{"id":1801,"date":"2012-11-29T17:40:51","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T17:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=1801"},"modified":"2012-11-29T18:44:31","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T18:44:31","slug":"my-top-100-46-spider-man-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=1801","title":{"rendered":"My Top 100: #46 &#8211; Spider-Man 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1823\" style=\"width: 511px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Spidey2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1823\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1823\" title=\"Spidey2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Spidey2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"501\" height=\"712\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Spidey2.jpg 501w, http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Spidey2-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 501px) 100vw, 501px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1823\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2004 &#8211; Activision (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I know what you&#8217;re thinking;\u00a0 a\u00a0game\u00a0based on a movie (that was more-or-less\u00a0a simple cash-in) ranked higher on your countdown\u00a0than a\u00a0ton of gaming classics???<\/p>\n<p>COUNTDOWN INTEGRITY GONE DOWN THE TUBES, MAN!!!<\/p>\n<p>Well, I don&#8217;t exactly want to\u00a0get into it too much, but games are only what you make of them.\u00a0 That&#8217;s it.\u00a0 Nothing more.<\/p>\n<p>I can sit here and write paragraph after paragraph about what makes a game great, or you can read an internet review or watch a YouTube video\u00a0that does much the same&#8230;\u00a0 but until you sit down and play the game, or until you have your own opinions about how the game feels, it&#8217;s pretty much irrelevant.\u00a0 Isn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<p>That is one reason I have no shame whatsoever in enjoying critically panned video games or movies, all while\u00a0hating\u00a0some that are\u00a0enjoyed by everyone.\u00a0 Call it being a\u00a0fanboy, call it blind devotion, call it whatever you want &#8211; the bottom line is that, no matter how simple or downright terrible a game may be, someone out there is bound to love it.\u00a0 As much as I hate to admit it, that&#8217;s the case with music, as well.<\/p>\n<p>Hey &#8211; if we all agreed on every tiny little thing, I think life would get a bit boring.<\/p>\n<p>Now, about the game&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve never\u00a0had an interest in reading comic books, but if the <em>Spider-Man<\/em>\u00a0movies are any indication, Peter Parker has a lot of\u00a0crap brewing\u00a0in his personal\u00a0life.\u00a0 The poor guy&#8217;s uncle was murdered by a\u00a0man he could have stopped beforehand, his aunt struggles to pay the bills, his best friend&#8217;s father was a deranged psychopath, and the girl he&#8217;s been head-over-heels in love with since youth is not really that interested in him.<\/p>\n<p>Just a regular kid with problems like all of us, right?\u00a0 Well, plus a few enhancements, of course.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LUfX5ol0PS4\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Spider-Man 2<\/em>, based on the 2004 movie of the same name, gives players the freedom to explore New York City in its entirety.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a story mode and random (but somewhat repetitive) tasks like rescuing skyscraper construction workers,\u00a0or stopping bank heists, among other things&#8230;\u00a0 they&#8217;re fun for a while, and the combat system flows well enough that it rewards both button-mashers and combo-seekers alike.<\/p>\n<p>The true beauty, however, lies in the joy of exploration.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve had a long day at work, or you just wanted to block out any crappy thing that might have happened recently, there&#8217;s nothing more chillaxing than effortlessly web-slinging through NYC.\u00a0 The &#8220;webs attaching to the clouds&#8221; mechanic\u00a0from\u00a0other <em>Spider-Man<\/em> games was done away with for this one &#8211;\u00a0Spidey&#8217;s webs actually have to connect to a building, bridge or any other solid object.\u00a0\u00a0Once you get used to controlling the various\u00a0techniques, you may not want to do anything else!<\/p>\n<p>Like your typical <em>GTA<\/em>-inspired environment, there are a bunch of bonuses\u00a0to collect, as well as\u00a0a few\u00a0Easter Eggs hidden here and there.\u00a0 There are also\u00a0special &#8220;courses&#8221; that you can\u00a0run through that make use of all of Spidey&#8217;s special\u00a0acrobatic abilities, and they&#8217;re challenging enough\u00a0to be\u00a0a\u00a0great deviation from simply swinging from building to building.<\/p>\n<p>I haven&#8217;t played the\u00a0<em>Spider-Man 3<\/em> game yet, but I do own it (where have I heard that before).\u00a0\u00a0Since I didn&#8217;t\u00a0hate that movie like everyone else seemingly did, I&#8217;m sure the critical bomb of a video game\u00a0should be fairly enjoyable as well!<\/p>\n<p>Oh, my random memory about the game.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Almost forgot!\u00a0 The day I purchased this game was\u00a0quite memorable, indeed.<\/p>\n<p>It was a Sunday, a day\u00a0I normally\u00a0spent sitting in front of the tube watching a NASCAR race.\u00a0 It was an off-weekend for them, however, and I was at home, bored out of my skull.\u00a0 I had a serious hankerin&#8217; for some Wendy&#8217;s (because it&#8217;s friggin&#8217; delicious), and on my trip into town to get some, I stopped at EB Games to see what was new and exciting.<\/p>\n<p><em>Spider-Man 2<\/em>?\u00a0 Sure, why not!\u00a0 It sounded like a fun concept to roam around New York so freely, and the movie was great&#8230;\u00a0 I bought the game, got my Wendy&#8217;s, then headed back home.<\/p>\n<p>When I got back, my sister\u00a0was watching\u00a0the Speed Network, a channel for racing junkies like myself.\u00a0\u00a0NASCAR&#8217;s biggest star, Dale Earnhardt Jr., had been involved in a wreck at an event in another racing series.\u00a0 The images on the special report were incredible &#8211; a yellow and\u00a0sports sports car was engulfed in flames, and there was its occupant, right in the middle of the inferno.\u00a0 His\u00a0burns were pretty extensive, and\u00a0they weren&#8217;t quite sure if he&#8217;d be racing\u00a0the following weekend.\u00a0 He&#8217;d be lucky not to miss the Pocono race I was going to in a few weeks, as well.<\/p>\n<p>It was a pretty big story\u00a0to us NASCAR fans,\u00a0and the news had me glued to the TV for most of the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>I had a softball game that night with a team I had joined the year before, the Bears.\u00a0 It was a team run by an old co-worker, one I didn&#8217;t particularly get along with, to boot.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t have a great night on the diamond, and even though it was\u00a0a &#8220;just for fun&#8221; league, said co-worker was being a pretty big d-bag about it.<\/p>\n<p>I\u00a0alleviated a bit\u00a0of\u00a0my\u00a0rage on the drive home that night by listening to some particularly angry music.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0popped\u00a0<em>Spider-Man 2 <\/em>into my Xbox when I got home, and\u00a0just enjoyed the ride.\u00a0\u00a0The game just\u00a0let me chill out even more, and gave me time to think&#8230; \u00a0as I\u00a0soared through the streets of\u00a0New York,\u00a0I simply\u00a0decided that\u00a0I had played\u00a0my last softball game with\u00a0&#8220;da Bears&#8221;.\u00a0 Let that guy be who he wants to be &#8211; I&#8217;mma just be over here, not\u00a0there, and not playing a care-free softball game\u00a0with\u00a0his grumpy ass.<\/p>\n<p>I just didn&#8217;t show up to any more games.\u00a0 Bygones were bygones.\u00a0 Saul Goodman!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FGR0KWLs51c\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; I know what you&#8217;re thinking;\u00a0 a\u00a0game\u00a0based on a movie (that was more-or-less\u00a0a simple cash-in) ranked higher on your countdown\u00a0than a\u00a0ton of gaming classics??? COUNTDOWN INTEGRITY GONE DOWN THE TUBES, MAN!!! Well, I don&#8217;t exactly want to\u00a0get into&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=1801\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,32,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spider-man","category-top-100","category-xbox"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1801"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1833,"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions\/1833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}