Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s most successful characters, people are naturally drawn to the personas of both Peter Parker and his alter-ego. It’s clear that Spider-Man’s open-world adventures seem to be getting better but not by leaps or bounds.
The story of the game takes place after the movie, also called ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ and I should warn you from the start that it does ruin some crucial moments of the film. I don’t know if Activision initially wanted a later release date then moved it up, or if the developers really thought no one would mind knowing plot-points before seeing the movie. In either case, I felt the need to warn you, they are quite major.
The basic story-line of the game has Spider-Man toe-to-toe with escaped villains. The game is mission-based and XP is granted for each completion, which you can use to unlock even more of Spidey’s powers or abilities. What the game’s missions are missing, is backstory. Unless you are devoted Spider-Man fan, the connections between Spider-Man and the other characters in the game fall flat. Marvel has spent years developing some of these villains and the game doesn’t do them justice with personality or charisma. With the exception of Black Cat, who Beenox seemed to do a terrific job with.
In combat, Spiderman can really take two approaches. You can swing in and start wailing on muggers and thieves, chaining attacks together for stronger hits, or you can use stealth. Stealth is a new approach to the Spider-Man games and since it was, I preferred it whenever possible. The game gives you a set of “stealth” takedowns that will help you take out your opponents from the ceiling or shadows. This concept isn’t entirely new to a comic-book themed action-game, but it does add another tool into Spider-Man’s arsenal and gives players a new choice. The stealth is fun to play and although there is nothing stopping you from simply “re-hiding” in the shadows if you make a mistake or are seen, the stalking advantage made me feel powerful and in control just as I think Spider-Man would feel.
This particular Spider-Man title did do a lot with the controls for both Spider-Man’s open-world mechanics and the mission-based gameplay. “Web Rush” was introduced into the game, which shows small circles on the screen of objects that are ‘web-attachable’, allowing you to quickly travel from block to block across Manhattan. It’s fast and responsive and gives you that ‘quick-swinging feel’ that I associate with Spider-Man’s powers. Crowd control tactics allow you to jump into the fray and start taking out enemies, with a “Spidey Sense” that flashes when a counter-attack can be performed. The animation in both the swinging mechanics and fighting mechanics are very much improved as well. Spider-Man felt much more nimble, more acrobatic than ever before. Now using his whole body to twist and turn as I fought muggers and changed direction. The agile-animation made Spider-Man feel more alive and gave the game a much needed ‘cinematic’ feel.
What I most looked forward to in playing the game was the open-world adventure in New York. Unfortunately the title suffers from the same pitfalls that previous versions of the game did. While you are completely free to swing across the vast skyline of New York City, you are still hunting down the same set of side-quests and repeating the same actions over and over again. Once you are done with the main story-line, there is nothing to break up the endless searching and random battling that the game has in store for you. New York City turns from a wonderful playground, to a very large game of hide-and-seek for collectables.
When I say collectables, I mean massive treasure-hunt. The list of Spider-Man’s to-do list to fully complete this game is staggering. The comic-book pages alone can reach the 700 mark and these aren’t exactly easy to find to begin with. It adds hours on top of hours to the game but a more encompassing story-line would have been better.
Spider-Man’s gameplay and web-slinging is some of the best that has been offered but once again the characters are treated as second rate and the story and design take a back-seat to one or two gameplay mechanics. The new controls that were introduced; stealth and web-rush, were matched beautifully with the new animations. The collectables and side-quest add game-time but just aren’t exciting enough to continue the entertainment.
