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Screens & Info Updated: 6/22/2004

With only a week left before the most anticipated movie of the summer is released, we were given a chance to have some hands on time with the game based off that movie license. That license of course is Spider-Man 2. With such hype comes great responsibility which is why Columbia Tri-Star has been looking over Activision's shoulder about what type of information gets released which was why the game was not shown on the floor at E3. But now that it's so close, Activision and Treyarch gave us the opportunity to have some hands-on time with it, and I'm quite pleased with what has been seen.

Similar to the first Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 will follow the movie but also intertwine original content into the design to lengthen the experience. However, playing through the required content won't be enough as you will only see about half the game by doing so. Also like the previous game, Treyarch had access to the script and movie assets in order to give the game high production values. This includes having the actors from the movie doing voice work for the game. A step up in the voice department is that this time Mary Jane is actually voiced by Kirsten Dunst.

Like True Crime: Streets of LA, Spider-Man 2 takes it own spin on the open ended style of gameplay that lets the player do what they want to do in the world. Spider-Man 2 offers the player to swing around the city to perform various heroic tasks that are generated randomly around the city, or they can continue with the story line by meeting certain goals. When you take on a heroic task, upon completion, you will earn hero points. These hero points will allow you to trade them in for new techniques and combos that you can obtain. They also can be used to reach certain goals to advance the storyline as well. If you try to attempt a task and fail it, you will actually lose hero points. Acts of heroism are only one type of mission that can be found throughout the game. Other types include mini-games such as pizza delivery, or even taking photos of yourself to sell to the Dailey Bugle. For those wondering, you won't be able to play as an evil Spider-Man.

Part of the fun with games of this type of design is just jumping right in and seeing what you can do. Swinging around is done in a realistic fashion such that whenever you cast a web to swing from, it will attach itself to an object in the world. Generally you can aim which direction you want to cast a web and it will attach to the nearest object in that direction. This allows for a much more realistic web-slinging than the mid-air web swinging from the first game. As you can expect, because of these different angle attachments, this will cause you to swing at an angle based on the pivot point of where your web attached. This takes a little bit of getting used to in order to go where you want to go, but with some careful practice, and some understanding of when to jump during your swing, the end result is being able to swing to where you want while looking similar to what you see in the actual movie.

Spider-Man 2 has been designed to portray a realistic portrayal of Manhatten as its setting. This even includes the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island which you can make your way out to. One thing that you will notice that differs from games like True Crime and Grand Theft Auto is that now instead of the game just expanding outward, Spider-Man 2 expands considerably upward as well. What good is a web crawling super-hero if he can't explore the skyscrapers of New York? The depth of the city just makes the world seem that much more bigger as you explore it.

Spider-Man 2 has been one of my most anticipated titles since I caught a glimpse at it at the 2003 E3 over a year ago. Now that I've had some hands on time, I'm glad to say that the game doesn't disappoint. One can only imagine how many other companies will try to duplicate the experience with other superheroes after getting their hands on this. It took a lot of will to leave the controller to let other people play, but I can't wait until I get more hands on time with it later this week for our review. While I only had enough time to play a few chapters in, Spider-Man 2 has shaped up to be a great game that everyone should check out. Be sure to check back next week for our final review of the game.

Check out some brand new screens of the Xbox version of Spider-man 2, which is due to be released in just about 2 weeks.

Two years have passed since Peter Parker first hit the streets of New York City as the conflicted crime-fighter Spider-Man. Now he finds himself battling his most diabolical villain yet, the mechanized, multi-tentacled Doc Ock. The nefarious Doc Ock was once Dr. Otto Octavius, a brilliant nuclear physicist. But a freak accident transformed him from a timid researcher to a criminally insane megalomaniac who blames Spider-Man for his horrible transformation. Now the scientist Peter once idolized for his remarkable intellect has marked our web-slinger for death.

Experience total freedom as you soar through the concrete canyons of a living, breathing Manhattan, complete with familiar landmarks and bustling, traffic-clogged streets. True non-linear gameplay means you can web-swing wherever you like, whenever you like, exploring the vast metropolis and reliving scenes from the Spider-Man 2 movie. Combat petty thugs and aid NYC citizens in challenging side-quests, or pursue the lunatic Doc Ock and other classic Spider-Man rivals. The decision is yours.