Spider-Man is still a fun game in spite of its many problems and stands as one of the better examples of licensed games
The game is spread out into bite sized chapters, each with its own set of objectives, though one of these never really changes: you must always collect a certain amount of hero points. Obtaining these points either means completing your main objectives, or else talking to various members of the public who are in need of your assistance. The later are easy to find, seeing as they have large green icons above their heads. The missions that these pedestrians give you generally consist of stopping a car-jacking, beating up some bad guys, rescuing a man from falling from a great height, or something similar. Once you've talked to the person who gives you a mission it takes priority, usually putting you up against a time limit. As well as these given missions, a number of random crimes spring up around the city, represented by grey dots on the screen's mini-map. These missions are always optional while grey and are only activated when you get within range. Generally they involve little more than stopping fights between gangs, catching and beating up thieves or, indeed rescuing a child's balloon. Failure of either type of missions amounts to little more than a slight loss of hero points, unless you get yourself killed doing them, yet by at least some point in the game you will get fed up with saving people from sinking boats or retrieving those lost balloons.
Other things to do in the city besides crime fighting are pizza delivery, photography and token collecting. The first two are much the same as the crime missions, giving you a set amount of time to well deliver pizzas or snap photos; occasionally the question of how the people expect Peter to do these tasks without knowing that he's Spider-Man is one that might pop into your head how and again. This is especially true of the photos missions which generally involve shots being taken on the side of skyscrapers. Token collecting in a more leisurely affair, with secret, skyscraper and buoy variants, as well as hint icons to find and hideouts to locate; something which may last long after the main game has been finished.
Treyarch has updated it's engine since the last game, with the biggest change being concerned with web swinging. In prior games Spider-Man could swing on thin air above the roofs of even the tallest building, making for some bizarre scenarios which made web-swinging more akin to being able to fly. In Spider-Man 2, the process of swinging has been changed very much for the better. This time every web used for swinging has to have an anchor, a building, tree, or indeed flagpole to attach to and Spider-Man actually swings in an arch. The way it works is simple, with the R-trigger you shoot off a webline, if that is all you do Spidey will slowly stop swinging, he needs momentum. Luckily the swing mechanics are easy to grasp and with a little bit of practice Spider-Man will be zooming through New York City. Fighting however is generally nothing more than simple button mashing and though it can be fun to use the numerous combos that you can purchase you'll generally find yourself going with whatever works the easiest.
The game follows the plot of the film to a degree, you play the part of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (voiced by Tobey Maguire), who's crime fighting antics are causing him to miss his appointments with friends Mary-Jane and Harry Osborne and his lessons with Dr. Connors. The story concerns mostly one Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), who is transformed into the slightly less than sane Dr. Octopus after a test and demonstration of his prototype solar fusion reactor goes horribly wrong, fusing his A.I. mechanized "arms" to his body. Along the way the game deviates a little from the film, mostly to introduce other characters in the Spider-Man cannon, meaning that at points you will be asked to fight with the likes of Rhino. Another, more predominate character from Spidey's universe is Mysterio, who initially sets out to disproves Spidey's powers in one of the more memorable parts of the game and later turns into his full blown supervillain self. The character Black-Cat also makes a few appearances in some energetic chase sequences across the rooftops as well as occasionally helping out the web-slinger. The bulk of the game is made up of encounters with Dr. Octopus and the various random crimes that you'll deal with.
Unfortunately, after you've dealt with the last encounter with the dear doctor there will be little more for you to do other than deal with those random crimes and finding the location of those last few missing tokens, if you were looking for them at all in the first place. The main game will last less than ten hours and there isn't really a great deal to do of any consequence after that. That said, for the player who must find everything there is definitely enough hidden tokens to find. Ultimately though, at that point the most fun you'll have is going to be confined to aimlessly swinging round the city.
Admittedly the city of New York does look fairly decent, with nice reflection effects on the skyscrapers windows and a layering effect which increases the detail of the textures in relation to Spider-Man's proximity to them. It helps that the city is a good size and there is much fun to be had by simply swinging from one end to the other, located and scaling various famous landmarks like the Empire State. There are, thankfully, no load times while you do this to distract you. However while the city itself may look good, its inhabitants suffer with poor models, basic animation and own blocks for cars; the human models used also suffer from the problem of cloning and it won't be long before you recognize a few of their faces. Where the general populace may be awkwardly designed, Spider-Man himself looks fantastic and the main cast to, look more than acceptable.
More problematic is the, at times unresponsive and unhelpful camera, which can get trapped behind walls or else points at a disorientating angle. Mostly it seems as though the camera was mainly designed to follow Spidey as he swings through the city as there it is on its very best behavior. The lock-on can allow you some aid in keeping a specific target on screen, but can also be a problem where chasing the target is concerned, generally causing the camera to end up at a different angle to where Spider-Man himself is heading - i.e. straight down when you're heading upwards. Also the frame rate can suffer when a lot is happening on screen at once, especially during one mission type later in the game that asks you to deal with up to three criminals in mechanical battle suits.
Tobey Maguire and the rest of the main cast from the film - with the honorable mention of Alfred Molina - seem bored for the most part, giving mediocre performances throughout the game. Tobey's one-liners also become quite repetitive as does the general phrases spouted by the people of the city. Much better are the cast playing the guest characters and the narrator Bruce Campbell, whose wry wit and sardonic remarks make up the best dialogue in the game. In terms of the sound effects, while shooting webbing around the city sounds much the same as in the cinema the fisticuffs and gunfire effects are a little weak; all other effect are just plain and generic. This weakness continues into the lackluster nature of the game's music, which rarely plays above a whisper most of the time in the background during your time in the city, if it is even playing at all. While the music does pick up during the action scenes, those scenes are few and far between and for the most part the music never gets beyond forgettable anyway. Spider-Man is at times such a quiet game that you'll wonder why the developers didn't put more in, or after hearing the same dismal one-liner for the hundred time, why indeed didn't just leave it all out anyway.
The game's short length coupled with its problems is disappointing, especially considering that the size of Manhattan could have provided plenty of opportunity for variety which would have raised the standard for sandbox games starring superheroes. As things go, Spider-Man 2 is still a fun game in spite of its many problems and stands as one of the better examples of licensed games, whether they are based on films or comics.