Spins a web, any size, catches thieves just like flies...

Save the city, be the hero, get the girl - you won't find a more instantly attractive premise this year. And, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas aside, it's unlikely you'll find a game to match the sheer scale and ambition of Spider-Man 2. The biggest achievement is the vast model of Manhattan that provides the playground for your superheroics. Its enormity is driven home early on when, as Peter Parker, the Daily Bugle orders you to take an aerial photograph of the city. Change into Spidey's spandex, scramble up the tallest skyscraper, look down and - wow! - mile after glistening mile, and not a single loading time in sight. That's right, no invisible walls and no off-limit areas - just a bustling urban sandbox waiting to be explored.

So you do the obvious thing and dive in - headfirst and arms back as ground rushes to meet face. The screen blurs as Spidey hits terinal velocity and then, with seconds to spare before splatterisation, you flick out a web line and arc back towards the sky, gasping at the sheer thrill of it as - twat! - you hit a building like a suicidal pigeon. Mercifully, the only damage done is to your ego, and if you manage to press Circle in time you can even segue smoothly from swing to crawl - theoretically making it look like, yeah, you actually wanted to do that. But the erratic nature of the swinging encapsulates how we feel about Spider-Man 2 as a whole. When it works (which for the most part, it does) it's brilliant. But on the occasions it doesn't, you may want to wash Spidey down the nearest plughole.

To be fair, it's remarkable the swinging works at all. Seriously, imagine being a programmer and watching the CG-straining footage of Maguire bouncing around NYC, then going away and trying to make it happen using a Dual Shock. And it's not like a driving game where people come with an instinctive understanding of racing lines and braking points, or a first-person shooter where strafing is second nature. For obvious reasons, there aren't any other swinging games (unless you count The Sims) so Spider-Man 2 has to teach its audience an entirely new trick.

Fortunately, every effort is made to baby you through the learning process. And once you've purchased a few speed upgrades (from the Spider Shops that are dotted around) you really can take entire blocks in a single swing. With practice you also get used to timing the release of your line and using Spidey's momentum until, eventually, you can whip him around tight corners and change direction in a snap. And in full flow, it really does feel sensational. But the system isn't designed for precision. This only becomes a major problem a couple of times, most notably when you're asked to swing over the water to the Statue of Liberty using hovering UFOs. Some 80 dunkings later we made it to the other side, shaking with rage and absolutely ready to smash Spidey's face clean off if he ever made a 'funny' about not being able to swim ever again. Staggeringly, there's another terrible iece of design lurking soon after. You're trying to knock out Doc Ock's malfunctioning generator, but again the controls just aren't precise enough to negotiate the massive energy blasts it's emitting. Worse, they don't even knock you in the logical direction. And at that point the game was staring down the barrel of a seven.

Taken as a whole though, Spider-Man 2 redeems itself. Thankfully, whenever you die, the game restarts from very nearby. Also, for every really annoying moment, there's a couple of absolute crackers - like swinging under Brooklyn Bridge while chasing after Black Cat, or hitching a ride from a helicopter on your way to rescue Aunt May from an oncoming train. The clever way the game's structured also helps. To unlock each new chapter, you first need to complete a couple of objectives, one of which advances the story, while the other usually involves acquiring a set number of hero points. How you do this is entirely up to you, and there's plenty of choice because trouble is never more than a street away.

Manhattan is stuffed with things to do - from race challenges and pizza deliveries to the missions you pick up from distressed citizens, which include intervening in robberies, rescuing trapped construction workers and returning lost balloons to whining children. These give the game a loose, natural rhythm, because after dealing with a tricky boss encounter in the main game, helping out the locals actually comes as a relief - giving you space to breathe and really explore. Our only reservations are how quickly the optional missions start to repeat and the slightly limited nature of the combat.

Spidey begins the game with a decent enough array of moves and there's a huge amount of upgrades on sale at the Spider Shops, the best of which involve using your web lines to throw enemies around and string them up from lampposts. Facing multiple opponents, things inevitably get a bit messy - but you can use Spider Reflexes to slow time, making it easier to activate powerful counter moves. Yet even with the full range of attacks to play with, the fighting still seems a touch clunky - lacking the fluidity and impact of Onimusha 3, for example.

But let's not pull any more of Spidey's legs off. Those with particularly short memories would do well to remember that there was a time when all you had to do was say 'movie licence' to a videogame fan and it would induce Zidane-style vomiting. And that time was last week. Spider-Man 2 is almost unique in that it not only does justice to the source material - Maguire's voice acting is a massive help here - but also stands as an enjoyable gameplay experience in its own right. The design is ambitious enough to give most games a nosebleed, but Spider-Man 2 doesn't buckle - and, despite some off-key moments, fully delivers on its brilliant premise. The city's waiting for you, superhero.

Graphics 80%
Slick animation. Manhattan is incredible!

Sound 80%
Excellent voicing from all the stars.

Gameplay 80%
Enjoyable, but prone to repetition

Lifespan 90%
Enormous city with loads to see and do.

Overall 80%
Sets a new standard for movie crossovers, delivering a thrillingly freeform experience marred only by the occasional uneven mission.