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Spiderman 2 (PC, PS2, Xbox, GC)

12/ 8/2004

THE BLOCKBUSTER hit of the summer (how many times have we heard that?) has come to the consoles and, surprisingly, it's actually rather good.

Placing you in the webbed boots of Peter Parker aka Spiderman, the game loosely follows the plot of the film and sees Spidey tangle with Doc Ock while trying to live a normal life.

Cleverly, the game incorporates a free-roaming mode through the frankly huge city and lets you do pretty much anything you want ' solve mini-crimes, race around the city or simply explore.

And we absolutely love it. Whereas most film ties-ins have been little more than cash cows designed to fleece the paying public of a few more pence, Spiderman 2 the game is a classic in its own field.

The rendering of New York would have been pointless if the graphics weren't up to scratch, but thankfully they are and perhaps the New York Tourist Board should start sending it out to visitors who want a bird's view of the city before arrival. The load speeds are also impressive given the amount of information - no hanging about in mid air here waiting for the next clunk of data to click into place.

Depth

The plot of the game is pretty standard save the world from evil stuff, but with the comic book charm retained it never feels tired. And while it is always satisfying to complete the missions, the ability to roam at will and become involved in a myriad of subplots means that this is a game that even the most dedicated of gamer will take time to grow bored of.

On the downside, the missions start to repeat themselves after a while and as you save the 10th person from the side of a building you have to wonder just whether some people are to dumb to bother with. Another gripe would be the sound - or lack of sound. When not fighting, Spiderman finds himself ensconced in near silence, a nice touch at first as it adds to the serene beauty of floating through the city, but after a while the lack of tunes starts to grate.

But these are only small gripes aimed at an otherwise outstanding games. The graphics and storylines are great, but the real reason to buy it is for the freedom of going through NYC in true Spidey fashion, it's exactly the sort of thing that we splash out '200 on a console for.

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