24 out of 24 people found this review helpful.
Spiderman XBox - Been there, done that.
Date of Review: Jun 2, 2002
The Bottom Line: Played Spiderman before? Don't bother. Never have? Rent it.
The Spiderman released a few years back on the PlayStation 1 was one top quality game. It was easily one of, if not the best superhero game ever created. It was good on its own, too. So, when I caught wind that the game would be released by the same company based on the movie, I thought it would be a sure-fire bet. Turns out, that was a little false.
Nice Tights There, Spidey
Graphically, the XBox version of Spiderman is the best of the bunch. I've seen them all, such is the advantage of working at a game store. The GameCube version is a tad less spectacular with the PS2 version looking pretty horrible. Alone, Spiderman is still a gem of a game to look at. The biggest improvement over the PS1 versions is the fact that the city isn't stuck in a perpetual fog. You can see all the way down to the streets as you swing amongst the buildings. Cars zip around, minding their business as you fly around beating down thugs, flying death robots, and even the Green Goblin himself. The buildings glisten in the sun to give them that real glass feeling. Water in the sewer systems is nice.
The biggest notability would have to be Spidey himself. The Webhead is really well modeled. Few jaggies are about on the character model or even his webbing that is fired quite frequently throughout the game. The animation of the characters, enemies or Spidey, are also very fluid and well done. All the other characters are well done and are simply a sight to behold.
One more side thing, I like how the webbing when Spiderman swings actually sticks to a building instead of just suspending itself magically into thin air. Makes it more believable.
Fight in the Air
The biggest, if only major difference would be the inclusion of aerial battles. Spidey can now fight bosses whilst swinging from building to building. This allows for some enjoyable boss battles, or just random levels against death robots. Spidey can jump from his web and punch the enemy, grab on his back, or swing into them with a nice kick.
Unfortunately, these types of levels are few and far between. Had the aerial battles been focused on just a bit more, maybe two more long levels, then it would have been perfect.
Control Works
I use the XBox Controller S, and that controller seems almost perfectly suited to the way Spiderman plays. A jumps, X punches, B kicks, Y fires webs, R web swings, and L does a web zip to the ceiling, or if moving in a particular direction, toward the nearest wall in that direction. You can also click the right stick to enter aiming mode for easier web zipping and the white button locks on the enemy you want to take out first. Needless to say, the button layout of the controller here is almost second nature. After playing the included tutorial, which is about 8 minutes long, moving the Human Spider around is natural as if it were simply an extension of your own body.
Spidey Sense...Tingling
Ah, fighting, the staple of any superhero game. Spiderman does not fail us here. If I recall correctly, the original Spiderman didn't have many combos included in it. This version goes overboard in the combo department. Just about every imaginable button combination is included. Attacks utilize all four face buttons (A, B, X, Y) and Spiderman does around 50 (I think, didn't count) different moves in all. Of course, before you can do the move, you have to find the hidden golden spider icon in the level to activate it.
Real Actors, How Odd
Activision managed to secure some real actors to do the voice-overs. The most notable is Tobey Maguire, who, as any American who isn't odd enough to hate movies, plays Spiderman in the film. He has a large number of different voice-overs, be they during levels narrations, between level narrations, or just plain battle taunts, it will take some time before you start hearing the same lines over again. Random baddies are done well as well as the bosses.
Another notable voice would be Bruce Campbell, the guy from the Evil Dead and Army of Darkness movies. He brings in his trademark wit to the game in the training levels and sparsely throughout the main game. He has some very funny lines and a rental is almost worth it just to hear them.
Thankfully, Stan Lee and his "true believers" self was left out. That was just a little annoying.
Where'd He Go?
Even with the lock-on feature, the camera tends to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I lose the enemy a lot during the game, particularly the Green Goblin who moves around like something is chewing his rear. If the boss gets behind you, the camera is slow to react and many times doesn't even respond at all. Also, the camera does some strange things that effects movement. Once, I was crawling down a vertical wall, then turned a corner to the ceiling. Almost instantly, Spidey did a 180 as the camera moved and caused me to go back the OTHER way. That is not good when the camera can effect directly your character's movement.
This Spider Runs Out Of Steam Quick
This game is by no means a long one. It took me about 6 hours to beat it on normal difficulty level with little desire to go back again. After beating it, I inserted a few cheats to give Pinhead Bowling (a marginally fun mini-game where you use Spiderman's swinging as a bowling ball and knock over tied up baddies) a try, then returned the game to Blockbuster. The game could have used maybe 4 times the content to make it worth a purchase.
Always Inside...WHY!?
Spiderman is a quick and nimble superhero that can swing from his own webbing. Problem is, the majority of the levels seem to take place in cramped indoor locations. This negates the use of a lot of spider powers. You won't be swinging much indoors, even a master can only go a few swings before hitting something (you can adjust the height and speed of swings), and jumping to avoid enemies tends to cause you to end up sticking to the ceiling or wall, making you an easy target to firearm wielding enemies. Even the larger of the indoor areas like the Subway station are too cramped for Spidey style.
Nothing Really New Here
Frankly, the biggest downer was the fact that there really isn't anything new here. Sure, there are air battles, but that is only about 45 minutes of the game, and the combo system has been improved, but tapping ABA is little different that tapping XAB. It just feels like Spiderman PS1 with prettier graphics. That is something I really don't condone much. Lacking innovation is not a good thing in the game industry. Sure, it worked before, but it gets old. Had the game been mostly outdoors and focused more on the air battling, then this would be a different story.
Bottom Line
The new Spiderman doesn't bring much new to the world of gaming. The one back on the PS1 was an amazing feat, but this one comes up short as it is little more than a minor expanded version. It does have some outstanding visuals and a great control layout, but it still lacks on the innovation department. If you played Spiderman before, I really don't recommend you give this a shot. If not, rent it, you'll beat it in two days, but will have a blast doing so.
