You play as
Spider-Man of course, and can switch between him or your sidekick of
which there are 14. I only played SM because he was the most
interesting, I just chose my favorite villains to fill in as side-kick.
The story doesn't matter, as we all know. All you have to understand is
that there are 6 worlds, each world featuring 4 levels, and the same
enemies over and over.
It
offers easy pick-up and play combat, a fair amount of variety as
far as moves go, and the option for a second player to join in at any
time. Add in upgradeable moves and memorable bosses from the
comics/movies/etc. and you have a 6-7 hour game. If you crunch the game
in a small amount of time, you'll find it very repetitious. That's why
I recommend playing a world or so each day so you don't get too bored
of it.
The real downer is the enemy variety. Your enemies are Phantoms. You
have small, medium, and large Phantoms; all of which are easy to
defeat. Occasionally you might confront a Phantom with an actual
life-bar, who I just avoid all his moves and kill him just as easy. And
lastly you have your bosses, who are each different in their own way
and simple to understand.
Whenever
you die, it's also very friendly. All you lose is a bit of coin (the
same coin used for upgrading called Tech Tokens), and it's a very very
small amount. Add in the fact that every level of every world is pretty
much the same, and someone as young as 6 years old can play this
competently. That's all I really CAN say, it has nothing else going for
it.
The graphics and sound is okay, nothing spectacular. The replay value
is nil, offering nothing except a versus mode. And the achievements
challenge you only to your patience of dealing with repeating the same
activity over and over.
I recommend a rent if you don't have a kid, and a possible buy if you
do have one. What it does do with the Spider-Man universe it does well
enough not to hurt the reputation, but not amazingly well to make this
game more memorable than a one-night stand.
[I originally reviewed this game on GS May 25th, 2008.]
