. Spider-Man 2 is more than just a reenactment of the hit movie; it's a lot more. First things first; you're Spider-Man. You have the ability to wall-crawl, punch, and sling a web. However; you also have the ability to get "hero points," based on your heroism (simple, right?). Save enough lives and proceed far enough into the story, and you can use these points to upgrade Spider-Man's skills. One of my favorite such skills is one that allows you, with a simple three-button combo, to tie up a criminal's legs, and suspend them from a light post. Sad to say, this is a fully-animated spectacle best seen for yourself (sorry; no pictures of it here would do it justice), but let's just say it's one of many cool maneuvers Spidey can do in this game.
In the end, this is one of those games that requires a review that is too long for any web site to offer. Its thrills just keep on coming, to the point that no review can do it justice. This is the definitive game for Spider fans. For non fans this is still a pretty cool game; definitely, the coolest movie tie-in ever conceived. Sure, people may disagree with me there, if they played a superior movie tie-in game I did not. Send a letter and tell me. What an absolutely awesome game that would have to have been.
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Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
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Deep
Impact
Of
course; what's super-powers without something to do with them? That's the
other cool part of this city; just about every tenth person you meet (or
close enough) has an icon above their head, with a problem of some kind.
These range from either an armed robbery in progress to a local shootout or
even a little girl whose balloon is floating in the air. Hey, you're a hero;
go swing high enough to grab it and give it back to her! A hero's work is
never done.
Admittedly,
though, the whole idea here is to allow gamers the chance to be Spider-Man,
within the story seen in the film, 
Here's
where the real fun begins; the makers of this game were clearly diehard
Spider-Man fans. So, if this is supposed to be a whole cityscape of
Spider-Man's best friends and foes, why not offer a cameo or two? While the
movie didn't have enough length for such introductions, this game has Spidey
meet both Black Cat, and Mysterio, for the very first time. The result is a
"director's cut" of sorts, where things happen differently than in
the film, but in a very good way. There are whole story arcs in the film
that would lack any interaction for a video game; Black Cat's chases across
the rooftops make up for this, brilliantly.
As
for the game engine; comparisons to Grand Theft Auto are inescapable; there
are minimal load times, a whole cityscape to explore, and an open-ended
interface, allowing you to keep playing long after the game proper has
"ended." Yet there's even more thrills than that, thanks to the
fact...you're Spider-Man! You're not simply some hood walking the streets;
you can go anywhere, shoot your webbing, and even save a life or two. The
irony of such a super-hero, in a game engine based on the story of a
criminal, is hard to ignore, but enjoyable to see. The game designers even
have a little fun with the concept! It's doubtfully just coincidence that
one of many things you can do in this game is to stop car thefts.
Then
there's the local townsfolk. Just about all of them react to you somehow;
few are mere NPC rag dolls in a video game world. Help the local cops and
they thank you for a job well done; save a woman's purse from being snatched
and she is very grateful. Not that Spidey's job is a bed of roses; some car
thefts require you to, well, stop the car...by any means necessary. Here's a
tip: after such missions, wait a while and the owner of the car, on foot,
catches up with you. Their reactions aren't too grateful most of the time,
but hey...they're insured right?