Spider Man (2002 video game)

Plot

Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) develops super-spider powers after being bitten by a genetically altered spider. The game opens with an optional tutorial, narrated by Bruce Campbell, where Peter learns to use his powers and the player learns the controls of the game and how to read the HUD. After competing in a wrestling match as Spider-Man, Peter is cheated out of his prize money by the fight promoter. After the fight promoter is robbed by a thief, Peter lets the thief go out of spite. Later, Peter devastated when his Uncle Ben is killed by the leader of the Skulls gang. Peter uses his new powers to track down and defeat the murderer and learns it is the same thief he let go at the fight promoter's office, the thief then dies by accidentally slipping out of a window while trying to avoid Spider-Man. Peter vows to use his powers for good and to fight evil in Manhattan. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) and OsCorp are investigating the appearance of this new hero. Anxious to develop his Human Performance Enhancer "Super Soldier" serum, the main goals of which are already exhibited by the super-hero, Osborn orders the capture of Spider-Man, deploying hunter-killer robots for this purpose. Spider-Man fights these robots and emerges victorious. Meanwhile, the Shocker (Michael Beattie) has just robbed a bank, and is driving away with his thugs as Spidey lands, only to be hit by Vulture (Dwight Schultz). Spider-Man goes after Shocker first. His battle with Shocker leads him through Grand Central Station, into the sewers and to a subway station, where Spider-Man defeats him in a climactic battle. Afterward, Shocker tells Spider-Man about Vulture's lair: an old clock tower on the Lower East Side of town. Spider-Man climbs Vulture's tower (avoiding bombs), but Vulture escapes. He chases Vulture through the city. Spider-Man defeats Vulture around the Chrysler Building.

Osborn's scientists tell him that now two individuals with arachnid DNA are at large in Manhattan, and Osborn orders the capture of both. Spider-shaped robots pursue a desperate Scorpion (Michael McColl) through the sewers. Peter goes down to the subways to take pictures of his battle site with Shocker, when he runs into Scorpion. After Spider-Man helps Scorpion defeat the machines, the apparently paranoid and unhinged Scorpion turns on Spidey, and they fight. Spider-Man wins, but the Scorpion escapes. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn is fired from OsCorp and takes his own untested super-soldier serum to become the forever-feared Green Goblin. Spider-Man defeats the Goblin at the yearly OsCorp Unity Day Festival. Later, Goblin confronts Spider-Man again and offers him an alliance to which Spider-Man refuses. He is again defeated, but tells Spider-Man of bombs planted downtown. Spidey races against time to defuse the bombs, and is attacked again by Green Goblin, this time with deadly small devices called razor bats.

In the Xbox version only, Norman hires Kraven the Hunter (Gary Anthony Sturgis) after the bomb threat to capture Spider-Man; having lured Spider-Man in, Kraven poisons the web-slinger with a lethal gas, forcing Spider-Man to track Kraven through zoo corridors filled with traps before he finally confronts and defeats Kraven in a cage match in the main area of the zoo.

After studying a wing of a felled razor bat and determining that it was manufactured by OsCorp, Spider-Man goes to OsCorp to research its connection with the Green Goblin, avoiding detection by security in the process. He discovers that the company is producing highly dangerous chemical weapons, only one scientist is going against it, tells Spidey to shut down the operation, which he does. Spider-Man narrowly escapes OsCorp after battling a huge robot and finding out that the Goblin kidnapped Mary Jane Watson (Catherine O'Conner). Spider-Man chases him down to a bridge. Here, Spider-Man has his final battle with the Green Goblin, who is impaled by his own glider. Spider-Man unmasks the Goblin to reveal Osborn's face. Osborn's last words are, "Tell Harry, I'm sorry." Spider-Man replies, "I'm sorry, too." Mary Jane and Spider-Man are reunited, they kiss, although Spidey tried to tell the truth about his love for her and that his secret identity is Peter Parker. Peter narrates the end of the story as the camera pans out, and he breaks the fourth wall saying "Looks like you're done here. Go outside and play."

Gameplay

Like the 2000 Spider-Man video game, along with Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, Spider-Man is a level based beat 'em up video game, with the player as Spider-Man. Half the levels are indoors, but the rest of the levels are outside among the sky-scrapers of New York and require him to web-sling from building to building, however Spider-Man cannot land on the ground, as he will die if he gets too close. Levels are in "sections" with a different enemy for each, each section lasting about 3 levels. Each level, except for the last two, has a bonus screen after it. Generally, there are the bonuses "Time" (clear level in a set time), "Perfect" (Not take damage/detected) and "Style" (use as many combos as possible). Other level-specific ones are "Secrets" (Uncover a secret area), "Combat" (Defeat all enemies), and "stealth" (Remain undetected by enemies). Players can gain, depending on difficulty, points on completing these tasks. On easy mode, each bonus is 500 points, normal is 700, and Hero is 1000 each.

The basic abilities are swinging, zipping, punching and kicking, dodging, web, camera lock, and the Web Mode in Enhanced Mode. Depending on how the player combines different buttons, it makes different effects. Wall-crawling is automatic, and players are also able to lift up heavy and light objects such as cars and chairs. There are 21 different combat combos which Gold Spiders are used to gain these combos, with 4 web controls, each having a type of "upgrade" to each. There is also "stealth mode", where Spider-Man is in shadow, and therefore is undetectable by enemies. This is necessary to gain extra points in the game. While the game is primarily in third-person, a cheat code allows players to switch to first-person view.

After completing the story mode of the game on at least hero difficulty, an unlockable bonus allows the player to play any level in the game as Harry Osborn in his father's Green Goblin costume, complete with his glider and arsenal, following an alternate timeline with Harry fighting an "alternate goblin" who claims to have been hired by Norman Osborn, adding a slightly new feel to the story, although you are playing exactly the same levels as you do with Spider-Man. Unlockable costumes for Spider-Man include Peter Parker in his civilian clothes, the homemade wrestling outfit from the movie, and acclaimed comic book artist Alex Ross' prototype design for the movie Spider-Man costume, which also triggers the Goblin to wear Ross' early design during battles. A cheat code allowed players to play as Mary Jane but was dropped from rereleased versions of the game due to the perceived lesbianism implications of scenes featuring the "player" Mary Jane and the "in-game" Mary Jane kissing.

Reception

The critical reviews for the game were positive. GameRankings gave it a score of 75.14% for the PC version, 76.31% for the GameCube version, 75.63% for the PlayStation 2 version, 78.37% for the Xbox version, and 77.56% for the Game Boy Advance version; likewise, Metacritic gave it a score of 75 out of 100 for the PC version, 77 out of 100 for the GameCube version, 76 out of 100 each for the PS2 and GBA versions, and 79 out of 100 for the Xbox version.

Many critics at the time considered it the best Spider-Man game yet. However, criticism fell on the indoor levels, Tobey Maguire's voice acting and bad camera, as well as the fact that it was too short and could be completed in 3 hours. The Cincinnati Enquirer gave the game four stars out of five and stated that it was "worth climbing the walls for."

High sales (two million copies of the PlayStation 2 version and over 400,000 on the GameCube and Xbox) were sold in North America alone, allowing the game to enter the "Best-Sellers" of each console (PlayStation 2's Greatest Hits, GameCube's Player's Choice and Xbox's Platinum Hits). It was recently promoted to "Best of Platinum Hits" on the Xbox.