The basic abilities are swinging, zipping, punching and kicking, dodging, web, camera lock, and the Web Mode in Enhanced Mode. Depending on how the player combines different buttons, it makes different effects. Wall-crawling is automatic, and players are also able to lift up heavy and light objects such as cars and chairs. There are 21 different combat combos which Gold Spiders are used to gain these combos, with 4 web controls, each having a type of "upgrade" to each. There is also "stealth mode", where Spider-Man is in shadow, and therefore is undetectable by enemies. This is necessary to gain extra points in the game. While the game is primarily in third-person, a cheat code allows players to switch to first-person view.
After completing the story mode of the game on at least hero difficulty, an unlockable bonus allows the player to play any level in the game as Harry Osborn in his father's Green Goblin costume, complete with his glider and arsenal, following an alternate timeline with Harry fighting an "alternate goblin" who claims to have been hired by Norman Osborn, adding a slightly new feel to the story, although the player plays exactly the same levels as they would with Spider-Man. Unlockable costumes for Spider-Man include Peter Parker in his civilian clothes, the homemade wrestling outfit from the movie, and acclaimed comic book artist Alex Ross' prototype design for the movie Spider-Man costume, which also triggers the Goblin to wear Ross' early design during battles. A cheat code allowed players to play as Mary Jane but was dropped from rereleased versions of the game due to the perceived lesbianism implications of scenes featuring the "player" Mary Jane and the "in-game" Mary Jane kissing.
Plot
The game begins with an optional tutorial, narrated by Bruce Campbell, which presents teenager Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) accommodating to his new superhuman spider-like abilities, which he developed after being accidentally bitten by a genetically modified spider created by Oscorp; the tutorial also serves as an introduction for the player to the game's controls and HUD. After the tutorial, the story of the game begins with Peter narrating about his life with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, having moved to live with them after his parents' death. Wanting to earn some quick cash, Peter decides to use his newly aquiered super-powers in a wrestling match as "Spider-Man", but the fight promoter cheats him of his prize money. When the promoter is robbed by a thug, Peter lets him escape, only to later find his Uncle Ben killed by a thug. Devastated, Peter decides to use his powers to hunt down the killer and exact revenge for Ben's death. Learning that Ben's killer is the leader of the Skrull gang, Peter beats up numerous members of the gang across several rooftops and interrogates one of them, who points him to a warehouse at the docks, where the rest of the gang, including the killer, is currently hiding from the police. Arriving at the warehouse before the police, Peter proceeds to battle more thugs and eventually confronts Ben's killer, only to discover that he is the same thug he let get away earlier. While Peter is shocked at this discovery, realizing that he could have easily prevented Ben's death if he would have stopped the thug when he had the chance, the thug accidentally slips out of a window and falls to his death. Shortly after, remembering Ben's words that "with great power comes great responsibility", Peter decides to use his powers for the greater good and creates himself a new Spider-Man costume; he becomes a superhero and begins to protect New York from crime.
Afterwards, Peter proceeds to speak about his best friends, Mary Jane Watson (Catherine O'Conner), whom he is attracted to, and Harry Osborn (Josh Keaton), whose father, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), is the CEO of Oscorp and allowed him and Harry to live in one of the apartments owned by the company; Peter also gets a job as a photographer for the Daily Bugle, taking pictures of himself as Spider-Man when in action. Meanwhile, Norman and his fellow Oscorp scientists are investigating the appearance of this new superhero and, anxious to develop their Human Performance Enhancer "Super Soldier" serum, which the company has invested a lot of money into, send several flying hunter robots after Spider-Man, believing that his spider DNA can help them finish the serum. While web-swinging through the city and taking photos of himself as Spider-Man for the Bugle, Peter gets attacked by the hunter robots, but he manages to destroy them, prompting Norman to look for a new strategy to capture Spider-Man.
Later, while web-swinging through the city, Spider-Man spots the villains Shocker (Michael Beattie) and Vulture (Dwight Schultz) robbing a jewelry shop and decides to give chase. Going after Shocker first, Spider-Man follows him and his goons to Grand Central Terminal, where battles several thugs and rescues the security guards and the civilians, but Shocker and many of his goons manage to escape into the sewers. Continuing with the chase, Spider-Man fights more thugs through the sewers and eventually confronts and defeats Shocker in a subway station, who then tells Spider-Man about Vulture's lair - an old clock tower on the Lower East Side of the city - as he refuses to allow Vulture to get away with his share of their stolen loot while he goes to prison. Arriving at the tower, Spider-Man climbs it to reach Vulture's lair, avoiding Vulture's bombs and kamikaze spider-shaped robots in the process, and eventually confronts Vulture inside his lair at the top of the tower, but he manages to escape. Giving chase, Spider-Man follows Vulture through the city, fixing his damage that endangers the civilians down below on the street along the way, and the two eventually stop to battle on top of the Chrysler Building. There, Spider-Man defeats Vulture and recovers the stolen loot, leaving both of them for the police at the bottom of the building.
