Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro

Scott Hardie | November 18, 2001
I don't suppose this matters to any of the handful of people who read this site, since Kelly's the only one I know of who might be interested in this game, but "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro" for PlayStation is a piece of crap.

It's made by a company called "Vicarious Visions," which is an appropriate name because everything that's good about the game was developed for the first Spider-Man game by Neversoft. The sequel uses the same game engine, which is good, but unoriginal. The plot is hardly interesting - Spidey follows a group of thugs around New York, getting into fights along the way. It's just one long chase. Electro is a cool villain, and so is Lizard, but Sandman? Hammerhead? Beetle? I hardly think these guys are worth appearing in a video game. I can only hope the next game involves the Kingpin as the main villain and features Hobgoblin, Vulture, Chameleon, and Cardiac as enemies. And an appearance by Kraven, even if it's in the training sequence, would be cool.

The worst crime committed by SM2 is not a boring plot, lame enemies, or a 100% recycled game engine. It's the "What If?" mode. The WI? mode in the first game was the crown gem of the entire project, something that made the already-fantastic game sparkle with humor and zaniness. In SM2, it's barely noticeable. Every three or four levels, some miscellaneous objects get replaced by bananas or bowling pins. The only major change is in the third level, as Spidey must cross many rooftops with bad guys, when a giant banana appears and ferries Spidey to the end of the level. Oh, and one of the programmers waves to you at the end. They call that a What If? mode? It's a slap in the face to people who loved the first game. They shouldn't have even bothered.

This has nothing to do with anything; I'm just venting. I was going to buy this game next spring when I get a PS2, but my impatience got the better of me and I decided to rent it this weekend. I'm glad I did, because I won't waste another penny on it now.