Everlost_MI
10-10-2005, 12:22 PM
Ultimate Spider-Man Review (XBOX)
By Everlost_MI (Brian K. Nichols), Editor in Chief
Treyarch and Activision are back with another Spider-Man game, Ultimate Spider-Man, however this one takes place in the Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. For those who aren’t familiar with Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, it offers updated versions of their mainstream heroes and villains; Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men and the Fantastic Four to name just a few. The characters maintain their core identities that make them who they are, but their origins, histories and futures have been slightly tweaked or drastically changed without insulting their classic predecessors in the process.
The storyline and artwork for the game is excellent as it features a new story by Brian Michael Bendis, who’s been the lone scribe for the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series. So for fans of the comic book series, the game’s story will fit right in the Ultimate Spider-Man continuity. The game offers various cameos such as Wolverine, Human Torch, Green Goblin and the Rhino to mention just a few. In addition, the Ultimate Universe version of The Beetle is introduced in this game. The game’s artwork is a hybrid mix of cell-shaded graphics and the look of the artwork used in hand drawn comic books. Part of the story’s narration unfolds in comic book panels that come to life as characters are slammed or bounced in and out of the panels in an attempt to bring the story to life.
The story alternates back and forth between Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Eddie Brock/ Venom, allowing players to play both characters. While this sounds like an interesting concept, neither character really incites much excitement as the game wears on. The freedom that was available Spider-Man 2 makes a return in this game allowing the completeist to fight crime while trying to track down all the comic covers, city events, landmark tokens and medals from combat tour and races. Various levels of success in completing these quests will unlock an assortment of secrets that are rather weak for the amount of work involved. It should be noted that the freedom is somewhat limited initially as parts of the city are not available until sections of the game are completed. Even with the freedom, the game’s monotonous attempts to stretch the gameplay between various boss battles creates a sense of boring déjà vu that is temporarily relieved with cut scenes that push the story along. The boss battles are rather unimaginative and provide little in the form of difficulty let alone fun. All in all, the game took a little over five hours to complete; this included the main storyline and all the various side missions.
The movement and combat controls are easy to grasp as players can quickly jump into the game with little problem; however that is best thing that can be said about the game’s controls. The concept of the two main characters has been captured as Spider-Man is about acrobatic grace and web swinging, while Venom is pure brute force and can pull himself along with tentacle zips and huge locomotion jumps. The ease and grace of Spider-Man’s web swinging that was the shining point in Treyarch’s Spider-Man 2 is gone. Instead a clunky web swinging engine has been installed that will often frustrate and disappoint Spider-Man 2 players. However, if the player has not sampled Spider-Man 2, it is doubtful the same complaints would surface. The combat system revolves around a scant series of combos and uninspiring single button moves that focus on jumping, timing and persistence in defeating generic enemies and bosses rather than allowing the player to infuse some imagination and variety with a larger selection of combos.
The overall music and sound effects for the game are standard fare with nothing that really adds or detracts from the game. However, the voice talent that was used was less than impressive especially with a whiney Peter Parker, even with the understanding that this version of Spider-Man is still in high school.
In conclusion, this game is significant disappointment from Treyarch and Activision in their legacy of the Spider-Man videogame franchise. This game initially is fun to play but by the third mission it quickly breaks down into a laborious and stagnant game that can be completed in a few scant hours. Ultimate Spider-Man is only worth playing as a rental or as a bargain bin title. Hopefully Treyarch and Activision can resurrect or improve on their previous success and engine that was used in Spider-Man 2 for the Spider-Man 3 game.
The Good
The storyline.
Hybrid cell-shaded graphics.
The Bad
The web swinging.
The Ugly
Boring, repetitive gameplay.
Length of the game.
Score: http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/evileye_sm.gifhttp://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/evileye_sm.gifhttp://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/evileye_smh.gif
2.5 EvilEyes out of 5.
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/thumbs/usm_xbox.jpg
By Everlost_MI (Brian K. Nichols), Editor in Chief
Treyarch and Activision are back with another Spider-Man game, Ultimate Spider-Man, however this one takes place in the Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. For those who aren’t familiar with Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, it offers updated versions of their mainstream heroes and villains; Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men and the Fantastic Four to name just a few. The characters maintain their core identities that make them who they are, but their origins, histories and futures have been slightly tweaked or drastically changed without insulting their classic predecessors in the process.
The storyline and artwork for the game is excellent as it features a new story by Brian Michael Bendis, who’s been the lone scribe for the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series. So for fans of the comic book series, the game’s story will fit right in the Ultimate Spider-Man continuity. The game offers various cameos such as Wolverine, Human Torch, Green Goblin and the Rhino to mention just a few. In addition, the Ultimate Universe version of The Beetle is introduced in this game. The game’s artwork is a hybrid mix of cell-shaded graphics and the look of the artwork used in hand drawn comic books. Part of the story’s narration unfolds in comic book panels that come to life as characters are slammed or bounced in and out of the panels in an attempt to bring the story to life.
The story alternates back and forth between Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Eddie Brock/ Venom, allowing players to play both characters. While this sounds like an interesting concept, neither character really incites much excitement as the game wears on. The freedom that was available Spider-Man 2 makes a return in this game allowing the completeist to fight crime while trying to track down all the comic covers, city events, landmark tokens and medals from combat tour and races. Various levels of success in completing these quests will unlock an assortment of secrets that are rather weak for the amount of work involved. It should be noted that the freedom is somewhat limited initially as parts of the city are not available until sections of the game are completed. Even with the freedom, the game’s monotonous attempts to stretch the gameplay between various boss battles creates a sense of boring déjà vu that is temporarily relieved with cut scenes that push the story along. The boss battles are rather unimaginative and provide little in the form of difficulty let alone fun. All in all, the game took a little over five hours to complete; this included the main storyline and all the various side missions.
The movement and combat controls are easy to grasp as players can quickly jump into the game with little problem; however that is best thing that can be said about the game’s controls. The concept of the two main characters has been captured as Spider-Man is about acrobatic grace and web swinging, while Venom is pure brute force and can pull himself along with tentacle zips and huge locomotion jumps. The ease and grace of Spider-Man’s web swinging that was the shining point in Treyarch’s Spider-Man 2 is gone. Instead a clunky web swinging engine has been installed that will often frustrate and disappoint Spider-Man 2 players. However, if the player has not sampled Spider-Man 2, it is doubtful the same complaints would surface. The combat system revolves around a scant series of combos and uninspiring single button moves that focus on jumping, timing and persistence in defeating generic enemies and bosses rather than allowing the player to infuse some imagination and variety with a larger selection of combos.
The overall music and sound effects for the game are standard fare with nothing that really adds or detracts from the game. However, the voice talent that was used was less than impressive especially with a whiney Peter Parker, even with the understanding that this version of Spider-Man is still in high school.
In conclusion, this game is significant disappointment from Treyarch and Activision in their legacy of the Spider-Man videogame franchise. This game initially is fun to play but by the third mission it quickly breaks down into a laborious and stagnant game that can be completed in a few scant hours. Ultimate Spider-Man is only worth playing as a rental or as a bargain bin title. Hopefully Treyarch and Activision can resurrect or improve on their previous success and engine that was used in Spider-Man 2 for the Spider-Man 3 game.
The Good
The storyline.
Hybrid cell-shaded graphics.
The Bad
The web swinging.
The Ugly
Boring, repetitive gameplay.
Length of the game.
Score: http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/evileye_sm.gifhttp://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/evileye_sm.gifhttp://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/evileye_smh.gif
2.5 EvilEyes out of 5.
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/thumbs/usm_xbox.jpg