First Impressions: Grand-Theft-Arachnid.
Now is a good time to be your friendly neighborhood wall crawler. First, while the vast majority of superhero movies are poorly made, unable to strike the balance between introducing the character to a new audience and pleasing the character’s established fan base while simultaneously satisfying Hollywood sensibilities, Spider-Man was able to accomplish all of this and also make a great movie. His movie broke records not only for superhero movies, but for movies period. Then, he made a good movie/superhero game, defying the curse of licensed video games. Finally, Spider-Man has another highly anticipated movie coming out this year, with another hopefully great game poised to release simultaneously.
Spider-Man 2 will be the sequel to the Spider-Man game released just before the first movie. The game had a double jinx, as it was a game based on both a superhero and a movie, and traditionally, games based on either type of franchise don’t fare too well. However, the game surprised players by being fun and unexpectedly good. Now, the developers hope to improve upon that formula as well, enhancing and changing elements of the previous game to make players feel more like New York’s favorite superhero.
The story of Spider-Man 2 will be based on the movie, although, like the first movie game, will add some villains from the comics. That means that in addition to Spider-Man 2’s Dr. Octopus, we’ll also get the chance to defeat other foes like Vulture and Electro.
The first and most obvious change to the game is the graphics engine. Visually, the game is very impressive, with highly detailed models and backgrounds. Once again set in New York, the game actually looks as if it is set in the middle of a thriving metropolis. Spider-Man himself also looks great, with a more detailed look than from the previous games.
The second and most significant improvement to gameplay comes from the GTA inspired freedom that many games seem inclined to ‘borrow’ nowadays. Spider-Man now has the ability to explore the town, on-foot as well as by web-slinging through the air, which adds a realistic, non-linear element to the game. As Spider-Man travels around town, he’ll encounter numerous crimes in which he’ll be able to intervene, which, in turn, will earn him points to use towards upgrading his abilities or unlocking new content.
Another significant upgrade in gameplay comes from the web slinging, which will obviously be a large portion of the game. Instead of Spider-Man’s previous tendency to swing from unseen buildings and objects, which could regularly invoke a gamer’s suspension of disbelief, now there are actual differences and nuances to web slinging. Swinging will have to be different and more realistic depending on Spidey’s altitude, which should make gamers feel more like old Web-head. Spider-Man can shoot multiple webs, which will help him in controlling his direction. In addition to swinging from webs, Spider-Man has a super-jump move that will allow him to achieve altitude quickly.
The fighting has also been redone, giving Spider-Man more options than just pressing the attack button until his foe falls. Now Spider-Man can create combos by switching between attacks, jumping, and webbing. This should definitely stay true to Spidey’s own unique fighting style.
