Hey now, at least Spidey looks cool doing it.
Whoever said you could always throw cars in Spider-Man games is way off. Cars actually have physics useful to Spider-Man. Swinging is still awesome, but it's the combat that makes the game fun.
You can literally switch from red and black suit in mid combat. The fluidness of combat and extended combos really make fighting dynamic looking. And surprisingly, a lot of stuff is destructible. I performed a swinging kick on an enemy, but in the process I charged through cars, flinging them in to store fronts as the explode and destroy windows, signs, and other small objects. A civilian was hurt, but I decided to fight the enemy that was flailing about airborne. I mangle the enemy in mid air, but the civilian (dies or runsaway?) and I get some evil points.
It starts out slow because there aren't a lot of moves, and the game is heavily combat based. If you don't like the fighting, the game isn't for you, because there is a lot of repetitiveness in mission set up.
I've read the IGN review and I disagree with a lot of things, but one biggies is that sometimes things get so repetitive is irritating. Like "defeating the SECOND WAVE of snipers". It's very lazy looking and hurts the game's presentation.
But the combat is fierce, that you can be safe knowing.
Oh, and I've neem playing for 3 hours and I haven't even reached the infection part of the story.