Whee!

Okay, beyond a shadow of a doubt you've all fallen prey to the Spider-Man 2 hype. Not that it's a bad thing, but it does make a review of the movie unnecessary at best. I mean, you've seen it already! Every one has. Everyone in the world. Everyone in the world, ever. I'm fairly sure most inanimate objects have seen it too. Which is kind of sad, because I was looking for a way to awkwardly segue from an innocuous movie review to, say, a treatise on why we should switch the American pastime from baseball to rhythmic gymnastics. But no... no point in talking about a movie that everyone's seen. Luckily, I can talk about the game! Now this, this is a game worth renting. I'm not going to go right out and tell you to buy it, but do give it a shot. It doesn't follow the movie exactly, in fact, it throws three other supervillians into the pot. Well, two supervillians and Rhino, who's more of a superhenchman. The other two are Shocker, who's nothing really special, and Mysterio, who has literally the best final battle that I've ever seen. But these guys have all been in earlier incarnations, in fact, I'm fairly sure they all appeared in the first Spider-Man game on the PlayStation. Well, maybe not Shocker, but man, who cares about Shocker? Anyway, the real thing that sets this game apart from those that came before is structural. You could say Spider-Man 2 is like a cross between Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Tony Hawk: Underground. Or you could say that SM2 = GTAVC + THUG if you wanted to be more efficient. You have absolute free roam of the city, including the ground (which was not the case in earlier attempts). You can go to specific places to get a cutscene and a mission to perform, or you can talk to people on the street who will give you a task to perform, or you can look for active crimes to try and battle, or you can try to beat timed challenges, or you can look for hidden tokens or you can swing around having fun because, face it, it's a whole lot of fun swinging around a detailed replica of Manhattan (including Ellis and Liberty Island) doing whatever a spider can. Because you're Spider-Man. Going "Whee!" is optional, but recommended. Oh, and happy news: Bruce Campbell reprises his role as 'The Hint Guy' from the last game. And there are a lot of hints, and he's got a lot of snark to dish out with them. Bottom line; you will rent this game. If for nothing else get for the sheer joy of running, jumping, and twirling around in mid air with astounding grace. What else are you going to rent, MLB 2004? Well, I'll tell you what I think of baseball: I-

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