10 Brilliant Video Games That Surprised Everyone
2. Spider-Man 2
Until 2004's Spider-Man 2, video games had not been kind to the wall crawler. After his early 2D outings, most of which were generic beat-em-ups and appearances in the Marvel Superheroes and Marvel Vs. Capcom series, the webslinger starred in two serviceable PS1 titles and a short, dull entry on the PS2 as a tie-in to Sam Raimi's 2002 movie. These 3D titles all made the same mistakes: setting too many missions in pokey indoor environments and relegating Spider-Man's most iconic trait (the web-swinging, not his insufferable sense of humour) to a perfunctory, automated method of getting from rooftop A to rooftop B.
It was Spider-Man 2, another movie tie-in, that finally hit home. Loosely based on the Sam Raimi sequel and this time set in a reactive, open-world realisation of Manhattan, swinging around the city and living the life of your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man was front and centre. The art of swinging between buildings and traversing the landscape was wonderfully implemented - each web actually had to attach to an object and further swings needed to be timed properly to maintain momentum and steer Spidey properly. It was endless fun, and had us swinging about thwarting random crimes and rescuing lost balloons for hours.