Ultimate Spider-Man

"Does Ultimate Spiderman Live Up To Its Name?"

Another Spiderman game hits the scene, apparently offering more than the last two for Gamecube but is it all its cracked up to be?

Visually, im torn on some occasions the game looks really nice giving a real feel that your in the comic books, every bullet fired is accompanied by a nice little bang and every punch and kick gives an on screen "TWACK!" the character models look pretty good too, from the details on Spidey's suits to the shine on Venom's close up this game is more than acceptable. However if you climb to the tallest buildings and look down at New York city it is.... well terrible there is no detail on any building unless you come right up next to it and from a distance it looks like a child's Lego set. But the cut scenes are absolutely awesome, boxes pop up characters move from one to the other, its like watching a comic book spring up and come to life.

GRAPHICS: 7 / 10

Game play for Ultimate Spiderman is simpler than the last one the only major difference here is the appearance of Venom, which in my opinion is a great move. (Seeing as Venom is my favourite Marvel character lol) Web swinging through the city is just as fun as always but now it is easier to pick up, so after about 10 minutes of trying to get used to it you can be swinging through the streets with style and it feels really smooth, Venom cant swing he jumps, REALLY HIGH AND REALLY FAR I found it incredibly satisfying looking at a building in the far distance and making it there in one jump trust me it feels great. Obviously playing as Spiderman is full of heroic deeds such as stopping a getaway car or saving someone who's about to fall of a building but after a while it does get really repetitive doing the same things over and over again. For example to get to each story mission you will have to do a certain number of city events (basically being the hero) or collect a certain number of tokens or take part in many of the races which are all the same. Once these goal have been met you may take part in the next story mission which sometimes let you play as Venom. Playing as Venom is a great way to blow of some steam you jump around throwing cars with ease and feeding Venom's suit civilians that wander the streets, in a way it sort of plays like The Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction, but none the less playing as both is defiantly fun but does become repetitive fairly soon. On a lighter note this game will warm the heart of any Marvel or Spiderman fan as the amount of characters is astonishing ranging from Wolverine to the Silver Sable making it quite a nostalgic ride.

GAME PLAY 8 / 10

Sound wise this games music needs A LOT of work most of the music is just simple 30 second loops which I found most of the time to be really annoying it sounds a bit like a mangled dance theme gone a bit wrong and there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. However the voice acting is superb as sounds just right, with phrases that sound like they've been freshly plucked from the comic books and thrown straight in. However some of the phrases are repeated often ly but they don't seem to annoy which is a definite plus.

SOUND 7 / 10

As for value to finish the games story mode took me less than a day, but there still remains loads to be done such as new costumes, Venom mode or finishing everything the game has to offer, such as finishing all the races or collecting every token, if races and collecting are what you like then I need not say any more this game is for you. But once I finished the game I didn't feel the need to unlock everything i was perfectly happy swinging through and saving the city as Spiderman or Terrorising it with Venom.

VALUE 8 / 10

Overall a potentially great game let down due visual flaws, annoying music and the repetitive game play. But if your a Marvel or Spiderman fan this is defiantly worth checking out.

+ AND -

+ Playing as Spiderman and Venom is a great experience
+ Cut scenes are amazing
+ Voice acting is very impressive

- The annoying music
- The Gamecube can't cope with the picture of NYC and leaves it looking bland and boring
- Game play gets repetitive quickly

OVERALL 7 / 10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/05