Bruce Von Stiers

With the all the hype of the new Spider-man game, you know that someone would have a strategy guide for it. That is what BradyGames has done. They published a book by Phillip Marcus that covers a ton of stuff from the game. The title of the book is Spider-man Official Strategy Guide. It covers the Spider-man the movie game for the PS2, GameCube and Xbox.

The first thing that I really like about this book is that it is in full color and has slick, magazine type of pages. The second thing that I like about the book is that it includes a huge poster from the game.

The book has 160 pages and was copyrighted in 2002.

The book lists an Introduction, but my copy didn’t actually have one. The other sections are Characters, Basic Web-Slinging, Step-By-Step Swing through, Your Friendly Neighborhood Travel Guide, Making the Game and Secrets.

In the Characters section there are bios of each of the major characters in the game. There are also pictures of what the character looks like in the game. Each character has a chart that lists their real name and (if they are a hero or villain) things like super powers, weapons and equipment.

With the Basic Web-Slinging you will get a chance learn what some of the basic and enhanced controls are for each game platform. You will learn that to have Spidey punch someone, you sue the Square button on the PS2 and the X button for the Xbox. To look around, the chart tells you to use the Z+right combination of the GameCube and the R3 button for the PS2. This section also briefly covers the fighting techniques like jump and kick. Learn how to treat Spider-man like a yo-yo. There is also a chart for combo moves.

The Step-By-Step Swingthrough is a complete walkthrough of the game. There will be things that the book tells you to do and things to avoid. There are little hints like On The Right Track. One of these hints in the first level tells you that if you see the Activision building in the distance, you are going in the right direction. You will learn what the primary objectives for the level are and what the bonus objective is.

Screenshots are plentiful in the Swingthrough. One such screenshot shows Spider-man rescuing a civilian in The Subway Station mission. When fighting a boss, the book gives hints on how to defeat them. Like in the fight with Shocker, the book suggests sending a ball of Impact Webbing at him and dodge any counter-attacks. There are tabs above the level listing that indicate the level in each game that this encounter belongs to. A Gradient chart shows the Level Difficulty as well.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Travel Guide has maps of all the levels of the game. Here you will see the layout for the parking garage from the Corralled level. You will also find out where the back room is at The Subway Station.

Making The Game has a whole bunch of line art that was used for the concept art. Here are full color illustrations of the Chop Shop the Cathedral Tower. There are also interviews with people like Creative Director Chris Soares and Lead Game Designer Tomo Morwaki.

The last section is a one page piece called Secrets. Here the author gives you a couple of charts that will tell you thing like what you can purchase after accumulating 20,000 points and what can be unlocked at each difficulty level. There is also a chart that lists the objectives for each level.

Spider-man Official Strategy Guide is definitely something that you need to pick up when getting your copy of Spider-man the movie game. It has the information that is essential to win the game. I know my son has referred to the book on several occasions when playing the game. And the color drawings in the book are just too cool.

Check out Spider-man Official Strategy Guide at your local bookstore. You might also want to check out the BradyGames web site at www.bradygames.com.