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Peter Parker’s alter-ago adds another kick-ass game to his repertoire. Spider-Man 3, while not a radical departure from the excellent foundation laid by its prequel, will amaze Spider-Man and action games fans alike. The sequel fixes the major complaints of the first game (generally the repetitive nature of side missions) and polishes everything up. As we'll detail below, the Wii (and PS2) versions of the game are a little different than the other console versions.
Spider-Man 3 follows the movie’s plot. It begins right after the prequel ended with Peter finally getting his life in order. Of course, this cheery mood doesn’t last very long. In Spider-Man 3, the game, you’ll be able to relive the movie and classic action sequences against Sandman, Green Goblin and Venom but Treyarch also added a lot of additional plot lines not based directly on the movie. Some of these involve additional villains (Scorpion) while others task you with doing something like protecting New York City.
Undoubtedly the biggest difference between the Wii and other versions of the game is the ability to use the Wiimote and Nunchuk to swing Spider-Man around. You have the different controllers in different hands and each of them controls one of Spider-Man’s games. You basically hold a button then swing the controller down to swing with that hand and repeat the motion with the other hand. You can maneuver Spider-Man by using the analog stick on the Nunchuk. There is undoubtedly a steep learning curve involved with the swinging mechanism, which is a little disappointing since it takes away from what is arguably the best aspect of Spider-Man. If you keep at it, though, the system does work and becomes intuitive. If it’s better, though, is arguable.
The Wii’s motion-sensitive controllers are also used for combat. You again use the analog stick to move Spider-Man, but waggle the Wiimote for light attacks and use A to execute strong attacks. Combat was easier to get a hold of than swinging and became intuitive fairly quickly. Throwing webs is easily done with the B button while moving the Nunchuk allows you to easily dodge attacks. The game also includes a new spider sense system (which works similar to the goggle filters in the Splinter Cell games) to detect hidden items and enemies.
Aside from controls, though, the Wii version is also more structured and more obvious with what it wants you to do next. The game also deals with the Black Suit much differently. Whereas the Black Suit is locked away for select missions on PS3/Xbox 360, you can switch to the Black Suit at anytime with the Wii version of the game. You become much stronger and nimbler with the Black Suit, but at the same time you become more aggressive and can eventually pass out if you use the suit for too long. When playing in the standard red-and-blue suit, attacking also fills up a different meter that enables you to use stronger attacks. But Treyarch also added a lot more variety to the random missions so you’re doing a whole lot more on that end, as well as trying to keep three gangs under control. Lastly, the game includes “cineractives” similar to those found in Call of Duty 3 or God of War. As with those games, SP3 will move into a cinematic and require button presses at specific moments. If you hit the buttons at the right time everything moves smoothly and works well. These interactive cinematics provided some of the game's biggest “wow” moments such as struggling in the air against the Green Goblin (while playing as Peter) and jumping through lasers as Spider-Man.
Visually, the game looks nearly identical to Spider-Man 2 on the Gamecube. The city is still fairly impressive in scope, although when compared to the Xbox 360/PS3 version, is populated with relatively simple architecture, lower-resolution textures, and less advanced lighting effects and reflections. Spider-Man’s character model still looks pretty good, though, and the animation is fairly smooth. While we weren’t expecting next-generation quality graphics from the Wii version, there have been better looking Wii games and it’s disappointing to see the Wii version’s graphics compare so similarly to the PS2 version.
The audio in the game, however, is impressive. The audio component is led by the actual movie’s cast so you’ll hear Tobey as Spider-Man, Topher Grace as Venom, Thomas Haden Church as Sandman and James Franco as the New Goblin. The dialogue is spot-on and helps draw you into the game. The game’s sound effects are generally great, too, although the actual combat sounds are a touch too repetitive. The orchestrated score sounds it was ripped directly from a big-name Hollywood blockbuster.
Spider-Man 3 on Wii is considerably different than the next-generation versions. It has a considerably longer learning curve and much less polish than its true next-generation counterparts. For that reason, I would recommend picking up the Wii version as a complement to the next-gen versions if you can. But if you can’t, you’re still getting one of the best Wii games of the summer. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- May 4, 2007
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