3.5/5 ★ – WrathofBen's review of Spider-Man.

I really don’t remember this game being THIS short! But sure enough, I finished this in about 4 hours. Granted, I’ve played it for YEARS as a kid on PC, but even with the bonus Xbox Kraven mission I beat this in a breeze! This game takes place during the events of the 2002 film, and also stars Tobey Maguire and Willem Defoe. The game mostly follows the film pretty well, while also adding in missions involving Shocker, Scorpion, Vulture, and the Xbox exclusive Kraven the Hunter. In this version of the story, Osborn has almost zero motivation for tracking Spider-Man down, except that he thinks Spidey’s the key to his super soldier serum. So, he sends Hunter-Killer drones to kill Spidey to get his blood. Safe to say, the movie does this whole “motive” thing better. But then again, I’m sure there’s only so much the writers told Treyarch, so they had to get creative. And that’s where this game shines. Original content with the other villains is really engaging, and level design is really solid! From the tower of torture with Vulture to the Subway Surfer-like section with Shocker, this game is clearly having fun with the additional villains. If you beat the game on hard, you can even play the ENTIRE GAME as the Green Goblin, complete with his own controls! How cool is that??? You NEVER see this in games these days! As for collectibles, you can pick up ability upgrades and new combos to use against your foes. Easily the most powerful is one where you jump backwards, then catapult forwards and knock a group of enemies to the ground. Makes combat WAY easier. Speaking of, gameplay is VERY reminiscent of the PS1 Neversoft Spider-Man game. Spidey’s basic attacks are all borrowed from that game, right down to the web attacks: Impact Web, Web Dome, Web Yank, and Web Gloves. This game just builds on what you can do with those abilities, which is really fun! Web swinging is expanded on as well, giving you more than 2 swings at a time this time around. If you hold the swing button, you can get faster, but also have less control over your swing mobility. It’s also easier to web zip here, which is always fun. My main issue with the control is the camera. Your movement doesn’t move with the camera, so when you turn your camera, you have to stop so your movement stick can readjust to the new camera angle. This made the Kraven section almost infuriating, if it weren’t so dang fun. Yeah, in an odd turn of events, the Xbox version had a bonus set of levels where you are poisoned by Kraven and have to get through his obstacle course and beat him to get the antidote. This section even includes a part where you are seeing from his crosshair, and have to dodge his sniper fire! Like, that is so cool! This set of levels were really fun, but made me question “why Xbox?” Spider-Man was a SONY movie, so why didn’t the PS2 get these levels? My only guess is that the Xbox had more firepower, and could handles the bigger effects that happen in the boss fight. Heck, this part even includes a cutscene with JJ Jameson, (not JK Simmons, but still decent), which is a huge plus! Music is a mixed bag here. Where the intro missions and main menu music is iconic to me, the later levels have rather forgettable tracks. The end of the game has two crazy stealth sections, and they have almost no score to them. Sound design is fantastic though, with many effects being from the film! Tobey sounds alright in the voice booth, but Willem Defoe is clearly having a blast. He does SO good here! And that’s kinda all I have to say on this game! I really enjoyed getting to revisit this one, especially hot off the heels of me seeing the original film in theaters for the first time earlier this week. It all takes me back to my youth, which is always a good and warm feeling. I’m excited to watch Spider-Man 2 in theaters again, and also play that video game next. Until then, I give this a solid 7/10 for fun gameplay and level design, but crappy camera controls and extremely short length, even with bonus modes like Pinhead Bowling and time/combat trials.