Webslinging
Played through Spiderman 2 this weekend. I was a little apprehensive about the game, since some of my coworkers were heaping scorn on it last week, but the game is really good. Granted, some of the graphical elements suck, and some of the animation looks like King Kong era stop motion, but if you can swing around New York for half an hour and tell me that this is not exactly what you wanted to be doing when you were 10, then you're a freak. I know that's harsh, but it's true.
My only complaint with the actual substance of the game is that the combat is either too easy, or silly hard. In particular, some of the boss fights with Doc Ock were ludicrous. Putting large damage elements into the environment is fine, but the developer must, MUST, MUST make sure that these are predictable to the player, and consistent in their effect. It's just frustrating to be thrown by a plasma blast, and because you randomly hit a pillar in the environment, get bounced back into the plasma for 2 or 3 more hits before you regain control of the character. Not good. Makes me want to throw the controller at the screen. It was like finding a fly in the last bite of a really good creme brulee. Fortunately, after you finish the main (read: movie) storyline, they let you just screw around in the city, so it's easy to erase the taste of the poor design from your mouth.
Confidential to Joel in Cambridge: Look at this. I'm home this weekend, and I fail to call. Great.