The Amazing Spider-Man: Web of Fire

"32X Collectable"

Before you start wondering where in the hell this game came from, I’ll give you the heads up. This title, if you can find it, is an extremely expensive and very rare title for the 32X system. I had to bid for this on E-Bay and paid a pretty penny just to get the copy of it so I could add it to my collection. What you have is a game that shows off some of the power that the 32X has to offer, but seems to do it in the old Genesis muted style while keeping the visuals and music light. Why does that make it such an expensive game and why would I waste the money? Well, read on and I’ll tell you why.

The game play that you find in Web of Fire is essentially the same thing as you would find in other Spider-Man games, while keeping it challenging and addictive at the same time. You’ll face off against some pretty much unknown Spider-Man enemies at the end of every stage and although you have some appearances from well-known characters {Dare Devil}, you’ll find that the mainstay of the game is simple action. With all of the six stages, you’ll have to use your head and your physical fighting prowess to get to the end while contending with some collision problems.

Where most of the game is centered, is simply by having Spider-Man stick to different things and being able to attack whatever is in his way in a variety of different ways. However, you’ll find that you end up sticking to walls, ceilings and enemies on a regular basis, which doesn’t help the control or the gamer out at all. Another problem is that the game difficulty is ramped up to an unfair level for beginners and even veterans may have a problem learning just where and when not to fight. If you die, you’re going to go back in the stage, but you go back so far that you may have to complete the same tasks over and over until you get it right at the end!

The control, as I had mentioned, is a little harder to work with than it is in other Spider-Man games. You have an attack button and a jump as well as a call button that allows you to use Dare Devil to help you out. With the control though, you have to perfectly time your jumps and when you’re crawling around on the walls, you have to learn just how to fight in that position because there are portions of the game that demand it. However, the control setup itself isn’t that hard to learn, it’s just using it effectively that could drive you up a wall in short order!

Visually, this is one of the best looking Spider-Man games that I’ve seen on an older system in a long time. With the use of shading for the characters and the environments, you’ll find that the 32X tries hard to keep the game looking great, but has a problem with the overall detail. Sure, the stages that you traverse through look good, but they have a lack of detail and after running through them five times, you’ll find that the lack of detail leads into fatal boredom! The enemy designs are neat and watching Spider-Man fight while stuck to a wall looks good, but once you’ve seen the different ways he bashes people, that too gets old rather quickly.

The music is a little off in my opinion, with the music resembling a fighting game more than an action game. With that in mind, you have to take the dark mood music that you hear in some of the earlier stages and apply that to the later stages in which you have some lighter sounding tunes. However, the sound effects just seem to be a little too muted and when you lay the smack down on a boss, it sounds as though you’re simply pimp-slapping them around. All in all, the visuals are great, but the sound just doesn’t seem to match the attempt!

Web of Fire is a collectable game based on the fact that you just can’t find it anywhere. With the interesting shading that is done with the characters and the enemies, you’ll find that there is something to look forward to. However, the hard to use control and the super-challenging game play make this a game for veteran gamers who are looking to explore new levels of aggravation and immense anger. If you’re a collector and a Spider-Man nut, then this game is for you, however, if you like the action games that have more action and are easier to control, stick to the Streets of Rage series and leave this one for the true wall crawlers!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/02, Updated 03/10/02