James: I’m gonna have to roll out the old “with great power comes great responsibility” cliché here and say that while the developers at Vicarious Visions used the PSP’s great power to make some amazing cut-scenes, they kind of shirked their responsibility to include great gameplay. Gone is the home console version’s best feature—the free-range, open-city webswinging—instead, Spidey simultaneously fights crime and a bad camera, usually indoors in environments reminiscent of Spider-Man 1’s.

I’m underwhelmed by new additions like the semi-2D side-scrolling level, and a little disappointed to see that you still pimp out your Spider-Man with new combos and enhanced abilities bought from some silly store. I like that the boss fights are challenging, but when tips pop up prebattle (“Jump on Rhino: Press L”) it’s like the tutorial mode never quite ended.

With extremely short missions and a simplified combo list, Spider-Man 2 is designed to be played in quick bursts; if you don’t take the hint and go for it in one sitting, you’ll finish in about six so-so hours.

1UP.COM—Matt: Nevermind James, he hates everything. This Spider-Man feels like a highlight reel of some of the best moments from the console games. You get boss battles with villains like Rhino and Shocker, fights with random thugs on rooftops and in warehouses, and the occasional save-the-hostages mission—but like any good highlight film, each mission is extremely short, usually taking five to 10 minutes to complete. The levels look great and can be pretty fun, though, and they certainly have a lot more variety than those in Spider-Man 2 for DS, so with the exception of the short length, occasionally funky camera, and lack of the cool swing-anywhere-you-want movement from the console Spider-Man 2 games, the PSP version holds up admirably.

OFFICIAL PS MAG—Scooter: Yeah, so this Spider-Man is oddly more like 1 than 2. But then, I like the straightforward, mission-based Spider-Man games, so I don’t mind that change. My main issues with this version are its lack of depth and horrible camera. The missions are short and somewhat varied, but overall combat and your upgradeable skills are pretty simplistic, and the camera makes any aerial level (like chasing a helicopter, fighting Vulture, etc.) pretty much suck. Besides that, it’s a solid action game that does what it sets out to do and looks good while doing it. I also give Spider-Man kudos for managing to make the simultaneous boss fights against Shocker and Rhino pretty cool, even though I’m sick of fighting Shocker yet again.

Good: Expansive, destructible levels; explosions ringing in your ears

Bad: D-pad combos, monotonous attack patterns

Making a Case for Cheapest Boss Ever: Tower Tooth

The Verdicts (Out of 10)

James: 6.0

Matt: 7.0

Scooter: 6.0

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Vicarious Visions

Players: 1

ESRB: Teen

www.activision.com

Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Electronic Gaming Monthly.