Spiderman is a hot franchise right now and, to go along with the release of the new movie, Activision has released a game that follows along in the same story universe. This game is made by Beenox who developed Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions and Spiderman: Edge of Time and has the same feel as these games. Thankfully this game works as a stand-alone game and a great companion to the movie.
The game has a similar feel to the other Spiderman games developed by Beenox. You still are able to use a web rush which allows you to move quickly through areas and avoid traps or enemies. Using the web rush, you are also able to use a web attack which had upgrades that can be earned throughout the game.
The open world concept that is used in this game definitely feels like Arkham City and that fighting system is almost identical, with the Y button allowing you to dodge when your spidey senses are tingling. The difference in this is that in Batman you had to shoot to different buildings and you could float but in Spiderman there’s pretty much something your webs can grab onto everywhere to allow you to swing in classic Spiderman style.
The storyline is really well done for this game. It would have been easy for the game to simply follow the movie plot but instead they use what was done in the movie and add to that story to give the game its own identity. Oscorp is the main setting at the start of the game and we learn that the new head of Oscorp, Alistaire Smythe, is planning on using robots and nano-technology to advance the world. Oscorp seems like a very forward thinking and morally correct company, until you actually go inside. Turns out Oscorp is still doing experiments using the science that turned the Dr. Connors into the Lizard. The virus that creates hybrids gets out and our adventure begins.
There are loads of classic characters in the game that you get to fight like Rhino, Scorpion and Felicia Hardy (Black Cat). The voice acting is great and the fights against these bosses are amazing. It feels like a classic Spiderman and you’re often much less powerful than your enemies so you have to use the environment to defeat them as Spiderman would often have done.
The biggest issue with the game is that it sort of seems to drag a little. To complete almost everything in the game it took about 15 hours (including side missions). This would be awesome for play time if a lot of the side missions weren’t exactly the same. There are only so many times you can transport a prisoner to the police or a sick citizen to the hospital before it begins to get monotonous. Other than that the game is a lot of fun.
Overall this game does a great job of following along with the reboot of the movie and adding more to the story. It actually gives the Lizard a bit more of a backstory and a bit more humanity than he was given in the movie which is definitely a good thing.
Movie games have often been used as a way to make money but this time Activision and Beenox have created something that deserves to sit alone as a part of another Marvel franchise that is receiving the gold star reboot treatment.
