Spiderman 2 is a 2004 action adventure game, based on the film of the same name, while incorporating additional material from the comic books. Published by Activision, the console versions were developed by Treyarch, while the others had different developers. The game is a follow-up to the 2002 game Spider-Man, itself based on the 2002 film. The Treyarch versions incorporate a full open world design, being the first superhero game to do so. All versions of the game follow and expand upon the film’s plot, depicting Spider-Man‘s struggle to balance his civilian and superhero lives. Meanwhile, his mentor Dr. Otto Octavius becomes supervillain Doctor Octopus and attempts to recreate a dangerous fusion power experiment, forcing Spider-Man to stop him before he destroys Manhattan. Tobey Maguire, Alfred Molina, Kirsten Dunst and J.K. Simmons reprised their roles from the film, as Spider-Man, Doc Ock, Mary Jane Watson and J. Jonah Jameson, respectively, while Bruce Campbell, who played an usher in the doors of Mary Jane Watson’s show, narrates the game.
The game was released on June 28, 2004 for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, followed by N-Gage and Nintendo DS versions, both released later in the same year. A PSP version, which uses the same engine and graphics as the first game, was released almost one year later, on March 23, 2005. The Game Boy Advance version, developed by Digital Eclipse, came on Twin Pack cartridge and bundled with Spider-Man: The Movie in 2005. The console versions of the game received critical acclaim, with critics praising the realistic Manhattan and web swinging mechanics. The other console versions received mixed reviews, while the PC version received largely negative reviews.
The console version of Spider-Man 2 is a third-party action-adventure video game, set in an open world based on New York City and composed of Manhattan, Roosevelt Island, Ellis Island, and Liberty Island. Players take on the role of Spider-Man and complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story.
The story is divided into multiple chapters, each with its own set of objectives, such as purchasing upgrades for Spider-Man, or acquiring a certain number of hero points from completing side missions. These side missions are given by random pedestrians across the game’s map, and mainly consist of battling criminals, stopping speeding cars by jumping on top of them and punching them, taking injured people to the hospital, or saving construction workers from falling to their deaths. Each chapter includes at least one story mission related to the main plot.
Players are able to web swing, crawl walls, and fight enemies using a variety of combos. They can use Spider-Man’s “spider sense” to slow down time and dodge incoming attacks, including gun fire. This version of the game was considered innovative at that time due to its physics-based algorithms that simulate Spider-Man’s web swinging in three dimensions, creating a new game mechanic unlike the traditional jumping or flying of previous Spider-Man games. Combat is far more complex, as it involves carefully timing the player’s attacks and dodges. After the completion of the storyline, a warehouse is unlocked, where the player can fight waves of enemies and bosses from the main storyline, as well as an additional one: Calypso.
