Spider-Man, Spider-Man. A little GTA, in the can. Random missions, webslinging galore, New York City: check out my score
That is definitely not the case with this sequel. This time, the whole island of Manhattan is your own personal playground.
Developer Treyarch made a number of smart moves in designing Spider-Man 2. Sure, they must've "borrowed" certain elements from GTA, but this ultimately leans in their favor. These include the free-roamingness, random pedestrian missions, stat screens (yup) and so on.
One thing that they did extremely well (and is completely original I might add) is the awesome rush of the new swinging system, made to give you the sense of speed and freedom that Spider-Man must feel as he swings through the streets of his concrete jungle. Apart from that, the fighting system is quite satisfying, if you don't mind mashing the same couple of buttons every time until the villain is dead.
Visuals are actually quite good when you take into account how huge the city is. They aren't anything special but they get the job done. 'Jaggies' are commonly seen in the game engine cutscenes and the fact that pedestrians mouths don't move led me to believe that all New Yorkers are great ventriloquists.
Sound is passable. It's got the necessary noises like the 'thwip' of Spidey's web shots and the smacks and punches of a thug getting the crap beatin' out of him. Music only comes in occasionally for an action sequence, mission or just when you're randomly swinging around (something you'll be doing a lot of). The voice-acting by the film's stars - Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Alfred 'Chocolat' Molina - are all good enough, but the real highlight is the wisecracking Bruce Campbell who narrates a few parts of the game, including the 200+ hint markers.
This game could potentially bring you back for months just trying to find all of the tokens hidden in the city. That, and the enjoyable rush of swinging through the streets. Spider-Man 2's story mode is slightly short but will be stretched by a long shot with all of the distractions on offer. Although the pedestrian missions do get very repetitive as there are only a few different types, the Hero points earned by completing them will keep you engaged for a substantial amount of time.
Spider-Man 2 is a well-developed game with an obvious amount of care and detail put into each square metre of its virtual Manhattan. This is a great continuation of the trend of movie based games breaking the mold and being more than just a licensed piece of trash. If the thrill of swinging through a dozen or so streets at 300 mph doesn't give you any form of adrenaline rush, than I just don't know what will.