Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage

"You might as well give up, New York is doomed."

-Introduction-
When I was a kid my favorite Superhero was Spider-Man, I couldn't get enough of that love able wall crawler, and when one day I saw a commercial for Spider-Man and Venom In Maximum Carnage I knew what I was going to save my allowance on for the next month. Looking back, I just should have rented it.

-Story- 6/10
"If you add things in they should make sense, you know?"
The story is pretty simple, Carnage escaped from The Ravencroft Jail for the Criminally Insane, gets four of Spider-Mans enemies I had never heard of and proceeds to wreak havoc in New York. Looks like Spider-Man, along with the help of Venom has to spring into action and stop the symbiotic menace and his band of inept miscreants from doing...whatever bad guys do. A comic book storyline indeed. You would think it would get a higher score but the cutscenes later on in the game make no sense. Why is Spider-Man screaming in front of fire? What does Carnage want with Jonah Jameson? If Carnage is in New York why is Venom getting jumped in Los Angeles? Why do our heros have to break into Fantastic Four headquarters and steal their laser thingy, cant they just ask?

-Graphics- 9/10
"At least it's nice to look at."
For its time the graphics were right on and I dont have many problems with them. Venom was a little to blue for my taste but it wasn't that bad and some of the enemies could have had more features but overall a good comic book feel.

-Gameplay- 5/10
"What are you doing Spidey, I didn't want to lift him up?!"
You'll find yourself saying this rather often as you play through MC. All the other controls are rather responsive but whenever your not punching someone in the face your picking them up, and when your surrounded by bloodthirsty street toughs that isn't a good idea. The only good thing about picking up guys is throwing them into other guys. Your webslinging/wallcrawling abilities are absolutely useless, they have a great interface and are easy to use and get the hang of, BUT theres no point in using them. Why swing when you can walk anyway, it makes so much more sense. You also have a cool double hit skill you can use to grap two enemies on your left and right with web, pull them toward you and hit them both at the same time, which usually knocks them out cold or takes a good amount of health off them, unfortunately this is also useless because more often than not your just webbing one of them and getting sucker punched by the other. This game is filled with useless skills, Spider-Man might as well just go buy a gun and use that instead, it'd be a lot quicker and more efficient.

-Sound- 6/10
"I like this song, but not in every stage"
The music for MC was done by some rock band called Green Jelly. While the songs were full of cool guitar riffs to lay down the word to they quickly became old after hearing them over and over again. The sound effects were up to par, nothing revolutionary but they get the job done. I did like hearing my enemies let out an "Uhhh" or an "ohhh" whever I hurled them into walls or each other, that was fun.

-Challenge- 10/10
"Did she kill me with her...hair?!"
Maybe I just suck but I find this to be one extremely hard beat em' up. The enemies do an unfair amount of damage and our heros seem to do none at all, even Venom can be overwhelmed by two fat guys on the street, or Spider-Man can get the smackdown put by two girls and their hair, yes their hair. I've never been hit by someones ponytail but i'm willing to bet it wouldn't knock me to the ground like it does Spider-Man and Venom. "My symbiotic alien powers were nothing compared to his umbrella!"

-Fun to be Had- 4/10
"I didnt know being Spider-Man was such a chore."
This game is way to annoying to be fun.

-Overall Score- 5/10
The challenge rating did this game in, it could have been a 6 but I cant let the challenge slide. Spider-Man and Venom in Maximum Carnage is more of a hassle than a game. Instead of it saying Game Over when you loose it should say, You Suck! That would complete the experience.

-Buy or Rent-
You can probably find it at your local game store for like 5 bucks, but it still aint worth it. Put that fiver towards a good game or true SNES classic.
Peace.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/05