Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro

Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro is a 2001 action-adventure video game based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision for the PlayStation. It is the sequel to Spider-Man (2000), and directly follows the events of that game, as Spider-Man tries to stop Electro from becoming all-powerful using a mechanism called the Bio-Nexus Device. Like its predecessor, the game features several classic Spider-Man villains as bosses, including the Shocker, Hammerhead, the Lizard, Sandman, and Electro, as well as his charged-up Hyper-Electro persona, created exclusively for the game.
Enter Electro received moderate favorable reviews, with critics generally considering it to be a downgrade from its predecessor. The game gained some fame for having its final level modified after the September 11 attacks; originally set to take place on top of the World Trade Center, the setting was later changed to a generic skyscraper. It was followed by Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 for the home video game consoles and PlayStation Portable, based on the first two films released in 2002 and 2004, while the standalone sequel for the Game Boy Advance, Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace, was released in September 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 comic-book 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 events of Spider-Man, 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: The Shocker.
After defeating Shocker, Spider-Man follows the thug's tip and heads for an airfield, where the contact is headed towards. Along the way, he is forced to disable a bomb, take out a machine-gun nest, and stop a runaway airplane from crashing. As the contact escapes via helicopter, Spider-Man plants another tracer on it and tracks it to a train yard owned by Hammerhead, where he must fight through his mob-employed night staff and The Sandman to stop the contact from fleeing aboard a train. Spider-Man eventually confronts the contact, The Beetle, and although the latter manages to escape with the briefcase, he unknowingly leaves behind a clue for Spider-Man: an invitation to the Science and Industry Ball.
Meanwhile, Electro explains his master plan to his accomplices: to claim the Bio-Nexus Device. In the hands of an ordinary person, it can amplify their bio-energy to power a city block, but in his hands, the device will amplify his powers to god-like levels. The villains have acquired most of the pieces that make up the device, but they still need its power source. Believing its creator, Dr. Watts, might know where it is located, Electro sends Hammerhead and his men to kidnap her at the ball. Hammerhead takes several people hostage but is foiled by Spider-Man, who rescues the hostages before facing and defeating Hammerhead. However, Sandman captures Dr. Watts during the confusion.
Looking for more information on Dr. Watts and why she is sought by the villains, Spider-Man calls Dr. Curt Connors, her colleague at BioTech, only to hear roars on the other end of the line. Fearing Connors has transformed into his monstrous alter-ego once again, Spider-Man infiltrates BioTech and makes his way past security to reach Connors' lab, where he is confronted by the Lizard. After creating an antidote to restore Connors back to normal, Spider-Man learns from him about Electro's plan. He then goes to investigate Dr. Watts' lab and discovers that the device can be powered by a hand-sized sapphire. After defeating Sandman, Spider-Man sees a newspaper article about a sapphire called the Zeus Tear on display at the Museum. Realizing it is big enough to power the Bio-Nexus Device, Spider-Man rushes to get there before Electro does.
Electro beats Spider-Man to the museum, but the latter manages to defeat him inside the planetarium and secures the sapphire. Still holding Dr. Watts hostage, Electro coerces Spider-Man into giving him the sapphire by threatening the doctor's life. Spider-Man throws the jewel into the air as Electro releases Dr. Watts, but when the former attempts to take back the sapphire with his webs, he misses, allowing Electro to grab it. With the Bio-Nexus Device complete, Electro uses it to supercharge himself into "Hyper-Electro", a being made of pure electrical energy, and flies away in a bolt of lighting. An injured Spider-Man follows him to the top of a nearby skyscraper where, unable to directly attack him, instead uses the tower's generators to disable the Bio-Nexus Device, allowing him to defeat Electro and destroy the device, ending the villain's power play for good.
The next day, Thor is credited in the Daily Bugle with saving New York from Electro, much to Spider-Man's annoyance. In prison, Electro moans over his defeat as he shares a cell with Hammerhead and Shocker, who try to ignore him and play cards. When they get bored of poker, Shocker decides to ask the villains from the first game, who are imprisoned in a nearby cell, if they know how to play Go Fish.
Development
Delay and modifications
Following the September 11 attacks, Activision delayed the release of the game in order to remove references to the World Trade Center. The final level of the game originally took place atop the Twin Towers; this was changed to a generic pair of towers with an added bridge between them. An establishing shot of the Twin Towers in the preceding cutscene was deleted entirely. Other alterations made for sensitivity reasons included level name changes; the levels Crash Flight!, Downward Spiral, Aces High and Top of the World became Wind Tunnel, The Corkscrew, The Gauntlet and The Best Laid Plans, respectively.
Web-exclusive content
On September 28, 2001, Activision posted an exclusive cutscene from the game for download on the official Spider-Man game website. The cutscene contained Spider-Man and Thor meeting following the game's final battle. The exact content of the scene is unknown; no download links or backups survive and the video is considered lost media.
Reception
Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro received a moderately positive reception, albeit lower than that of the first game. 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". 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.
Sequel
A standalone sequel titled Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace was released in 2001. In addition, the video game adaptation of the 2002 film shares a similar gameplay style and control scheme and could be considered a spiritual third game.
References
External links
2001 video games
3D platform games
Activision beat 'em ups
Impact of the September 11 attacks on the video game industry
PlayStation (console) games
PlayStation (console)-only games
Success (company) games
Superhero video games
Video games based on Spider-Man
Video games set in New York City
Video games developed in the United States
Single-player video games
Vicarious Visions games