Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro

Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro is an action-adventure video game based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. It was developed by Vicarious Visions, published by Activision, and released for the PlayStation in October 2001. It is the sequel to Neversoft's 2000 Spider-Man game, and directly follows the events of that game, as Spider-Man tries to stop Electro from becoming all-powerful using the Bio-Nexus Device. Like the predecessor, the game features various villains from the comics as bosses, including the Shocker, Hammerhead, the Lizard, Sandman, and Electro, as well as his charged-up Hyper-Electro persona, created for the game.

For other media called Spider-Man 2, see Spider-Man 2 (disambiguation).
Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro
North American cover art
Developer(s)Vicarious Visions
Publisher(s)Activision
Designer(s)Brent Boylen
Programmer(s)Chris McEvoy
Dave Calvin
Dmitriy Buluchevskiy
Artist(s)Carl Schell
Writer(s)Todd Quincey Jefferson
Brent Boylen
Marc Turndorf
Platform(s)PlayStation
Release
  • NA: October 19, 2001
  • EU: October 26, 2001
  • JP: October 31, 2001
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

The game's final level changed due to the events of the September 11 attacks. Originally, Spider-Man was supposed to fight Hyper-Electro during a severe thunderstorm atop the World Trade Center, and a portion of the North Tower would get destroyed during the battle. After the attacks, the setting was changed to the rooftop of a generic building. The game was followed by 2002's Spider-Man, based on the film that came out the same year, and a standalone sequel, Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace, was released in 2001.

Gameplay

One major difference between the game and its predecessor is the ability to play on ground levels. In the first game's outdoor levels, if Spider-Man swung too low below designated rooftops, he would fall into yellow mist that dominated most of the game's levels and die. This game, however, presented levels based in limited city streets. They were confined grids rather than a free-roam environment.

The enemies in Enter Electro are more realistic than the ones in the previous game, with the lizardmen and alien symbiotes being replaced by criminals, drones and robots. In this game, Spider-Man has the ability to shoot a Web Ball while in mid-air. Spider-Man can also attach electricity and ice to his webbing. This time, the training mode takes the player to the X-Men's Danger Room Simulator wherein Rogue and Professor X assist and navigate Spider-Man on what he needs to know with everything that may be useful during the course of gameplay. The hand animation is also changed. Now, every character's hands can react instead of waving fists. The basic punch and kick combo moves are also changed, doing away with the two-handed uppercut/mule kick for the third strike. Spider-Man only has one jump animation in this game, with him having two in the predecessor. The game primarily features only four credited voice actors: Rino Romano as Spider-Man and Jennifer Hale as Dr. Watts and Rogue, meanwhile Daran Norris and Dee Bradley Baker provided the rest of the voices.

By completing certain in-game goals, new costumes can be unlocked for Spider-Man. Many of them have special powers to alter the game experience. Included are all the costumes from the first game, with the same abilities, as well as several new outfits. A new option called "Create-A-Spider" mode allows the player to apply up to three in-game powers to any unlocked costume. The game powers include enhanced strength, unlimited webbing and invincibility.

Two additional costumes designed by comicbook artist Alex Ross were also featured in the game, one of which was a prototype costume design for the then-upcoming 2002 Spider-Man movie.

Plot

Shortly after the Spider-Man thwarted Doctor Octopus' symbiote invasion plot, a series of robberies led by Electro take place throughout New York City. While out on patrol, Spider-Man spots one of the robberies taking place at a building owned by BioTech. Planting a Spider-Tracer on the head thief's motorcycle, Spider-Man follows it to an abandoned warehouse where the thief is passing off a stolen briefcase to a contact. Spider-Man takes out the thugs and interrogates one of them, before being forced to fight the head thug: Shocker.

After defeating Shocker, Spider-Man follows the thug's tip and heads for the airfield, where the contact is headed towards. Along the way, Spider-Man is forced to disable a bomb threat, take out a machine-gun nest, and stop a runaway airplane from crashing. As the contact escapes via helicopter, Spider-Man is able to plant another tracer on it and track it to a train yard owned by Hammerhead. Fighting his way through the mob-employed night staff, as well as Sandman, Spider-Man races to catch a fleeing train, where he finally confronts the contact: the Beetle. He escapes with the briefcase, but unknowingly leaves behind a clue for Spider-Man: an invitation to the Science and Industry Ball.

Elsewhere, Electro explains to his accomplices his master plan: to use the Bio-Nexus Device, which can amplify one's bio-energy to power a city block and whose pieces they have been stealing until now, to amplify his own powers and become a god. However, the device is missing its power source, so Electro sends Hammerhead and his goons to go to the ball and kidnap the device's creator, Dr. Watts, who might know where it is. At the ball, Spider-Man defeats Hammerhead and his goons and saves several hostages, but Dr. Watts is kidnapped by Sandman.

Looking for more information on Dr. Watts and why the villains could have wanted to capture her, Spider-Man calls Dr. Curt Connors, who is a colleague of hers at BioTech, but to no avail. He then decides to infiltrate the BioTech headquarters and makes his way to Connors' lab, only to find that he transformed into his dangerous alter-ego: the Lizard. After being restored back to normal, Connors reveals Elector's plan to Spider-Man and suggests he goes look for more information on the Bio-Nexus Device at Dr. Watts' lab. At the lab Spider-Man learns that the device's power source is a sapphire, before being attacked by Sandman. After defeating Sandman by flushing him down a sewer grate, Spider-Man learns that the sapphire is on display at the museum from a newspaper, at the same time as Electro does, after one of his goons brings him the same news article.

Electro beats Spider-Man to the museum, but is ultimately defeated by him inside the planetarium. However, as he is still holding Dr. Watts hostage, Electro decides to use this to his advantage and threatens to kill her unless Spider-Man gives him the sapphire. After a failed attempt to trick Electro, Spider-Man saves Dr. Watts, but loses the sapphire, which falls into Electro's hands. The Bio-Nexus Device complete, he uses it to supercharge himself into "Hyper-Electro", an all-powerful being made of pure electrical energy, and flies away in a bolt of lighting. Spider-Man follows him to the top of a tower where, unable to directly attack him, instead uses the tower's generators to overload the Bio-Nexus Device, destroying it and ending Electro's power play for good.

The next day, Thor is credited in the Daily Bugle as having saved New York from Electro, much to Spider-Man's disappointment. In prison, Electro sits in his cell moaning over his defeat, while Hammerhead and Shocker ignore him and play poker. In a nearby cell, the villains from the previous game are still locked up, and Shocker attempts to ask them if they know how to play Go Fish.

Development

Delay and modifications

Following the September 11 attacks, Activision halted production of the game in order to remove references to buildings resembling the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center,[1] change the final battle stages, re-edit the cutscenes, and add a large bridge to the model of the World Trade Center. Originally, the battle was atop the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center, but since the towers were destroyed on 9/11, the game was re-released with a different ending and epilogue. Several levels were renamed and other minor changes were made to levels and cutscene in order to avoid any reference to the World Trade Center and 9/11, although the background World Trade Center and Empire State Building remained on cutscenes and even seen on trailers.

The pre-delay edition of the game depicting the WTC in the final battle made it into consumers' hands quickly, with reports as early as 31 October 2001.[2] There are no differences in packaging appearance between physical copies of the two editions.[3]

Reception

Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro received a moderately positive reception, albeit lower than that of the first game.[4] Critics noted the choice of villains was more obscure than its predecessor, and the short length of time to complete the game was another point of criticism. The game's storyline was divisive, as some saw it as below average and not up to par with the last installment, while others enjoyed it. The graphics, voice acting, soundtrack, and gameplay received praise, however. Jeff Lundrigan of Next Generation called it "a worthy successor, if not as exceptional as the original".[16] In Japan, where the game was ported and published by Success on October 31, 2002, Famitsu gave it a score of 27 out of 40.[8]

Sequel

A standalone sequel titled, Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace, was released in 2001.

References
  1. "Spider-Man 2 Delayed". IGN. September 17, 2001. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  2. RJunioJr (2001-10-31). "Spider-Man 2: Enter: Electro - FAQ/Walkthrough". GameFAQs.com. Retrieved 2019-09-24. A BIG NOTE: Spidey 2, have 2 versions, so if there are some difference with my guide and your game, there is a probability that we have different versions of the game
  3. "r/psx - Looking for Rare PS1 game - unedited Spider-Man 2". reddit. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  4. "Spider-Man 2: Enter: Electro Critic Reviews for PlayStation". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  5. Miller, Skyler. "Spider-Man 2 -- Enter: Electro - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  6. EGM Staff (November 2001). "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 148. Ziff Davis. p. 218.
  7. Bramwell, Tom (2001-11-22). "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro Review". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  8. "スパイダーマン2 エンター・エレクトロ [PS]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  9. Reiner, Andrew (October 2001). "Spider-Man 2: Enter: Electro". Game Informer. No. 102. FuncoLand. Archived from the original on 2008-01-21. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  10. Uncle Dust (2001-10-18). "Spider-Man 2 Enter: Electro [sic] Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2005-02-07. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  11. Nash, Joe (November 2001). "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  12. Villoria, Gerald (2001-10-16). "Spider-Man 2 Enter: Electro Review [sic]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  13. Bub, Andrew S. (2001-10-25). "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro (PSOne)". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2001-11-20. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  14. Lafferty, Michael (2001-11-13). "Spider-Man 2 Enter: Electro [sic] - PlayStation". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-12-30. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  15. Fujita, Mark (2001-10-29). "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  16. Lundrigan, Jeff (November 2001). "Spider-Man 2 Enter: Electro [sic]". Next Generation. No. 83. Imagine Media. p. 112. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  17. "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 50. Ziff Davis. November 2001. p. 168.
  18. Alt, Eric (2001-10-18). "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro". Maxim. Biglari Holdings. Archived from the original on 2001-12-29. Retrieved 2014-11-13.
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