Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage

"A great Spider Man beat em up for the SNES"

Maximum Carnage is one of those games that I have owned for several years, and played several times. It is a side-scrolling beat em up starring Spider Man, Venom, and several other Marvel characters. Although it is not the greatest beat em up game available for the SNES, it does an excellent job in all elements, producing a great game that is at least worth the time to play.

The story starts out in the Ravencroft mental institution where the power inside Cletus Kasady, one of the patients, is released, bringing forth Carnage, a lunatic creature intent on complete destruction. As Carnage spreads mass destruction throughout the town, he is joined by other beasts, with a hunger for terror. It is up to Spider Man to stop the mayhem, and bring peace back to the city, before it is decimated. Spider Man is not alone though, he will be joined by other Marvel heroes, including Venom, his arch-enemy.

As you progress through the game, you are thrust into several short side-scrolling stages. There will be several street thugs, and other enemies that you will have to dispose of along your way. Both Spider Man, and Venom have a good arsenal of attacks on their side. Each character can punch, kick, grab, throw, and even climb walls, with the use of their slinging abilities. Also, if you power up enough, you can unleash a power blow that will usually knock most normal enemies out, and do some serious damage on bosses. Moves are very easy to execute, but the enemies will require a lot of fast button tapping. During the stages, you will find several different items that you can use to your advantage, including newspapers, trash-cans, and even garbage dumpsters.

At the end of most stages is a boss, one that will require a little more strategy than the previous enemies you have encountered in each level. Each level will take no more than a few minutes to finish, whether you get a long level, or a short one. Short levels contain no side-scrolling, you are just thrust into a faster paced boss battle than other boss battles, with one, or more of the main villains of the game. All bosses are very quick, so it is essential to keep moving, or you will very quickly lose a life. Between levels, the story plays out in comic book fashion, and you will see a few short scenes relating to the story.

At certain points in the game, you will have the choice of using either Spider Man, or Venom for the level. Once you have made this decision, you are stuck with that character until you reach the next point where the choice is yours, or you restart the game. At some points, it will be mandatory that you use a certain character for a certain level. The other Marvel heroes that you will encounter along can be summoned to help you out in the form of a special move. These moves require tokens, so you are limited to the number of times you can use them. Dagger and Cloak can be used to take out all the regular enemies on screen, or the Black Cat can be called to knock down all enemies in her path.

Graphically, the developers have done an excellent job. The character models are very detailed, and well done. Backgrounds also contain a good amount of detail, and really reflect the run-down, decimated condition that they have been left in. Character animations are nice and smooth, and do not hinder gameplay at all. The cut-scenes that are shown in comic book form are also done quite nicely, and are very good for telling the story. When killing enemies, you can also see many traditional comic book action words appearing, like pow, and whack.

The audio is one of the best elements. Music is fast-paced and contains a rock/grunge feel to it. The songs are by a group called Green Jelly, and they tend to do a great job in matching the fast-paced action. The sound effects contained in the game are fairly standard, and include grunts, moans, slinging, spells, and the sounds of the various objects you can pick up colliding with the ground, and the enemy.

The game can be quite difficult, and there is no changing available for the settings. There is just one mode of play, one set number of lives, and one set number of continues. Although most of the levels are fairly easy, twenty-five plus levels can really take a toll on you. You start with three lives, and can gain a hidden life in a few different levels. You also have only two continues to work with. Since a few of the levels are boss battles with some of your main adversaries of the game, it is very common to lose a life here and there, and even use a continue. To add to the difficulty, you will not get an energy refill at the start of most of the levels. In general, you will probably end up getting through a good portion of the game, before dying, and having to start all over again. It may be a couple attempts before you are able to completely conquer the game.

Overall, Maximum Carnage is a good game. It does everything right, and provides a very good challenge, one that will require a bit of practice to overcome. Like any beat em’ up game, the gameplay can get tiring after a while. This game does not offer anything special, or different from other games in the genre, but the standard elements that it does offer are executed well, and make it worth your time to play.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/11/02, Updated 05/11/02