Like the 2000 Spider-Man game and its 2001 sequel, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, Spider-Man is a level-based beat 'em up video game, where the player takes on the role of the superhero Spider-Man. While most levels are indoors, there are several levels set outside, among the sky-scrapers of New York, which require the player to web-sling from building to building, as falling below a certain height will result in an instant death. Levels use a scoring system that covers more aspects, such as "Time" (clear level in a set time), "Perfect" (not take damage/not be detected) and "Style" (use as many combos as possible). Some levels have other specific aspects, such as "Secrets" (uncover a secret area), "Combat" (defeat all enemies), and "stealth" (remain undetected by enemies). Players can gain, depending on difficulty, points on completing these tasks. On easy mode, each bonus is 500 points, normal is 700, and hero is 1000 each.
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 will have different results. 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 combos, which are unlocked by collecting Gold Spiders, with 4 web controls, each having a type of "upgrade" to each. The game also features stealth segments, where Spider-Man can hide in the shadows and remain undetected from the enemy. While the game is primarily in third-person, a cheat code allows players to switch to first-person view.
Completing the story mode on each difficulty unlocks different bonuses, namely alternate skins for Spider-Man: completing it on at least easy unlocks Peter Parker in his civilian outfit and Spider-Man's wrestler costume; on at least normal, Alex Ross' prototype design for the movie Spider-Man costume (which will also cause the Green Goblin to have Ross' early design during battles); and on at least hard, the Green Goblin. Unlike the others, the Goblin plays entirely different from Spider-Man, replacing his web-based abilities with Oscorp-weaponry, such as his signature glider, pumpkin bombs, and razor bats. If playing as the Goblin in story mode, while the levels remain unchanged, the narrative is different, and follows Harry Osborn as he becomes the Goblin after his father's death and investigates a secret plot involving Oscorp, while facing off against another Goblin, who claims to have been hired by Norman Osborn.
More character-skins can be unlocked through cheat codes, such as the Shocker, Captain George Stacy, and surprisingly Mary Jane Watson also being initially unlockable through a code as well, but was dropped in re-releases due to the perceived lesbianism implications of scenes featuring the player (playing as Mary Jane) kissing with the in-game Mary Jane.
