Games You Forgot About – ‘Spider-Man’ (2000)

This month’s edition of the “Games You Forgot About” series breaks the mold. Most of the games in this series are old, dusty, lost games that deserve a fresh pair of eyes. But, with the forthcoming Insomniac Games Spider-Man release this September, this discussion will be somewhat wedded to the hype surrounding the open world Spider-Man game for the Playstation 4.

Spider-Man has been a hit-or-miss franchise over its video gaming career. Spider-Man 2 (2004) for the PlayStation 2 and Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six (2001) for the GameBoy Color come to mind as excellent examples of Spider-Man’s character done well. But there’s a unique charm to Activision’s often forgotten but classic Spider-Man (2000) title.

Spider-Man (2000) captures the best version of villains and gameplay of any iteration to date, namely in two ways: (1) the villains have fleshed out personalities, often incorporating humor; and (2) Spider-Man’s web-slinging capacities are diverse, fluid, and fun. The classic Stan Lee cameos and in-world comic book lore create a player experience that pays attention to all the right kinds of pre-movie series, comic book nostalgia. While other Spider-Man games dramatically overpower this game’s graphics, this classic version builds creative and memorable character arcs in a way that is unparalleled in other iterations of the Spider-Man series.

As always, I advise you to remove your lens of expectations from 2018, so that you can properly appreciate how exciting this game was for its time. It has lessons that should be remembered for the forthcoming Spider-Man by Insomniac Games for the Playstation 4. (Spoilers ahead!)

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Phase one: Doctor Otto Octavius will be presenting his research for a new invention at a press conference in New York City. In the middle of this conference, anonymous vigilante Spider-Man swings in, unexpectedly, and steals Octavius’ new invention! Mayhem ensues. The conference is ruined. Everybody scatters.

Phase two: Reconvene after the conference fiasco. Release toxic mutant gas on the city streets of New York City. This green haze enters the streets, covering at least the first 15 floors from the ground up. Even amongst the skyscrapers, it will be nigh impossible to escape the fumes. All of the City will be at the mercy of biological warfare.

Spider-Man begins with these context-cluing cutscenes: Phase one and two. These scenes set the stage for the game’s unfolding. This green gas provides the primary “game over” condition for Spider-Man; if he falls, he will die. There is no webbing his way out of this green haze.

But already something is not right. The player witnesses “phase one and two” but also sees small-time photographer Peter Parker in the crowd. Parker is attending Octavius’ presentation just like anybody else. As the crowd disperses, he runs into Eddie Brock. The player quickly realizes that it wasn’t “Spider-Man” whose sticky fingers stole Octavius’ invention.

Enter Black Cat, the heavily-bosomed superheroine, who begins to give the player (Spider-Man) a tutorial on how his web cartridges work. Tutorials are almost always a bit obnoxious as a way of introducing a player to the game’s mechanics. Cloaking this tutorial in a back-and-forth exchange with Black Cat serves to ground this scene with some narrative context, further fleshing out the world of this game’s superheroes.

Spider-Man is first alerted to a bank heist going on, and so he swings over some rooftops over to the bank in question. Along the way, Spider-Man has to fight armed thugs that yell “Hey!” if they notice you. Eventually, Spider-Man clears off the bank’s roof, breaks in through the glass, and proceeds to free some pinned-down hostages. The objective so far is stealth over power. But, by the end of the bank heist, Spider-Man’s strength becomes imperative: he has to launch a time-bomb into the bank vault, thereby sealing off the explosion from the rest of the building’s inhabitants.

Here’s a moment to note one of the most beautiful, cringeworthy aspects of this game: dad jokes. You can imagine how Spider-Man’s “Mind if I make a deposit?” monologue fares. Especially considering the poor bank tellers…

After saving the day, Spider-Man is tasked with saving his resentful boss, J. Jonah Jameson (JJJ). Here the creator Stan Lee begins to narrate the game, adding a layer of fan service. (As a kid, I remember taking special glee in his delivery of threatening JJJ with ending up “in the pages of his own obituary.”) Spider-Man progresses to the Daily Bugle, saving JJJ from his first major enemy: Scorpion. This successful scene culminates in Scorpion’s devastating defeat. But, unfortunately, the NYPD show up – and with the wrong idea: they’re here to arrest Spider-Man. Why? See “Phase one.”

The cops, laden with the false impression of Spider-Man’s ostensible criminality, chase him out onto the rooftops. Here Spider-Man embarks on the classic chase scene, but with a mortal twist: the player has to frantically scale the unstable side of a boarded-up building while dodging missiles. These missiles blow holes into the wall and, if the player isn’t quick enough, Spider-Man will be barred by flames – and vulnerable to more missles. This adrenaline-spiking scene ends when Spider-Man vaults over the final wall and out onto the rooftop, where the NYPD helicopter slams its tail into a tower and spirals out of control.

Here’s another moment to note another admirable aspect of this game: easter eggs. The attentive player will notice, as they escape from the cops, amongst other things, that there advertisements and billboards pepper the landscape of the city. Keep an eye out for the “Roxxon oil” billboard, which Marvel fans will recognize as the energy company from that comic universe. But these easter eggs transcend the Marvel world, and are willing to reference the then contemporary Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (also produced by Neversoft and Activision).

Reenter Black Cat, who calls Spider-Man’s attention to Venom, whose ransom tape broadcasts in Times Square for all to see: Mary Jane Watson held hostage, with a beckoning bait from Venom for Spider-Man to come and retrieve her. Venom announces that the “Venom Marathon will CONTINUE” before signing off with yet another Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 plug.

Spiderman and Black Cat team up in-game to find Rhino. Rhino essentially stabs Black Cat before she flies away in retreat. Rhino and Spider-Man, then, have an electrical cage match in which Spider-Man must lure Rhino into these electrocuting pylons that fry his neurological network to death. This repeated act of lure becomes very satisfying, particularly in the thumbnail of Rhino’s face before/during execution. The player can throw additional exploding barrels of gasoline at Rhino, just to add insult to injury.

Doc Oc (Otto Octavius) reappears in the game, looking for answers. He quickly spots Cat and queries her to the effect that she warns him – which she is cut off from doing in mid-speech – that the paramedics aren’t real: these aren’t real “paramedi–” *door slam*

With Black Cat captured by imposter paramedics, Spider-Man seeks encouragement from Johnny Storm: the Human Torch. Put back together, reinvigorated, Spider-Man swings off pensively, mulling over ways to find and save Cat. In the middle of his web-slinging, Venom appears in mid-air, swinging alongside Spider-Man. Venom tauntingly challenges Spider-Man to a race across the rooftops.

This race is ridiculous and easy to fail at. In fact, it wouldn’t be out of place for this chase sequence to be described as the Dark Souls sequence of this game. The loose controls and ambiguous path that Venom lays out is disorienting at first, and sometimes unclear. In a sense, this is a moment of ludonarrative consonance (harmony), because a true chase scene isn’t always easy to follow. But, in this case, it might be recommended that the player take a few deep breaths before embarking on this chase.

Spider-Man eventually catches up with Venom as he enters an apartment complex. As the camera pans across the windowed facade of the skyscraper, a wonderful scene unfolds in reaction to the Venom and Spider-Man intrusion. A few gems of dialogue: “out of my way lady,” to which she responds, “Oh my Goodness!” quickly followed by Venom’s raspy “get out of my way, nerd,” and this ostensible nerd’s pathetic wail, and so on. Comic relief in full effect.

Venom finally pauses, after several minutes of this chase sequence, and taunts, “If you wanna fight, follow me.” Venom then descends down into the fog, into which he and Spider-Man proceed to battle in a tiny alley courtyard.

In this fight, Venom can turn invisible, which is damning and frustrating unless the player is, again, patient. Spider-Man can, of course, shoot web bullets at Venom or throw various physical objects at him to cause damage, but these resources are limited and, for the first time in this game, Spider-Man’s opponent is formidably strong. Worse, he laughs every time he hits you; and he taunts you regardless. The only satisfying thing to do is to webdome/explode or web-bullet him, which encourages a pained “AHH” sound from Venom.

Predictably, Venom escapes into a well-covering which leads deep into the underground sewers. Spider-Man, somewhat reluctant but pissed off, follows, demanding of Venom where his wife Mary Jane Parker is being held hostage. Spider-Man chases Venom throughout this labyrinth of sewers, encountering mutant-like lizards to which he eventually attributes the title of “leftovers” from “experiments.” Fighting ensures and this sewer system quickly becomes an obstacle in and of itself: a hybridic cave/vault puzzle. The chase continues throughout; the fights continue.

In the sewers, a new mechanic is introduced: the target swing. Simply put, this ability pinpoints where Spider-Man will swing to, whereas before he was at the mercy of available surfaces: buildings, walls, ceilings, etc. For the first time in this game, the player can precisify where they are able to move.

Eventually, Venom and Spider-Man fight and chase each other on the top of a moving underground subway. In this tunnel, Spider-Man not only chases Venom and tries to injure him, but has to fend off more lizard mutants. As Venom occasionally pops in and out of visibility, he taunts both Spider-Man and the player, tongue dangling out lazily.

The game proceeds with several more sewer puzzles, in which Venom (of course) escapes. These puzzles consist of valves and pipes and a bunch of sewer equipment, where Spider-Man has to avoid getting drowned and so forth. Eventually, this moves deep enough into the layer for the plot to progress.

In this final layer of the sewers, it becomes clear that this isn’t just about the sewers or Venom. This fight takes place over Mary Jane. Over the course of this scene, while Mary Jane dangles, they discuss the “impostor” Spider-Man. Then, Venom subdued, the two (somewhat) team up for the following sequences of the game. (The naive player should be wary of the incoming “surf the web” pun…)

The game shifts, and the focus then becomes another symbiote besides Venom: Carnage. Little symbiotes have appeared in the game’s world, and that doesn’t sit well with either Spider-Man or Venom. (Stan Lee returns!) Here, Spider-Man fights these symbiotes until he discovers that they’re seemingly all coming out of the Daily Bugle’s basement. Spider-Man righteously pursues them into the depths, where he must activate and move elevators while fending off these symbiotes. Not long after these efforts, the symbiotes band together to take out the cables for the elevators, causing catastrophe.

Spider-Man encounters a symbiote generator and realizes that he must destroy not only this one, but three more. Spider-Man then frantically battles his way through the destruction of these four massive generators, finally gaining access to “flame webbing.” This webbing incinerates the symbiotes that chase the player throughout the level. It’s a kind of celebratory cremation.

The player then moves downstairs, to the proper basement of the Daily Bugle. Spider-Man then has to navigate through the labyrinth of this basement while fending off symbiotes. This isn’t exactly easy either because they take (seemingly) a thousand hits each.

Then, Spider-Man encounters something he never expected: himself. Or, rather, the imposter from the game’s beginning. It’s Mysterio, cloaked in the costume of Spider-Man, who reveals himself as the impostor. As they circle each other, sizing one another up, Mysterio changes form and grows to about 15 times Spider-Man’s actual size to fight. Using web bullets, the player is able to take out Mysterio’s energy sources, thereby defeating him. This master of illusion fails to conquer the little spider, and so he shrinks back down to size.

Mysterio, shrunken and humiliated, reveals the implication of the earlier phases (one and two): the Symbiote Invasion is incoming. And worse, the green fog from the game’s beginning has been preparing the citizens of New York City for symbiosis. Frustrated, Spider-Man punches a shattering hole in Mysterio’s glass helmet, and reprimands him for foolishness and malevolence. No one can control these symbiotes, according to Mysterio, “before now.”

Spider-Man heads to Warehouse 65, at Mysterio’s cryptic insistence, and encounters the Punisher atop the adjacent roof. A brief sequence ensues in which the possibility of the two of them teaming up is rejected by Spidey (“Mr. Deathwish”). He then enters on his own.

Deep in the annals of the “cliche seedy waterfront warehouse,” as Stan Lee puts it, Spider-Man has to take on the symbiotes and some generators. Eventually, he finds his way into the air ducts, and finally has to drop down into the depths with the echoing “geronimo!”

Spider-Man lands in an underwater trench, some kind of secure facility. This trench includes electrical obstacles and a turret system of defense that makes the player’s journey through this facility a little less facile. Long story short (and I say this with experience), swing through corridors at your own risk.

Eventually, Spider-Man has to dodge some rather robotic and artificially intelligent-looking defense systems (not excluding lasers) that are attempting to stop him from encountering the next arena: the six-pointed mainhub: the centre.

Spider-Man discovers Black Cat, who’s trapped in a glass prison, lacking the power (electrical energy) to escape. In Spider-Man’s search for Black Cat’s freedom, he learns how to shut off the green gas from the City as well. (The fog has been emitting from open pipes out in the Hudson.) This is a boon for air quality, but a bane to Spider-Man and the player. For a gas leak occurs within the system’s mainframe, rendering Spider-Man to avoid these consistent mini-explosions from the pipes within the “research facilities.”

Black Cat is freed, and Spider-Man splits up with her to continue on, down the pipes to find out who has really been behind all of this. It turns out, to Spider-Man’s shock, that Doc Ock has been the mastermind behind the symbiotes. His right-hand man (symbiote), Carnage, heads off in a fight with Venom (who Carnage calls “grandpa”), leaving Spider-Man to fight Doc Ock one-on-one. Spider-Man declares that no one can control the symbiotes, and the fight begins.

Doc Ock has an energy shield, preventing Spider-Man’s usual attacks from dealing damage. Rather, Spider-Man has to run around shooting these “on” buttons, claiming to need more power. This pattern continues throughout the boss fight, and in a cylindrical fashion, Spider-Man eventually wanes Doc Ock down to defeat.

With Doc Ock down and vulnerable, Spider-Man questions a now gasping Venom, who has been captured by Carnage. It is now up to Spider-Man to take Carnage out. Carnage, in the meantime, eagerly flits about through the level, taunting the player in a voice that now renders Venom’s aforementioned taunts entirely irrelevant: the game does a fantastic and convincing job of making you want to kill Carnage.

Like the fight with Doc Ock, this battle with Carnage has a circular dynamic. There is limited space for this arachnoid who swings across cityscapes, usually free. Spider-Man has to basically trap Carnage in the energy field within the center of the ring in which they have been running around. Once Spider-Man succeeds, Carnage is absolutely fried by this radiation. Carnage thus melts into a puddle. Spider-Man starts monologuing, gets confident and…

Big mistake. He’s grabbed at the neck by Doc Ock’s arms, with the surprising twist that the arms belong to a now revivified Carnage! This incarnation of Carnage (which I’ll henceforth refer to as carnal Carnage) is out to kill. The game then becomes a test of eye-hand coordination, a reflex-based dynamic that renders the player’s actions with immediate (not just high) stakes. These stakes are raised with regards to the player’s adeptness with quick actions and moves. Carnal Carnage is out to get the player with a literal vengeance. And the player has to excel – almost flawlessly – to escape this battle and reach the surface. No amount of caution doors and collapsed barricades are any obstacle for this carnal Carnage.

Carnal Carnage chases Spider-Man out of the vents, with explosions following their every step forward. Eventually, the flames overtake carnal Carnage, rendering him (presumably) dead. The symbiote slides off Doc Ock’s unconscious body, having saved his life despite the flames. Thus ends the game’s gameplay.

Spider-Man salvages Doc Ock’s body, emerging in the Hudson to the arrival of Venom and Black Cat riding in Captain America’s flying ship. After all the misery inflicted on the city’s inhabitants, Spider-Man can’t just let Doc Ock die; he comes along for the ride, bound for a prison cell.

The game wraps up rather quickly after this final scene of gameplay. The player has just survived (seemingly) innumerable boss battles, and so the cutscene-calm is welcomed. By the game’s end, the protagonist characters are gathered around a table, playing cards and sharing liquor. In the meantime, the villains all end up in a prison cell, together. They, too, are playing cards: Rhino, Scorpion, Doc Ock, a freshly-bandaged Mysterio, and one of the game’s thugs. They band together, promising (threatening?) revenge. The game wraps up with the ambiguous: “The End?”

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Spider-Man (2000) is a flawed masterpiece. Even at the time, this game exhibited goofy designs: the always-clenched fists of each character is clumsy even for this time period in game development history. The dialogue (and its delivery) would be but a barren husk of an action film without the inundating dad jokes, puns, and post-90’s inflection. The game’s music rumbles with thick bass that carries underneath the game’s entire unfolding. And the gameplay bears about three main facets: battle, races, and stealth. This game bears the mark of its time.

Thinking about the subsequent Spider-Man game releases, somehow this PS1/PC/N64 release packs a more powerful punch than the better-equipped sequels ever have. This game does an impressive job of straddling the line between epic and ridiculous, between serious and hilarious (intentionally and unintentionally). Unlike the rest of Spider-Man games that would follow this technologically primitive, classic release, Spider-Man (2000) stands head-and-shoulders above games of its time.

How exciting would it be to see this game remade from the ground up in 2018? The upcoming Insomniac release will bring new and exciting elements to the Spider-Man universe that will move the series forward into a new era. The open-world setup, for instance, is entirely unlike the relentlessly linear Activision game that we’ve been exploring. Hopefully, Insomniac’s developers have played previous iterations of the Spider-Man franchise and pooled together elements from the classic and successful stories. Luckily, it seems, this new Spider-Man release will prove to be the Grand Theft Auto of its generation.

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