Spider-Man 2, or "Hey Man, Go Be a Hero"

This is Spider-Man 2, the surprisingly good movie tie-in. 

I've never been super interested in Grand Theft Auto. I'm a teacher and I find the idea of a game that my students can play where the point is to be the worst criminal reprehensible. Sorry. I'm not interested in it. It might be hilarious. I don't really care. 

But when my friend Julio told me there was a sandbox Spider-Man game out there where the point was to be the best hero you could be, I was immediately interested.

The graphics look pretty terrible by today's standards. They look like N64, hard to believe they're actually Gamecube. However, this game's got it where it counts: gameplay.

You basically go around New York City, swinging around and meeting people. Sure, there's a storyline and you can follow it, but you can't advance the story without going out and helping at least a few denizens of New York. And it's a good thing, too. You go out and stop muggers, hijackers, bank robbers; you save people hanging on ledges; and you catch little kids' balloons when they lose them. You're basically the man, the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It's pretty sweet. In fact, you can forego the main game and just dedicate your time to helping New Yorkers. It's that fun.

Actually, there's a lot of variety. You can earn the hero points by helping people, but you can also sell pictures to the Daily Bugle, deliver pizza, or complete acrobatics challenges. Which leads me to the swinging. 

There's awesome web swinging. Aawwwhhh, man! The web swinging is immensely fun and satisfying. The web swinging makes the game. Sure, you can choose auto-swinging to make things easier, but what you really want is to do it manually. Here's the deal: with as limited an experience as playing with a controller can be, Spider-Man 2 succeeds at making you feel like you're swinging around New York. The mechanics just make a lot of sense. You shoot a webline, swing, build up momentum, anticipate a jump, release at the right time, and shoot another webline before you smash into something. Just like Spidey. 

This is a wholly recommendable game. I lost my save file and I've had to start over from zero, and I'm thrilled. It's been a long time, and I've been looking forward to this.