Activision and developer Treyarch have given gamers a special gift this Summer and it is a game that is simply the best comic book inspired title ever to appear on a console. Fresh off the success of “Spider-Man 2”, the game is a worthy companion piece that will delight fans of the film and the comic.
Instead of the usual side scrolling or small map games, all of Manhattan is available to Spidey to deal with all manner of criminals. The game starts with a nice tutorial (voiced by Bruce Campbell) that teaches you fighting and web swinging tactics that are needed before Spidey can venture into the big city. The game is divided into chapters each of which tell a story. When you have completed the mission, you can move onto the next mission or you can roam the streets doing odd jobs such as delivering pizza and taking out random thugs.
Manhattan is well displayed though some of the side streets are a bit generic. The Empire State Building, Ground Zero, and other locations are accurately portrayed adding a sense of realism to the adventure. With day and night cycles, it is alot of fun to perch on a skyscraper and watch the sun rise over the simulated city.
While the swinging and physics system, can take some getting used to, once you do, you will be able to faithfully recreate the moves from the film and comic with style. There are also upgrades that you will get as time goes on that you can chose by allocation of so called “Hero Points” that will enable you to do things such as shoot webs faster, jump higher and so on.
While the story and much of the voice talent follows that of the film, classic villains such as Rhino, Shocker, and Mysterio do arise and make the game alot of fun. I always got a kick out of swapping one liners with some of The graphics in the game are amazing and aside from some blocky textures to the background characters the look of the buildings, and characters are easily amongst the best you will find anywhere. The game also has great sound qualities as everything from sirens and the words of encouragement from passing citizens make the game not only fun, but realistic and diverse.
Due to the sheer size of the city a top down view map is used to show important areas and the island and will become a very valuable tool to help you navigate the city.
Despite my usual issues with the X-Box control, the sheer size of the city and the outstanding array of moves and game options makes this a must for Spidey fans and will delight action gamers as well.
4.5 stars out of 5
