Ultimate Spider-Man

"The roles we play..."

Bitten as by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker gained superpowers overnight, but it wasn't till the death of his Uncle Ben that saw rise to one of the greatest heroes of all time in Spider-Man. Spider-Man has garnered tremendous success over the decade with two blockbuster films. Ultimate Spider-Man takes its art direction more in line with the Ultimate lines of the Marvel Universe. Although differing itself from Marvel's main universe, there are still many similarities between the two. This Spidey is still the same flamboyant and dashing young hero that we have come to love.

Unfortunately for Spidey though, the developer doesn't do much to give him the justice he deserves. Ultimate Spider-Man is simply a poorly designed game intended to make a quick buck off the rising stardom of our web slinger. In this game however, you can play the role of both the protagonist and antagonist. The protagonist of the game is none other than Spider-Man and the antagonist from long time rival in Venom. The problem with the game is quite apparent from the very first minute of the game. You can pretty much dispose of Venom in the opening seconds of the game with barely a scratch on you. While Venom is no Thor, the merger of Eddie Brock and symbiot has given rise to notable victories. One such victory occurred during a crossover, where Brock defeated Superman.

Spider-Man is a powerful hero, but even he could not lay waste to Venom so quickly. Now imagine what Spidey can do to regular thugs in the game. The game is simply too easy for its own good. You can pretty much speed through the level and smashing the punch and kick button to get your way through. The level difficulty makes some of Spidey's features useless. The combat system is pretty much non-existent, with simple chain ups between kicks, punches, and the occasional webbing.

With your time spent with the broken combat system, you will also find yourself saving citizens. I mean what would a game featuring a hero be, if you didn't save the common people? Despite this, there really isn't much to it. Saving them is so easy; it takes the fun out of it. At times, you are given the option to pick up civilians and carry them to a checkpoint, while other times they will simply disappear.

With Parker's speed, you can cruise through most levels very quickly. At times it feels as if you are swinging and running from point to point just to try to complete it as quickly as possible. This occurs because the game doesn't offer any redeeming values that would make you think otherwise. Sure, Spidey comes equipped with a full set of his arsenals that include web slinging and wall climbing, but it is so poorly implemented that it isn't fun to be Spider-Man.

The controls are also questionable. Climbing walls can be problematic at times because of the controls. Unlike a smooth transition from a leap directly to the wall, many times, the player will find himself not clinging onto the walls. Times like these are frustrating. The game is already a chore to play, but making the controls so sluggish doesn't help its cause either. Activision tried to be creative by making the stylus apart of the game. There will be situations, where it requires you to stroke the stylus in a certain direction to get an action desired. For example, if a bystander is stuck underneath a car, you have to stroke the stylus up to get Spider-Man to lift up the truck. While a promising idea, the implantation felt sluggish.

Aside from playing as Spider-Man, you can also play as long time nemesis in Venom. Although playing as Venom is certainly cool, the controls that is experienced through Spidey transfers over to Venom also. Venom also plays sluggishly and thus affects the enjoyment of playing the antagonist role. Despite this however, it was somewhat enjoyable to roam around with Venom.

The idea of playing the hero and villain role in the game is a good idea, but due to the length of the game, you won't be spending much time with either character. This is an issue because by the time you get used to one character, the game is already over. The inability to adequately balance the time between the two adds another unwanted issue to a long line of problems that are present in this game.

One bright spot about the game is the gorgeous graphics. With beautiful cell shading that matches the Ultimate Universe, Spidey couldn't have looked better on the DS. The environments were colorful and the graphics were appealing to the eyes. The voice acting was also fairly solid. The voices of Parker and Mary Jane were that of teenagers in High School with plenty to worry about. The voice acting portrayed Spider-Man pretty well.

To say Ultimate Spider-Man is a bad game is an understatement. The game is very short and you won't get any returning value from the investment you would have to make. Not to mention, the game play mechanics is shoddy at best. The overall presentation was beautiful though, but that isn't enough to sway you into purchasing this game. I have yet to play a Spider-Man game that hasn't reeked of poor quality, and sadly after Ultimate Spider-Man this still remains true.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 01/08/07