World Spider-Man's Video Games

[Picard Sisko]

I'm sure most people will agree that the best Spider-Man game is Spider-Man 2: The Game. It introduced Spider-Man to the sandbox environment, and proper web swinging. Yet, for some odd reason, no game since has even come close to Spider-Man 2. I haven't played TASM: The Game yet, so I don't know how that game competes, but I'm sure it can't be as good.

My personal favorite game is Spider-Man from the year 2000 on the Playstation 1. It borrowed elements from the 90s animated series, had an incredible amount of references to the comic books, featured tons of cameos from other characters (black cat, human torch, daredevil, the punisher, etc.), and had fun/simple gameplay despite crummy graphics. This game was a classic, and I would still play it today if I owned it. In fact, I'm probably going to order it on amazon later today.

The sequel, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, was also a great game in my opinion.

Since none of the new games have been so great, I almost feel like they should just take the PS1 Spider-Man game and just remaster it. Don't change the gameplay, or the levels, just make up-to-date graphics.

What are some of your favorite and least favorite video games?

 

[Picard Sisko]

Anyone?

 

[Picard Sisko]

Bump

 

[Spuzz]

Good to see love for the 2000 self-titled game. That game is SUCH a big part of why I love Spider-Man so much to this day.

 

[Picard Sisko]

I think they should take the old Spider-Man game and re-release it like they did with the first Halo game. They should update the graphics, but leave the gameplay and missions exactly as they were in the original, so it doesn't end up like the GoldenEye remake.

I cannot express how much I love the 2000 self-titled game. The first video game I ever owned was Spyro the Dragon when I was about 6 years old, and then eventually I bought Spider-Man, which became my favorite game.

 

[Floppity]

Seriously, you forgot USM (not the show cause that sucks).

 

[Spider-Aziz]

And to no surprise I am alone in voting for my favorite
Here are my favorites (a.k.a the ACTUALLY GOOD Spider-Man games)
1. Spider-Man 3 (PC)
2. Spider-Man 2 (PS2)
3-4. PS1 Spidey games (tie)
5. Ultimate Spider-Man (PS2/PC): Why was this one not mentioned?

Didn't play TASM yet, so I won't judge it

Most of the rest are pretty forgettable
First movie game: Spider-Man is slower than lots of thugs, that's plain wrong, it's a deadly fault
Shattered Dimensions: Almost the same level repeated 12 times with different painting and bosses, without ignoring NOIR's stealth, 2099 freefall, tutorial and final boss levels
Edge of Time: Decent, fairly more enjoyable than SD, but yeah
Friend or Foe is one of the most repetitive video games ever, but it's too child friendly, and sidekicks actually is a reason for me to get disappointed in Web of Shadows
Web of Shadows is the worst open world game ever, open world games need variety, that $#%^ offers none, and it's the buggiest game I encountered

Horrible games:
Spider-Man 3 on the NDS
Amazing Spider-Man 2&3 on the gameboy
Spider-Man & X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
Sinister 6 on the NES

The rest of the old games are enjoyable

 

[Gwendolyn Stacy]

I love Spider-Man games. I have 17 of them. I think the best one was Spider-Man 2. My least favorite is the psp version of SM2. The game was too easy and it also recycled stuff from both the previous movie game and the console version of SM2.

 

[Picard Sisko]

Oh yeah I remember the PSP Spider-Man 2, and how it recycled stuff from the first two movie games on the PS2. I did enjoy it though.

Sorry for forgetting Ultimate Spider-Man on the poll. That's what the "other" option is for though.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Been replaying the games again, and kept thinking how plenty of those don't really have a right review, one is praised too highly, another is dumped on too harshly, and neither one of them deserves as much praise/hate as it got

Starting with the usually ignored/not mentioned much games

Spoiler

• Not much to say about the Atari2600 game, all you do is move up, every level is the same
• Return of the Sinister 6 on the NES: That one is seriously awful, even for an NES game, Super Mario Bros franchise remain a classic and this one is just a sluggish turd
• Spider-Man vs Kingpin: The Sega CD version is good, that one is the only side scrolling Spidey game to allow one to crawl in 3 dimensions. The rest of the versions showed some good ideas, but man are they overrated, every enemy is hard and...it's like the first movie Terminator game on the NES, with somewhat less flaws
• Spider-Man & X-Men in Arcade's Revenge: No one is controlled as they should, Spider-Man hardly crawls on surfaces, and controls are awkward. The mutants don't fair any better
• The animated series game: Spider-Man uses bombs, in the show he's not allowed to punch someone, but in the game he uses bombs. Spider-Man is short and fat, game is a mess, it's barely tolerable. And between the Genesis & the SNES versions, music in the Genesis is for ears to bleed
• The Amazing Spider-Man on the Gameboy: 1 is fine, it's fun, one of the better comic book games on that system and in that era. 2 & 3 are complete messes, don't know what went wrong with developers then, but the sequels are unplayable
• Spider-Man on the Gameboy Color: It sucks, everyone wants to kill you, just turn around to return to a foe you defeated to see it respawn (kinda like Ninja Gaiden on the NES, but not a good game to begin with). In the sewers it's difficult for one to find their way, and not only that, you have to levels to play in the sewers, where every critter is aiming at you. WTF? No cheats, no play
• Spider-Man 2 The Sinister 6: On the same system, by the same developers, unlike the one before it which is kinda free roam, this one is level based, and it shows mercy to gamers. Pretty decent game
• The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes (SNES): This Japanese game is based on the comics, didn't divert or go it's own direction, one of the most solid titles when it comes to controls and mechanics. But one deadly point is, a time limit exists, makes it more challenging, but sometimes it's unnecessary and I wish it goes away

Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum carnage and Separation Anxiety:

Spoiler

Yes, I'm doing a duet for those two

• On the Genesis Maximum Carnage is notably easier than it is on the SNES, but ugh on the soundtracks on that system
• Separation Anxiety isn't too different, don't see the disappointment this one had compared to Maximum Carnage

And now for the handheld games from Activision, plus the other ports:

Spoiler

The GBC games are published by Activision as well, but they are basically obscure and ignored, so I mentioned them in the first list. Now that I got those out of the way:
Gameboy Advance:

Spoiler

• Spider-Man the Movie: Pointless time limit, too lengthy levels based on short scenes in the movie exist, controls sometimes are your enemy, to name a few issues
• Spider-Man 2: It starts slowly, Spider-Man starts slow and starts with a level based on a short movie scene, deliver pizzas. It shares this issue with the first movie game "too lengthy levels based on short scenes in the movie exist" and too many movie based games, after getting all upgrades things get better, and the game manages to turn around to be entertaining
• Ultimate Spider-Man: Some foes are hard, but the game is tolerable, nothing memorable, pretty forgettable. Man, why are some levels too overly long? with the need for player to go from bottom to top just to say 'Hi'?
• Spider-Man: Battle for New York: Another game based on the Ultimate Universe, another game with a playable villain to switch between in the story, but this time it's Green Goblin. Game is more tolerable in play than USM, but music in it sucks
• Spider-Man 3: Last Spider-Man game on that system, one of the games marking the end of building games for that device. Looks and plays like the ones based on the Ultimate universe, and not really a good game

Nintendo DS (not a fan of the device itself):

Spoiler

• Spider-Man 2: Poor
• Ultimate Spider-Man: Poor
• Battle for New York: Didn't play it, so no comment
• Spider-Man 3: If any Spider-Man game with this title is horrible, it's this one, why the f*** would you control a guy only by using the touch screen? And to make it worse you don't touch him, how is one to know how to move this guy? This is literally one of the worst games ever made, modern or old age
• Friend or Foe: Awful
• Web of Shadows: The worst open world game ever surprisingly spawned one of the most fun NDS games, the game is solid fun
• Shattered Dimensions: From the same developers of WoS on the same system, they did a fine job
• Edge of Time: Didn't bother

Alternate ports on home consoles/PC:

Spoiler

• Spider-Man 2 (PC): Not such a terrible game, but nothing to look forward to, either it's forgettable, or you might hate it and it's a scar in your memory. Too kiddish, too simple in gameplay style
• Spider-Man 3 (PS2/Wii): Not a complete waste, it did some stuff better than the main port, like the model head of Spidey, more solidness in story, variety of street missions, and heck, I'd say informants in this game are better than they are in SM2 cause they don't call you to tell you to look up. The black suit is NOT ONE OF THE THINGS IT DID BETTER. Combat is too grounded
• Web of Shadows (PS2): Didn't play it, no intention

Main Activision games:(and this is big)

Spoiler

Spider-Man & Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro (PS1):

Spoiler

Gameplay in those two remains solid to this day, in combat they could have been better, there are more games on that system with better combat, so I'd say it's the only thing that wasn't excellent then, and didn't age pretty well, the rest of the games are solid and fine to this day

Both of them get a nice A-

Spider-Man the Movie: ABSURDLY OVERRATED.

Spoiler

• A thug (Carradine) is faster and much harder to beat than super villains? Really?
• Some thugs move and punch faster than Spider-Man does?
• Too many bots
• Sure Scorpion was there, but all he had was being chased by Oscorp cause he was an arachnid like Spider-Man, and he told Spider-Man not to take him back, basically SCORPION WAS LEFT FOR THE TAKING, LEFT TO HAVE A BACKSTORY, NO BROKEN CONTINUITY WITH SM3, ESPECIALLY SINCE HIS PERSONALITY REMAINED INTACT WITH THAT SMUG LAUGH. And fight against him in that game is meh, lame
• Spider-Man has organic web shooters, but they are easy to run dry, the PS1 games did it much better by allowing you to carry more cartridges, but here where you should expect more webbing at your disposal, you are more limited
• Tobey Maguire's voice actuing sucks here, he sounds sleepy every time he talks, with every line he delivers he sounds sleepy
• I wish Kraven wasn't XBox exclusive, it would have been better to keep him everywhere else, especially since it's obvious his encounter here is in continuity with SM3
• On the bright side, combat is souped up and evolved from the previous games, and that's about it. And it introduced some wall attacks and the swing kick in a Spider-Man game
• Vulture and Shocker levels are really good
• Training, especially the bowling
• Texting cheats stayed

Mediocre game, how did it succeed as it did? ****

Grade: D+

Spider-Man 2:

Spoiler

Two very important things to note:

• It was the first open world Spidey game, and a big evolution in the franchise like making Spidey faster with more fluid animation, good cinematics, amazing web swinging, thus a lot of the praise it got
• Notable cons are overlooked when people talk about this game in praise, they know it, but don't mention it

So this here, is a list of pros and cons this game has:

*Pros:

1. Story is solid
2. Cinematics look like the fight sequence from the movie it's based on, which is not really a good thing for the movie, but positive for the cinematics of a game on that system
3. Enter and interact with people inside the Daily Bugle, especially Jameson (with all his good lines, I wish J.K Simmons voiced him in this game), Betty & Robbie
4. Swinging types, being able to choose the kind of swinging, and one of them allows gamers to shoot one line while holding onto another
5. Swinging from helicopters
6. Great variety in street missions, I think it could be the best
7. Introduced charged jump and wall sprinting
8. Being able to go to Statue of Liberty (one thing about free roam games, you can't roam in an are that has nothing to do with the story)
9. Black Cat is fun and likable, and has a great voice
10. Poleswing, and being able to move left and right on them, and going on high poles
11. Arcade areas for training
12. The ability to skip starting locomotion tutorial, it should be copied into other games
13. Ability to do more than one street task
14. On top of Empire State Building, Vulture feathers
15. Easily accessible interiors
16. Added reflexes and counter attack system, which is very needed in a SM game
17. First time Rhino is translated to my liking out of the comics, Spider-Man takes him down with ease
18. Charged jump
19. It's not part of the story to deliver pizzas
20. Camera here is less shaky and more solid than almost every other game, never faced a camera issue in this one

*Cons:

1. Prerequisite side quests you are forced to play to get through the story, and you are forced to do them as you are given, always before the story mission, even after using cheats
2. Informants sometimes are misplaced, why should you be told about something right ahead of you? Or directly above you? Some of them sounding like Iago doesn't help
3. Not being able to replay story missions after defeating the game, that is lame, I wish they'd never started that, especially after getting all those upgrades
4. Combat -in a way- is watered down from the first movie game, less moves
5. To pull someone with a webline, there is the need to press on the web attack button, then press the dodge button to pull them toward you
6. The need to press the dodge button to avoid attacks, even with reflexes on
7. Dodge attacks to recharge your reflexes bar
8. Collectibles do nothing

Grade: B
It's a good game overall, not something superb, but it's good as a game, and good as a fan service game

*Ultimate Spider-Man:

Spoiler

*Improvments it introduced to Spider-Man 2 the movie game:

1. Visually during gameplay, it looks much better, easier on the eyes
2. No informants
3. A more vibrant full of life city
4. Wall jumping is better, smoother, easier to perform
5. Tunnels, Queens, a more distinguished city than other free roam Spidey games, or any free roam game taking place in Manhattan
6. Hanging thugs on lightpoles and flagpoles is simpler, web them and jump, don't do a trick attack to be able to hang them, in SM2 you have to press attack, web and dodge, and it's an upgrade to be purchased
7. Soundtracks are easier on the ears, they are fun to listen to
8. Forward and swing is less sluggish
9. More street activity from pedestrians
10. Although it shares the same issue SM2 has of pre-requirement missions, you can do them all before going to the first story mission requiring that, and allow the story to flow straight, at least the combat tours interrupt, but you can doo those as well and save yourself some grief when playing story

*Downplayed from SM2:

1. No pole swinging
2. No charged jump
3. No counter system
4. More than one type of swinging is off, it is something only SM2 did
5. No optional wallsprint
6. Swing kick is cancelled

*It's own merits:

1. Cars to stop, and how you can react to them
2. Story is fun
3. Comic panel cinematics based on the art of the great Mark Bagley
4. Multiple costumes
5. Races against the Human Torch
6. Playing as Venom
7. Doesn't need many upgrades

*Flaws:

1. Controls can drive one crazy in hard trick races, and that's not uncommon, although they are decent in story gameplay
2. Costumes have no effect or specialty, only Arachno-Man makes one a bit faster and that's about it
3. You can't replay missions
4. Black suit only earned after completing Spider-Man missions in the game 100%

Grade: B+, I can say it is pretty much better than SM2, although I find more enjoyment in SM2

*Spider-Man 3:

Spoiler

I'll start with the good, cause that's annoyingly overlooked, and I shouldn't break my habit with this one
*Step Up from SM2:

1. "Don't hit your face with my fist" line sucks, I'm glad it was removed
2. It's visually better during gameplay
3. Super attacks: Yes, that is a positive change to have it here, even though the first one is silly. In the air they are different, not the same as if performed on ground
4. Improved combat: There are a couple of silly moves, (couple, 2), but what about the bouncing moves? Why are those ignored? You can't just say combat is bad and get out, some moves are in common with Spider-Man 2, but Spider-Man 2 still lacked a certain quality this one has. If wall bouncing was added to combat here it would have been even better. Do you know a few moves here are used in the Spectacular Spider-Man animated? I'm not making this up, seriously, check episode 25. More aerial combat moves is added to the plus
5. Web attacks: Massive improvement to Spider-Man 2, all there is there are some web balls goop to stick and limit of four people to spin around, here there are so many web attacks, some to hurt, some to tie, some do both, and limit of people you can spin around is up to five
6. Pulling thugs: Tap the web button to pull, simple
7. Attaching thugs to poles: Web, multi-web, and jump, and you are allowed to tie them on more than one pole, 1-4 poles for you, no hit and web and jump
8. Pole swinging: Speed your swing and you can jump higher, or cover more distance forward, and you can jump attack from them. It has a downgrade though, no high poles, and you aren't allowed to move left and right on them
9. Soundtracks are a massive improvement, they are alright in SM2, great in SM3, before Edge of Time this game had the best soundtracks in any Spidey game, minus DeWeolff and the black suit music which are a pain. Plus there are plenty of variations to open world music
10. Swimming: That was needed in a Spidey game for a long time
11. Reflexes: They slow down time and doge, that's how it should be, and bar refills automatically, no need to dodge attacks to refill it
12. No annoying pre-story mission requirements
13. Boss fights: Harry can be taken anywhere in free roam area, and this is a game giving the chance to use web hammer on some enemies
14. More variety to activities, though not street missions
15. You can replay missions (though only once) with all upgrades earned before unlocking the black suit

*Step Down from SM2:

1. Can't skip tutorials (something good and exclusive to SM2)
2. Wall bounce is an upgrade
3. Cienmatics aren't as polished or good
4. Spider-Man's model head (only the head) doesn't fit with Peter Parker's
5. Animation is kinda laggy in comparison and less fluid
6. No more than one type of swinging
7. Swinging is a bit slower
8. Story in SM2 is obviously complete, which can't be said about this game

*Pros:

1. Tricks in gameplay are many, it allows you to do a lot of stuff, and some stuff in story missions can allow you to go against what you are asked to do
2. Dual swinging is better
3. Swinging can cover more distance and less distance, depends on the length of the line
4. The character DOES have weight, it affects how the swing webline stretches, and it can be heard
5. Although people look emotionless, they can be seen buy newspapers and magazines from news stands, and you can hear cellphones ringing and people talking, though they are unseen
6. Subplots
7. The symbiote, special moves, rage mode has more power, KEEP IT ON, PERFORM NORMAL ATTACKS AND SEE THE DIFFERENCE, keeps the challenge on
8. 3D map, multi layered
9. Flexible story telling, it feels like many comic titles, and story connects
10. Mysterio is referenced in the game, TWICE
11. Take control of some bosses in fights (like driving Rhino)
12. Gangs have their stories: Seriously, in every Spider-Man game you fight gang members here and there, nothing's wrong in giving them story plots, heck you fight them every time
13. Fan service is everywhere, you can see it, it's obvious, even more obvious if you read comics avidly. And some ask for fan service in a Spidey game after all the fan service in BAA, there's much of it easy to spot
14. J Jonah Jameson, and voiced by J.K Simmons
15. Thoguh double jump exists, charged jump is back here, and you don't need to press jump while in mid air, so if you don't like it, just avoid doing it, simple

*Indifferent:
Quick time events, they are many, but they are steady, and mostly reasonable, jump to jump, attack to attack, simple. I didn't like the QTE move ever, but after playing other games with QTE and seeing things worse there, I kinda appreciate them here
And game play can be felt without them for a pretty long time, lots of stuff are QTE free, more than half of the missions are QTE free
And the two sequences while chasing after Scorpion can be discarded if you go high or swing from behind buildings
Voice acting isn't bad, but it's not great, it's decent with some hammy voice acting by Kraven, Spidey could have done a better job. Chinese do a cheesy job, but at least they made them sound Chinese. The remainder of the cast did a fine job

*Cons: Aside from only one save slot, the game is unfinished, thus:

1. Street missions were meant to affect Spider-Man's reputation, that's why autosave activates after every street mission, but game was rushed in release and that was omitted
2. No graffiti
3. If you leave black suited Spider-Man standing for a while, he grabs his head in pain, so you can see some effect the symbiote has on him. If the game was allowed to complete, I suppose we might have seen more to it
4. A lot of the lines were not used, and some parts of the story were taken out. I have the audio files, heard them

Subplots and stuff left for sequels won't be resolved, cause the film franchise was cancelled, along with it this game series
Because this game was ridiculously ridiculed and hated over the top, it's gone even if the movie series stayed

Grade: B-.
Wow, I mean wow, just wow, I can see a certain amount of justifiable disappointment, but to throw this at the gutter the way it is thrown? Including comments like "You won't like it even if you're a Spider-Man fan"? Or stamping it as mediocre? Watered down Spider-Man 2?
I tried so hard to agree, but to no avail, embarrassing over the top reviews are that, no matter how many agree on them

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Main Activision games:(continued)

Spoiler

*Friend or Foe:

Spoiler

Story is nice, characters are fun, voice acting is decent, it's nice to play in two players, arena vs mode is fun, and I enjoyed playing as other characters in this Spider-Man team-up adventure
Problem is, the main campaign is just you bashing up the same characters over and over again, and that's all there is to do repeatedly in all stages

Grade: B-
As a childish game that should be aimed for five years old I'll give it an B, or I would if it wasn't told on the box 10+

*Spider-Man: Web of Shadows:

Spoiler

*Pros:

1. They moved art and animation to the next level
2. Wall combat and aerial fights
3. Ability to switch between black suit and red suit
4. Backflip somersault
5. Doesn't tire from wall sprinting
6. Swimming stayed
7. Vertical web zip and horizontal poleswing
8. Ability to break stuff in the street

*Indifferent:

1. Shield and countering system used, not the best counter system, but not bad
2. Spider-Man's voice

*Cons:

1. Story is horrible, inconsistent, poorly written, not well thought
2. Check Moon Knight when he talks to Spider-Man about why it's wrong to break into prison, he volunteers to help even with all the argument
3. Spider-Man is everyone's sock puppet, even to Kingpin
4. Many characters are written very wrong, especially Black Cat
5. Tentacles? Symbiote powers are tentacles?
6. Combat forces one to use web strike too much
7. Hardly any variety to gameplay
8. People you carry fall off of you if you jump in the water
9. Mini map shows street mmissions you can't reach on Roosevelt Island
10. You can't stick under the bridge WHY NOT?
11. No sidequests to enter with a token
12. Charged jump is a joke, Spider-Man is scaled up, buildings are scaled down, and Spider-Man jumps no higher than 2 floors up
13. Some of the worst missions
14. Boss fights are bad, and don't take to their full potential, compare this to TIH movie game where all boss fights can be taken anywhere in the city
15. Landmark buildings don't look like they do in reality
16. All there is to do with webbing is strike thugs with it to tie them, nothing more
17. The most bugtacular game I ever played, too many annoying bugs, screen tearing happens more often than it should be allowed

Grade: D-
That is of course, if it's not an F

*Shattered Dimensions:

Spoiler

As a sample of what they can do, and a tech demo, I will go easy on the game and grade it a B

Pros:

1. Great voice cast and performance, Neil Patrick Harris is my favorite voice in that game. I would give the edge to Dan Gilvezan if he sounds like he used to in Spider-Friends, his voice in that show is my favorite. Cast is so great the stupid line from SM1 &SM2 movie games "Stop hitting your face with my fist" sounds awesome with the talents of Josh Keaton and NPH
2. It's visually pleasant to watch
3. Noir's stealth
4. Aimed web zip, a demo of the web rush
5. Deadpool, and his line quoting the first movie wrestling announcer
   
   *Cons:
   1. A beat 'em up game, same thing to do 12 levels in a row, and not childish, so I won't respect no variety in gameplay
   2. If NOIR Spidey is caught and fights blocking enemies, they are pretty hard to attack even with charged attacks
   
   Original grade: C-

1. 
   *Edge of Time:
   Spoiler

   Pros:
   A little more variety in gameplay than SD
   Reminds me of other games I love
   Great story
   
   Grade:
   As a game: C
   As a throwaway game: C+
   Since I'm yet to play TASM, I'll save talking about it for later, and where I rank it

 

[sketchsanchez]

Well i already posted what i think of the open world games in another thread. Ill repost here using spoiler tags to save length

Spoiler

I just had to register to post here because, well I couldn't think o a better place.

You see, because of this game (and the movie) I got Spider-Feaver and decided to play (almost) every modern Spider-Man game(PS2 onwards)

That means I've gone through Spider-Man 2, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man 3, Web Of Shadows, Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time. I'm gonna leave those last two out of this post because I just wanted to mess with the open world games in comparison to this new one.

This game, The Amazing Spider-Man brought back that itch to just web swing through the city in such a big way I just HAD to play the past games again. Amazing makes a great first impression and does a lot of things right but once you go through the backlog it starts to hit just how much it gets wrong.But that doesnt make it worse than the old games, or even better, it's just an interesting contrast.

Spider-Man 2 gets a lot of points for being the first to intro the open world for Spider-man, and all the games after it owe a lot to it. Sadly it just doesn't look great, the combat stinks, the missions stink and web swinging is too complicated for its own good. It's enjoyable to master but you better damn well master it or you're just gonna always hit the floor. I get why people put it on a pedestal ( I was one of them) but it just doesn't hold up.

Ultimate Spider-Man does hold up, for the most part but it goes in the exact opposite direction for web swinging and is TOO simple and thus not as much fun and, IMO, has the weakest mechanics in the series. The combat is improved, but again is a step backwards in a lot of respects. Why no new moves to learn? Why is there no dedicated doge mechanic when the previous game had one that worked fine? It's still a pretty game, and the story is fun even if the mission structure leaves much to be desired (no, I don't want to race before you allow me a story mission).

Spider-Man 3 I feel takes the best of both those games and is what I feel the best of the treyarch games. This game got a lot of **** when it came out and I could never understand why and I still don't. It's got more to do than both SM2 and USM, it's a good looking game for it's time, and it's web swinging is practically perfect. It's not as "realistic" as SM2, but it's not dumbed down like USM either. It's the perfect blend. Like I said, it's the best of both games. It's not perfect, being inside sucks, and I just can't fathom why they had no lock-on option. It drove me crazy during chase missions,why is there no lock-on?? What were they thinking?

The fighting is better than the previous games, so is the web swinging, but both pale in comparision to the next game: Spider-Man Web Of Shadows.

As far as I'm concerned this is the best spidey game, I'll just make that clear from the start. It's got flaws, and annoyences (like major slow down) but taken as a whole it does so much right and brings so much new to the table (incomparison to the past games) it's a shame they closed the studio. Web swinging is simply sublime, and while it does have instances of "cloud swinging" this game hides it better and is actually momentum based. The fighting system is easily the highlight. You can fight in the air, on the ground and on walls, this is the only game that gives you an idea of what it's like to fight as Spider-Man. Amazing has a fun combat system, but it doesnt touch Web of Shadows.

Now I'm gonna compare WoS to Amazing here, inorder to illustrate what I think this newest game does both right and wrong.
It's actually kinda fun to compare these two games since WoS was the last open world game. And despite any superficial similarities they couldn't be more different and have flaws unique to each other.

I don't know if I can say this right, but yeah Amazing Spider-Man's web swinging is "easy mode" but it just clicks and is fun as hell. I spent hours just straight up swinging through the city and I never got bored. At first. After coming back to it, after playing through the back log, it's lost a lot of it's charm. There's just nothing to it, however web rush is a great mechanic and whoever came up with web rush deserves a gold star. WoS feels lesser without it.

That being said, WoS has great web swinging in it's own right, mostly because it takes a bit to get down but once you "master" it, it's a blast. Going back and forth between the two, WoS offer the more satisfying swinging experience.

Combat in both games is great, but once again WoS has that depth thing going for it.

One thing Amazing has going for it, and it was the thing putting it over the top for me over WoS at the time, is that it absolutely NAILS being Spider-Man. I think it's the quips. Amazing has a great lead voice actor, and he's always talking ****. Giant robot? Busting it's chops. Monster? Makes fun of it. 2-bit thug? Let's em know who's boss. That's how I like my spider-man. I never even got tired of his screams of joy during an awesome swing.

On the other hand WoS's Spider-man is annoying, and worst of all he is dead silent during the game. No trash talking during battles, no incidental banter, just a few jokes during mission set ups. It takes away from the game but not enough for me to not think that Web Of Shadows is hands-down the best open world Spider-Man game.

Almost everything is done better in WoS than Amazing, I mean WoS can be reptitive mission wise but better that than a finite level of street crimes. I mean, what is up with that? I can't believe that once the game is over that, if I spent the game answering police calls, that I could eventually run out!

Overall mission and story structure belong to Amazing, but I don't think that's why I play Spider-Man games. If you want to feel like Spider-Man you can't go wrong with WoS.

Amazing was a good first try, and I can't wait to see what Beenox does for the sequal. Make the web swinging mean more, because it's obvious they just took the same swinging mechanics from their previous non open-world games and just plugged it into this game.

Sorry for the novel, just had this burning in my head for a long time.

Personally, while i have fond memories of all the other non open world games like spiderman vs. the kingpin, spiderman psx, and spiderman the movie, eversince spiderman 2 its been open world or bust for me. I havent even enjoyed shattered dimensions or edge of time as much because of that. They're definitely good games for sure, but i personally feel that putting spidey in a beat em up is just a waste of potential. As good as his games have been, he still hasnt had his "Arkham Asylum " and i dont think he will in generic beat em ups.

Spider-Aziz, obviously we disagree on Web of Shadows, but boy do we agree on Spiderman 3! Im glad im not the only one with the same thoughts on its unfair treatment by fans. Its a bigger, better Spiderman 2 imo.

 

[Gwendolyn Stacy]

Well i already posted what i think of the open world games in another thread. Ill repost here using spoiler tags to save length

Spoiler

I just had to register to post here because, well I couldn't think o a better place.

You see, because of this game (and the movie) I got Spider-Feaver and decided to play (almost) every modern Spider-Man game(PS2 onwards)

That means I've gone through Spider-Man 2, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man 3, Web Of Shadows, Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time. I'm gonna leave those last two out of this post because I just wanted to mess with the open world games in comparison to this new one.

This game, The Amazing Spider-Man brought back that itch to just web swing through the city in such a big way I just HAD to play the past games again. Amazing makes a great first impression and does a lot of things right but once you go through the backlog it starts to hit just how much it gets wrong.But that doesnt make it worse than the old games, or even better, it's just an interesting contrast.

Spider-Man 2 gets a lot of points for being the first to intro the open world for Spider-man, and all the games after it owe a lot to it. Sadly it just doesn't look great, the combat stinks, the missions stink and web swinging is too complicated for its own good. It's enjoyable to master but you better damn well master it or you're just gonna always hit the floor. I get why people put it on a pedestal ( I was one of them) but it just doesn't hold up.

Ultimate Spider-Man does hold up, for the most part but it goes in the exact opposite direction for web swinging and is TOO simple and thus not as much fun and, IMO, has the weakest mechanics in the series. The combat is improved, but again is a step backwards in a lot of respects. Why no new moves to learn? Why is there no dedicated doge mechanic when the previous game had one that worked fine? It's still a pretty game, and the story is fun even if the mission structure leaves much to be desired (no, I don't want to race before you allow me a story mission).

Spider-Man 3 I feel takes the best of both those games and is what I feel the best of the treyarch games. This game got a lot of **** when it came out and I could never understand why and I still don't. It's got more to do than both SM2 and USM, it's a good looking game for it's time, and it's web swinging is practically perfect. It's not as "realistic" as SM2, but it's not dumbed down like USM either. It's the perfect blend. Like I said, it's the best of both games. It's not perfect, being inside sucks, and I just can't fathom why they had no lock-on option. It drove me crazy during chase missions,why is there no lock-on?? What were they thinking?

The fighting is better than the previous games, so is the web swinging, but both pale in comparision to the next game: Spider-Man Web Of Shadows.

As far as I'm concerned this is the best spidey game, I'll just make that clear from the start. It's got flaws, and annoyences (like major slow down) but taken as a whole it does so much right and brings so much new to the table (incomparison to the past games) it's a shame they closed the studio. Web swinging is simply sublime, and while it does have instances of "cloud swinging" this game hides it better and is actually momentum based. The fighting system is easily the highlight. You can fight in the air, on the ground and on walls, this is the only game that gives you an idea of what it's like to fight as Spider-Man. Amazing has a fun combat system, but it doesnt touch Web of Shadows.

Now I'm gonna compare WoS to Amazing here, inorder to illustrate what I think this newest game does both right and wrong.
It's actually kinda fun to compare these two games since WoS was the last open world game. And despite any superficial similarities they couldn't be more different and have flaws unique to each other.

I don't know if I can say this right, but yeah Amazing Spider-Man's web swinging is "easy mode" but it just clicks and is fun as hell. I spent hours just straight up swinging through the city and I never got bored. At first. After coming back to it, after playing through the back log, it's lost a lot of it's charm. There's just nothing to it, however web rush is a great mechanic and whoever came up with web rush deserves a gold star. WoS feels lesser without it.

That being said, WoS has great web swinging in it's own right, mostly because it takes a bit to get down but once you "master" it, it's a blast. Going back and forth between the two, WoS offer the more satisfying swinging experience.

Combat in both games is great, but once again WoS has that depth thing going for it.

One thing Amazing has going for it, and it was the thing putting it over the top for me over WoS at the time, is that it absolutely NAILS being Spider-Man. I think it's the quips. Amazing has a great lead voice actor, and he's always talking ****. Giant robot? Busting it's chops. Monster? Makes fun of it. 2-bit thug? Let's em know who's boss. That's how I like my spider-man. I never even got tired of his screams of joy during an awesome swing.

On the other hand WoS's Spider-man is annoying, and worst of all he is dead silent during the game. No trash talking during battles, no incidental banter, just a few jokes during mission set ups. It takes away from the game but not enough for me to not think that Web Of Shadows is hands-down the best open world Spider-Man game.

Almost everything is done better in WoS than Amazing, I mean WoS can be reptitive mission wise but better that than a finite level of street crimes. I mean, what is up with that? I can't believe that once the game is over that, if I spent the game answering police calls, that I could eventually run out!

Overall mission and story structure belong to Amazing, but I don't think that's why I play Spider-Man games. If you want to feel like Spider-Man you can't go wrong with WoS.

Amazing was a good first try, and I can't wait to see what Beenox does for the sequal. Make the web swinging mean more, because it's obvious they just took the same swinging mechanics from their previous non open-world games and just plugged it into this game.

Sorry for the novel, just had this burning in my head for a long time.

Personally, while i have fond memories of all the other non open world games like spiderman vs. the kingpin, spiderman psx, and spiderman the movie, eversince spiderman 2 its been open world or bust for me. I havent even enjoyed shattered dimensions or edge of time as much because of that. They're definitely good games for sure, but i personally feel that putting spidey in a beat em up is just a waste of potential. As good as his games have been, he still hasnt had his "Arkham Asylum " and i dont think he will in generic beat em ups.

Spider-Aziz, obviously we disagree on Web of Shadows, but boy do we agree on Spiderman 3! Im glad im not the only one with the same thoughts on its unfair treatment by fans. Its a bigger, better Spiderman 2 imo.

I like the Spider-Man 3 game too. The psp version and Nintendo DS versions. Both were great. I haven't played the PS3 version and don't know when or if I will because I don't have a PS3. My brother did, but he recently got rid of it.

 

[Mob1423]

My 2 favorite Spidey games are

"Ultimate Spider-Man" for the PS2

"Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin" for the SEGA Genesis

 

[choskins]

Played this for hours on hours as a kid. Nothing beats the original (at least for the nostalgia)!

 

[Mob1423]

Played this for hours on hours as a kid. Nothing beats the original (at least for the nostalgia)!

For what it was, its actually a pretty damn good game. Simple, yet addicting. Like Pong!

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Played this for hours on hours as a kid. Nothing beats the original (at least for the nostalgia)!

Remember really loving this as a child, play it at times

 

[Picard Sisko]

Played this for hours on hours as a kid. Nothing beats the original (at least for the nostalgia)!

Is this the first Spider-Man video game ever?

 

[zeptron]

Spider-man 1 & 2 for the PS
Spider-man 1 & 2 movie games

The second movie game was the last one I played that came out in the 00s. I also liked Spider-man vs The Kingpin(both Genesis and Sega CD versions) The Sinister Six for the NES was awful though.

 

[Picard Sisko]

I also remember playing Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro for Gameboy Advanced. It was pretty good for what it was.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Step by step, we review every detail to be thought of on the PC version, why state PC? Some details will require this little detail

Spoiler

*GRAPHICS:

• Main character design in the movie suits look awesome, they are so finely details, unfortunately, the crotch and seating details are seen there as well. The model looks good, but in animation sometimes it moves like a rubber doll more than human. Other costumes kinda have less details, but they're passable. Shredded costume details and injuries are good looking
• Main cast looks fine for a movie tie-in, details are decent, and by main cast both supporting cast and villains are counted for
• People on street still look like they are made by playing dough, with squeezed shoulders, much like the other open world Spidey game, and the pseudo-Spidey game not tied to a movie, difference is they look more detailed in the faces
• People to carry, mutates, and minor villains to fight look decent, they could have looked better, but this is another movie tie-in, another Activision game, studio is excused for the rushed product thanks to the publisher
• City looks pretty good, compared to other open world games released this year visuals aren't as impressing as needed to be, but I won't be harsh and excuse Beenox for their effort and attention to details, and working under that 'A' logo
• When the sun hits you -and it happens a lot- it is a major pain
• Interiors are detailed just fine, I don't think more details would really be of more benefit

Generalizing visuals, I think I'll grade that a solid 'B', think it's fair

*STORY:

• Don't really see a plot hole now, and I won't ignore the silliness of the rat people hurling acid, although reptiles spitting acid was tolerable, this one is unforgivable, at least it is that way until you take photo of Vermin in frame and read Whitney's message to Spider-Man about Vermin spitting hallucination inducing gas -that for some reason look like acid, and hurts with no other obvious effect- and read the script self-awareness of its silliness I think it's worth excusing.
• The story taking place shortly after the events of the movie is a very good idea, beats rewriting the story main plot and inducing other plots that have nothing to do with the main plot, although that idea is refreshing from time to time, I don't think people appreciate it
• I don't think you should get it for the Wii, if what I heard about that port -not only being with dumbed down graphics, but also no free roam- is true, I recommend against getting it, you will probably miss some very important details in the story

I will grade it 'A-' for the time being

*CAST and PERFORMANCE:
They did a pretty swell job with that, it's less than the stellar job to be expected from Beenox after their previous two entries. Everyone does a crisp job and solid delivery in this title, some of the lines delivered by Sam Reigil are easily delivered better by Neil Patrick Harris or Josh Keaton, like "Who's having a good time? Raise your hands"
Reigil being given too many lines, lines for everything, including swinging, can get on my nerves at times

Grade 'B-'

*LOADING SCREEN:
Is that a strange topic to discuss? Not when you have a loading screen as the one in this game
Showing the chapter, mission title, and text delivered by civilians through the incident during the load screen is a nice touch, beats the simple casual 'LOADING' text and screen
Issue? It takes too long to load from city to interior

Grade 'C'

*CONTROL SETUP:
This is where it counts for the PC port, cause of these particular points:

1. Using a gamepad that is not an XBox360 gamepad is a pain, no control setting for the gamepad, so with my right analog moving on sides to move the camera vertically, and moving on the Y-axis to move the camera horizontally is a pain. The previous titles Beenox ported to PC had controls setup, why not this one?
2. Camera controls can not be set on keyboard, and that is another thing they dumbed down from their previous ports, even their made game Shattered Dimensions didn't have the dumbing down this one had

Definitely a 'C-' for this part

*CAMERA:
It's decent, the way the did it saved from some interference it may seem, but not really needed
B

*COSTUMES:
The one thing not even EoT did better than the PS1 games is giving special attributes to the costumes, sure EoT did that, but not as fine as the PS1 games. Although it's nice to have this number of costumes

Grade 'B+'

*GAMEPLAY:
Oh yeah, now that's the big part, the most important thing in any video game

• Swinging is fun, I thought I'd hate it, and as it was designed for this game during outdoor missions it's very much appreciated
• Indoor swinging being different was serviceable, it was done in a way to be endorsed as I felt
• Spider-Man moving a train cart the way he does? He's strong, boy is he strong in this game, and it's excellent
• Stealth, web rush, free flow Lucha Libre inspired combat, not really excellent, but it's pretty solid and admirable, especially for a movie tie-in
• Photo missions is an excellent touch, I support it
• Jumping less charged in interiors is serviceable, but I wish they allowed the jump to reach the ceiling
• Collectibles is a nice touch, and if you zoom in on the magazines you see they are Lucha Libre specialty, that's a nice touch seeing they are the source of inspiration for combat
• Comic pages to read comics, also they unlock a costume. Finally collectible do something in a movie tie-in
• Street missions aren't organic as I would prefer, but seeing how that affects the costume collection I think it might be ok
• Costumes? Somehow I can't find the symbols to shoot, though others on PC said they did that
• Those extreme challenges, hmmm, camera challenges are annoying, but Spider-Man tricks at the end of each one is supported
• Nice ability to replay story missions, unfortunately, no New Game+

Gameplay is nicely varied, it's fun, and I appreciate it. I'll give it a nice 'A-'

*TO CONCLUDE:
Good fun game, and waiting this long to give Beenox the handling of Spider-Man games is a good decision, they are capable game makers, and they are obviously the best choice for Spider-Man games as shown with this game alone

Final grade: 'B'

 

[Spider-Aziz]

4 years after this, I grew to really enjoy Web of Shadows

My favorite is still Spider-Man 3, even with my newfound and stronger appreciation of Spider-Man 2, my second favorite Spidey game.

TASM1 was my favorite for a month or two, then it lost its spark.

I wonder if the new game will finally be my new favorite, but it will take multiple plays before that happens, and for me to discover every trick I can find playing it.
I'll be amazed if I ended up enjoying it more than Arkham City.

 

[PeterBenParker]

Spider-Man 2000/2001 all the way. Found my lost copy of it for PC the other day and have been playing it nonstop.

 

[ItchyWebShooter]

I need to break that game back out.

By far my favorite is the Spider-Man 2 tie-in game for PS2. Close behind are Spider-Man tie-in PS2, Spider-Man 2000 for PS1, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro for PS1, and of course Ultimate Spider-Man for PS2.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I still play that game and its VVisions sequel, I love them both equally.
What If..? is a great mode, but a bit underwhelming in the second game.