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Review:

27th June 2002:
Spider-Man
Do you enjoy swinging and having your senses tingled?
Posted by John Grothier - Xbox - UK and Europe

I finally got around to seeing the Spider-Man film recently, and I must say that apart from the all-to-few stunning action sequences the story and script were terrible, and aside from Toby Maguire, the choice of actors and the standard of acting was dire. If you have ever seen Superman, Batman or even the X-Men film, then you will have felt like you had seen all this bettered before. There are some points in the film that are so reminisant of other super-hero movies that I wondered if the director, Sam Raimi, was paying homage to them. Perhaps the sequel will be better, but until then Activision have given us all a chance to become the nerd in the red suit.

Orphaned at a young age, like most super-heroes, Peter Parker lives in the real-life district of New York, Queens, with seemingly terrible actors - namely Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Peter starts off as just another high-school geek who is in love with a girl slightly out of his league. On a run-of-the mill school trip to a research institute containing genetically modified spiders, Peter is bitten by one of these adapted arachnids, but surprisingly shuns medical advice and heads on home for a restless nights sleep. The next morning Peter wakes to find his vision is perfect, his previously scrawny body has become muscular, and like so many teenage boys, he has slightly sticky hands. So a super-hero is born.

Spider-Man on the Xbox is clearly head and shoulders above the GameCube and PS2 versions, with crisper graphics, fantastic Dolby Digital sound and a few extra Xbox-only levels thrown in. Spider-Man is split in to two main sections; outside - swinging amongst New York's skyscrapers, and indoor sections where Parker must complete certain objectives and fight his enemies using large amounts of special moves and web fluid. Activision have done a great job in bringing the look of the film to the Xbox, animations for Spider-Man and his foes are spectacular and true to the movie. After a stunning opening sequence you have the option of the lengthy Training Mode, or you can jump straight in to the main game. The story follows the film, but with some added levels and a few of Spider-Man's other enemies to keep you interested for longer. As well as the Green Goblin, Spidey will come up against The Vulture and The Scorpion from the comic books. The action is played in third person perspective, but using the right thumbstick you can enter a first person view, which can be very handy in later levels where you have to use a little bit of stealth in order to complete your mission.

Swinging has never been so much fun - using the left and right trigger buttons, Spider-Man can web-swing from one side of New York to the other in a matter of minutes. Aerial combat is necessary for most of these levels and after a little practice Spider-Man can pull off some fantastic acrobatics while fighting the Green Goblin and his minions. Spidey can also stick to sides of buildings, and crawl on ceilings to help complete his objectives. The indoor levels usually require you to defeat large amounts of enemies, but how you overcome these is up to you. There is the conventional method of punching and kicking or you can use the web with some fantastic special moves, including tying enemies up with webbing, wrapping the fluid round your hands for extra damage, creating a protective dome which shatters damaging anyone near, or you can even yank your targets around a bit if you feel that way inclined. The problem with just about all of the levels is that they feel so linier, it follows a set pattern of outdoor, indoor, outdoor, indoor, fight boss, outdoor, indoor, etc - and carries on that way for all thirty of the levels. It would have been fantastic if the game world allowed the player complete access to the city, both outside and inside, giving the player more freedom of movement within the game's levels. Instead you just don't quite get into the game enough, it looks good - like the film - but also like the movie; it's not very deep, and it's certainly nothing original or ground breaking.

Graphically Spider-Man is pretty spectacular with some fantastic animations and the city of New York is rendered perfectly in the outdoor sections of the game. Spider-Man can swing and crawl his way over the numerous skyscrapers with relative ease, and the indoor sections are rich with some good textures and imaginative level design. The sound in Spider-Man is atmospheric with some great comic book style voice acting and some great swishing sounds as you swing from skyscraper to skyscraper, but the music is more than a little disappointing. Danny Elfman composed a great score for the movie, but sadly it does not feature in the game. Instead the in-game music is quite forgettable and repetitive.

Overall Spider-Man is an above average action adventure - if you are a true Spider-Man fan you will properly enjoy the game more than most. Yet I feel we are still waiting for a great super-hero game to come along, no one has yet done any of them justice - and my senses weren't exactly tingling with either Spider-Man the game, or Spider-Man the movie.

John Grothier

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Review Summary:

Thanks to being bitten by a genectically engineered spider, you can now swing your way accross New York City. With a couple of extra Xbox-only levels, and crisper graphics - Spider-Man on the Xbox is the best of the rest, but still lacks originality and gameplay becomes repetitive all to quickly.

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