| | Spidey Returns
Slated for release at the same time as the new film,Spider-Man® 2(expect that title to change if the movie’s does) won’t just give Xbox gamers a prettier version of the original Spider-Man® game, which drew heavily on the feel of the classic Dreamcast game and itsTony Hawk engine. For their third take on the web-slinger, Activision and developer Treyarch really let you do whatever a Spider-Man can.
Web-slinging action brought down to earth.
As Real As a Guy in Tights with Spider Powers Gets
For Spider-Man 2, Treyarch has trimmed out every weird little thing from the previous game that true believers might have found a bit hinky. No longer will Spider-Man fling webs into open space that for all intents and purposes appear to miraculously hook onto passing airplanes or heavy clouds. Gone is the cool-looking (but not very spider-like) web zip, which gave Peter Parker the ability to somehow retract web lines back into his arm. It’s been replaced with a kind of bungie move that does the same thing (and that I actually saw Spider-Man doing in the first film). Combat is amazingly fluid and full of combo moves and web tricks that really capture the lightning-fast freewheeling fighting style of the ol’ web-head. The Spider Sense also works differently. When the indicator appears around Spider-Man’s head to let him know that there’s big danger, you can pull off a context-appropriate counter-move to try and dodge whatever nastiness is about to hit him upside the head (or other vital regions). Treyarch has also drunk the bullet-time Kool-Aid, but the feature is perfectly appropriate in this game. (Remember the Flash Thompson fight in the first movie?) 
Peter Parker to the rescue.
Spider Manhattan
Even with all that, the new feature that’s probably going to get the most attention is gravity’s spunky new sidekick, the ground. Spider-Man isn’t confined to the skyscrapers anymore. He can now swing on down to the streets of New York to stop a jewel heist, hop onto a speeding getaway car, knock the bejeebers out of a gang of thugs, or purchase Empire State Building knick-knacks. Then, he can launch himself back into the air with a super-spider leap and return to his element. Manhattan has been recreated in more or less painstaking detail, filled with citizens, crooks, and super villains going about their daily business. Here’s where the game’s new free-roaming style comes into play. While certain missions will advance the main story line, Spider-Man can always just go swinging around looking for little exclamation points down below, which indicate trouble.
Listen, Bub …
And, oh, how he swings. Spider-Man’s webs actually need to latch onto something to swing him around, but just like Peter Parker, you’ll soon get the hang of alternating between web lines for some seriously acrobatic web slinging. You’re free to grab crooks and take them for a swing, reenacting the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15. And, since you can shoot more than one line at a time, you can even suspend yourself between them for a slingshot effect. I can’t heap enough praise on Treyarch for the improvements they’ve made to the web swinging.
So, what’s it all about, Spider-Man? Details are wrapped up tighter than a gang of muggers left for the cops, but we do know that the game’s story line is loosely connected to the movie, which means Doc Ock is the main villain. But, as before, the designers have wisely included appearances by other classic members of Spider-Man’s rogue gallery to pop up and make Peter Parker’s life interesting. Dr. Curt Conners, for example, will almost certainly play a part as his alter ego, the Lizard. Spider-Man 2swings onto the Xbox in this summer. By Danny Chihdo |
