Spider-Man (2000 video game)

Spider-Man
North American PlayStation cover art
Developer(s)	Neversoft[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)	Activision
Distributor(s)	Marvel Entertainment
Platform(s)	PlayStation, Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	PlayStation & Game Boy Color NA August 30, 2000 EU September 15, 2000 JP April 26, 2001 (PS) JP April 27, 2001 (GBC) Nintendo 64 NA November 21, 2000 Dreamcast NA April 19, 2001 EU June 29, 2001 Microsoft Windows NA September 17, 2001 EU September 21, 2001
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, beat 'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player

Spider-Man is an action-adventure beat 'em up video game based on Marvel's Spider-Man Universe. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the PlayStation in 2000; the game was later ported by different developers to various systems including the Game Boy Color and Nintendo 64 that same year (also known as Spider-Man 2000 by some players), as well as the Dreamcast and Windows in 2001. Two direct sequels were released in 2001; one developed by Torus Games, Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six, released for the Game Boy Color, and one developed by Vicarious Visions, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, released for the PlayStation.

Plot

While attending a scientific demonstration hosted by the supposedly reformed Dr. Otto Octavius, Peter Parker (Spider-Man) witnesses the appearance of an impostor Spider-Man who steals Octavius's experiment. Eddie Brock mistakes this for the real Spider-Man and tries to take pictures, but his camera is shattered by the impostor. Angry, Brock worries that J. Jonah Jameson will fire him from his new job at the Daily Bugle; his rage causes the Venom symbiote to surface, and he swears revenge on Spider-Man. Everyone present at the demonstration believes that Spider-Man took the experiment, causing the police to go on a manhunt for him. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Doctor Octopus and Cletus Cassady (Carnage) have been working together, as they poison the entire city with a deadly fog.

Spider-Man is informed by Black Cat that the Jade Syndicate is robbing a bank and have taken hostages. After foiling the robbery, Spider-Man fights Scorpion to keep him from killing J. Jonah Jameson. After defeating Scorpion, Spider-Man is forced to flee from the police. Spider-Man encounters Daredevil, who questions Spider-Man but is eventually convinced of his innocence, promising to spread the word about it. Spider-Man is then ambushed by a police chopper and chased across the city. Upon escaping, Spider-Man reunites with Black Cat, who alerts him to two new problems: Rhino attacking a power plant, and Venom kidnapping Mary Jane Watson to lure Spider-Man. Spider-Man defeats Rhino at the power plant, but Black Cat is injured and kidnapped by Doc Ock and Carnage disguised as paramedics.

Human Torch encourages him, but Spider-Man cannot locate Venom until the villain appears and leads Spider-Man on an elaborate chase into the sewer. Spider-Man comes across the imprisoned Lizard, who explains that Venom locked him up and took control of his lizard men, and points him in the direction of Venom's lair where Mary Jane is being kept. After battling Venom and rescuing Mary Jane, Spider-Man convinces Venom that someone has framed him and that they have deliberately been turned against each other. To make amends, Venom decides to aid Spider-Man, and they head for the Daily Bugle to search through Jameson's files for clues of the impostor's identity.

During the search, however, Venom senses the presence of Carnage, and leaves to find him and keep him away from Spider-Man, who deals with an infestation of symbiotes throughout the building. He finally locates the identity of the Spider-Man impostor: Mysterio. After being defeated by Spider-Man, Mysterio reveals his boss's plan: to infest New York with symbiotes, with the fog over the city acting as a beacon for the symbiotes that will prepare the citizens for symbiosis. Mysterio's information leads Spider-Man to Warehouse 65, which hides an enormous underground base where the symbiotes that are cloned from Carnage's symbiote are being manufactured. Spider-Man runs into the Punisher, and with his help, finds a path leading into an undersea base.

After rescuing Black Cat, Spider-Man discovers that the mastermind behind the plan is actually Otto Octavius himself, aided by Carnage. Taking up his Doctor Octopus (Doc Ock) persona once again, he explains that he feigned reform and is planning to rule the new world he plans to create via symbiosis, and kill those who oppose him. As Venom appears and takes on Carnage, Spider-Man battles Doctor Octopus. Despite Octopus being protected by a force field, Spider-Man defeats him. Carnage knocks out Venom, forcing Spider-Man to fight the symbiote himself. He manages to defeat Carnage with sonics, but the Carnage symbiote fuses with Doctor Octopus to produce an enormous, out-of-control monster called "Monster Ock". After a long chase, Monster Ock accidentally destroys the base, and Spider-Man barely escapes to the surface with the unconscious Doctor Octopus, where he is rescued by Captain America, who was called by Black Cat and Venom, while the Carnage symbiote escapes.

In the epilogue, Spider-Man is shown playing cards with Captain America, Daredevil, and the Punisher while Black Cat and the Human Torch are dancing. In prison, Mysterio, Rhino, Scorpion, and a Jade Syndicate thug are also playing cards while Doctor Octopus is banging his head on the cell bars. Scorpion openly mocks them for failing to defeat Spider-Man despite all working together.

Development

Spider-Man uses the same game engine as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Spider-Man was a hidden character in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, and a reference is made to this during gameplay. The PlayStation, Dreamcast, and Windows versions have pre-rendered cutscenes, whereas the Nintendo 64 version shows captioned freeze-frames done in the style of a comic book and with fewer voice clips. The Lizard was meant to appear in the final cutscene but was not included in the final version of the game's cutscene. The Nintendo 64 version is colloquially referred to as Spider-Man 64.

Audio

Some of the voice actors from both the 1990s Spider-Man and Spider-Man Unlimited cartoons reprise their respective roles. For instance, Rino Romano reprises his role as Spider-Man from Spider-Man Unlimited, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. reprises his role as Doctor Octopus from the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon, and Jennifer Hale reprises her roles as both Black Cat from the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon and Mary Jane Watson from Spider-Man Unlimited. The main song is a "rock n' roll" remix of the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon.

Gameplay

The game has the player controlling Spider-Man as he goes through each level, either trying to reach the exit or complete a certain objective. The player must restart the current level if Spider-Man runs out of health, falls off a building, or fails to complete certain objectives such as rescuing a hostage. Spider-Man is able to utilize his spider powers to traverse the environments, being able to crawl on walls and ceilings, swing short distances and instantly zip between certain points. In combat, Spider-Man can utilize a limited supply of web-cartridges to attack his enemies, either webbing them up to stall or defeat them, increasing the strength of his attacks, or forming an explosive barrier. Spider-Man can also find power-ups such as Spider-Armor which temporarily increases his strength and defense, and Fire Webbing which is effective against symbiotes.

Alternative costumes

There are variety of different costumes that span the course of Spider-Man's career featured in the game, each one achieved by accomplishing various goals or by entering in a cheat code. While some are just alternate character skins, others give Spider-Man new abilities. These costumes include the Symbiote, Spider-Man Unlimited, street clothes, Quick-Change Spider-Man, Bombastic Bag-Man (named "Amazing Bag-Man"), Spider-Man 2099, Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly, and Captain Universe versions. Every time the game is completed, another costume will be unlocked.

Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack was composed by Tommy Tallarico who also did the music for the sequel, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro. It features a variation of musical loops mostly influenced by industrial rock and nu-metal, both of which were popular genres at the time. A sound test is available on the Nintendo 64 version.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (PS) 86.53%[1] (N64) 82.52%[2] (DC) 80.23%[3] (PC) 67.96%[4] (GBC) 66.91%[5] Metacritic (PS) 87/100[6] (DC) 80/100[7] (N64) 72/100[8] (PC) 68/100[9] Review scores Publication Score AllGame [10][11][12] (DC & PC) [13][14] EGM (PS) 7.83/10[15] (DC) 7.5/10[16] (N64) 7/10[17] Eurogamer 9/10[18] GameFan 73%[19] Game Informer 8/10[20] GamePro (DC) [21] (PS) [22] (N64) [23] Game Revolution (DC) B[24] (PS) B−[25] (N64) C[26] GameSpot (N64) 7.8/10[27] (PS) 7.7/10[28] (DC) 7.2/10[29] (PC) 6.6/10[30] (GBC) 6.5/10[31] GameSpy (DC) 8/10[32] (PC) 77%[33] GameZone 7/10[34][35] IGN (PS) 9/10[36][37] (N64) 8.5/10[38] (DC) 8.4/10[39] (PC) 6/10[40] Nintendo Power (N64) [41] (GBC) 7.1/10[42] OPM (US) [43] PC Gamer (US) 78%[44]

Spider-Man received critical acclaim from fans and critics alike. GameRankings gave the game a score of 86.53% for the PlayStation version,^[1] 66.91% for the Game Boy Color version,^[5] 82.52% for the Nintendo 64 version,^[2] 80.23% for the Dreamcast version,^[3] and 67.96% for the PC version.^[4] Likewise, Metacritic gave it a score of 87 out of 100 for the PlayStation version,^[6] 72 out of 100 for the Nintendo 64 version,^[8] 80 out of 100 for the Dreamcast version,^[7] and 68 out of 100 for the PC version.^[9]

IGN gave the PlayStation version a 9 out of 10, calling it "arguably, the best Spider-Man game".^[36] GameSpot gave the same version a 7.7, calling it "excellent framework on which to base future Spider-Man games - and an exceptional game to boot." ^[28]

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Notes

References

External links

• Spider-Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Spider-Man games on Marvel.com
• Spider-Man (2000) at MobyGames
• Spider-Man (Game Boy Color; 2000) at MobyGames