Watch Out! Here Comes the Spider-Man on Playstation!

"Spider-Man, Spider-Man, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man..."
I can hear the theme song already. (No, not the old version, the rockin' Aerosmyth version from the Fox cartoon, but close enough, eh?) I've always been a Spider-Man freak. Heck, I even look a little like the old 1960s Peter Parker. When I heard that Activision and Neversoft had brought out a Spidey game, I bought a Playstation just so I could get it! (THAT'S dedication!) I wasn't disappointed.

First, I gotta talk about all the cool stuff the game has to offer. Other than the great gameplay and easy-to-learn controlling (there's a Kid Mode so your little sibs can get in on the web-slinging), the graphics are superb. All the superheroes and supervillains you know and love are there: Black Cat, Venom, Carnage, Doctor Octopus (with voice acting done by the superb vocal talent Efram Zimbalist, Jr., who did TBN's "Word From the Holy Land"), the Punisher, Daredevil, Captain America, the Scorpion, Rhino, Mysterio, J. Jonah Jameson, and the web-slinger himself! The storyline is worthy of a feature film, the movies in between the levels are great, and the game even offers Training levels so you can hone your skills as the Wall-Crawler.

The game's pretty straight-forward. You get one life (unlimited restart option), you can hold ten web cartridges, and in some levels you can get cool stuff like Magnesium Webbing (to burn the symbiotes with) or the trusty silver Spidey-Armor. You have some cool web attacks, such as the web-trap, the web-pull, impact webbing, and the web-dome (which also serves as defense). Preserve your webbing, thought: you'll need it in th final level. (No, I won't tell you about it!)

In the game, you can look at biographies of all your favorite characters narrated by Stan "The Man" Lee himself! You can also collect comic books (that is, IF you can find them) and use different Spidey costumes (once again, IF you can find them).

What has to be the coolest feature of the game are the codes. See all the movies without earning them, look at the entire comic collection, play as the Captain Universe Spider-Man... you name it! In fact... don't tell anyone, but here are a few codes for you.

Unlock Everything: EEL NATS (Yes, that is Stan Lee's name backwards.) This code unlocks almost everything.

Invulnerability: RUSTCRST

Unlimited Webbing: STRUDL

Level Select: XCLSIOR

J. James Jewett: RULUR (Mr. Jewett is the President of Neversoft and the guy in charge of the Tony Hawk Pro-Skater and Spider-Man programming teams. Put in the code and J. Jonah Jameson is replaced by J. James Jewett! He'll be listed at the end of the Characters list.)

View All Characters: CVIEW EM

View All Movies: WATCH EM

View All Six Game Comic Covers: ALLSIXCC (The game is made of multiple levels divided into comic book covers. Now you can see all the covers without actually reaching the levels!)

View Comic Collection: CMC BUFF

Swear Filter: This isn't a code, but it's funny as all get out. Type in your favorite swear word and Spidey will pop up, knock it away, and replace it with another word. I don't swear much these days, so I let Mom try it. I looked on in humor as her words were changed into words like RAINBOW, DINOSAUR, HAPPY, BUNNY, CANDY, et cetera. I'm sure there are others, but I just cracked up at some of these.

Different Costumes -->
*Spider-Man 2099: TWNTYNDN This costume doubles the strength of your attacks.

*Spider-Man Captain Universe: S COSMIC Multiple powers: double damage, invulnerability, and unlimited webbing come with this costume.

*Spider-Man Symbiote: BLKSPIDR Tired of running out of webbing? Use this code.

*Spider-Man Unlimited: PARALLEL (This is the Spidey suit from the Fox cartoon that's being relaunched.) With this suit, you get a cool Steath mode!

*Scarlet Spider: LETTER S (Sounds like a bad vanity license plate, I know. This suit was worn by a clone in the comics.) No game powers, but it looks cool!

*Ben Reilly: BNREILLY (Yet another bad license plate. Spidey wore this cool suit when he went under the name Ben Reilly.) No game powers, but Spider-Man has never looked better!

*Peter Parker: MJS STUD (Worse license plate! Yes, you can play as Peter Parker minus the famous red-and-blue number.) You don't have your Spidey-Belt, so you can only hold two web cartridges (as opposed to the usual ten) for that extra challenge.

*Quick Change Spidey: ALMSTPKR (Basically, it's Peter Parker with a black mask and gloves. I guess he left his costume at home.) No Spidey-Belt; limit of two web cartridges.

*The Amazing Bag Man: AMZBGMAN (Remember when Peter forgot his suit, had to borrow a jumpsuit from the Fantastic Four, and tied a grocery bag over his head?) No Spidey-Belt; limit of two web cartridges.

The coolest code of all is...
The "What If?" Contest: GBHSRSPM In this universe, there are subtle differences. Some are grand (such as the blimp in the police chase level), some minute (such as certain superhero cameos). Find them all, if you can. (Hint: See if you can find the Ark of the Covenant in the warehouse.)

The music in this was great! If you like Apollo 440 and Sonicfusion, you'll love this game!

Overall, this was an excellent game that still gives hours of thrills, chills, and, as Stan Lee would put it, "non-stop web-slinging, wall-crawling action!" The best superhero game of all time, in my book.

Uh-oh, there goes my Spider-Sense. Off to sling more webs...