I remember the first Spiderman game being released on the PSX and PC. It was a new benchmark in 3D platforming, providing an illusionist environment of freedom, when in fact it was a brilliantly designed title, even if it was linear.

The graphics were brilliant for the time, the well constructed 3d city within which Spiderman webbed and swung his way to victory was superbly realised, voice acting matched the quality of the graphics and you were convinced you were taking part in a new comic adventure.

Since then, a further sequel was created by Neversoft, and it built upon the existing game and further improved an already quality game. The movie was released, and Treyarch took over the development of the games, and released the first game to be based on the movie.

Although it looked like the original games developed by Neversoft, Treyarch seemed to have done the impossible and ruined a perfectly good engine and game structure. It was universally panned as a disaster, and the first black spot on an otherwise spotless record of Spiderman titles.

So now we have the sequel to the original movie game. Based on the film of the same name, Spiderman 2 – The Movie Game is a step up from Treyarch’s previous effort, but is still fairly abysmal compared to the original titles. The graphics engine has improved enormously, with the 3d city looking pretty decent. The control mechanism harks back to the original format, albeit with less moves and a slightly more cumbersome system.

It’s depressing to think that Treyarch has chosen to go back the early PlayStation era of gaming, ignoring all changes to platform gaming to date

Still, for a modern day game, with the likes of Prince of Persia which has pushed the boundries of what a platform game is and can be, Spiderman 2 fails to impose any authority in innovation or inspiration. In fact, put side by against the original title, and you could mistake the game for just being a modern day update of an original.

There’s no point in beating around the bush. The graphics although initially look like they’ve improved, I think have in fact become worse. Why would I suggest this? For the simple reason that the game looks like it was designed for a low spec machine, to gain the highest penetration.

Those hoping that the game would utilise the latest video cards will be extremely disappointed. The graphics are crude and basic, but clean, if rather square. It’s a far cry from the original game’s attempt to actually make an effort. The cutscenes are contemptuous in their existence, as they look worse than the in-game graphics. This is perhaps a first for any game, where the in-game graphics look better than the cut scenes. It’s an indication of the patheticism that is the medicore 3D engine.

The sonics are worse than previous efforts, with script and dialogue just bareable. The sound effects are hardly worth considering, as you tend to hear the same rubbish through out the game. Music is inept, and fails to accentuate any moment. The lip-synching is diabolical at best, and gut-crushingly awful at worst.

Spideman 2 uses the tried and tested method of the other games, but somehow fails to execute them correctly. Add to the lack of care taken with the game, is the lack of support for joypads as the game can either be played with the keyboard alone or a combination of a keyboard and mouse set up. They work well enough, but it fails to appreciate that a game designed for a console should have the functionality to allow the use of a joypad. It’s another nail in the coffin for what is a terrible game.

Spiderman 2 – The Movie Game is a step up from Treyarch’s previous effort, but is still fairly abysmal compared to the original titles

When I loaded up the original game for comparison, it was rather frightening to think that not only did the original play supremely better, with more opportunity to use moments of stealth and sneak up on enemies. The ability to immediately use various forms of web shooting, as well as a range of moves and some brilliant set pieces accentuated by some quality graphics, sound and presentation.

It’s depressing to think that Treyarch has chosen to go back the early PlayStation era of gaming, ignoring all changes to platform gaming to date. Imagine Street Fighter 4 was created, and it played the same as Street Fighter, but with slightly better graphics and you begin to get a sense of the reversal that Treyarch have carried out.

Don’t be fooled by the flattering reviews and complimentary praise for this disaster of a title. When you read such reviews, just wonder what goodies the reviewers got for reviewing and praising a game that sucks: trip to the studio? free tickets for a premiere to give away to readers? free consoles or games to give away? free alcohol etc? An exclusive? How many exclusives have you read where the review of the exclusive gets panned? Not many I’ll gather.

Verdict: Second worst Spiderman game. One of the worst platformers to date. Avoid.