Finally, do whatever a Spider really can.

Three 3-d Spider-man games have come out since the release of Spider-man 2. Ultimate Spider-man, Spider-man 3, and Spider-man: Web of Shadows. Ultimate Spider-man was too story heavy, and there was nothing to do if you weren't heading to a mission. And, the story kinda sucked anyway. To be honest, I haven't played Spider-man 3 though. But I've heard nothing but bad about it, and I don't want to waste $4 on renting a piece of crap. And Web of Shadows was too heavy on its repetitive combat.

Now, the fact that all these games were just okay is odd, seeing how incredible Spider-man 2 was. It was based off the Spider-man movie of the same name which is, in my opinion, which normally ends up in a quick cash-in of a game (as evidenced by Spider-man 1 and 3.). But not Spider-man 2. It seemed that each of those games were taking 2 steps back for every step forward.

Spider-man 2 is a game about being Spider-man, period. Yeah, that's right. No lame Venom segments or anything like that. You stick to everyone's favorite hero in red and blue tights (except for Superman, of course.). With excellent swinging controls and very Spider-y acrobatic combat, the game has a great flow to it. Unlike USM, side missions that involve rescuing a falling civilian or stopping a carjacking are constantly popping up, leaving you with something to do all the time. And, unlike SM: WoS, you don't lose points if you decide to skip one every once in a while.

The story of the game isn't all that great. None of the story missions are particularly challenging. Oddly, the meat of the game is in the side quests. But the story missions are entertaining nonetheless. One of my personal favorites is stopping Mysterio's gas station robbery. His power bar is extremely high, but one hit defeats him. Classic, like the goldfish in Earthworm Jim.

I cannot recommend this game highly enough. You'll definitely find it for less than $10 used, and if you aren't a graphics whore, you'll love it.