Ultimate Spider-Man

"Ultimate Spiderman. Is it an Ultimate let down?"

Sitting down with my brand new DS, I pop in the game that I received with it: Ultimate Spider-man. A comic book style talks me through a bit of the background. Great idea. The first level is great for beginners, taking away tedious health bars, making you invincible, and the enemy (Venom) quite easy to beat. Then the second level starts. Of course, rubbish jokes are on the way, but I can take that. Then halfway though. I'm stuck. And I mean stuck. Oh wait, I've just not been paying attention. Keep going, no one will know... Eventually the climax of the level appears: a hostage situation. But again, I miss a tiny detail, and have to redo the whole thing again. Bugger.

Eventually I meet Venom. And that's where the enjoyment comes in. Let's face it, it's good to be bad! In fact, I think that I played the first Venom level a good 20 times. The stylus control is a good idea, and I can now pick up hot dog stands and hit people with them. Woo-hoo! I can throw people up in the air, just to hear them scream. How good is this! Then, the fun's over. Why?

And then I have a choice: Go stop a Rhino or stop Shocker? And the beauty of the choice is: There's no difference in the setting of the levels, no matter what you choose, but the content is just slightly different! Wow. Not as impressive as Venom though. When can I play as Venom again? After saving the city again, I now have a choice, play as Venom, or stop a weird Beetle type thing. Tough choice.

And to be honest, that's about it. A plot emerges, and basically Venom is bullied into working for the same people who tried to make the original Venom suit. Of course they turn out to be the bad guys. A nice twist comes half way through, but there's hardly any replay value. I can now finish the whole game in under an hour, and I've now worked out little challenges for my self (Get through this level without eating anyone (Another of Venom's abilities), get through this level without killing anyone, only use Spider-man's web abilities) just to make it more interesting. What would make it great was if there was a free roam unlocked after finishing the game. You can unlock other characters for the multi-player, but as I know no one who has a DS with this game (No download play available), that's pointless. It's a shame, but Ultimate Spider-man IS an Ultimate let-down.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/06