Be the Web-Slinger

When the Activision, Inc. Spider-Man game hit the Xbox®, it generated the same enthusiasm among gamers as the movie did among filmgoers. Now, Activision and Treyarch are preparing to release Spider-Man 2, which will once more capture the core appeal of being Spider-Man and doing all the things our favorite web-slinging superhero can do. In fact, the game has given the player even more chances to think and act just like a smart-mouthed teenager with the proportional speed and strength of a spider. What could be more fun than that?

Here comes the Spider-Man.

Here’s a quick origin recap for the record: Teenage boy gets bitten by a radioactive spider, gains superhuman abilities, and is drawn into the hero thing by a personal tragedy. The lesson learned? With great power comes great responsibility. But, just how “great,” you ask? Let’s take a look.

Is He Strong? He Has Radioactive Blood!
The original game perfectly captured the physical abilities of a spider-human hybrid. Spider-Man could leap over small buildings in a single bound, lift compact cars if he wanted to, and react to threats so fast that he’d be just a blur to normal folks. The original game had more than 20 separate combat combos that allowSpider-Man to fight with his hands and feet, from the wall, ceiling, floor, and even mid-air. The new game promises even more brawling options, with sharper graphics and smoother animations to bring the action to life.

Bust out a web dome.

Spins a Web, Any Size
He could hardly be a spider-based hero without webs, could he? On the Xbox,Spider-Man can use his web shooters to hurl web balls as ranged weapons. He can also spin a web dome that protects him (until he bursts free of it, damaging all the enemies nearby) and create zip lines to yank himself out of danger (or haul enemies into his fist). Of course, he swings around Manhattan on his web lines like Tarzan on a vine. The new game will have tighter controls and more realistic physics for the web-slinging, with an improved aiming system, so spinning webs will be even more intuitive and will have a greater impact on gameplay.

Catches Thieves, Just Like Flies
The most exciting innovation of the new game is the fact that New York City is now a living, breathing metropolis, with all sorts of stuff going on that does not strictly relate to the main plot. This is one element that was missing from the first game. In the comics,Spider-Man often takes to the streets to blow off steam by cleaning up the muggers, thieves, and stick-up men that plague the city. In Spider-Man 2, if you don’t want to pursue Doc Ock or the Lizard in the central story, you can simply swing around your friendly neighborhood and fight crime one street at a time.

Only two legs? No problem.

Action Is His Reward
Spider-Man also has one key non-physical power, an ESP-style alarm system that he calls his “spider sense.” Traditionally, this has been depicted as a warning buzz or a precognitive flash that gives him an edge when danger is about to strike. In Spider-Man 2, the spider sense has been redesigned, so it not only highlights the villain about to strike, but it also givesSpider-Man a Max Payne-style bullet time effect that slows down everyone on screen. This will make a huge difference in those 12-on-1 gang fights, but it also means that the developers can pile on even larger groups of foes. After all, if you have all of Spider-Man’s abilities, you can handle it, right?

Spider-Man 2 ups the ante in terms of both excitement and what our hero is capable of. It also proves the rationale behind this column: You don’t need a traditional RPG to take on the complete role of a hero. All you need is a good character, an imaginative story, and a dedicated team of designers and developers that know how much fun super-human abilities can be.

By Pete Hutter