Developer: Treyarch Publisher: Activision Release: 04/16/02 Genre: Action Platforms: PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, PC
For the longest time Activision was a shining example of how to handle licensed video games. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was a revolution for the extreme sports genre and managed to branch off in to various other sports. It is still missed to this day and their X-Men titles were surprisingly good, especially the X-Men Legends games. But their Spider-Man titles were the jewel beginning with Spider-Man on PS One. Spider-Man: the Movie, their tie-in to the first film dropped around the same time as the movie and was a solid adventure then and remains so now.
For the most part Spider-Man follows the plot of the movie. The origin story is only briefly touched on in the first few levels. From there the game smartly adds numerous set pieces and villains that expand on the events set up in the movie. The Scorpion, Shocker, and the Vulture help keep the game from becoming too repetitive; there are a few too many Green Goblin encounters toward the end but that cannot be helped I guess.
The biggest triumph of Spider-Man: the Movie is that it makes you feel like the titular character. You can climb nearly any surface, walls, ceilings, air vents, anything. This enables you to tackle the various levels as you see fit. Out in the city the game wants you to web sling, with various mechanics designed to force you to stay on the move. The camera keeps up for the most part as it will opt for the most ideal view. This is an improvement over previous titles that used fixed angles which had issues. During air combat and swinging around the city it is flawless. The camera always follows the enemy once locked on and keeps them in focus. You can easily toggle it if need be as well. Considering you will spend a good portion of the game above the city they nailed this part beautifully.
I said it keeps up for the most part for a reason as there are problems. You can exercise some control but it is slow to react. This makes certain boss battles (Green Goblin specifically) a nightmare. It also has a tendency to change direction abruptly and reverse your controls. Because you can stick to any surface Peter will often unintentionally cling to a wall which will cause the camera to wig out. It is irritating more than it is frustrating; while it is annoying you learn to deal with it.
The controls are rock solid and an advancement over the PS One games. While web slinging you can cut the line to drop or switch directions immediately. You can free fall a significant distance before death which makes the many chase sequences easier to deal with. To move faster you can create a zip line to rocker forth in a straight line, speeding up gameplay. For combat you have an extensive number of combo attacks, as many as 28 that vary between hand to hand moves and web attacks. These are unlocked by finding gold spider icons throughout the levels, encouraging exploration. Even though it sounds complicated they are simple to execute and in addition you can rely on a few to plow through the game.
The level design does its best to offer a varied experience within the framework of the film. For the most part it covers the important story beats of the movie with a few side diversions. Some stages are straightforward beat em ups that focus on combat. Other times you are flipping switches and searching for keys. The most interesting are the chase stages that challenge you to keep up with the Green Goblin and Vulture as they cause chaos to divert your attention. These test your mastery of web slinging and are excellent. The boss battles mostly take place in small arenas and camera issues aside are great. My overall take on the game; when it is firing on all cylinders it is fantastic and nails the feel of being Spider-Man. But when its various issues crop up they show there is still room for improvement.
Even though Spider-Man expands on the events of the film it is still short by action game standards. The campaign is only around three hours long which honestly feels appropriate. However Activision and Treyarch have loaded the game with extras that give it plenty of replay value. There are numerous costumes that unlock depending on the difficulty you complete the game. One in particular uses the awesome prototype designs for Spider-Man and Green Goblin that I wish were used in the movie. There are also other playable characters although most are simply reskins for Spider-Man. The biggest extra though allows you to play as Harry Osborne as the Green Goblin. The levels are the same but the story is different and offers an alternate viewpoint of events. This mode is incredible and worth playing through the game again, especially using the extensive number of cheat codes.
The two Spider-Man games on the PS One were good attempts at bringing Spidey in to 3d. But the aging technology held it back. Spider-Man: the Movie looks fantastic in every respect. The game is able to recreate the scale of New York City without fog to hide the low draw distance. The game keeps a stable framerate by confining each level to a small area. Even though you cannot fully explore the entire city the outdoor stages do cover a sizable amount of ground. The level of activity is amazing; you can see cars driving down to street level as well as news helicopters. Special effects are minimal with the most impressive being the reflections in windows and the particles during explosions. The CG and character models do not rise to the same level but overall for an early 6th gen game this is great.
Since it is based on the movie some of the actors reprise their roles to mixed results. Bruce Campbell as the narrator is great. Willem Dafoe is also appropriately sinister as the Green Goblin. Toby Maguire varies in his performance however. Sometimes he nails the jokes and witty banter that makes Spider-Man so lovable. Other times he sounds bored and cannot wait for it to be over. I wish the overall voice cast were all great but for the most part it is pretty good. At least the sweeping score helps distract from the lousy ones.
In Closing
Spider-Man: the Movie is a good game that nails the feeling of being the wall crawler exceptionally well while expanding on the film. There are a few warts with its mechanics but the foundation established here would lead to the exceptional Spider-Man 2, still one of the better games starring Peter Parker. I was cautious revisiting this one; I liked it back in 2002 but wondered if it held up. I am glad to say the answer is yes.
