Spider-Man 2 is a good game, but it offers too much in some fields and too little in others.
The plot of this version of Spider-Man 2 captured the concepts and main events of the movie very well. The conflicts and attitudes of the main characters are portrayed smoothly, and Doc Ock has never looked better. In addition, boss fights with Rhino, Mysterio, and Shocker are evenly spread out in the game, and overall they're pretty fun. Overall the game is a decent length; not too short, not too long.
The problems begin appearing within the free-roaming system. Presenting us with the entire island of Manhattan to swing around in was a fantastic idea, but unfortunately there are flaws that take some of the joy away from it. Swinging between skyscrapers at breakneck speeds never gets old, but constantly bumping into buildings and having to jump in between swings does. Turning corners while swinging is sometimes a hassle; you may end up swinging in the exact opposite direction that you wanted to go. Something else that's a little weird is the fact that the city is filled up with pointless hint markers and tokens to be read or collected.
The missions that the game offers are relatively fun and sometimes pretty challenging, but between missions you are forced to collect hero points in order to unlock new chapters in the story. Hero points are mandatory and can only be majorly collected by helping citizens in distress or completing side missions i.e. delivering pizzas and taking pictures for the Daily Bugle. This might sound like fun, and for a short while it is, but you'll eventually begin to get bored with repeating the same mini-missions over and over again. Gang fights, gang wars, car chases, escorting an injured person to the hospital, saving a construction worker from falling, and saving people on a sinking boat are practically the only things that you do, and it gets extremely repetitive. The combat consists of a variety of new moves and is pretty fun for a while, but eventually you'll find yourself constantly executing the same moves. All this repetition greatly affects the enjoyment of the game, especially when you play it for extended periods of time.
The graphics are spectacular when it comes to all the buildings and skyscrapers. The city looks incredible, and the Empire State building, Chrysler building, and Times Square are amazing. Unfortunately, the streets of New York are a little bit empty. There simply aren't enough cars or people to make it a realistic New York. In addition, people's mouths don't move, the cars have a boxy shape, and the same bystanders appear everywhere across Manhattan. A dozen or two people are copied and scattered throughout the city. Also, there is very little detail on people's faces. The sound is decent, but there still is a lot of work to be done. The city is stone dead silent, you'll constantly hear the same soundbites and cheesy one-liners during gameplay, and the voice acting is dull and lacks passion.
Altogether, Spider-Man 2 for the PS2 isn't a complete failure. The producers tried to make a good Spider-Man game, and they met most of the requirements. The gameplay is fun at first, but it gradually becomes repetitive and boring. I'd recommend renting this game first to see if you like it, and if you do, go right ahead and buy it. It's definitely worth playing because your opinion might be more positive than this review. Overall, Spider-Man 2 is probably best described as a "test" or a "pioneer" for future Spider-Man games, because the producers still have a lot of work to do if they want to make a perfect game.
Score: 7.0
Grade: B
Preference: Moderate