Ultimate Spider-Man

"Probably the best Spidey game yet"

Gameplay 8/10: Now, this game took me a good hour or so to get used to. Though, I think that's because I'm so used to the Gamecube controller, and I've yet to utilize the PS2 controller for anything but RPGs. I imagine its very similar to the play mechanics in Spider-Man 2, but I cannot be sure, as I played that on Gamecube. (Which is part of the reason why I was so thrown off, I'm used to the Spider-Man 2 on Gamecube's controls.) The swinging is fun, and more or less the same as the great controls as in Spider-Man 2, although you have lost the ability to charge your jump at the end of your swing. Spider-Man's movements are very fluid and fun, and I have a ball just web-zipping and swinging around Queens. It's SO much fun to just drop in one some thugs and slam their faces in with your feet.

Venom's controls are different, but fairly simple. The great thing about him is, you can throw cars around all willy nilly. The sad thing about Venom is though, is that you can't just go tooling around the city, as all of his missions are pretty much running from and beating up on some guys chasin' ya. But, his attacks rock hardcore. He's amazingly strong, and it's so much fun to tower over some guy and beat him down. It's a nice change from the lawful, graceful play of Spider-Man.

Story 8/10:

The story is actually in the canon Ultimate (that's an oximoron...) universe, meaning this ties in with Ultimate Spider-Man. This is evident in the explanation in the beginning of the game of the Venom storyline. This is a great elaboration on what exactly happened with the Venom suit and answered the question "Did Eddie live after getting electrocuted by that livewire?"

There are a few things left unanswered, but this being in continuity with the comics, it is very likely Bendis has decided these would be answered within the pages themselves.

Oh right, did I mention that Brian Michael Bendis, the man who has single-handedly written all 80+ issues of the comic also wrote the game?

Graphics 9/10:

Definitely the most striking thing in the game, it seriously looks like Mark Bagley's work jumped right off the page. The developers created a whole new type of graphics that really make it look like a 3-Dimensional comic book. So often I found myself saying "Wow, that looks like something right out of the book." Lol that was lame, sorry. Anyway, yeah, the work is great, and if you're a fan of Bagley (and if you're not, you suck) then you'll be rejoicing over this. It's completely faithful to the look of Ultimate Spider-Man.

The decision to use panels in the cutscenes, and even within the game itself was a great one. It adds a depth and feel to the game that is all it's own. If there's one thing you can say about this game, it's that, visually, it stands out in the crowd. Some things bother me though, the webbing is far too thick, and some of the movements are rather flat, but overall, it definitely is a visually great game.

Sound 8/10:

The first major thing I noticed about the game was Peter Parker's voice. The voice performer also happens to be Mack on "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends." Because Mack is an eight year old boy, I have a hard time believing his voice as a fifteen year old. But, he does his job well and performs Spidey's wisecracks greatly. The rest of the voice work is pretty good, although at times Venom definitely sounds less than threatening.

Oh, also another interesting thing, Johnny Storm (Human Torch) is voiced by Danny Phantom.

The music is nothing awe-inspiring, but it definitely is not unpleasant to the ears. It aids the atmosphere of the game, but won't leave you breathless. Sound effects are nice as well, though at times they can drown out the dialogue which is a pain.

Now, more on the subject of Dialogue, Spider-Man's jokes are great. This may seem small, but it is such a major factor in his personality, that it aids the game so well. I actually found myself laughing out loud at a lot of his quips and insults. Of course, as in most games, the villain and your character just have to constantly chatter during fights, and they always say the same things. That is the most grating thing about the game, especially since its likely you'll find yourself facing a boss over and over because of its difficulty.

Rants: While the game is great fun, there are some extremely frustrating things within it. Namely, boss confrontations. Before almost every boss fight, there is a race segment, which are stupidly difficult. I found myself doing pretty much all of them ten plus times. That's...not an exaggeration.

Boss fights, also, are usually ridiculous. Namely: Rhino and Electro. Rhino, because without a targetting system its incredibly difficult to do what the game asks you to. The game claims to have alock on with the R3 button, but my controllre doesn't happen to have one of those, so I had an extremely hard time dealing with that fight.

And, Electro, as every time you came near beating him he would recharge his power; dragging the fight on for much longer than it had to be.

Now, these things are a major annoyance, but overall they don't REALLY take away from the fun I had with the game, they merely annoyed me for a while.

Extras: There are things to unlock in the game, all of which are gotten through collecting tokens and playing through "combat tours" and races. Strewn throughout the city are hidden tokens classified as "Secrets", "Landmarks," and "comics". Comic tokens unlock various comic covers from Ultimate Spider-Man.

Also in the city are races and combat tours. Races are rather self explanatory, you swing or do other various tricks throughout the city in a certain amount of time in order to win medals. Combat tours, which I had a great time with, myself, are missions you activate throughout the city where you, literally, go down a path and beat up on some bad guys. I had a LOT of fun with these.

The game is extremely fun. Buy it, or at the very least RENT it! If you're a Spider-Man fan, or a comic fan, you will definitely enjoy this!!

Final Score(NOT An average) 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/05