Spider-Man 2 Hands-On

To coincide with next year's summer release of Spider-Man 2, Activision will be releasing the sequel to its hit Spider-Man game. A playable demo version of Spider-Man 2 was available at Activision's E3 booth, and we got a hands-on look at it.

To start, Activision has clearly been listening to the criticisms of the last Spider-Man game and has sought to improve the overall Spider-Man gameplay experience in a number of ways. The most significant mechanical improvement in Spider-Man 2 is the game's use of webslinging. Rather than just having Spider-Man shoot webs out at dead space, you will now be able to latch your webs onto realistic objects and buildings throughout the game's environment. When you're swinging around low to the ground, short bursts and quick slinging will be required to stay in the air, and when up at higher altitudes, you'll be able to take longer swings. Additionally, you can now shoot a second web while still holding onto the first one, letting you swing around in all sorts of crazy directions. You will also be able to perform more-impressive and more-powerful jumps in Spider-Man 2 by holding down the jump button and waiting for a meter to fill up. Performing a fully charged jump lets you jump much higher and further than normal.

Another major improvement to the series' design is found in its combat system. Instead of just tapping the attack button over and over again, you will be able to toggle between attacking and jumping, making for more new and exciting combos. Fighting will still be true to the comics' over-the-top style, with lots of insane moves like being able to lasso enemies with a web and swing them over your head, or even just slam them into the ground over and over again.

The plot of Spider-Man 2 will loosely follow the storyline of the film, adding in additional villains from the comic book, like The Vulture and Electro. Much of the game will be extremely open-ended, letting you explore the game's massive full-scale model of Manhattan. Side missions can even be found when exploring the city--they'll be represented by small icons that direct you to where the action is. These missions will involve stopping petty criminals, and whenever you do, you will earn points that can be used to purchase upgrades of Spider-Man's abilities and various pieces of unlockable content.

Though it is still in a very early stage of development, Spider-Man 2 is looking really amazing. The improved webslinging mechanics are extremely fun to play around with and entirely breathtaking to watch, and fans of the Spider-Man series will certainly have something to look forward to next year. Spider-Man 2 will be available for the Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2.