It's a cool, crisp New York City day out, the sun is shining and there's a slightly-too-brisk breeze whipping past my face. While turning a corner I hear the exclamation "Somebody help! My purse!" and pivot in time to see a man wrestling with this poor woman, exacting misery with each twist of his arm. One blow to the chin and he falls, dropping the purse. "Here you go ma'am." I say while handing her the freed purse while the hoodlum lays crumpled at my feet. I head back down my original path and not one block later someone grabs me and yells 'That person over there needs to get to the hospital!', then stares blankly at me. If you ask me, that fellow looks like he's faking his injury - those 'ows' and 'ees' wouldn't convince a grade school teacher. Nonetheless I aid the young man to the nearest hospital, but I swear he swapped injured legs halfway there. And just as I'm walking away from the hospital another stranger yells "That man is going to fall!" and points towards the top of one of the neighboring skyscrapers. "Where? WHERE?!" I shout, but his slack jaw tells me my time is best spent looking instead of asking. I manuever around the nearby buildings, desperately scanning for someone hanging in peril, my ear perks slightly at what sound like muffed screams for help but my eyes are blinded by the sun. After brief moments of frantic searching a scream surfaces behind me, and a knot forms in my stomach. I slowly descend to the ground, turn around and see the ghastly wreck of a man smashed into the sidewalk.

Take that you shoegazing hipsters!

So this is what it's like to be a superhero.

To be exact, that's what it's like to be Spider-Man in his latest video game. While many wax poetic about the merits of Spider-Man 2's excellent webbing system, personally I find the 'Hero Quest' system to be much more intriguing, if simply by design rather than execution. The bulk of Spider-Man 2 is consumed with the situations iterated above, at least when you're not fighting the likes of Mysterio, Rhino or The Shocker. Civilians are constantly pestering you with the same criminal activities, day in and day out and their pleas become so repetative that all citizens start to all look the same. Sure, their clothes may be colored slightly different but the faces blur together. The same robberies, carjackings, purse snatching feel a bit humdrum after the 500th hold-up you've cut short. And quite frankly, I'm beginning to think these kids don't deserve their balloons if they can't hold onto them - let their balloons float into the stratosphere for all I care. I certainly don't need to hear them whining for me to save their five cent pieces of cheap latex. This redundancy and frustration with civilians only aids to The Spider-Man Experience. Sure, those of us that have been reading comics for years are used to superheros occasionally getting a bit miffed and blowing off their calling, choosing to spend their days sitting in their basement watching Dr. Phil while muttering under their breath and drinking Ten High straight from the bottle rather than helping the helpless. Still, it's one thing to see that on paper; it's is a completely new experience when you actually get to be Spider-Man. It's then you realize the following:

Mission #12: Take down the jaywalker.

Wow. Spider-Man's life sucks.

Other than the occasional crazed villian setting up impossible jumps for you, there's not much in Spidey's life other than listening to the crazed screams of the populace. And when the citizens of New York City only have roughly six different scenarios to posit to you on a daily basis, it's only natural you'd become a bit stir-crazy, even sullen and desolate as a result of their complaints! I suppose Parker has the occasional quasi-villian like Black Cat to toe the lines of good and evil with, to neglect the city and fall into self-absorbed hedonism but we all know he's far too responsible for that. And luckily us gamers, wielders of the controller get to live out these events with our fingertips, eyes and ears.

Yes, Spider-Man 2 isn't merely a shell of it's cinematic counterpart - it is literally a game that recreates the monotony and frustration of being Peter Parker. It is a sim of his life, his frustrations, of dealing with friends and colleagues while trying to perform his duties as self-appointed guardian of the city, juggling his complicated itinerary, moping on rooftops, and yes, even his webbing. Is it monotonous? Yes. Does it cause you to question the worth of rescuing civilians, or even allowing Spider-Man to intervene in the citys daily transpirings? Well it certainly caused me to take a step back, but that's all part of the simulation. What Spider-Man 2 shines at is taking the rosy gloss off of being a altruistic super hero, revealing it for being the redundant, thankless job that many of us perform day in, day out. Whether or not that's something you want out of your video gaming is questionable, but it certainly is a bold accomplishment in my eyes.