Spider-Man (2002 video game)

Many, many games were adapted from the Spider-Man character and mythos throughout the years. We're going to look at Treyarch's 2002 Spider-Man game for the PC, PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. This is one of the more well-known titles in the Spider-Man video game lineage and its availability on all of then-current-gen consoles suggests that it was a mainstream adaptation (rather than an indie game), making it more relevant to examine. Wikipedia gives us a good summary of the game:

"Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) develops super-spider powers after being bitten by a genetically altered spider. The game opens with an optional tutorial, narrated by Bruce Campbell, where Peter learns to use his powers and the player learns the controls of the game and how to read the HUD. After competing in a wrestling match as Spider-Man, Peter is devastated when his Uncle Ben is killed by the leader of the Skulls gang. Peter uses his new powers to track down and defeat the murderer. Peter vows to use his powers for good and to fight evil in Manhattan. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) and OsCorp are investigating the appearance of this new hero. Anxious to develop his Human Performance Enhancer "Super-Soldier" Serum, the main goals of which are already exhibited by the super-hero, Osborn orders the capture of Spider-Man, deploying hunter-killer robots for this purpose. Spider-Man fights these robots and emerges victorious. Meanwhile, the Shocker (Michael Beattie) has just robbed a bank, and is driving away with his thugs as Spidey lands, only to be hit by Vulture (Dwight Schultz). Spider-Man goes after Shocker first. His battle with Shocker leads him through Grand Central Station, into the sewers and to a subway station, where Spider-Man defeats him in a climactic battle. Afterward, Shocker tells Spider-Man about Vulture's lair: an old clocktower on the Lower East Side of town. Spider-Man climbs Vulture's tower, but Vulture escapes. Spider-Man defeats Vulture atop the Chrysler Building.

Osborn's scientists tell him that now two individuals with arachnid DNA are at large in Manhattan, and Osborn orders the capture of both. Spider-shaped robots pursue a desperate Scorpion (Michael McColl) through the sewers. Peter goes down to the subways to take pictures of his battle site with Shocker, when he runs into Scorpion. After Spider-Man helps Scorpion defeat the machines, the apparently paranoid and unhinged Scorpion turns on Spidey, and they fight. Spider-Man wins, but the Scorpion escapes. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn is fired from OsCorp and takes his own untested super-soldier serum to become the forever-feared Green Goblin. Spider-Man defeats the Goblin at the yearly OsCorp Unity Day Festival. Later, Goblin confronts Spider-Man again and is defeated, but tells Spider-Man of bombs planted downtown. Spidey races against time to defuse the bombs, and is attacked again by Green Goblin, this time with deadly small devices called razor bats... 

...After studying a wing of a felled razor bat and determining that it was manufactured by OsCorp, Spider-Man goes to OsCorp to research its connection with the Goblin. He discovers that the company is producing highly dangerous chemical weapons, and shuts down the operation. After finding out that the Goblin is after Mary Jane Watson (Cat O'Conner), Spider-Man chases him down to a bridge. Here, Spider-Man has his final battle with the Green Goblin, who is impaled by his own glider. Spider-Man unmasks the Goblin to reveal Norman Osborn's face. Osborn's last words are, "Tell Harry, I'm sorry." Spider-Man replies, "I'm sorry, too." Mary Jane and Spider-Man are reunited, they kiss. Peter narrates the end of the story as the camera pans out, and he breaks the fourth wall saying "Looks like you're done here. Go outside and play" - from Spider-Man (2002 video game)

 Whew, okay that was a little longer than I expected. Looking at the summary, we can tease out a bunch of similarities and differences. First off, you'll notice that next to each character's name for the first time is an actor's name in parenthesis. These are the voice actors, and you'll notice that the actors who voice Spidey and Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin are the same actors from the 2002 film. So as we look at the game, it'll be important to look at it as mainly an adaptation of the 2002 film (the game was most likely released as a tie-in to the movie) in addition to an adaptation of the source.

Tobey?

The game begins with Peter being bitten by a genetically modified spider and gaining super-powers, which he tries out and learns how to use in the city. He then uses his powers to win a wrestling match as Spider-Man. So far, we're pretty close to the film and the comics (save for little differences discussed in the post on the film), though no mention is made of his high-school life save for a single picture in a picture-book. The wrestling is consistent as is Uncle Ben's death to an extent - he's killed by a member of a gang who the webslinger could have stopped after the wrestling match.

Such battle.

Norman Osborn's transformation is different from both the film and the comics. In the comics, the serum explodes in his face accidentally and he transforms into the Green Goblin (The Amazing Spider-Man Issue #40). In the film, he tests the serum on himself because he fears losing a military contract for the serum and the glider. In the game, he tries to capture Spider-Man with robots for quite some time until he is fired from OsCorp, taking the serum in a mixture of desperation and anger. Spider-Man's fights with the Green Goblin are largely the same as well (save for the bombs planted in the city): they fight at the OsCorp Unity Day Festival, Spider-Man rescues Mary Jane from the Goblin at a bridge, and the Goblin accidentally kills himself (impaling himself with the glider as in the 2002 film).The Goblin's last words to Spidey are taken straight from the film as well. There are many differences however.

Spider-Man battles his greatest enemy yet: a perfect game

Firstly, Spider-Man does not research into OsCorp in the film nor the comics as he does in the game. Secondly, Spider-Man's side-quests involving the Shocker, the Scorpion, and the Vulture are not present in the films nor the comics. The characters do exist in the comics as they exist in the game, though the plot-lines/quests that they are involved in are not found in either the 2002 film nor the original comics.
I'd say it's a mix between a loose and a close adaptation. As about half of the game is a relatively close adaptation of the film (with minor differences, such as the murder of Uncle Ben being a gang member) which itself is a pretty close adaptation of the comics, it could be called a close adaptation. However, a lot of the events in the game are completely fabricated for the game, and I think most, if not all of the game's differences from source materials (2002 film and the comics) can be attributed to the medium. Video games require constant action and quests/tasks for the player to complete in order to maintain their engagement of the player. Sitting through and watching cut-scenes of the non-action parts of the film would be boring to a player, hence the inclusion of the Shocker, the Vulture, and the Scorpion side-quests.