Will you be caught in his web?

INTRO

Lets face it! Movie Tie-ins are always awful. The only exception to this rule that I can think of is GoldenEye, but even so, I'm yet to see the majority of game licenses put to good use. Being a huge Marvel and Spiderman fan i was hoping for a game to come out that was just as good as Mays blockbuster hit Movie! And i have not been disappointed!

THE GAME

The game follows the plot of the movie that inspired it, with Norman Osborn; the Green Goblin, showing up to wreak havoc on New York City. The game features three other villains, too; Shocker, Vulture and Scorpion. Each villain will eventually be encountered and fought against in your standard boss-battle fashion, but each boss fight is unique, because of the characters themselves and the unique abilities they possess. Shocker uses the vibra-shock units to send compressed air currents your way, leading to a whole load of hurt, as well as being able to use these air currents to shield himself from your attacks. Vulture uses his electro magnetically powered flying harness to give you some aerial aviation action for you to worry about... and Scorpion possesses similar powers to Spider-Man himself. So each boss fight is unique, because you need to employ different strategies in order to defeat each one

DIFFERENT LEVELS

Gameplay wise Spider Man has four main types of level. Ground based levels inside buildings, free roaming levels on the rooftops, chase levels where you pursue a flying enemy and must not lose sight of them, and flying combat levels where you take on aerial bosses. Some levels can be especially fun, particularly those with plenty of dumb human goons and some Spidey sneaking, while others can become excruciatingly annoying,

One of the best missions for me was sneaking through the Oscorp chemical labs, where there are a variety of approaches. You can avoid guards altogether so the alarm isn’t set off, you can ignore all rational thinking and charge around with alarm blazing and killer bots chasing you, or you can go somewhere in between. You can even drop down from the ceiling behind a guard, web him up, and then run through the door or corridor they were patrolling without fear of the alarm being raised. Fighting off hordes of goons is great fun thanks to handy combos that can be picked up throughout the game in the form of golden spider icons. None are too complex, but are quite vital when it comes to fighting the big bosses.

When adventuring through the indoor levels, using stealth is vital! In the top left hand corner of the screen, there is a picture of Spider-man's face next to the web-meter and your health-meter. This does have a very good purpose. When you're somewhere where any passers by will easily see you, the whole of your face stays lit up. When only your left or only your right side is visible to passers by, the respective side of your face turns dark blue. When you're completely hidden, the whole of your face will turn blue.

One feature many will love is the ability to pick up almost any object to throw around. From tires and filing cabinets, to explosive barrels and cars. As well as being great fun these give a decent way of attacking enemies from long range so you aren't overwhelmed in close combat. You also have web attacks like web gloves to increase damage dealt, and web yank to pull enemies toward you. But again these aren’t usually necessary and can easily be forgotten in the heat of battle.

The chase and boss levels over the sky are solid, although they are a little limited. Web slinging feels great, but when in mid air combat the range of moves you can pull off is sparse in comparison to the moves and combos you could use down on the ground.

There are loads of bonuses and things to unlock. I haven't even unlocked it all yet. There are also loads of cheats where you can control different characters. You can be Mary Jane and fight the Green Goblin. It's these sorts of things that keep the game going for as long as possible.

The game is quite easy to complete on easy and medium! On those difficulty settings i completed the game in a day, but put it on the toughest level and it will take you a while. Even though I have completed the game, it doesn't mean I stopped playing. There are still other things to do, other modes to try and secrets to unlock.

CONTROLS

Control over Spiderman is very simple to get to grips with as there is a tutorial mode (voiced by Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead fame) that shows you all the basics, the controls are suitably intuitive so you will be web slinging like a true professional in no time, even a beginner wont find themselves swinging into walls (much). Fighting enemies is simple. You use the direction stick to run around, and your A, B, X and Y buttons to carry out combos and all the special attacks you have 'earned'. To earn these Attacks, all you need to do is find the golden Spidey-symbols. There are many scattered across most levels and each move gets displayed in the pause menu for reference.

GRAPHICS

Some of the graphics in this game are just awesome! Multi-format games are not always the best because the graphics are suited to the least technologically capable console. Even so, Spiderman looks great - The characters look brilliant, with incredibly detailed costumes. Heck, even Spiderman's eye-patches reflect like in the movie. To top it all off, the Spideys movement is graceful,

The outside levels look amazing and really give you a feeling of being in a large city! Swinging from building to building is a joy to behold and is the closest you are going to get to being Spider-man without donning a pair of tights and flinging yourself off a building (please note I do not advise you do this). A lot of the levels inside are too dimly lit and feel claustrophobic.

The quality of the graphics really hits home in the boss battles. Taking on such infamous foes, as the Green Goblin and the Vulture in one on one battles high above the bustling city below is amazing, rain pelts down around you, distant lightning can be seen on the Horizon it really has to be seen to be believed.

Sadly, the game does have some flaws! The Camera, which is quite possibly THE most atrocious camera, I have ever experienced in my life, causes quite a few problems. Some of the angles leave you feeling very disorientated and that leads to you getting surrounded by enemies, that set aside though the graphics are top notch!

THE SOUND

While not amazing the sound does it's job rather well. The one-liners are very funny for a while but can get a bit repetitive after a while. The thugs insult you when they attack, the thwipp! of web-shooters sounds perfect, and you get the normal pows when you land a punch on someone. Not bad but not brilliant!

OVERALL

Spider-Man is just one of those games that is fun to pick up and play at any time, there is nothing better than being the hero and saving the beautiful girl over and over again!