Top Ten Favorite Gamecube Games Countdown: Number 8

Yup. It's finally here. Looks like I've been caught stalling and I must apologize to that. I'm going to make the pre-ambling shorter this time because I am very excited about this next game, so allow me to just swing right into it.

8) Spiderman 2   

....what?

Okay so Spiderman is like, my favorite super hero ever. I think his powers are balanced and his style is cool. Excuse me? Balanced powers and a stylish attitude? Remind you of any (every)  other perfect video game protagonist??
Anyway Spiderman 2 was a fantastic game and there are really several reasons for why it is an awesome title, but really only a couple of reasons why it made my top ten list, the most important reason being replay value.

I LOVE a long game. I love love love a game that keeps me entertained for hours and hours without me getting bored or stuck. No walkthroughs, no yelling at the TV, no bullshit. It wasn't an easy game, but it wasn't too difficult. It was long, but not frustrating. It was just fun. The game kept me playing for hours at a time just swinging around New York City without even doing anything really important or relevant to the game's storyline. THIS is really the appeal of the game, but I definitely have some explaining to do before I try to convince you of how fun NOT doing missions is. And before I start, please forget the gamepoop that was the first Spiderman video game. Just forget about it.


GAMEPLAY. Spiderman 2 was open-world. What does that mean? It means that no matter what you had to do, where you had to go, who was dying in the game, who was dying on the sofa next to you, NO MATTER WHAT, you could pretty much go anywhere at anytime you want. And how would you get there? Well think about it...you're Spiderman....THAT'S RIGHT whenever you got bored, you could literally just swing around the entire city of New York jumping off walls, dangling from street signs, and even kicking the crap out of thugs trying to mug a helpless old lady. And believe me, following the missions was fun, but just swinging around was so chill. See really during the entire game, you can do anything Spiderman can do in the movie, but the skill necessary to swing around without bumping into walls every 2 seconds is never something that any tutorial hands to you on a silver platter. The means to swing around stylishly, chaining together the ability to swing, run on a wall, jump off the wall, swing off a flag pole, etc, is something you have to develop and learn how to do as you play the game. As the enemies of the game increase in difficulty, the more essential it is for you to harness the real capabilities of the in-game Spiderman. This game will force you to gradually get better at playing as the story demands it. You will have to get better at swinging and fighting as the game progresses and the better you become, the more fun it is. If you don't get better over time, you simply won't win.

Now we will discuss the pacing of the game. This is the first time I have ever discussed this topic, but it is vital to the understanding of the gameplay of Spiderman 2. So the game is split up into "chapters". With each chapter comes different objectives that you must satisfy in order to advance to the next chapter. The point of the entire game is to complete every chapter and when you do, you just have the entirety of The Big Apple as your playground. Typically, a chapter will have 3 or 4 objectives. Usually, one is "Earn 500 hero points" and one is "Meet with MaryJane". The other two are less consistent and may be something like "Go to the Daily Bugle" or "Check Your Answering Machine". For each of these missions, a pin-point marker will appear on your screen. They appear in the distance and display how far you are from the location it is representing. Once you reach the marker, the mission it represents will commence. Unless you are timed, however, you can pretty much do any mission whenever you want in any order you desire. This creates a very stress-free environment as  you can literally turn the game on, not progress in the storyline at all, and still have a lot of fun.

I mentioned "Hero Points" before. They are simple to understand, but will wind up being very important to the progression of the game with every chapter you complete. Green markers appear above the heads of pedestrians who either need help or witnessed a crime. Once you talk to someone with a marker above their head, you become responsible to handle whatever they are freaking out about. If you fail to assist properly, then you lose Hero Points, but if you succeed (not difficult) then you are awarded many more. The collecting of Hero Points is absolutely necessary in order to complete each chapter. They also function secondarily as currency in the game. One can spend Hero Points in the store in order to purchase upgrades for Spiderman such as different moves in combat, or an increased swinging speed, as if Spiderman needed to be upgraded.

Lastly we will talk about the combat. Although swinging around is just the most entertaining thing
ever, what would be the point of Spiderman's super strength if he couldn't take it to the streets? A lot of the game involves the utilization of Spiderman's fighting abilities, and in the game, that super strength is just a couple of buttons away. B is punch. B, in fact, is the only button designated to attacking. That being said, when Spiderman fights, he does a lot more than simply wail on an opponent. For example, the B button makes Spiderman punch, the Y button makes Spiderman shoot web, and the A button makes Spiderman jump. So what happens when you press B,B,A,Y,B when fighting en enemy? Well, Spiderman punches the enemy in a two-punch combo, jumps up, wraps the criminal in web, and then punches them again. In addition to standard moves that can be used at anytime, there are certain moves that involve Spiderman interacting with his surroundings. Anyone who has played the game knows what I'm talking about....that one move where you tie an enemy to a traffic light and leave him dangling by his ankle? Yeah, that move definitely contributed to this game's existence on my list, not to mention Spider Sense Mode which makes the entire world slow down allowing for you to completely gain total advantage during combat.

Spiderman 2 is definitely not an ordinary superhero game. It provides a relaxing environment where you can either swing around aimlessly for hours or complete missions battling some of Spiderman's toughest friends and foes and have a great time regardless. Upgrading Spiderman's powers and your own skills, along with numerous mini-games and wonderful voice acting from Toby McGuire, Alfred Malone, and the rest of the Spiderman 2 cast will surely motivate you to harness every bit of responsibility that comes with your great power.