Customer Reviews

Spider Man: Shattered Dimensions with Bonus Art Concept Book

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Overall, a very fun, and well thought out game. Plenty of action, epic boss battles, and wisecracking humor. They have nailed the look, feel, and music for each Spiderman involved throughout the game. The only downside is, (but doesn't take away from the game at all) is that there's no free-roaming. I loved it, and highly suggest it to any real Spidey-fan.

I am a fan of Spider-Man, just wanted to say that. And I thought that Web of Shadows wasn't just a great Spider-man game, but a great game all around. It had amazing web slinging and an open world that ached to be explored. Unfortunately, shattered dimensions had neither, in spades. First off, I didn't mind the story, it is after all a comic book game so a little camp is allowed. What killed me were the poor controls and the linear game play. The noir areas were interesting and by far the most enjoyable, despite being a blatant rip-off of Arkham Asylum, and a bad one at that. The stealth was badly done and with the game's terrible web mechanic it was all the worse. Same goes for the other three worlds. This was a Spider-Man game where I didn't want to web sling, and for any aficionado that should be explanation enough. Also, the web of destiny, which is a series of tasks to complete in each mission to unlock abilites and upgrades, was a poorly conceived concept. To make sure to get the higher level unlockables, the player is forced to do redundant searches for emblems and live, golden spiders. And while other games with this character have done it, this is the first time when it was a necessity, along with the other tasks. Personally, if any of you are looking for the true Spider-Man experience, play Web of Shadows.

Spiderman, like all superheros, has a checkered history with video games. Some have been fantastc, such as Web of Shadows, while others have been downright abysmal. Shattered Dimensions falls somewhere in the middle, with a great story and fantastic art style being let down by gameplay issues that, at least for me, made this experience frustrating and enjoyable in equal measures.

Rather than rehash other reviews that delve into the story, I'll limit myself to saying that this is one of the best Spiderman games in terms of setting and story. I love how they have chosen different time periods, given Spiderman different abilities, and have offered a selection of challenging unlockables that will give the gamer incentive to keep playing. My personal favorite was the Noir levels, where Spiderman must stay in the shadows and use stealth to pick off his enemies. The other levels involve Spiderman webslinging and beating up enemies in a God of War/Devil May Cry style, which looks pretty but is little more than button mashing. Still, there is enough variety in the moves to allow for combos, which build up your score, but even a marginal button-masher can get through most combat situations. The real skill comes into play during boss battles, where you need to learn patterns and time your moves correctly, and especially the latter stages will see you dying a few times. It's challenging but highly addictive.

Graphically, Shattered Dimensions looks fantastic and each time period has a well-detailed and wonderfully realized sense of style. The music is also classic superhero fare and the voice acting is also quite good, more the campy style of the cartoon show as opposed to the more serious tones of the Sam Raimi movies. The dialogue is heavy on the one-liners, which sometimes are quite funny and at other times cringe-worthy, and you will sometimes find the same lines being repeated during longer boss battles. Overall, the game's style and fluid animation provide a visual experience that is sublime, especially for Spiderman fans who want something more nostalgic.

In the title of the review, I mentioned that the game is let down by the controls, and this is where I think the game really needs improvement. The controls seems to be selective about when and where they will work, and to be fair, they work well on the levels where you are webslinging across wide-open areas where little precision is required. It's the indoor locations and cramped spaces where the controls start to show their wrinkles. It is difficult to aim with precision and you'll often find yourself zipping off to a totally different area than you intended, and other times the web doesn't even shoot when you press the RT button. This is compounded by the fact that many areas are multi-leveled and require you to be accurate in order to avoid getting killed or complete objectives like rescuing civilians. Let's just say I spent a lot of time trying to land in one area and not being able to do it.

Another problem with this game is the camera, which is often your worst enemy in tight areas and during frantic combat situations. It works well for the most part, but it goes spastic when you climb a wall, hit a corner, or shoot your web in the opposite direction you are facing. It is disorienting and difficult to control, and it has resulted in me missing objectives and getting killed by enemies. This is especially cumbersome during the Noir levels. There are also quite a few glitches, most of which are forgivable, but a few that will prove frustrating. I got stuck mid-air during a web swing a few times and had to restart from my last checkpoint, which was annoying.

By the sounds of it, you might think that I didn't like this game, which is not the case. It's a good game, but I feel that it could have been an excellent game if only they had taken the time to iron out the bugs in the controls and in the camera. Other reviewers have compared this to Arkham Asylum, which is now the new gold standard in superhero games, so this game might seem like a letdown by comparison. Taken on it's own merits, this is a decent game that Spiderman fans will enjoy if they can forgive the aforementioned problems.

********REVIEW OF THE ART BOOK*************

WORTH OWNING FOR SPIDERMAN FANS: Honestly I have loved how they have designed different spidermen and different dimensions. Having an artbook that has arts depicting all the spidies and villians truly adds value to this overall bundle. Now if you are not a fan of the spiderman to begin with, this may not mean much to you, but if you are into spiderman you will like it a lot. The dimensions of the art book are the same as that of game case.


********REVIEW OF THE ACTUAL GAME************


I am a big fan of Spiderman and seeing how this game looked, I had to give it a shot. I mean comic book like artstyle, 4 different versions of Spiderman and worlds and variety of villains, got to check it out. After spending 16+ hrs on this game (finished on normal mode and unlocked almost everything), here is what I thought.


******************PROS******************

AMAZING ARTWORK OF 4 DIFFERENT SPIDERMEN AND 4 DIFFERENT UNIVERSES: This is the first and foremost thing you will notice if you are a Spiderman fan such as myself. They have done really good job animating 4 different versions of Spiderman (Spectacular Spiderman, Noir Spiderman, 2099 Spiderman and Ultimate Spiderman), 4 different worlds and most importantly villains in 4 different worlds. As you progress further and further into the game, you will get to experience more and more of this variety and chances are you will like what you see.

13+ VILLAINS OF SPIDERMAN UNIVERSE: To me, after artwork, this was the strongest aspect of the game. There are 14 different levels. First is just tutorial. Then the next 12 levels you have 12 different bosses with different powers. So each Spiderman gets 3 different bosses each and then all 4 of them get to defeat one final boss in level 13. The best part is each one of these bosses is very artistically animated and for most part there is some level of creativity and variety involved in boss battles. Loved it just loved it. If you are a Spiderman fan you should buy this game just for this.

VARIETY OF SPIDER POWERS AND MOVES: While all 4 spidies have shared set of abilities and fighting moves (web swinging, sticking to wall, punches and kicking in combination with web etc.), each one has distinct powers, style and looks. Amazing spidy will do a lot of web based attacks, Noir has more stealth based attacks, 2099 can slow down time while ultimate spidycan use unique rage ability of venom based suit. Noir stealth mode was especially quite impressive. Reminded me of Batman Arkam Asylum.

VARIETY IN GAMEPLAY ELEMENTS: While a lot of gameplay in 4 worlds share common redundancy in terms of beating thugs and then beating bigger thugs and saving some civilians before you face off with bosses, they all have some very different gameplay aspects. For example, in Noir world you will heavily have to rely on stealth and in 2099 you will be doing cool things like chasing bosses while gliding through futuristic cities. Happy they didn't make things too redundant.

INTERESTING FIRST PERSON HAND TO HAND COMBAT MODE: Each boss you face, there will face them in first person view mode where you get to give them a piece of your mind by punching, jabbing and uppercutting them. If a boss has given you hard time or annoyed you this is the time to let it all out. Furthermore, they also have some cutscenes where you dodge through enemy attacks in first person mode. I personally enjoyed it.

PLATHORA OF UPGRADES, COSTUMES AND UNLOCKABLE: Spiderman fans will love it. Every time you beat enemies you get experience points through which you can buy more moves, upgrade your abilities or buy costumes. This adds a lot to replay value to the game. Even after finishing it once (12+ hrs). This can get you to play it again and again. Some of the costumes you can unlock are pretty unique while others are just plain funny.

VIDEO, FIGURINE AND ART GALLERY: If you are like me, someone who doesn't like to play through the game 10 times just to enjoy some in game cutscene, this is the game for you. Completing the game will unlock different movie, art and figurine galleries. Big plus.

DECENT VARIETY IN ENEMIES: Now this game doesn't have as much variety in enemies as God of War or Castlevania games, but I am happy to tell you enemies in different levels are still somewhat different. My biggest fear in Spiderman game is having the same enemies over and over again. While in this game in all levels you will be fighting goons and bigger goons, they have have different looks from level to level. Not only that you will also need to change your fighting strategy to overcome enemies in different levels. Salute to the creators.

*******************CONS********************

REDUNDANCY: I didn't mind it as much, but if you are someone who doesn't like redundancy in games, then you will mind this. As stated before, one type of redundancy you face is beating goons and then beating bigger goons in all levels. But the one that can really get on your nerves at time is saving civilians. Fortunately, for most part, it is not as bad as these civilians won't die easily if at all. And also we have to remember that this is a superhero game so I guess they had to push it in. Just wish didn't have to save civilians so often.

*******************CONCLUSION****************

So the game is not perfect, but if you are a Spiderman fan like me, you will surely enjoy it. I truly enjoyed playing as 4 different Spidermen with different powers in 4 different world. Unlockables truly kept me coming back for more. I would give it 9/10 and highly recommend it.

I was feeling nostalgic after watching all episodes of Spider-Man: Animated Series 1994 on Netflix. I decided I needed more of Spidey to keep my fever going. Then I heard that this game loosely tied to the series.

Gameplay:
Each Spiderman features similar gameplay which using sets of combos to take on numerous foes. With little exception of Spiderman Noir which heavily focuses on stealth at most parts. After all it is classic Spiderman gameplay that's always needed in every game.

Story:
It is typical story with cheesy dialogue and humor. Each Spiderman needs to work together in their own dimensions to save the universe. Every level results in a boss fight in the end, which is very predictable. The cutscenes are very interesting and provides most of the story.

Graphics & Sound:
The Amazing SpiderMan and Ultimate feature Cel-shading graphics which are colorful and rich. While Spider Man Noir feature Sin-City like style graphics and Spider 2099 has realistic art style approach.

And the artbook is nice collectible for any Spidey Fans out there.

This game was fun and must have for any Spiderman fan :D

it obviosly borrows a lot of concepts with the last batman game but this is defintly a spiderman game and the best i prolly ever play

Most of this is already mentioned in other reviews, so I'll make this as brief as I can.

This is a very fun game, giving you four different characters to switch between, and following a fairly decent story to tie them all together. The voice acting is excellent, and they do a great job of capturing the irreverent humor of Spider-Man. The art is breathtaking, too, as it shifts from the heavy lines for the Amazing Spider-Man to the nearly entirely CGI look of Spider-Man 2099 to the sepia tones of Spider-Man Noir.

The game play has been bashed for being what some call a "button masher" and you can just mash some buttons and move through the game. However, the combos they give you can combine into a lot more if you plan them out, and the game rewards you for using more varied moves through each act.

As my review's title indicates, however, there are some minor glitches in the game that do not break it, but do make for some frustration. For example, as Spider-Man Noir, as I'm waiting for the guy to pass underneath my perch, as I'm about to web grab him, the auto targeting instead switches me to another guy across the street! And then each time I swing the camera back to the target I want, it automatically switches me back!

I have heard some complain that it is difficult to see if Spider-Man Noir is in stealth or not; I disagree. When you are in stealth, the screen switches to black and white. Also, for those color-blind folks in the audience, Spider-Man's actual stance changes depending on whether he's in stealth or not.

Replayability is fairly good, too. Each map has the same guys laid out in the same fashion every time you play it, so that makes it a bit less replayable, but there are so many challenges in the game that you can keep increasing the difficulty each time you replay the game, and/or try for the challenges you missed the first times through. The game's "Web of Destiny" enables you to see and track challenges, too.

Overall, this is a very fun game, and definitely worth owning! Excelsior!

The game is awesome, you get to play as four different spiderman characters all from different times/realities. No spiderman is exactly the same as the last with almost endless possibilities for character moves and many different arenas to do battle in, two thumbs up for this game.

Arkham Asylum was a bit of a fluke last year. No one expected the game to be any good since most comic book games were usually mediocre at best. Sometimes, like in the case of Superman 64, they are horrible, but mostly mediocre. With Arkham Asylum's success, it seems a lot of game companies are trying their hand at releasing a new and exciting comic game that will wow fans into buying the game. Spider Man: Shattered Dimension is Activision's attempt at doing so and to be honest, they come close.

The premise of the story is that Mysterio broke into a museum and while Spider Man was giving chase, a rare artifact was smashed and screwed up the rifts of time and space. The artifacts were each sent to a different universe (4 to be exact) each with their own version of Spidey. The first is the regular Spider Man universe you know and love...the one that you can read on the comic stands today, aka: Amazing Spider Man. The second is Spider Man Noir, a 1920's style Spider Man that uses dark leather and the shadows to his advantage. Third, there's Spider Man 2099, the Spider Man from the future who actually isn't even Peter Parker. He is technologically advanced and most of his combat takes place above skyscrapers in a futuristic city. Finally, there's teenage Spidey who has the Venom symbiote attached to him. But, the Venom symbiote doesn't control him with the help of a mysterious old woman and he just uses it to his advantage. Anyways, that's the premise. There's an old woman/sage who ties all the Spidey's together and you take turns chasing down the enemies and whooping their asses to get back the pieces of the relic to restore the space time continuum thingy and make life better again. It's a comic book story, don't expect anything stellar.

The story actually helps the game out because you get to switch characters a lot. The normal spider man is sort of a jack of all trades The Noir Spidey can't get hit a lot or he dies so his levels are very stealth oriented. 2099 is very combat oriented with a lot of high flying escapades (being that it takes place on top of skyscrapers). Finally, symbiote spider is also combat oriented with a lot of zipping around from place to place and unleashing your rage mode (thanks to the symbiote). The gameplay is varied enough to keep you occupied but there is also something else that will hold your attention...

The enemies. Yes, the enemies are one of the best things in this game. Each level is a different enemy and they are all superbly done. In the beginning of the level you meet your foe and you spend the rest of the level tracking them down to get back the piece of artifact they stole. Of course, it would be a comic if they didn't do something bad, like use the artifact to grant them strength or a unique power, so your strategy in boss fights is always two fold. For example, Hammerhead, Noir's first boss, has you sticking to the shadows and sneaking to the ground at the last minute so Hammerhead uses his gun on some derelict machinery. The explosion causes a cloud of smoke to appear and you have to jump to the roof and wait to pick him off while he can't see you. After you do this 4 times, you are now on the ground with an overpowered head charging Hammerhead and you need to dive out of the way while he rams his head into the wall. There's not much button pushing mayhem in this, you're usually going to need a plan.

The game also has a nice touch of RPG element to it. As you enter each level, you can glance at a web in the menus that has different challenges you can meet. If you meet these challenges, you get experience points you can spend on upgrades to all Spidey characters (this is usually health or something similar) or a specific Spidey move (combat moves, rage benefits, etc.) You could take the time to do each challenge and when you meet a boss be a little overpowered (but not much) or just play the game ignoring them and be fine just the same. They aren't deal breakers and really just provide extra moves for you to play around with. The health benefits and some of the other upgrades may be required on some harder difficulties, but you get experiences from other things besides doing the challenge. This light RPG element is a welcome addition to the game.

Another thing you'll love about the game - the graphics. Each universe has a different art style. The main Spider Man universe has a very cartoony/comic book look to it. The other worlds each have their own unique graphic style and it's really cool switching between each and noticing the difference.

So, I've said a lot of good about the game, now for the bad, well, not so good. Plain and simple, the game gets boring. I'm a Spider Man fan and I found myself getting bored with the combat from time to time, especially on levels I had to play a couple times due to dying. There is a lot of platforming in some levels and the stealth in the Noir levels can be frustrating as the camera tends to not know whether you are on a wall or the ground. This is a big issue when you need to take out a couple enemies silently or else they'll kill a civilian, ending your mission and game consequently. Also, on a much smaller note, the voice work is great, but very repetitive. Be ready to hear the same one lines over and over and over again as Spider Man constantly belts out funny for the first 100 times comments about the enemies.

All in all, the game is pretty good. Is it good enough to go out and buy? Ehh, maybe a rent. Actually, definitely a rent, probably not a buy. If you are a completionist and like comic books, then you'll love this game. The game gives you a percentage value of completion (a la GTA) and allows you to replay levels at your will. There's plenty of achievements for all you junkies out there and the game is a good one to play over a long weekend. Just don't expect a riveting story and be prepared for some repetitive gameplay.

First of all, I am going to say that this game is Awesome, Amazing, Incredible, and Outstanding because I can and I got into the game. A really really really incredibly fantastic game that I would recommand people who have a X box360 or a Playstation 3 to buy because the way I see the game is like a comic book... I was really impressed with the gameplay... I was amazed at how the deliver of the game was quick... It arrived on time, it was in tip top shape, and it was easy opening...