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Treyarch's Spider-Man 2 was first released on 28 June 2004. More than 13 years later, it still holds up as a yardstick for both Spider-Man and superhero video games. But it's not the combat people remember. It's not the balloon kid or pizza delivery side missions. It's not the amazing cast of villains, either. It's the swinging, the sheer exhilaration of flying over, around, between and often smack into buildings. Spider-Man 2 is a tantalising playground of needles to thread, a true-to-life Spidey simulation - and we have a designer called Jamie Fristrom to thank for it.Fristrom came up with the idea for Spider-Man 2's swinging system, built its prototype and piloted it to completion as technical director. He created one of gaming's most beloved and enduring movement systems, and he did it nearly a year before Spider-Man 2's development began in earnest.
"It was something I wanted to get in on Spider-Man 1," Fristrom says. "I think we were about six months into Spider-Man 1's development and I wasn't happy with the swinging as it was. It's practically flying with just cosmetic webs shooting up to the sky. I wanted something a little more realistic. But the prototype I managed to come up with then was pretty crappy, so we did not switch horses mid-stream."
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