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Activision's Spider-Man games have been a solid showing of the popular Marvel character. When Spider-Man 2 was released on the consoles, it was a new way of looking at how super hero games should be done. Unfortunately, while being better than the Nintendo DS take on the movie, the PSP version is a step backwards in the evolution of the series. Vicarious Visions went back to Treyarch to use their technology to create an all new game for the launch of the PSP. Since the game has strayed away from the free roaming open environment, the game is a lot more like the first movie game where it is a mix of indoor levels with some limited free swinging outdoor levels. Although the core gameplay elements are there in the combos and special attacks, they seem to be more limiting than what you were allowed to do in the console versions.
Graphically, the game isn't one of the better PSP games out there. It can be a bit deceiving, as when you look at the game as a whole, the game doesn't look that bad. For example when things are off in the distance and you are swinging around in some of the levels. Spider-Man himself looks pretty good except maybe in the shoulders. However some of the henchmen look like they have blocks for fists. You can see how low poly many of the objects and enemies are throughout the game. What hurts the game the most is how short the game is. Levels tend to be 2 to 5 minutes of playtime with a total of 19 levels. Doing the math, you can see how the game won't last very long. A good player will likely beat the game on normal difficulty in three to four hours. While their goal was to make a game fitting for a portable console in the sense that you could play in short bursts, it was also probably where it hurt them the most. There is some limited replayability in that you can try to find the secrets scattered throughout the levels and try to improve your total hero points. Which you can then use to upgrade your abilities and unlock extra features. With all that in mind, Spider-Man 2 is not that bad of a game in the end. In fact it's pretty fun. However, because of how short the game is along with the fact that it only begins to get challenging on the hardest of the three settings, it is likely you will blow through the game without much of a reason to go back to play it. Add in the fact that this is one of the more expensive games on the PSP at a $49.99 MSRP, it's hard to say that you're getting your money's worth out of it. Spider-Man 2 is a fun action game but it's too bad that the fun doesn't last very long.
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