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A little while back the greatest superheo game that has ever been made came out. That title was, for a time, attributed to the much-hyped flop "Superman: Man of Steel" (see review). However, I can say with the greatest confidence that Spider Man 2 is doubtlessly the head-and-tails best superhero game ever made. It's visually solid, playable, relaxing, challenging, and overall, totally solid entertainment.

How can a game be both relaxing and challenging at the same time? Why, open-ended gameplay, of course! This innovation that Grand Theft Auto pioneered FINALLY finds its way into the superhero realm with spectaular results. Spidey can really take on whatever he wants to. On the one hand, he can complete the storyline challenges, which interwine the events of the movie with characters from the Spidey mythology. On the other, it seems that there are plenty of petty crime and hidden hideouts to keep Spidey busy outside of the main story.

Of course, there's always the fun of just swinging around New York City. Spider Man 2 boasts an impressive and convincing map of Manhattan. When introducing the game, climbing to the top of the Empire State and looking around (before the jump, of course) never fails to impress. As the media has told you, if you can see it, you can go there.

On top of the great sandbox, Spider Man's physics are convincing and the control scheme is tight. Once learned, this combination makes for an extremely playable game. Learning to web-swing takes a little investment, but pays off as the game plays. There's also a pretty cool fighting system that's always available. Spidey-sense give you hints when to dodge, and spidey reflexes give you the bullet-time style upper hand in a tight spot. Upgradable attacks and combos make for constant button-mashing fun.

Some X-Box owners will doubtlessly whine about boxy ported cutscenes, the occasional bug, and eventually the repetitive nature of the on-the-street missions. However, I will gladly trade fully articulated New Yorkers for miles and miles of fluid Manhattan to convincingly swing in. The Atari 2600 proved that playability is more importnat than eye candy any day of the week.

The Lowdown: After a long evolution that dates back to PS1, Spider-Man 2 gets the title: Best Superhero Game Ever. Well done.

I didn't check out many reviews before buying this game. I was such a big fan of Spider-Man I just picked it up to try it out. After playing it constantly, im glad I didn't read the reviews. This game is absolutely amazing. I don't understand some of the bad reviews, but I agree with some of the comments. It is true that the pedestrians mouths don't move. Not a big deal to me as I deal with them very rarely...I mean, it is just a little cut scene to explain the basic mission. I also agree that there are only about 8 types of missions. I think the amount is fair, but could be better. More missions would be excellent, but at the same time, with the huge combo system, and various ways to take out the bad guy, it makes those 8 missions pretty fun to play over and over. I dont know about you, but swinging to a tall building, jumping off and piledriving a thug into the street below is pretty great. The story missions are fun, but I find myself swinging around and stopping random crimes more than I play the story. This game gives you so much to do, and the swinging is so excellent, I cant imagine giving this game anything less than 5 stars. This game plays completely different than the first title, and although there are some improvements to be made, I think this was an excellent release. The open areas, huge maps, tall buildings, and various missions are much better than pedestrians moving their mouths for 2 seconds...definitely not a problem in my opinion.

this game was spectacular a must buy much better then the first with many improvements anyone who syas its too short needs to stop wasting so much time playing and get a life