Not all movie adaptations are created equal.
Video games based on movies trend very strongly towards being garbage. This has been true throughout the entire history of video games, going back to the E.T. debacle in the early 1980s. It’s not a surprising trend, honestly – movie tie-ins tend to have tighter production schedules to be released alongside their respective films, leading to games that are buggy and rushed. There are some notable exceptions, to this trend, though – both games based on Aladdin are awesome, for instance. Games released well after their respective films tend to do better as well, such as the amazing adaptation of The Warriors. This week’s game, 2004′s Spider-Man 2, is another, somewhat surprising exception.
I had not played much of this before this week, but I *had* played a surprising amount of the adaptation of the first Spider-Man movie. That was pretty fun mix of action and web-slinging, but it wasn’t that spectacular. Spider-Man 2, on the other hand, adds a lot other elements, including side missions and a massive, open world. In other words, it’s pretty much Grand Theft Auto, except you’re Peter Parker:
Like the film on which it is loosely based, Spider-Man 2 features the acting talents of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, as well as Alfred Molina as the menacing antagonist Doctor Octopus. The game is fleshed out with other Spider-foes as well, though, including Rhino, Calypso, and these confused art thieves:
Getting around in Spider-Man 2 is extremely satisfying. The game uses a “realistic” approach to web swinging, in that there needs to be a skyscraper or something nearby to swing from (the prior Spider-Man movie adaptation weirdly does not). It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of it (*hang*, get it?), it’s a lot of fun. It’s super easy to waste time just swinging all over the place. You can also climb walls and use super-powered jumps in spots where swinging isn’t practical. You can really go anywhere.
As with any open-world game, there are tons of areas to explore and bystanders to help. There are so many criminals to beat up and people to save, in fact, that it (perhaps unintentionally) gives you a good idea of how exhausting it must be to be a superhero in a big city. It really makes you pine for, oh I don’t know, a night off to enjoy the work of Oscar Wilde:
In addition to the enjoyable web-swinging, The hand-to-hand combat feels hard hitting and satisfying. It’s not as intricate as the system used in the Batman: Arkham series, but it has a kinda similar feel to that. Between this and the web-swinging and wall-climbing, everything in Spider-Man 2 feels impressive and contributes to the “being Spider-Man” experience.
Spider-Man 2 was developed by Treyarch, an Activision subsidiary whose prior work included some Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater ports, the Triple Play baseball series, and NHL 2K2, the last game to be released for the Sega Dreamcast. Nowadays, they’re specifically known for the absurdly popular Call of Duty: Black Ops series.
I was really impressed by this game. It is so much more than you would expect from a mid-2000s movie adaptation, and makes playing as Spider-Man feels as thrilling as it obviously should. Oh, and by the way – if you’re like me, you were wondering if Spider-Man 2 had a delightful digital version of J. Jonah Jameson. Wonder no more, internet:
Next time, I’ll be checking out an NES game with an absolutely ludicrous backstory. Check back in a week to read all about it.