Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Review
Welcome to our CHEATfactor Game Review of Amazing Spider-Man 2, The. We review the game and then factor in how the available cheats affect the overall game experience.
 

Reviewed on: PC
Developer: Beenox
Publisher: Activision
Rated: "T" for Teen

 
CHEATfactor Game Review
by Joe Sinicki
Presentation 6/10 
Amazing Spider-Man looks and feels just how you would think a major movie tie-in would. The characters and the world around them have a comic book style art to them, which works, but also feels incredibly limiting.
Gameplay 6/10 
If you've played games like Spider-Man 2 and the original Amazing Spider-Man 2 you'll feel right at home here. Swinging through the streets of New York feels great and is a lot of fun (until the camera gets in the way).
Lasting Appeal 5/10 
You can swing through the city collecting comic books and other collectibles but there isn't anything enticing enough to keep you playing for a long time, especially after you finish the lack-luster story.
Overall 6/10 
Swinging around the city is a lot of fun but unfortunately everything beyond that is incredibly disappointing. The combat is repetitive and the story feels like a lame excuse to trot out characters from the comics.
CHEATfactor 7/10 
 

The good news is that the videogame adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 isn't as bad you probably think it's going to be. It improves on a lot of what the 2012 original offered, like fantastic web-slinging but still delivers a lackluster story and combat. There's a lot of fan service here but in all, the package is incredibly disappointing, and though this is the best Spider-Man game in years, that's not saying much.

"...traversing the city is an absolute blast..."

 
   

If there's one thing that the developers behind The Amazing Spider-Man 2 absolutely nailed, it's Spidey's trademark web-swinging ability. Much improved over 2012's original Amazing Spider-Man game, traversing the city is an absolute blast and unlike the last game, you'll actually have to be aware of your surroundings since your webs have to attach to actual buildings and not just clouds. Controlling your webs is also refreshingly easy this go-round, with your right and left triggers (or mouse clicks) controlling each respective arm. It's a lot of fun to switch between your arms and get a bunch of momentum going while swinging through the city.

The wed-rush feature lies at the core of the new web-swinging system and allows you to chain together some rather cool looking combos. By holding the web-rush button, you'll enter a bullet-time types screen that shows the different places Spidey can zip and to. It's nothing revolutionary, but it works well here and adds to the feeling that you're a superhero swinging through the city. There's also a bit of strategy here, as to go further you'll have to hold the joystick in the direction you're going to keep your momentum up. It's not entirely difficult and in truth you could probably do it just by accidentally leaning on the stick but it's still a nice touch by the developers.

Unfortunately, almost everything else goes downhill from here for Beenox and Amazing Spider-Man 2. Much like the original Amazing Spider-Man game the developers attempted to recreate the combat system from the Batman: Arkham games. Gone is the art, the timing and the rhythm in favor of a repetitive button masher that feels repetitive after the first fight. There's almost no challenge here either as you can really finish the majority of the fights with pressing two buttons and not moving much at all since the counter button sends Spidey moving all around the screen and into perfect position to take out whatever bad guys are waiting for him. It also doesn't help that the camera puts itself in the absolute worst possible position at seemingly all times.

The camera is even more problematic when it rears it's ugly head in the few things that work in the game. It's almost impossible to make quick turns in some of the more dense city areas when web slinging simply because the camera can't keep up. It's extremely frustrating to be moving along at the speed of a sports car, only to hit a corner and feel like a mack truck. I was constantly enjoying the game's open-world only to crash into a building and have to regain my bearings, an issue that's made worse by the fact that the game mapped the wall run and websling to the same button, so I was constantly finding myself in areas where I didn't want to be.

"Enemy AI is practically non-existent..."

 
   

Enemy AI is practically non-existent, as they seemingly exist just to be the butt of Spider-Man's jokes and be punched. It's easy to beat them even in the most uneven fights but the lack of AI intelligence is most evident in the stealth sections where you can literally disappear out of sight for less than a minute and most enemies will forget you were even there and go about their business like nothing happened. Most of the stealth battles borrow heavily from the predator mode in the Arkham games but you know, without any of the challenge.

There's a lot of fan service in Amazing Spider-Man 2 including extra suits to collect and comic book pages throughout the city. The game's extra content is also all kept at a comic book shop run by Stan Lee, a cool little nod to the character's past. Or at least, it would be if it weren't so strange. Hear me out, it's cool to have Stan there and all, but he's only ever referred to as Stan, so it's not clear whether or not he is Stan Lee. It's also strange that this character, who may or may not be our heroes creator is working at a comic book shop that has monuments to Peter Parker and even shows pictures and statues of Peter turning into Spider-Man on his shelves. It's made even more strange by the fact that if you hang out at the comic book store long enough, Peter and Stan will begin to communicate with each other via telepathy, not moving their mouths at all. Am I looking too much into this? Maybe, but it's really strange. On top of that, why do game developers seem obsessed with making us play as the alter egos to Superheroes? Here's a character with awesome powers, but we're going to make you play as his normal everyday identity because it creates drama!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has a simple formula; swing around until you find bad-guys, beat them up and web back up, but it's the few times that it deviates from that formula that it starts to gain an identity all its own. It nails the feeling of being Spider-Man and swinging around the city is a lot of fun but unfortunately everything beyond that is incredibly disappointing. The combat is repetitive and the story feels like a lame excuse to trot out characters from the comics. Fans of the character will love exploring the city but not much else.

 
 
CHEATfactor
 
CHEATS USED: Add EXP, Add Upgrade Points, Play as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, more
 

The trainer for Amazing Spider-Man 2 features a lot of cheats that allow you to maximize your time with Spidey, and oddly enough with Peter Parker if you so choose. You can instantly add upgrade points or just go the easy way and level up immediately, giving you access to more powers and more moves. The trainer also gives players the ability to choose whether they play as Spider-Man or Peter Parker…for some reason.

Stick with Cheat Happens for more cheats as they become available.

 
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