Spiderman 2 Review (no fat)

Game Description

Contrary to what may have been expected from a release of this nature, this game is not a port of the existing console platforms. Instead, it is more of an evolutionary step following on from the success of the previous GBA installments. It is even made by the same people who came out with the previous GBA incarnations of the Spiderman franchise.

Spiderman 2 - Gameplay

The general structure of the game is that you play through multiple levels as Spiderman, rescuing hostages, defeating enemies (sometimes ALL enemies on a level) and still getting to the finishing post before a certain time. This certainly adds excitement to the game, and makes it extremely fast paced, but it can be very frustrating because the vast, undistinguishing landscapes mean that you spend most of your valuable time frantically searching for your Mission Objectives rather than taking a look around and discovering your surroundings.

The major limiting factor with the 2D type environment is the fact that you never really feel that there is any depth to the game , instead you are bottle necked into an environment where missions and a linear storyline dominate your path. The fact that there is a time limit on every level leaves you even more panicked when playing through the levels, so you don’t really have a chance to roam around freely and take a look around…not that there’s anything worthwhile there if you do.

Spiderman 2 - Features

The games boasts a whole host of features but it would have to be said that most of these features are obligatory with a Spiderman release. One shortcoming of this game is the fact that the proper web-swinging which we are so used to seeing in these games, is pretty much useless – there simply isn’t enough room between platforms in the game for it to be effective. Instead, you find yourself zipping all over the place to avoid enemy attack.

Speaking of enemy attack, there is one neat feature in this game revolving around the infamous Spidey Sense. Gone are the days when this was simply a warning that there was danger approaching – it is actually much more useful now; if you get the little symbol above Spiderman’s head to indicate that your spider sense is once again tingling, you can hit L on your console to initiate a kind of dodge/counter attack mode to help you deal with enemy attacks more efficiently. Be careful how you time this, though – it is all to easy to find yourself hitting L to dodge enemy attack when you are at a point where it is actually impossible to avoid enemy attack – so instead of stylishly and elegantly avoiding the attack, you end up watching yourself getting whacked in slow motion – not exactly something you want to see, especially if your patience with the game happens to be wearing thin at that point.

Spiderman 2 - Pros and Cons

In the game’s credit, it does have quite a few great features. One in particular makes great use of the touch screen – allowing the player to choose an attack in real time with nice big buttons so that you don’t need to spend the majority of your reaction time digging out your little pen for pinpoint precision. You are also treated to glorious cut scenes between levels which look brilliant on such a small display.

At the opposite end of the scale, you find that a whack-a-mole systematic search for bad guys and hostages doesn’t really constitute a deep game and the fact is that the extra special moves you attain with playing the game don’t really add to your repertoire too effectively – you always find yourself reverting to the same old moves to defeating enemies. What makes things worse is the fact that this works.

Spiderman 2 - Graphics

Spiderman 2 is easily the most graphically advanced game released on the Nintendo DS to date and it goes to show the difference which coding a good graphics engine can make. The frame rate is boasted to never drop below 60 frames per second and this would certainly appear to be the case – there is never any slowdown in the game whatsoever, regardless of what is going on in the game.

The game also features a fixed camera angle which constantly follows your progress in a 2 dimensional fashion. This may be considered by some to be unusual because the game itself is set in a 3D environment. The development team decided to create a game which would feel like a 2d game, but with 3d graphics to make everything appear more fluent. This is most apparent when you see the camera move through the detailed landscapes.

Spiderman 2 - Summing Up

Here we have a beautiful game with lots of special features and one of my favorite super heroes. Everything is perfect apart from the awkward combos, the boring gameplay and the lack of variation throughout. Sadly these are pretty big factors to be missing out on.

Spiderman 2 - Cost

Spiderman 2 currently retails for $29.99.