On of the more underrated games of all time

10-02-14 11:23 AM

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Yargishner

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Back in the 1990's Spider-man was basically the most popular marvel character out there even people who never picked up a comic book at the time had at least heard of him. So obviously merchandise based on spider-man was inevitable. Kids everywhere including me wanted just about every spider-man action figure out there so when a video game was released I had to get it. Now even as a kid in the year 2000 I didn't expect much out of a game based off of spider-man. My 8 year old self at the time was just learning that most licensed based video games at the time were not very good but since it was spider-man I didn't care. Much to my surprise this game was amazing. If you were a fan of Tony hawks pro skater you will notice some similarity's to the 2 games actually as it was made by the same company who made those games. As a matter of fact spider-man 2000 I believe even runs with the same engine and there are references to pro skater threw out the game as Easter eggs while pro skater 2 actually had spiderman as a unlockable character. Which was fine by me at the time as pro skater was on of my all time favorites as a kid (behind Mario and final fantasy).

So how does the gameplay work? Well its very primitive compared to the more recent Spider-Man games but in some ways that's a good thing. The outside levels play like a 2d platformer game set in a 3d world where you go from point to point with on level being an exception where you chase venom around town, while the indoor levels play like missions where you rescue hostages, fight bosses, etc theirs actually a lot of variety between missions so it never gets boring but if your a fan of Spider-man 2 the movie game you will probably be turned off as theirs no swinging threw an open world new York city. Myself I actually prefer this gameplay as its more intense and is a fairly challenging platformer game if you don't learn how to play unless your on kid mode of coarse.

graphics 8/10

Now before I go into details keep in mind this game was not only the first 3d spider-man game but also one of the first games released in the 2000's. Up at this point 3d games were still in its infant stages and were just now getting to be improving. Spider-Man for a game released then looks pretty good. It might not be jaw breaking and if your playing the psx version the cut scenes are almost laughable cause none of there lips move in the cut scenes. Which brings up the most major difference between the n64 and psx. Graphically the look the same in the gameplay department but most of the cut scenes in the n64 version is shots of the psx version and turned into comic book styled story due to the n64 hardware being carts instead of cds. Also due to hardware difficulties on all platforms at the time all the outdoor levels ground is covered in fog which the explain in the story before the game starts so I'll give the developers some slack on that.

sound 7/10

Not much to be said here with the sound probably the least impressive part about this game. However there is voice acting which again in the year 2000 was fairly rare and well was just getting started even rarer is that even the n64 still has lots of voice acting even though the cut scenes are not voice acted in that version. The soundtrack while pretty simple helps keep you pumped up for the levels but don't expect to be wanting to be jamming out to it on your music player. The rest of the sounds are ok nothing special

story/addictiveness 9/10

When I originally played this I didn't expect much of a story however I was actually really impressed with it. Most platformers don't really have any more but a basic story but this game goes all out and takes advantage of its comic roots. Just obviously don't expect it be a knights of the old republic or a final fantasy style deep story. As long as you have a basic knowledge of spiderman you can follow the games story pretty well however if your a hardcore spidey fan you will enjoy it a lot more. The story keeps the game going and really does want to make you see what happens next. Plus it uses most of spidermans villain's and the slightly more anti hero venom very well and ties most of them to the story very well except for maybe the first boss. If I had any problems with the gameplay its just that the combat is really to simple throe's a punch button, kick button, and a web button and that's about it. That and the webbing does not attach itself to anything which is pretty silly and its pretty basic but its there mostly for getting to the next platform. This is the one thing that was improved in its more recent installments.

depth/difficulty 8.5/10

The game will take some time to beat unless you play on kid mode. If you play on kid mode you can have the game beaten within a day or 2 but obviously that's just for the kids that liked spider-man. If you play on hard then you will be in for a fight well mostly on the bosses but you will have to learn every part of the game in order to beat it and the final boss no spoilers here but I'll just say hes awesome (slightly less professional word needed here) However he is really really hard to beat. All you do is run away but its very adrenaline pumping and very unique for a final boss. Now there is plenty of unlockables in this game as well such as costumes (symboite suit, 2099, etc) which effect spiderman in different ways like unlimited webbing, invincibility, etc unlocking them however is very hard unless you use cheat codes so it makes the game worth coming back to and play around with them.

overall 9.3/10

While this game is pretty much forgotten about now thanks to the newer installments (which in my opinion are nowhere near as good). If your a fan of spider-man you need to check this game out. However if you aren't really big on spider-man I'd still check it out the game is very intense and has moments that will make you bite your lip and the story is very decent to as well. The only people I would not recommend this game to is people who are not very good at platformers but other than that this was the best super hero game for almost a decade up tell Batman came along with Arkham Asylum.

Back in the 1990's Spider-man was basically the most popular marvel character out there even people who never picked up a comic book at the time had at least heard of him. So obviously merchandise based on spider-man was inevitable. Kids everywhere including me wanted just about every spider-man action figure out there so when a video game was released I had to get it. Now even as a kid in the year 2000 I didn't expect much out of a game based off of spider-man. My 8 year old self at the time was just learning that most licensed based video games at the time were not very good but since it was spider-man I didn't care. Much to my surprise this game was amazing. If you were a fan of Tony hawks pro skater you will notice some similarity's to the 2 games actually as it was made by the same company who made those games. As a matter of fact spider-man 2000 I believe even runs with the same engine and there are references to pro skater threw out the game as Easter eggs while pro skater 2 actually had spiderman as a unlockable character. Which was fine by me at the time as pro skater was on of my all time favorites as a kid (behind Mario and final fantasy).

So how does the gameplay work? Well its very primitive compared to the more recent Spider-Man games but in some ways that's a good thing. The outside levels play like a 2d platformer game set in a 3d world where you go from point to point with on level being an exception where you chase venom around town, while the indoor levels play like missions where you rescue hostages, fight bosses, etc theirs actually a lot of variety between missions so it never gets boring but if your a fan of Spider-man 2 the movie game you will probably be turned off as theirs no swinging threw an open world new York city. Myself I actually prefer this gameplay as its more intense and is a fairly challenging platformer game if you don't learn how to play unless your on kid mode of coarse.

graphics 8/10

Now before I go into details keep in mind this game was not only the first 3d spider-man game but also one of the first games released in the 2000's. Up at this point 3d games were still in its infant stages and were just now getting to be improving. Spider-Man for a game released then looks pretty good. It might not be jaw breaking and if your playing the psx version the cut scenes are almost laughable cause none of there lips move in the cut scenes. Which brings up the most major difference between the n64 and psx. Graphically the look the same in the gameplay department but most of the cut scenes in the n64 version is shots of the psx version and turned into comic book styled story due to the n64 hardware being carts instead of cds. Also due to hardware difficulties on all platforms at the time all the outdoor levels ground is covered in fog which the explain in the story before the game starts so I'll give the developers some slack on that.

sound 7/10

Not much to be said here with the sound probably the least impressive part about this game. However there is voice acting which again in the year 2000 was fairly rare and well was just getting started even rarer is that even the n64 still has lots of voice acting even though the cut scenes are not voice acted in that version. The soundtrack while pretty simple helps keep you pumped up for the levels but don't expect to be wanting to be jamming out to it on your music player. The rest of the sounds are ok nothing special

story/addictiveness 9/10

When I originally played this I didn't expect much of a story however I was actually really impressed with it. Most platformers don't really have any more but a basic story but this game goes all out and takes advantage of its comic roots. Just obviously don't expect it be a knights of the old republic or a final fantasy style deep story. As long as you have a basic knowledge of spiderman you can follow the games story pretty well however if your a hardcore spidey fan you will enjoy it a lot more. The story keeps the game going and really does want to make you see what happens next. Plus it uses most of spidermans villain's and the slightly more anti hero venom very well and ties most of them to the story very well except for maybe the first boss. If I had any problems with the gameplay its just that the combat is really to simple throe's a punch button, kick button, and a web button and that's about it. That and the webbing does not attach itself to anything which is pretty silly and its pretty basic but its there mostly for getting to the next platform. This is the one thing that was improved in its more recent installments.

depth/difficulty 8.5/10

The game will take some time to beat unless you play on kid mode. If you play on kid mode you can have the game beaten within a day or 2 but obviously that's just for the kids that liked spider-man. If you play on hard then you will be in for a fight well mostly on the bosses but you will have to learn every part of the game in order to beat it and the final boss no spoilers here but I'll just say hes awesome (slightly less professional word needed here) However he is really really hard to beat. All you do is run away but its very adrenaline pumping and very unique for a final boss. Now there is plenty of unlockables in this game as well such as costumes (symboite suit, 2099, etc) which effect spiderman in different ways like unlimited webbing, invincibility, etc unlocking them however is very hard unless you use cheat codes so it makes the game worth coming back to and play around with them.

overall 9.3/10

While this game is pretty much forgotten about now thanks to the newer installments (which in my opinion are nowhere near as good). If your a fan of spider-man you need to check this game out. However if you aren't really big on spider-man I'd still check it out the game is very intense and has moments that will make you bite your lip and the story is very decent to as well. The only people I would not recommend this game to is people who are not very good at platformers but other than that this was the best super hero game for almost a decade up tell Batman came along with Arkham Asylum.

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10-02-14 02:42 PM

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Boxia

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You were very descriptive in this review and split it up into categories for viewing pleasure. Nice work, but i think there's just one thing that can be improved. Capitalize your headings for your categories. It looks better that way. But this is not bad at all.

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