Ultimate Spider-Man

"Four Steps Forward, Two Steps Back - Ultimate Spider-Man Fixes some of the Bad and loses some of the Good"

Introduction - Every since Spider-Man 2 The Movie game was released and amazed fans with its webswing system. We have dreamed of a Cel-Shaded Comic Book Based Spider-Man game with Free Roam webswinging. Ultimate Spider-Man may not have the universe I was expecting or wanted but it has the potential to be what Spider-Man fans have wanted for years.

Gameplay – Ah the Gameplay this is where the most controversy comes in because the Webswinging System from Spider-Man 2 was changed. First the City has been scaled down, New York in Spider-Man 2 was just to big, it was ridiculous how big it was and yet everything looked the same and there was nothing to do. In Ultimate Spider-Man the made the city smaller and more detailed, they even added Queens to the mix to now you can swing past the Parker House. A negative to this is that the sense of height from jumping off a tall building is gone because the building aren't near has high as they where in Spider-Man 2. Though this may sound bad it really isn't the city is so full of life and that you will never even notice that this STILL MASSIVE city is smaller.

The Swinging system may seem shallow and slow at first to some mainly because they forgot that Spider-Man 2 started the same sway. Swing-speed upgrades can be acquired and air tricks can still be done (automatically though). The wall run from SM2 is still here and intact. The web yank is also back and better that before and can even be done from a standing stationary position. The boost has also returned along with pendulum mechanics. In fact the only differences seem to be instead of tapping jump to end your webswing you release a button, and instead of charge jumping you double-jump. So for the most part the Webswing is the same, it just seems that people want to make a fuss because it isn't exactly like Spider-Man 2.

Just as Spider-Man 2 had random missions so does Ultimate Spider-Man. The game actually appears to have fewer with no Balloon Kid expect for Venom to eat, and no stores to be robbed. Most of the missions are still as boring as they were in Spider-Man 2. One go thing is that during Missions or cases they are new events where you have you figure out the right order of saving civilians before they all die. This adds some verity with cars being on top of people or fires and burning building. But once again the problem with this is that after you beat the story mode, you will never see any other mission like this.Also there are no longer any stores you can walk in so you want see villains robbing stores, granted most of us never saw this in Spider-Man 2 either.

The Combat, while better than Spider-Man 2, still needs some work. All the combos from 2 are possible in this game, although they don't tell you how to do them. I've accidentally hung criminals from light poles three or four times, and have no idea how I did it, which really sucks. Also webbing has become pretty much useless, granted most of the Web moves where only in the 616 Universe i.e. Impact Webbing, it would be nice if they had included it so we could do something more than tying a criminal up. Also you can still swing criminals around your head, but now they will not hurt others.

The other half of the Gameplay is with Venom. Venom is a powerhouse that plays similar to the Hulk. He picks up cars, does Super Jumps, and is constantly fighting and running from Trask. When the game switch to Venom stories you don't get to free roam like with Spidey. You have one mission and once completed that's it for Venom until the next mission. This is a downer considering Venom's end of game free roam is nothing put destruction and races.

Story - The Story is the highlight of Ultimate Spider-Man written by the Creator and illustrator of the Comic Book Series Brain Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. The Game's story picks up 3 months after issue number 39 of the Ultimate Spider-Man Series. What's also cool about the game is that it is Canon. Theses events will tie into future Ultimate Spider-Man comics and be referenced later on. In fact the Beetle and Silver Sable make there Ultimate Spider-Man debuts in this game.

Graphics/Sound - Ultimate Spider-Man is BEAUTIFUL!! They use what is called Comic Book Inking, which is basically a more advanced form of Cel-Shading and it is great. I mean it really looks like living Comic Book, and the Panel System that they use is just amazing adding even more to the comic book style. Graphic wise this is the Spider-Man Game Comic fans have always wanted.

Its always best when the creators of a comic book hand picks the voice talent, and Ultimate Spider-Man expands on this. The Voice acting talent is excellent and truly captures the personality of the Ultimate Characters. Peter Parker/Spider-Man voice captures his teen angst, sarcasm, and even picks up on his recent entry to puberty with the inflection of his voice.

Play Time/Replayability - The Story Mode is very short which is disappointing, but much like Spider-Man 2 you can just swing and swing through the whole city. There are still random crimes and races that you can complete to unlock costumes, plus you can now switch and Free Roam with Venom. Playing as Venom is much like playing the Hulk in Ultimate Destruction, just powered down a bit. You can throw cars and eat people, and build up your wanted level were Trask will send high powered soldiers after you. They game has tokens and Comic Books, which will unlock Costumes. A lot of the Costumes are a let down. I know it is the Ultimate Universe but they still could have included some 616 Costumes. Also for all the trouble it is to find Comic Books it would have been nice if the game gave you a summary of what happened in the issue and not just a picture of the cover.

Final Recommendation - With the short story mode, if you are not a big Spider-Man fan or Ultimate Spider-Man fan a weekend rent will probably be enough to satisfy you. But if you love Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man is for the most part a Comic Book Lovers Dream (Ultimate Cook Book that is). The game may not be perfect and is upsetting to an extent considering what was done wrong in this game has been done right in previous Spider-Man, but the fact remains Right now there is no better Spider-Man Game out there .

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/05, Updated 09/27/05