Customer Reviews

Spider-Man

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We've all been waiting 10 years for a decent spiderman game. After dealing with the garbage that was released on the Genesis and Super Nintendo, Neversoft, responsible for the amazing Tony Hawks Pro Skater, stepped up to the box, and makes one of the PSXs best games. The game pits you as Peter Parker or more famously known as Spiderman. You explore the streets of NYC looking for trouble, and it pops up often. You battle all the well known bad guys, from Rhino to Venom to Dr. Octopus, they are all here. The developers have done an AMAZING job of bringing spidey to the console. The use of his Web and Spidey Sense are amazingly put into the game, and the physics are unbeliveable. Add to that, some of the best graphics yet seen on the PlayStation, and you can see why this game is just so good. The music perfectly fits the atmosphere of the game, and times, up and catchy, and at others, dark and suspenseful. You will have to solve puzzels along the way, and encounter all the charcters you know from the tv and comic series. The game is not all action either, many times you will be low on health, and will have to rely on stealth to make your way through the level. All these aspects are pulled into the game to create the best spiderman game ever, and one of the best games period for the PlayStation.

I was really looking forward to the release of this game after playing the demo. All the elements are there: wall-crawling, web-spinning, swinging from building to building, and voice-overs from Stan Lee. The whole package is amazing in its capture of the comic book look and feel.

And yet... I found myself getting bored with the game after playing it for about 4 hours. After going through a few of the missions (beat up guys then fight boss, or try to complete some sort of platform/maze puzzle under time pressure), I realized that I had no incentive to go back and replay any of the missions. Exploring the buildings of the city is not very rewarding - it's just one empty building or rooftop after another. There's no score-keeping, so it's not like you can go back and "improve" your performance on a mission.

Ultimately, the game is fun to play and really captures the feel of the comic, but it won't keep you entertained for much longer than the 2-3 days it takes to finish all the missions.

If your old enough to remember the countless horrible superhero beat-em-ups that were on the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo, than this will be a breath of fresh air. You still have to beat up the bad guys, but swinging around in a full 3-D New York City is too good to be true, and the graphics look great even for being on PS1. The storyline is your basic comic book story, nothing new here, but the voice acting is a welcome surprise. The only problem is that Spider-Man is a short game, but there are plenty of secrets to uncover that will keep you coming back, such as finding all of the comic books and getting all the special Spider-costumes. Spider-Man is allready a Playstation classic and if you don't own it allready, you should get it now along with the new sequel, "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro".

Let's get one thing straight, in my personal opinion every single super hero game that has come out has been terrible. Fortunately Spider Man has broken this abysmal tradition.

The Good - Fantastic graphics (using Tony Hawk's Pro Skater engine). Spider man looks good. While there are definite polygonal issues once you get up close it's fantastic considering it's being run on the PlayStation. Entertaining dialogue. I must admit I chuckled a few times at the exchange between Spider Man and some villains. Just listening to the Webslinger making puns and cracking jokes after pounding the hell out of someone just strikes me as amusing. As far as the actual dialogue and voice acting for the story goes, well, it varies. Some of the characters really seem to come alive with whoever did their voice, yet others seem a little weak.

Finally Getting to be Spider Man. This is a big one. Yes he's been in games before but they've never been this good. Just getting to swing from building to building is a treat. From coating some bad guy in webbing to jumping on his back and punching him in the head, it's just fun to be the Webhead.

The Bad

Game length. It's just too short. I really think that if Neversoft had made a second cd and included more levels this would be an unbelievable game.

Linearity. This is another one I had a problem with. There's a right way to do things and that's pretty much it. I thought a big part of Spider Man's persona was that he used his head to find different ways around an obstacle as opposed to always just smashing it?

Limitedness. In the levels where you're cruising the New York skyline (there are not nearly enough of these by the way) there's not much point to going to most of the buildings (with the exception of the occasional power-up) because they're empty and dull.

What I would have liked to have seen-

More of New York. Really, after about 15 floors it disappears into a fatal haze. What I really would have liked to have seen was the ability to actually travel around the city. Now that would have been fantastic. Maybe even a random adventure/quest generator would have been very interesting. Now you can say "Wait for a MMORPG" but that wouldn't quite be the same. In a MMORPG you aren't the focus of the game whereas with this everything would be revolving around you and how you react (much like the Spider Man comics).

Despite the flaws I wholeheartedly recommend this game with one restriction. You really need to like Spider Man to buy this game. What I'm saying is, if you aren't a fan you probably won't want to shell out that much money for such a short game.

Oh well, maybe we can hope for this for a release on the PSX2.

Finally, there's a game that does my hero justice. Minutes after starting up Spider-Man, I was swinging across New York with a smile on my face.

This game just feels right. Spidey leaps and bounds across the city rooftops with the greatest of ease, employing his famous web-shooters to help him along. Spidey's controls are spot-on. Most of the hard work is done by the computer. Spidey automatically aims his webs during combat and web-swinging. In addition to the standard webline, you can use impact webbing, web spikes and a web shield to gain the upper hand in combat against the game's numerous enemies.

The game's story is also well done, with great voice acting from the Spider-Man cartoon series. Spidey himself sounds great, and you probably won't get tired of his quips, which include several in-jokes for comic fans.

The graphics do their job admirably. While not spectacular, they are a step above most PlayStation fare, thanks to Neversoft's Tony Hawk engine. There's little slowdown, and the game maintains a comic feel with bright colors and superb animations, especially for Spidey.

The game's not flawless, however. Most players will complain about the game's camera. For the most part, the camera does fine, but occasionally (especially while crawling along a ceiling) the controls slip up due to odd camera angles.

The game is also surprisingly short. Perhaps this is because I only played on normal difficulty, but I finished the game in a day. There are plenty of extras to keep you occupied, so it's not a total loss.

Also, the cutscenes, which were rendered using the game engine are underwhelming. However, they get the story across well enough.

The music is nothing special. For the most part, you play in silence, except for the occasional guitar riff. I don't know where all of the hype surrounding Tommy Tallerico came from, but the man hasn't written an inspired soundtrack since 1993's Cool Spot. However, the remixed Spidey theme from the 60's cartoon show (done by some music group I'm not familiar with) is great.

All in all, these flaws do nothing to subtract from the gameplay. You'll still have a great time swinging across the rooftops again and again, trying to unlock secret modes or costumes.

Will Spider-Man be on everyone's list for Game of the Year? Probably not. Is it an outstanding action-platformer that you should run out and buy right now? Without a doubt.

Finally a video game based on a comic book character that is done correctly. This game has all the wall-crawling action and comedy of the comics. There are only 2 drawbacks to the game. First is control. Moving at mulitple angles, especially along walls and the ceiling, can be confusing and frustrating. Getting through the final scene will take some serious practice. Using your webbing can mix you up too. Fighting game fans may not have trouble using the D-pad and only ONE button to do 4 diffent things. The only trick you'll really need to master is "impact webbing" to beat the game. The other drawback is the briefness of the game. I beat the game in one day, and I'm just a casual gamer. Except for trying to unlock and/or find the hidden items, there really isn't much replay value. There is also a code to unlock everything anyway, "EEL NATS" (Stan Lee in reverse). If you are a Spider-Man or a super hero fan that would like to see a great translation of a character, I recommed you check out this game. Rent it first. It's easy to get through within a few hours. Then decide on whether to buy or not.

to get started-i dont read comics besides the ocasional "Spawn".but i saw a commercial for this and i thought "well,it does look like a fun game,and the makers of THPS 1 & 2 made it,so,what the heck?"and i was right!this games fun!if you're a fan or not of the tv show or comics,it's still fun.it just gets finished to soon.the only REALLY hard park is the final level,where you fight the giant red octupus freak thing.that's hard.and to add,all ages can enjoy it.i'm 11,my brothers 13,and my dads (unbelieveably) 54,but we all play it and we all have fun!(my moms not that much of a game freak.)buy this game.you'll be gald.

This game...all I can say is... WOW!! Activision did a great job on this game! The game makes you feel like your actually the web-slinger! You have all of Spidey's powers: Wall-crawling:You can climb on walls and hide on ceilings so you can ambush the enimie bellow or just to save your life! Spider-sense:Whenever the screen turns diffrent colors and Spider-man has wavy lines over his head that means danger is cloase(Danger-sense). Spider-agility:Be fast as...a...well a spider!

Spider-strength:You can lift up heavy objects and use them against baddies!. Web shooters:Spider-man made web-shooters so he can swing around New York and kick Super-villian!! But in here you can web-sling building to building or web-up an enimie,sorry theres so many uses for the webbing I cant remember!. This has very good storyline for a Spidey game! And the enviroments are spectacullar!!The enimies are pretty tough also! They even has the voices from Spider-man and Spider-man Unlimited cartoons in here!! Other Marvel comic super-heroes make cameos in this game,Just like the comics! Once you've beaten the game you can go back through it to find secrets for diffrent costumes read and look at Spider-man comics! On a rating One to Ten I give this 9.6!

Spiderman is without a doubt, the best comic book action-hero game released to date. You play as Spidey himself in this fast-paced romp all over town to clear your good name and save Mrs. Spidey. Most of Spidey's enemies and friends show up to slam you around a bit or help out respectively. The boss fights are challenging without being impossible and there are a good number of puzzles you must solve to complete most levels. This adds to the game, as superheroes are supposed to be clever AND pack a wallop. The puzzles fit in with the scheme of the game and don't feel contrived and forced.

The graphics of the game are good (Spiderman and most of the major characters look great) however, you will still find a problem with the camera angles which is a major flaw in an action game. The controls have a tendency to be sloppy but manueverability is not that big a problem when you have your trusty web-slinger to save your butt before you plunge to your death. Voice talent is superb and the narration is top-notch as well. The cut scenes are also well done and the background graphics are excellent. The main menu offers a great deal more than your average game including a training course for practically every move and a review section to see what items you've obtained and are still missing. Depending on the level of difficulty you're playing on, you have a good bit of help during your missions and there is even a kid-version so everyone is included.

The levels of the game are short but well constructed. You have a clear objective and simply have to get past the obstacles to acheive your goal. Sometimes you must rely on stealth, strength, agility, cleverness or a combination to reach your objective. It was also a nice touch to include some hard-to-find itmes like comic book covers, which will unlock special abilities and suits. This adds some replay value for those die-hard gamers, but lets face it, mostly it's just cool.

The biggest problem with the game is while it is fast-paced, it is also extremely short. Those well-versed in action games will probably complete it within a few hours and again, unless you are specifically searching for power-ups, replay value just isn't there.

Spiderman is a good game. It certainly offers its fair share of entertainment for everyone not just for fans. The comic book flair does not end with the title and the main character, it is clearly visible throughout, which adds a great deal to the characters and overall graphics of the game. This game is like the comic book that it is based on: thrills and spills for everyone...just don't expect too much.

OK, first let's go over a small list of current super-hero vids that are out there that suck. Superman? He looks like some unearthly force (in this case, the game's designers) violated him more than Lex Luthor ever could. Iron Man? Second verse, same as the first (but take out Lex Luthor). Incredible Hulk? Barely looked CREDIBLE to me. Maximum Carnage was a good game for Genesis and SNES back in the day; if you haven't seen it, don't fret, cuz it kinda sucks compared to now. Batman? What Batman game HASN'T induced the need to blow chunks?

The point (for those of you not turned off yet) is this: throughout the realm of video games, there hasn't been a good superhero-to-console translation game. There was a Spiderman arcade game, but it didn't last too long, and it wasn't ported. Do you know why? BECAUSE IT STUNK! It ended up being DEported, and I'm not sure if that game was the inspiration to the somewhat horrid Genesis version(s).

Anyway, this review is about the PS-X version, and in my humble opinion, you'll not find a better Spider-Man (or superhero) action game on any other system. You can literally do whatever a spider(man) can. Swing through the city, bounce around with his enhanced agility, create different web objects, stick to walls; only thing you can't do is take pics of foes and sell them for cash, but that's kinda lame anyway. The control is pretty good, as Spidey can perform an array of attack moves. The Dual Shock controller (recommended if you don't have one) simulates the Spider Sense by vibrating when an enemy is near, and on screen arrows help further the direction. The camera is kinda lopsided at times, but you'll forget it once you're tangling with Scorpion and Venom. Speaking of the gruesome ones, they are well represented in this version. You'll run into those guys(Venom is DIFFICULT, to say the least), Mysterio, Rhino (I had so much fun beating him up, even more with Spidey's comments) and Doctor Octopus. I won't ruin the other surprises for you (if you don't know already).

The sound is excellect, as Stan "The Man" Lee does voice overs and Spidey himself comes back with those quips that made him famous. Good for cheesy laughs. The voice acting is well done as well, and you'll hear those familiar "thwip" and "thwack" sounds throughout the game.

The game also has training sessions, a kid mode, as well as information on all your Spider-Man related chracters. I just wish Venom was playable (Oh well, maybe next time...). The game is woefully short (I finished it in under a week) and there isn't a whole lot of replay value involved, thus the 4 stars. You'll want to play it over again, tho, just to unlock some of Spidey's alternate costumes (The Scarlet Spider is ok other than the fact that it's kinda LAME, while the black Spidey symbiote costume is there and easy to get, plus it has unlimited webbing).

Make no mistake: This game, short as it is, is VERY addicting, and it makes you feel like you're right in the thick of Spidey's paper adventures. You'll want to get some of the codes to play the game in another way. What way, you ask? Well I used them and there were times where the game changed, making it a bit funnier. Added a little bit more replay value (but not much). Definately check this out, only if 1)to satisfy your own curiosity, 2)you're a fan of the webbed one, and/or 3)you like good, quality action titles.