Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six

Written by Matt Swider on July 25, 2001

Review: If I go crazy, then will you still call me Spider-Man?

Marvel's top superhero was bound to make a second appearance on the Game Boy scene, and with Spider-Man's release, comes yet another reason to hold onto that Color system in spite of the fact that it's successor is now available. In less than a year, Activision has handed development of the sequel off to Torus Games, and though the original by Vicarious Visions was met with high acclaim for a Game Boy game, Tours seems to offer a small amount of improvement, while keeping most aspects of the sequel fairly similar.

While the storyline of the first Spider-Man title focused on Peter Parker's life, The Sinister Six presents a straightforward plot where his aunt, May Parker, is kidnapped, and it's Spidey's duty to rescue her from the clutches of his six worst enemies. This collection of supervillian's is dubbed The Sinister Six, and includes Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture, Electro, Kraven, and Doctor Octopus. Thus Spider-Man's job beings, and the action commences.

Through twelve levels, Spider-Man can webswing and crawl about, traveling above rooftops and inside buildings. Though there was not limit to the amount of webshooters last year, players might be surprised when they run of out fluid and are forced to collect a number of cartridges located through the level, depending on the difficulty level selected at the start of the game. Wrapping up the enemies will hold them off for a couple seconds, but Spidey can unleashes his fierce punch and kick attacks, or even perform the all-new running kick move, to finish off those no good foes.

I must say, though the game's visuals are simple, it presents an effective environment for its gameplay. Many games these days sport high quality graphics, but become cluttered, leaving nothing but frustration as you try and make out the surrounding environments while always trying to locate your character. The Sinister Six presents something that won't take away from its gameplay, but leaves gamers satisfied in whole.

The environments found in the game, enable Spider-Man to cling on every surface possible, as he explores six different locations, highlighting many of New York City's well-known settings. Spider-Man may be somewhat tiny on your Game Boy screen, but that doesn't mean that the character doesn't come with plenty of animation. Besides the standard movements you expect Spider-Man to make, Torus included his Spidey sense pointing you in the right direction, in addition to his variety of kick and punch attacks.

Amongst all its great qualities, one thing that The Sinister Six lacks is impressive audio. The music fits the mood of the level with fair tunes and an average amount of sound effects, but does nothing overly remarkably inspiring to the ear. Instead of voice clips, the game takes a comic book approach with action text like УBamФ and УPowФ in the heat of battle. It seems like the sound was limited, but the many other aspects of the game should be able to keep players from becoming irritated.