The power of Spider sense! (SpiderMan (PS))

Member Name: mark.k

Product:	SpiderMan (PS)
Date:	15/10/01 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well polished, Fun, Excellent music and sound

Disadvantages: Repetitive henchmen, Texture 'warping'

This third person platform game lets you take control of one of the most famous super heroes ever created, Spider-Man. Spider-Man has been framed and must clear his name..

As Spider-Man you are armed with a large repertoire of moves. You can crawl up walls, web sling between buildings, sling yourself to walls, punch, kick, jump, pick up and throw (large) objects and you have several web based attacks. Most importantly you have Spider sense, warning you when you are approaching a dangerous situation. Of course all the moves must are necessary throughout the game. The control is well thought out and easy to use, with 'Black Cat' your super heroine friend, tutoring you about the basics on the first level.

The game has several types of level varying from excellent chase scenes, building based levels (often involving saving hostages) and difficult survival levels, to well thought out boss levels. There are some other level types but these ones make up the bulk of the game. Most of the levels are purely based on action, but for some variety the levels based within buildings contain simple, lateral puzzles that you must work out to progress. None of these are too taxing, but they can occasionally make you stumble.

During this game you have to fight a variety of Spider-Man's most dastardly foes including Venom, Chaos, Doctor Octopus, Scorpion and Rhino. The basic structure of the game, simply involves finding any given villain's hideout, by progressing through their lair usually spanning over a number of levels. All the villains are not only well realised in the game but they are also used in cut-scenes to tell you the unfolding story. I was particularly impressed whenever I had to fight these super villain bosses. These levels often require an intelligent strategy to beat them and you need to use as much brains as brawns to beat them.

Having said this the game does suffer from the general problem of repetitiveness, with
concepts regularly reused. One major irritation is that any villain's henchmen are the weakest characters in the game, with only one type of henchman per level. This does make battling them repetitive and in some instances actually irritating. Generally though the game is fun, and just as a level starts to bore you, you'll find a way to get past it. The game is relatively short, and will not take too long for most people to complete on a normal skill level. To keep you coming back, the creators ask you to pick up comic book items that give Spider-Man new costumes with various powers that can be used in the game. This is a nice touch.

Presentation throughout the game is well executed. The cut scenes are never too intrusive and you do feel like you wish to watch them at least the first time around. All the cut scenes have a simplistic style that fit in with the classic cartoon. The story is full of twists and turns and really does feel very similar to a comic book story. The cut-scenes are graphically on the simple side, but this is keeping in with the style of the popular cartoon. Short cut-scenes are also well used for specific types of death (for example drowning).

Graphics within the game are generally good. Spider-man and other characters move well and compare well to the comics/ cartoon. However minor henchmen although again well done, suffer from the fact that they all look the same. Each level looks samey and sometimes it is possible to get lost. However most of these problems are partially due to the limits of the PlayStation.

However one major graphical problem is the regularity that the characters appear to move through parts of the scenery. This can occasionally lead you to being injured or killed in an unfair manor. Another common graphical problem is that the textures often 'warp' when Spider-man walks or crawls over them.

Sound throughout the game is excellent. The music from the title sequence to ea
ch level is varied and is well suited to the game. It is also dynamic, with music kicking in when you approach an enemy.

Spider-man often makes wise cracks after dispatching an enemy, after a while these can be irritating but with each level these wise cracks do change. They have obviously been based on the cartoon series.

The user interface is well thought out and easy to use. A nice little touch is that the main game screen has eight options, one for each leg of the Spider-man symbol in the background. Saving and loading the game is quick and easily accomplished. The cut-scenes can also be easily skipped. The presentation is generally very polished.

This is a fun, action packed, easy to play and a well-presented if short-lived platform game. It is the best super hero game released in recent history and certainly worth obtaining.

Summary: