Spider-Man Does Whatever a Spider Can: Not Very Much in This Game

In my previous review of Batman: Vengeance, I briefly mentioned the superhero or hero game that brought back my interest in comic-book hero themed games. I also made various references to how Batman was better than this game, especially in the department of gameplay. Why is this so? Find out why...

40 years after the comic book legend began, Spidey finally received his first movie. Anyway, my first taste of this came with the now-banned WTC Spidey trailer. At first, I was surprised at how bad this trailer looked, and I almost dismissed Spider-man as a cheesy superhero movie. Later on, the blazing media coverage along with huge publicity got me crazy over the Spider-man movie. With my excitement over the movie, I was also thrilled to learn that Spidey was going Next-Gen in a movie based game. While movie-based games have a repertoire for being quite bad, this was one time I didn't pay attention to the statistics. Action packed trailer after action packed trailer, beautiful screenshot after beautiful screenshot, I couldn't wait for Spider-man's Xbox release. And then came the fateful day where I rented it. Swinging around on the first level, I was having fun going..."Whoa...this is cool!". I first had some fun doing flips and stuff, before heading onto business. Okay, well Uncle Ben died, but I had to have some fun first...

Gameplay (6/10)

First, let's talk about the core gameplay of Spider-Man. The plot of Spidey is basically the same as the movies, except that villains such as Shocker and The Vulture are thrown in for good measure. The Green Goblin really effects the story though, as he does the movie. Anyway, the game gives each villain about 3-4 levels where he/she basically runs away from you, and you chase them to the point where they'll just fight you.

Next, Spider-Man lives in a huge world, which makes things less straightforward than usual. You'll have to do some skyscraper searching to find the baddies and locations. To do this, you'll get a spidey-compass (whaa?) and a Spider-elevation-marker thingy. Everytime a bad dude is near, a green bar is marked on the elevation marker, where you must match up on yours, and then swing in some direction and hope that you'll find him soon. But if you thought things were fun now, wait until you get indoors. What is the whole point of this paragraph? The point is that Spider-Man the Movie Game puts more emphasis on finding keys to unlock doors than to battle merciless villains.

In the second level of the game, I thought things would get faster and more fun. I was first asked to be stealthy and stay in the shadows. Stealth? Never heard of it. I busted in there and webbed all those jerks, and gave them an a**-whoopin like nothin they've ever seen. Ok actually the first time around I got my a** handed to me, but once I got my "spidey-groove" on, I was knocking thugs like no one's business. Sounds fun? Well it kinda was, until I realized that beating up bad guys had served no purpose. I was supposed to be looking for a ventilation shaft in order to get a cut fuse and open up a door. After searching and jumping through secret doors (still with very little action, other than the repetitive fights with random thugs), I finally found the fuse. Phew...now for some fun. Whaaa!!! Another fuse?! So, as Spider-Man, I set off to find the other fuse.

Okay, I got that, went on to the third level, and did some cool stuff. Lo and behold, now I'm looking for a key!!! And considering there was about 50 guys running at me with guns, I decided to hang around the walls, look down, and web them. One dropped the key after ohhh, about 15 minutes!

My point was that Spider-Man's core gameplay is too convoluted with stupid and irrelevant missions that it completely detracts from any kind of action. Fighting thugs using the same web techniques followed by punches and kicks is quite boring. While Batman Vengeance was a fast, although lower quality game, it maintained fast, straightforward gameplay. Spider-man insists that looking for secret entrances is more important than getting some action.

To give some justice to this game, there are some pretty neat levels. For example, the introduction and finale in Shocker's stages are fast paced and exciting. Chasing Shocker through a subway was quite fun, and trying to save security guards in the nick of time was also fun. But it's a shame that too few levels are like this, and most levels become repetetive to the point that they are basically the same level albeit with a new item that's dissapeared and needs you to find it. Gimme a break. What happened to chasing people through rooftops? How about running down bad guys through the streets? What happened to that? Is finding a key really more important than butt-kicking? I don't seem to think so.

As far the controls go, they are pretty solid. Webbing and zip-lines are controlled by the triggers, whilst the fighting is controlled by those colorful little buttons. At first, Spidey will have a limited variety of attacks, but collecting special coins will give you new attacks. Although this is nice, it's rare that anyone will really use any big combo attacks. Usually, you'll be jumped by a gang, so it's not always good to use a big combo...unless you want it handed to you on a silver platter. One of the better aspects of gameplay are the webbing attacks, which prove a nice addition to spidey's arsenal.

of any fun, and takes a few tries to get it right. The boss fights are nice but again, formulaic, which brings down the action factor. Actually, the Green Goblin fights are extremely fun due to the airborne factor, so not all bosses have dull fights. For example, Shocker's fight first makes you web to certain areas through a subway, while dodging his shockwaves. It's devoid of much fun, and instead becomes a lesson in dodging things.

All in all, Spiderman's gameplay is just too weighted on boring searches for pointless objects. While some levels show promise, the gameplay is bogged down to the limit that it just makes the game a bore. There's no feeling of free falling, flying through the city, or fighting bad guys. There's just a feeling of a what light switch to find next, and this just doesn't fit in a superhero game.

Graphics (8/10)

Although the gameplay is low quality, the graphics are of course, top notch. From the fluid framerate to the gorgeous backdrops, Spider-Man definitely has the graphics department working. While there are some "blocky" spots, overall Spidey remains to be visually clean.

In terms of system graphics, being a port, Spider-Man differentiates very little from it's PS2 and NGC counterparts, although the Xbox version does come on top. Not by much, though.

Anyway, you can count on the awesome graphics to definitely come through. While they aren't perfect, they are pretty good for the system. Still, there are imperfections here and there that should have been tweaked to make the game look very nice. Still, the game maintains nice graphics at a smooth framerate, which should definitely be enough to suffice for any gamer.

Sound (7/10)

The sound department comes as a mixed bag of sorts. Spider-Man's score is actually pretty nice sounding, and almost sounds like it belongs in the movie. But there are a few problems with this. One, the song track sounds way too short, because it has the undeniable feel of looping during gameplay. The looping soundtrack definitely makes the whole score seem just thrown in, which takes away from the score. Also, there are seemingly few songs used in the game. Something louder would have been nice, even if it wasn't orchestrated. Still, the score is nice, although way too short, and way too repeated.

The sound effects are weak at best. Webbing, Punching, and Kicking all use about one sound effect each. When you swing from building to building, you'll keep hearing repeatedly sharp sounds, which can get very annoying sooner or later. The sound effects also sound rushed, and this is one game where you may or may not want to turn off the sound, depending on who you are.

Reviewer's Score (6/10)

Now many people may be thinking that I'm a weak gamer who doesn't like easy puzzles because my mind isn't thoughtful enough. The truth is, puzzle games are awesome, and there's nothing I don't love about a good challenge. Hell, my favorite games are in the Legend of Zelda series, which are also pretty famous for their puzzles. But truth be told, so many puzzles and key finding missions shoouldn't be in a superhero game. A superhero game is one that should offer straightforward, fast paced action. A detective game should offer puzzles and searching for keys. So, is Spidey a detective or a superhero?

While the graphics and sound are definitely good, the gameplay ultimately destroys what could have been an extremely fun game. There were so many things they could have done with Spider-Man to make it faster and more fun, but yet they chose to bog it down with unnecessary things. Spider-Man is one game that doesn't balance itself out, and pays in the end for it.

Final Score 6.8