Available on: PS1
Price: varies second hand
I played on: PS1
Notes: I used an analogue controller after a while and the game felt much better so I would recommend playing this with a duel shock controller.
Only days have passed since the events of the previous game and Spidey is back to patrolling the city. Little does he know that Electro has stolen an experimental device from BioTech and Dr Connors. It’s up to the web-head to chase every loose end he can in order to discover the full details of Electro’s evil schemes. The story here is simple, light but also very campy and plenty of fun. A lot of interesting villains including Hammerhead, Sandman and more make an appearance with fun diverse boss fights.
In order to take on Electro, Spider-man will be able to punch, kick, use web attacks and of course be able to swing short distances. The combat consists of ranged web attacks or close-courters punches and kicks making for a very smooth and enjoyable system. Moving around with web-swinging, running and jumping all feel much better than in the last game. The controls while still the same as the previous entry have been refined and now feel fantastic.
The levels you have to explore all feel much bigger with most areas giving you an entire city block to explore. This opens up the game so much and you really start to feel like Spidey using the environment to your advantage. I gave the original Spider-man game on PS1 a 6 out of 10 as it was a fun Spider-man themed beat-them-up but stiff controls and small levels stopped you from feeling like the Wall-crawler himself. This is not the case here and as such, this is one of the most fun games I have played on the PlayStation 1 in a while.
The presentation is very impressive for a PS1 game which sadly still leaves it looking rather dated by today’s standards. Characters have static faces, no lip syncing at all and are unable to unclench their fists. The art style, however, is vivid and beautiful feeling like a mix of the comics and the Spider-man animated series. The voice acting is impressive reminding me a lot of the 90’s cartoon. While dated the graphics are not what I would call bad, a lot of effort and love went into making this game look and feel like a Spider-man experience and it pays off.
I found the game rather difficult with tougher henchmen able to end you with one good hit at close range. You’re able to choose from easy, normal or hard which is nice but we also see the return of kid mode which makes the controls a little simpler and skips trickier sections of the game. I love this as it opens up the game to young children and anyone else unable to enjoy the standard experience for a any reason. It makes me really happy to see this sort of effort go into making games more accessible. I said it last time but it’s worth repeating, more games need this sort of kid mode for younger players but also people with certain disabilities or handicaps.
The original game that came out a year before this was a fun adventure with a Spider-man flare but stopped short of really making you feel like the Web-head. Spider-man 2 Enter: Electro corrects most of the issues here while also polishing up the graphics and controls which leaves us with a forgotten classic on the PlayStation 1. I would wholeheartedly recommend this to not just Spider-man fans but also fans of retro gaming in general as there is a lot of fun to be had here.
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