Spider-Man
We take the GameCube version of Spider-Man for a spin. Full preview, hands-on, and media.

Spider-Man for GameCube is developed by Treyarch and published by Activision Entertainment. The game, which follows the movie closely but also takes some liberties, is not just a quick cash-in on a big license -- it's actually the next step in the widely acclaimed Spider-Man titles created by NeverSoft for the last generation of consoles. It's bigger, more refined, and naturally much more beautiful. Is your spider sense tingling yet? It should be.

Features

• Play as the famous superhero Spider-Man
• Explore 22 huge worlds
• Swing above skyscrapers, climb walls and buildings, hang from ceilings, use webbing to propel forward and more
• Summersault, jump, run, dive, and flip your way out of enemy's harm
• Use special power-ups and perform more than 30 different attack moves and combos
• Fight super villains in different types of environments
• Next-generation 3D engine developed by Treyarch for use with GameCube, Xbox and PS2
• Beautiful new visual enhancements including more detailed textures, bigger environments, reflection mapping, advanced particle effects and more
• Single-player adventure
• Ships April 16 to retailers

Gameplay
Spider-Man for GameCube loosely follows the storyline of the feature film, which highlights ordinary teenager Peter Parker's transition into extraordinary superhero Spider-Man -- his ups and downs during and after, including a battle with nemesis Green Goblin. After Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider, he discovers that he has inherited new powers from the insect, including enhanced strength -- that of 10 men, the acrobatic abilities to flip, summersault and dive with a heightened sense of speed, and much, much more. He can climb walls, cling to ceilings, and with the help a self-created web-device, literally spin thick webbing which allows him to swing from skyscrapers. When a local thug directly attacks Parker's family, he decides to use his new, secret powers for good -- to become Spider-Man.

Like the movie, Activision's game takes players through all of this. Players control Parker -- still dressed in an incomplete version of his Spider-Man costume -- when he comes home to find his family attacked, all the way up to his many encounters with the Green Goblin over the skies of a huge, bustling city. But developer Treyarch has taken some liberties so far as storyline is concerned and included several new enemies for players to battle with -- Kraven (Xbox), Scorpion and Shocker being just a few examples.

Gamers who played Activision's previous Spider-Man releases from developer NeverSoft will recognize some mechanical similarities in this new GameCube title. There are several modes of play, from straight action and exploration levels where the webslinger searches out rooms, fights enemies and climbs walls to epic battles in mid-air through crowded city buildings. Activision demonstrated a few of the different modes in motion to us recently and we were very pleased. In one level, Spidey swings from building to enormous building while trying to jump on the board of the Green Goblin and deliver the foe a helping of fist soup. There are others still -- hallways filled with booby traps such as fire and swinging blades, that Spider-Man must avoid, or areas in which he must climb to the top of a building and then jump into it through a hole at the top. There are 22 levels in the GameCube and PS2 versions and 24 in the Xbox -- Microsoft apparently shelled out the cash for a little something extra. Spider-Man is fast -- he can run, flip, summersault, cling to walls, climb ceilings, or use his webbing to stick to areas and propel himself forward. All of this works fairly seamlessly throughout the adventure as he explores and interacts with enemies. This sense of fluidity is made at least partially possible due to an improved camera system that closely centers on the superhero during exploration scenes, but locks onto enemies during battle. This enables to freely swing, jump and climb all about the levels without losing sight of what is usually the biggest immediate threat -- some pesky thug or more troublesome boss character.

Spider-Man can kick and punch enemies, or tie them up in webbing, if players so desire, but the combat system is far more complex. There are more than 30 different power-ups, moves and combos, according to Activision. The different moves can be executed through a quick combination of button and analog taps -- the standard stuff, and it works quite nicely.

Graphics and Technology
Spider-Man is a very pretty game. The guys at Treyarch have worked hard to deliver an action-adventure that closely mimics the style and essence of the feature film. To this extent, Spider-Man soars through gargantuan 3D environments overflowing with geometry-based buildings, all of which brandish detailed textures. The windows of the skyscrapers even sparkle with environment-mapped reflections, which looks downright beautiful. There is a true sense of immensity, particularly as Spider-Man swings from building to building. Players can see greatly into the distance and with little drop in detail. If one looks down, they will even notice that the streets far below are packed with moving vehicles. Of course, Spider-Man can't actually swing down to the street floor -- if players try, he'll simply fall and the levels will restart -- but it's a magnificent visual effect all the same.

Spider-Man comes to life with superb animation. The webslinger fluidly runs and swings with realistic motion and transitions, and even summersaults, dives and flips look fantastic. There is a very advanced particle system in place so that explosions, fire, smoke, lighting bolts and everything else scatter, split and seem to go everywhere as Spider-Man encounters some heavily armed bosses. The superhero can surround himself in webbing and break it apart, thus shooting it outward at enemies, and this too is a graphical treat, easily handling the transparencies that lesser games could not.

There is some debate as to whether or not the Xbox version of the game features more detailed textures than the rest, but if it does, it's a very marginal difference. In the latest versions of the games presented to us, though, Microsoft's console showed a clear advantage in framerate fluidity as Spider-Man generally ran at 60 frames on the machine with fewer drops to 30 than were had on GameCube or PS2. To its credit, though, the GCN version was early and in fact even crashed once during our hands-on time with it, so it's quite possible that everything will be brought up to snuff before its release.

One thing that Activision hopes to do -- which it says would be exclusive to the GameCube version -- is to get the title running in progressive-scan mode on Nintendo's next-generation machine. The company hasn't yet decided if this will be possible -- it's just a matter of time, so here's hoping it happens. Finally, on the audio side, players can look forward to some nicely orchestrated music and some great voice acting very reminiscent of the feature films.

Outlook
Spider-Man for GameCube should prove to be one very enjoyable action-adventure. The title shows obvious inspirations from the NeverSoft developed games of last generation, which is not a bad thing. Lots of different gameplay modes, an improved sense of speed and tight control go well with a noticeably enhanced camera system, seriously blown out graphics and audio, and more. There's even a fun story packed in for good measure.

Spider-Man hits GameCube, PS2, Xbox and PC simultaneously April 16 in the US. We'll be counting the days.