The evolution of Ultimate Spider-Man & Hulk:Ultimate Destruction

[Everlost_MI]

Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/) has posted two different interviews discussing the evolution of Ultimate Spider-Man (http://www.newsarama.com/Merchandise/Games/Reed_USMgame.htm) and Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (http://www.newsarama.com/Merchandise/Games/HulkGame/Jenkins_Hulk.htm). The Ultimate Spider-Man interview is with lead designer, Brian Reed while the Hulk: Ultimate Destruction interview is with the storyline/comic book writer, Paul Jenkins.

[Justin_McElroy]

I'm going to take this opportunity to tell my dear friends at Treyarch that I am very upset with them for changing the incredible swinging system from Spider-Man 2. You guys are jerks.

[Cha-Ka]

I've got to agree with McElroy on this one. I lost interest in Ultimate Spider-Man as soon as I heard it wasn't based on the free-roaming Spider-Man 2 game that had that incredible swinging system. I see screenshots of the new cell-shaded one and I just shake my head. Why take a step backward?

For me, though, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction went a long way toward redeeming Marvel games by skillfully adapting the big green fellah to sandbox gameplay. I'm hoping we'll see more and more of these kinds of games that use marvel properties in free-roaming games like Ultimate Destruction and the console version of Spider-Man 2. I'd like to see more of their characters in games cut from this cloth. Then they could follow up a few years later with the tie-them-all-together free-roaming sequel where you could pick any number of different characters, each of whom had their own way of travelling in the virtual-world.

Spidey swings and wall-crawls. Hulk jumps and smashes. Daredevil could get a tweaked style of swinging to reflect his billy-club-grapple-thingie. Thor could twirl his hammer (smirk). Mister Fantastic could bounce and stretch his way to glory. Ghost Rider could fight traffic and drive on the sides of buildings. I know...it ain't gonna happen, but I can dream can't I?

[darkwarrior]

Batman is such an obvious free-roamer. He stalks cities not just inner levels. Should have access to the Batmobile, batarangs, gliding wires, gliding to roam the city cutting crime.

[Roc Ingersol]

A Batman free-roamer is absolutely perfect.
GTA for 'good guys', with all the violence intact.

So they changed the swing system in Ultimate Spider Man... did they change the free roaming aspect?

My biggest complaint with Spiderman 2, was that after I'd beat electro, or mysterio, or whomever, I no longer encountered their gangs perpetrating street crime. Would have been a nice touch at the end there to have some variety when picking up the races and secrets.

[darkwarrior]

Really? I was getting beatdowns by their gangs all the time, Ocks, Mysterios, Uber robots.

[Roc Ingersol]

At the end, all I got was the uber robots.

[Cha-Ka]

I agree 100% that Spider-Man 2's greatest shortcoming was its lack of variety in the street missions. That's just the sort of thing that can be addressed in sequels, though. They got a really strong framework to build from.

As for Ultimate Spider-Man, I'm pretty certain that it's a linear game that's 100% story driven without any roaming aspects in it.

[thecrazyd]

IGN has a review up. It is not linear, but the city is not as big, and the story is more important. There are still people that need to be rescued, and aparently the combat is far better. According to them, the good parts outweigh the bad, and USM is overall better then Spiderman2.

[Justin_McElroy]

Yeah, but the thing that SOLD Spidey 2 to me was the Web slinging. They absolutely nailed it. We are all experiencing a delicious bit of pandering to mainstream gamers who just want something easy with their favorite character Spiderman. Herb Spiderman.

At least that's my opinion.

[thecrazyd]

Have you played it?

[Kefkataran]

They should totally make a game called She-Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. It could be a courtroom drama game.

Fuck, I'm a genius.

[Justin_McElroy]

1. Kefka, you're a genius.

2. No I haven't played it, but I've read in several sources that they've dumbed down the Web slinging. That's enough for me to get upset. I'm not going to drop $50 to be hurt further.

[thecrazyd]

Well, of course you are gonna be hurt if you decide that it is gonna suck before you play it.

[BigJonno]

Hmm, it sucks if they've changed the web-swinging, but I've heard good things about the combat and playing as Venom = sold.

[jim_rock]

No I haven't played it, but I've read in several sources that they've dumbed down the Web slinging. That's enough for me to get upset. I'm not going to drop $50 to be hurt further.

You are a dumb. I am be playing it soon. It has Venom, and am I be needing Venoms.

[thecrazyd]

I don't get you Venom fans. The fact that you play as Venom is a tick off in my mind. I like Spideys fast, acrobatic style far more the Venom's lumbering. Plus, Spidey is a better character. If it wasn't based on Ultimate Venom, I would have to think harder about buying it.

[Wayfarer]

So originally Venom's suit was the alien symbiote that spidey picked up in Secret Wars. In the "Ultimate" version the suit is a cure...for cancer...that failed...and eats people?? Huh??
Do I have that right?

[thecrazyd]

Read the comics. It is a much better version then the old killer alien suit.

[PixelSamurai]

I've been playing USM all day today, and the webslinging isn't dumbed down, it just requires less buttons (I suppose you could debate whether it's simplified or dumbed down.) You can still webzip, and now you can even climb up your lines mid-swing to gain extra height. So far the only thing I miss in webswinging is the ability to fire another web out of the other hand; then again I've already automatically unlocked a few abilities so perhaps later in the game I'll get this back as well. All in all it's still a lot fun to swing around the city. Plus, Venom's locomotion and style is a great change of pace; we've got the opposite of Halo 2 syndrome in that I actually look forward to playing the bad guy.