20 Best Open-World Video Games Since 2000

12. Spider-Man 2

The first superhero title to really make it feel like an entire city was depending on you for protection, Spidey's second official movie tie-in also broke the mould that movie-based games 'had' to be unanimously terrible. It was basically Grand Theft Spidey in as much as your quests were dotted around New York and the minimap in the corner kept track of side missions and random events nearby, but it was realising of your own accord you could make it across to the Statue of Liberty by swinging on a series of helicopters, stopping a bank heist on the way to another mission or just feeling the blur of the ground rush up after a leap from the Empire State Building that's never been beaten. 2008's Web of Shadows would come mighty close, but it was this game's feeling of genuine discovery that made you get to grips with what Spidey was capable of - just like in all of his various origin stories - that elevates Treyarch's take on the Web-Head into legendary territory.
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Gaming Editor
Gaming Editor

WhatCulture's Head of Gaming.