Spider-Man 2 (PS2)

You have no idea how hard it was to find screenshots for this.

When Spider-Man 2 first hit the silver screen back in 2004, I obtained the PS2 version of its tie-in game out of curiosity. Back then, when I was about 11, I remember having a total blast with it as I spent a lot of my free time completing a lot of the game’s side goals or just swinging around New York for fun. Later, however, I ended up getting rid of the game and had regretted it ever since. Recently though, I believe it was last year, I got a replacement copy, which I began playing around the time The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out since we had rewatched Spider-Man 2 to get a review on this blog. The result is that, as a 21-year-old, I have a new perspective on the game itself, though I’d say that, despite some things not aging well, the magic is still there.

The game follows the plot of the film rather closely, detailing Peter Parker’s struggle between continuing on as Spider-Man and giving up the persona to live a normal life. However, there are a few places where the game notably deviates from the film, mainly in how it introduces a few additional characters. Spider-Man has to fight additional villains, those being Rhino, Shocker and Mysterio, and Black Cat shows up to help Peter choose which life he wants to live. I found this new narrative to be interesting, partly because it feels like they used an earlier version of the script, but also because it offers an alternate string of events to follow that gives it a different feel than the movie. The scenes that do recreate the film are altered in some ways, but you can still imagine them as they really were if it bothers you (it didn’t for me). Still, it was pretty easy to follow and it wasn’t bad at all to revisit it, however the gameplay can make specific sections annoying (more on that later).

Spider-Man 2, or at least this version of the game, is notable for its gameplay. More specifically, it is the first game where you can web-sling as Spider-Man in a three-dimensional space. The physics in this game work very well, taking speed, power and momentum into account when swinging off of buildings, effectively allowing you to do whatever you wish in a very intuitive fashion. When not trying to complete objectives, it’s a lot of fun to just simply swing around Manhattan (as well as Roosevelt, Ellis and Liberty Islands) and feel a sense of great freedom. The combat also takes some of these things into account, though it is basically a fun brawler. You can buy upgrades at the Spider Store with Hero Points that you earn during gameplay that increases your effectiveness in combat and while web-slinging. An additional mechanic allows you to dodge attacks, visualized through Spidey-Sense, as well as another that lets you slow down time to either dodge more effectively or attack certain enemies more easily. When all put together, both the exploration and combat is actually pretty exciting at times and really captures what it feels like to be Spider-Man.

You can eventually do stuff like this.

Like in any open world game, there are missions that Spider-Man can complete. The story missions follow the script and understandably happen in a more linear fashion. Side Missions, on the other hand, are numerous and are spread across the world. However, these occur more naturally, being able to randomly pop up wherever you go. Some are triggered by talking to someone while others are active and happen at that given moment. There is no penalty for ignoring a mission, but if you don’t complete what you are actively participating in, you lose 100 Hero Points, which can be a big deal if you’re trying to save up for one specific upgrade in the store. While there are a few types of missions you can partake in, most of which involve stopping armed equal opportunity thugs, it can get a little repetitive to complete them, especially when playing them back-to-back, since in the end there are very little types but only slight variations on them occur each time. Going through the story unlocks more types, but in the end they are still variations on the same missions you’ve already completed multiple times.

One mission type which stands out as particularly annoying though is when you must retrieve a girl’s balloon. The girl’s voice is very loud, as you can hear it from a mile away, always reminding you that a balloon is very slowly rising to the sky. You can’t use your web on the balloon, or else it will pop, so your only choice is the physically grab it, but in some environments the task is rendered very herculean or otherwise impossible. The worst part however is that, when you fail, you’ll hear the same girl sob very loudly in the same annoying tone. I never liked it ten years ago and I don’t like it now, so in this playthrough I intentionally avoided the balloon side missions as long as humanly possible, though I did succeed a couple of times.

The story missions aren’t without their faults either however. Naturally the missions get harder, though at times the difficulty felt supernatural. I did succeed with missions once I knew what to do, but especially noteworthy is the final battle with Doctor Octopus. At this point it’s understood that you’ll need to dodge his attacks and use webbing on his arms, but the reaction time required is very short and, if you’re not careful, he can throw you into the water almost as soon as the fight begins, resulting in an automatic loss. In other words, be very careful.

For the time that it came out, the graphics are pretty impressive, faithfully recreating the look of each character that appears, especially when it comes to making the ones who appeared in the movie look like the actors who played them. When I look back on it now, the graphics, especially the draw distance on the city, haven’t really aged too well, but there’s still a charm to this so I didn’t really mind. However, I will say that certain movements looked a little odd, especially the mouths within and outside of pre-rendered cutscenes. Still, it’s interesting to know what they were capable of in 2004. I liked the bright color palette, which matches the inherently silly tone of the comics and Sam Raimi films.

New York is your playground.

As for the voice acting, I’m impressed by the fact that they managed to get Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Alfred Molina to reprise their respective roles as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson and Doctor Otto Octavious/Doctor Octopus. Their deliveries seem a little off now, but I still think they turned out great performances, especially Alfred Molina who pulls off Doc Ock really well. Bruce Campbell also appears as the voice you hear giving tips, which he does very humorously in his signature voice. The other voice actors do a good job as well, even if we have to settle for not-as-good sound-alikes for Harry Obsorn (James Franco in the movie; Josh Keaton in the game) and J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons in the movie; Jay Gordon in the game). I will say also that the music is pretty good too, with very energetic combat music by KMFDM and a very good score by others, including a not-that-bad rendition of the Spider-Man theme by The Distillers (who are even advertised in-game via graffiti).

Simply put, Spider-Man 2 is a very good game. The different story direction is interesting and while the gameplay is amazing, it has its own hang-ups that could have been worked out a little. What makes up for this is the inclusion of three major stars from the film, as well as the humorous Bruce Campbell, along with the faithfulness to the tone of Spider-Man in general. I’m certain that modern open world superhero games, including the Infamous series, have made improvements on the genre in significant ways, but Spider-Man 2 has a certain charm that is hard to override and is definitely worth a look for those who are seeking PS2 nostalgia or who don’t like the divisive gameplay of later Spider-Man titles. Plus, there is plenty of replay value in the many collectibles or the simple joy of web-slinging through a huge city. Trust me; this game is worth every penny.

L.A. Noire - A Case Well Worth Solving

As someone who appreciates older movies, I was intrigued by the idea of a game where you could go around as a detective in the 40's and solve various cases. This became a reality when I first heard of L.A. Noire, a game that seemed to have a lot of promise as it was from Rockstar, a company noted for creating an enjoyable experience in their games. Developed by Team Bondi, L.A. Noire was also intriguing in that they attempted to use new technologies to accurately recreate a 40's Los Angeles and give it the atmosphere of Film Noir. After a couple of delays, I still waited patiently for the release of the game, filling my time by reading up on what they were going to do for it. When I finally got my hands on it, I started playing it in all of the free time I could get. After about 18 hours of play, I can say that while the game isn't completely perfect, it was very difficult to walk away from.

The story follows Cole Phelps, a former World War II veteran who joins the ranks of the LAPD. He begins as a Patrol officer, but he shows he is worth his salt and gets to handle cases for Traffic, Homicide, Vice, and Arson. At the same time, he must unravel a web of intrigue and deceit all while discovering the true difference between cop and criminal. Just like the plot of a true Film Noir, this line is blurred to the point where he eventually discovers that there is hardly any distinction between a marine soldier and a police officer other than the uniform. I really don't wish to give anything away about the game's story since it is peppered with plot twists, but I can say that there is a fantastically written overarching story connecting all of the cases together in a very big way.

The cases themselves are well-crafted and draw elements from cases in real life, including the unsolved Black Dahlia murder among others. It was amazing to see how they could take cases from the real world and infuse them with cases created for the game or even alter the real ones in a way that perfectly fits the narrative. The cases get more difficult to solve as they go on, especially the Arson cases where it is harder to find evidence, but that is really the fun of it all. The difficulty curve is gradual enough to give you a challenge as well as a good sense of familiarity each time, which is a really good way to exercise the mind when you have to constantly put the pieces together.

Cole Phelps, like all of the major characters, is written very well and very realistically. He is a man who wants to do his job and uphold the law, but at the same time he finds out that there is a limit to what a man can do in his shoes. What helps this is the fact that his voice suits him perfectly, enforcing the illusion that he is a real human being. In fact, I could not find a single flaw in the acting for any of the characters, even the minor ones, period. The difference between this game and any other game title is that Team Bondi used a new technology that would allow them to take the actual actors and map their movements and facial expressions, using them as the model for the characters while lending their amazing voice talents to fit them.

This new technology aids the meat of the game, the interrogations. When you ask a question during an interrogation, you can confirm that what they say is the truth, doubt their statement, or call them out for lying. When you do accuse them of lying, you had better back it up with hard evidence, but fortunately you can back out of it if you feel what you have isn't sufficient enough. It is normally possible to figure them out by looking at their facial animations, and a lot of the time there are obvious tells when they are lying. It's interesting to note though that it is actually harder to determine when someone is telling the truth, since the suspect is occasionally very confident with their own lie. A lot of the time it comes down to doubting or lying anyway, so that makes it even harder to uncover the truth.

If the player is having a hard time searching for clues or interrogating people, or if they are just plain stumped, there are a few handy fail safes in place to ease the process. You can ask your partner for help to figure out where to go next and you can look at your notebook at any time you need it to help narrow your options down and keep track of all of your evidence. But the biggest gameplay mechanic is a lifeline known as Intuition Points. Using an Intuition Point, which you collect by leveling up, can be used to locate all clues in a crime scene, take away one answer in an interrogation, or see what the community picked and make a decision based on that. I tried my hardest not to use them so I could prove to myself that I had good deductive skills, but I found myself using them on occasion to figure out the correct flow of a conversation.

The setting of L.A. Noire is in 1940's Los Angeles, and as far as I can tell, it is recreated near flawlessly. The environment is rendered down to the tiniest detail so every building is unique. Only rarely did I experience popup graphics, which is a pretty good sign for an Open World game. One of the few things I noted was the fact that the set from Intolerance was in the game despite that fact that it was burned down in 1919, but I will admit that it does make for a great backdrop for some of the action that happens during one of the cases. Still, it was fun to get to see famous landmarks like the Grauman's Chinese and Egyptian theaters from back then, among other places like the Keystone movie lot and the aforementioned Intolerance set.

While this game is superb, that does not mean that it is exempt from having its own share of flaws. While 1940's L.A. is very large and there are 50 landmarks to discover, there isn't much need to memorize them, as your minimap while driving is more than enough to get you to your destination and you can just get your partner to drive you there for you to save time. There also isn't very much incentive to explore the city due to the fact that the collectibles, hidden cars and golden film reels for some of Hollywood's most famous movies, don't enhance the game in any way except to say that you have them. The controls are also done pretty well and respond great, but it can be a bit of a pain during platforming segments such as scaling the L.A. Public Library or chasing a suspect on the Intolerance set.

At the same time, playing multiple cases in a single sitting can make them look very formulaic, making it sometimes feel as if you are just going through the motions. However, this is easily remedied by playing the game in bursts of a couple cases at a time, like what I ended up doing. I also enjoyed the Street Crime that would come up on occasion, but even then there were some that I ended up not enjoying all that much. The gunfights, melee, and chase sequences were also integrated very well into the game and serve as good breaks in the drama, but it seems like there could have been a couple more of those every now and then since they don't occur too often in the main story. It is also possible to skip action sequences if you screw up too many times, which I very rarely took advantage of.

One other thing to note is that if you screw up a case, it will continue on despite this and even allow you an alternate path to the end, but you will overall beat the case no matter what. You are also graded at the end of each case and even get the option to try them again from the main menu at a later time, which gives the game a bit more replay value. However, the game doesn't alter the story if you do something differently than intended, making the game more linear than other games of the genre. This isn't really a bad thing, as it helps to enhance the atmosphere of the game being like a movie. Also, a couple of story elements seem a little rushed, mainly a sudden romance for Cole and a rather abrupt ending, although this doesn't take too much away from it overall.

While L.A. Noire does have its flaws, it's a very well polished game to the point where these don't seem to bring the game down very much, if at all. The game is methodically slow, but that helps you feel more like a real life detective in a Film Noir setting. With an exceptional story and some of the best acting I've seen in a game as of late, it's hard to not recommend other gamers to give it a shot, especially if they have played a Rockstar game before. If you haven't been interested in Film Noir before, you may very well be after playing this game.