Spider-Man 3

"I'm freaking Spider-man!"

You're reviewing the game, what do you know?
Well I've been with Spider-man for a very long time. I remember way back in the Nintendo golden age when Maximum Carnage came out. Definitely not a bad game as far as side-scroller beat-'em-ups go. A huge upgrade from the first Spider-man game to be certain, and you also got to play as Venom? Oh man. Years passed, and we got Spider-man for Playstation. During the years of the Playstation and Nintendo 64, comic book games hit an all time low, and Spider-man is definitely not an exception. Several more years come out and after the majorly successful Spider-man movie comes out, a video game comes out entitled, shocker, Spider-man: The Movie.

Wait I was kidding, I don't really care!
Now based on the Playstation game, and the fact that most games based on movies usually end up as disasters nobody expected much. However, the game was definitely an improvement on previous installments. You could jump really high, swing from the ceilings, there were elements of stealth and while the combat was rather cheesy, this game was one step closer in making you feel like you were actually Spidey.

Please stop informing me.

The second movie was announced, and with it a second game and nobody expected what was to come: a free roam Spider-man game. Spider-man 2 for the Playstation 2 did almost everything right. It actually made you feel like you were Spider-man swinging through the city doing crazy acrobatics in the air, using your spider sense to dodge bullets and hits from enemies, tying enemies to lamp posts, picking enemies up and dropping them several stories in the air, and swan diving off of the Empire State Building are some of the major highlights available.

The second Spider-man game based on the movies, however, was still not perfect. The combat left something to be desired. It felt akward, didn't flow smoothly, and retained some sort of bad aftertaste of the now archaic classic Maximum Carnage. The side-missions were also very hum-drum. Once you've done one side-mission in Spider-man 2, you've done them all. It was still an excellent game, and in my opinion was at the time, the best super hero game to come out.

Ultimate followed. Not being a fan of the ultimate universe, I still tried this game for what it offered. You once again got the reigns of Venom, but only for certain periods of time, and instead of free-roaming it was more like rampaging. Not a big fan of the cel-shading, but it was unique. The game felt more aimed at kids(understandable, since the Ultimate universe itself is) as the game was more confined, smaller, the buildings were shorter and overall it was more cartoony.

Shut up and get to the review already!

So the fans all waited anxiously for three. Here it is and I'm certainly not dissapointed. Though the controls for the Wii are a bit akward, gimmicky, and difficult to get used to it still feels more than ever that you are indeed Spider-man. The graphics have received an upgrade, and Spidey himself looks great. The city is larger now, and combat has received a bit of a change. On the Wii it still feels clunky and frustrating as ever, often times you're unable to perform an action you want because of the nature of things, which makes you want to stay away from combat in the game altogether, but I never enjoyed Spider-man 2 for the combat. You do receive some interesting moves, however. You will be attacking by twitching the wiimote left and right for light attacks, webbing with B, and heavy attacks are performed with A. As you progress you will learn longer combos, and different moves that will keep you from dying and look neat.

You will swing through the larger and better-looking New York by using the nunchuck+Z to swing with your left hand, and wiimote+B to swing with your right hand. Jumping is performed with Z, and like the previous game you can charge it to jump even heigher. What they took out int his game for some reason was a sprinting option. Holding this button down would make you run faster and when you performed a charged jump while sprinting you would sort of hurtle yourself forward a huge distance. I am dissapointed they took this out, but it's nothing major.

What about the symbiote suit! I WANNA' KNOW ABOUT THE SYMBIOTE SUITE!

Alright, alright, calm down. Yes you get the legendary(although cinematically altered) symbiote suite in this one. You can switch to it at any time by pushing right on the D-pad. You can leave it on for as long as you'd like while swinging through the city, but once you begin fighting with it, taking damage and building up your adrenaline and using the powerful attacks that come with it, it becomes dangerous to leave it on too long.

The storyline has been altered from that of the official movie, and I for one am glad to see it. There is the main story of the movie, but many things are incorporated into it. Side-missions also now have a purpose. You work to achieve a bigger goal instead of just doing them to do them.

Over all, the game puts you in the suit and sets you free in New York, what more could you ask for?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/08/07