Have You Ever Tried NOT Progressing Through a Video Game?

I picked up the Spiderman 2 video game a few days ago and it has definitely impressed me so far. The game plays like a mixture between an extreme sports game like Tony Hawk Pro Skater and a free roaming action game like Grand Theft Auto. It's like Tony Hawk because doing something cool is as easy as just pressing a button but doing something really cool requires perfectly timed presses of nearly every button on the controller at once. The Grand Theft Auto similarity comes in not because you can get head from Mary Jane in the alley, but because just roaming the city without any goals is so much fun. Unfortunately after the first 5 hours or so, it also seems like Grand Theft Auto because running around the city just messing around is significantly more fun than actually progressing through the game. To be honest, this is probably an unfair assessment at this point because I've consciously been trying to avoid progressing in the game until I see the movie on Saturday, but from what I've played so far it seems to be the case.

The problem is that none of the actual game missions seem to require any of the skills that you learn while swinging around the city. The cool swinging mechanics and wall climbing almost feel completely detached from the mediocre combat system, and the missions kind of go along with this because they are either the fight this guy or go this place type of missions. It feels like every part of the game was rushed to make it out in time for the movie except for the play mechanics and the fact that it's STILL a great game is a testament to how important fun play mechanics really are.

Last night, while trying to avoid progressing through the game, I spent at least an hour seeing how far I could make it through the city without ever touching the ground, not touching a single rooftop, and not using my webbing. I just ran along walls, jumping from the wall of one building to the next without ever stopping to stick to the wall. I didn't ealize it until I was half way across the city, but I had triggered a little mini obstacle course before starting my little sub-game and had veered away from it entirely (My utter lack of ability to focus is to blame here). It took me several minutes to swing my way back to the obstacle course to finish a 2 minute long course almost 20 minutes after it started.

Again, I still haven't seen the movie, but even if it sucks (and it won't) Spider Man 2 the game comes highly recommended. You may have to create your own goals though.