 At times in the past I might have been called a Spider-Man fanboy. That’s fine. I wear that as a badge of honor because a cooler superhero hasn’t walked the fictional earth than Peter Parker’s wisecracking alter ego. Aside from the atrocious TV series back in the 70s, most Spider-Man products have been either kitschy cool (the funky 60s cartoons), downright awesome cool (The MTV cartoon series) or wow totally freaking awesome cool (the two blockbuster movies). The games on the otherhand have been hit and miss. And I’m just talking about the games based on Spider-Man 2.
Since last July, there have been no less than 8 different videogame products based on the same Spidey subject matter; namely the big showdown between the 8 limbed sciencefreak, Doctor Ock and the webslinger himself. The latest itsy bitsy spider to crawl up the digital drainpipe is Vicarious Visions take on the webhead.  Using Treyach’s original movie game as inspiration and abandoning the sandbox freeroam of the Spider-Man 2 console versions, VV has essentially created a sequel to the first movie game that really stands on its own two feet. Those of you who enjoyed the mechanics of the first movie game (and yes, there are some of you) will be delighted to know that the PSP version continues the tradition, and even brings back high sky duels via a rematch with the Vulture and the good old camera lock system. For the really intuned, VV even brought back the yoyo move which was sorely missed in Treyarch’s webswinging demo they called Spider-Man for the consoles.
Since Spider-Man is all about control, you might find the camera most vexxing in certain indoor areas of the game. The camera can be controlled but often times it simply places itself in the worst possible spot. Since I’m used to this annoyance, having logged countless hours playing Spider-Man games over the past few years, it really didn’t hinder me all that much. People with a lower threshold of tolerance for this sort of thing might not be so easily cavalier about it. Once you get into the air and use the camera lock system you’ll be treated to spectacular action views which really take the level of excitement up a notch, but just to warn you, while the city streets look inviting you can’t reach them. Webswinging returns to its roots and you’ll be able to hook onto the clouds once again. Jumping remains similar to the second movie game on the consoles which allows a powered jump as long as you get the upgrade during your travels.  In terms of added depth which goes beyond the movie you’ll be treated to a sampling of supervillains that have appeared in the last few outings already. Vulture, Rhino and Shocker round out the villains (aside from the main event Doc Ock) and while things are changed up a little bit, you’ll be able to defeat them fairly easily.
Tobey Maguire and Alfred Molina actually returned to add more voiceovers to the game that you haven’t heard before and I was quite surprised to hear them. As well, you’ll love the beautiful cutscenes because they haven’t been recycled from previous projects. Speaking of visuals, Spider-Man 2 on the PSP shines. It is the very first 3D Spider-Man game on a handheld system and it looks amazing. It looks even better on the PSP due to the small screen. Gone if the apelike out of disproportionate Spider-Man from the console game sequel and in it’s place is that high gloss crisp well put together model from the original.  There are 19 levels of webswinging, wallcrawling goodness and while some aren’t nearly as exciting as others, you’ll definitely find yourself coming back to a few of them once you beat the game. So far I haven’t successfully located any cool codes but I’m hoping that unlike the previous console versions of the second movie, that VV has added a ton of great extras to make this game even more fun to play again and again. If you’re getting a PSP at launch and you are a Spider-Man follower, surely you’ll be doing the right thing by taking Peter Parker’s first PSP appearance out for a spin.
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You’ve played the free-roaming console version, the Nokia N-gage game, the GBA title, the watered down PC version, the Activity Center CD-ROM for kids, the Sprint mobile cellphone game and the recently released Nintendo DS version, so what’s left? Ah, the all new PSP version!
Spider-Man will not only battle the nefarious Doc Ock as he did in the movie, but classic villains such as Vulture, Rhino, Shocker and Mysterio are also present and accounted for. Along with his trademark webslinging and wallcrawling, Spidey will also have some new web moves such as the cocoon, web net and heavy web ball at his disposal.
