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Treyarch gets away from movie licenses with Ultimate Spider-Man.
Its predecessor, Spider-Man 2 got a lot of things right including the awesome recreation of New York City and the nimble web-swinging. Like its predecessor, Ultimate Spider-Man (“USM”) gets a lot of things right though it stops just short of excellence.
The game’s story follows the plot of the USM comic book. It should since it was written by recurrent Ultimate-Spider Man writer: Brian Michael Bendis. Essentially, the Ultimate arch of the Spider-Man saga involves about a teenager Peter Parker as he struggles with his daily life and the responsibilities bestowed on him for being Spider-Man. This particular game involves Parker’s struggles with Venom, as he struggles with the friendship he has for the guy and the problem he has become.
The story missions are divided into chapters. Like in Spider-Man 2, you’re given a number of goals to accomplish and you’ll be alerted when a story mission is available. You head there, are greeting with a bit of story to get things going and you’re on your way to a new mission.
Around the city, you’ll find some tokens as an incentive for exploring the city. Aside from simply exploring, you’ll also participate in some policing since the game has many bad guys which you need to get rid off. As in Spider-Man 2, a red icon appears on the map and you need to get there and remove the disturbance. Spider-Man has one attack, one jump, one web shooting, and one dodging button. You can link up attacks but overall the fighting is simpler though this is expected since we’re dealing with a younger, less mature Peter Parker.
Like in Spider-Man 2, USM features a big free-roaming city for you to roam around. It isn’t quite as big as the massive Manhattan of Spider-Man 2 despite the addition of the Bronx. I felt that Spider-Man 2’s New York City was the perfect size; it was a half replica of New York City. The smaller city is compounded by the reduced web swinging mechanics. You’ll be able to get around the city with a fully functional web swinging system, though not the same that was so loudly acclaimed in Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man 2 was the first game to capture the true spirit of Spider-Man, but USM doesn’t really do the same. Spider-Man 2’s web swinging system worked very well because it created a sense of realism, speed, and nimbleness of the character. In USM, you find a good web swinging system. However, it just doesn’t feel the same. You still need to be attached to something to swing forward but you can only cast one line at a time losing a lot of the realism associated with the previous game.
The addition of Venom is a mixed bag. About half of USM’s story line involves Venom. On one hand, it is pretty cool to play as Venom, arguably the most popular Spider-Man villain. His style is also considerably different compared to Spider-Man since he is so much stronger. Though you’re still allowed to climb walls, you can’t web swing as Venom though you’re somewhat compensated by being able to jump huge distances. As Venom, you’ll usually chase a target and then destroy it, eating people along the way to make sure you keep your health up. Unfortunately, the nimbleness, speed, and web swinging abilities of Spider-Man are missed.
The game’s visuals are surprisingly simple yet astonishingly fitting. The game mirrors the comic book closely largely because USM artist Mark Bagley contributed to the game. The characters are impressive and apt but Spider-Man really stands out. He looks like a 3D version of the comic book. He is incredibly nimble, with crazy exaggerated movements that fit the game very well. The environments follow the same formula. Everything is simple but it all works very well with the game. Adding to the comic book atmosphere are the wonderfully animated story boards that tell the game’s story.
The game’s audio fits it well. The background music and sound effects are good as expected offering a bit of drama and excitement to the game. The voice acting is definitely the star though. All of the voice actors do a good job of portraying the characters, and really bring the story to life. The combination of excellent voice acting, dialogue and story boards make USM really true to its source material.
USM is definitely a keeper. Treyarch has proven to be a potent Spider-Man developer and USM further cements that. Though the game isn’t perfect, the addicting story line and amazing presentation are definitely welcomed. If Treyarch had kept the bigger city and more advanced web swinging techniques, Ultimate Spider-Man would have been the definitive Spider-Man game.
-- Edited, and some text by: Jose Liz -- Michael Taylor, PGNx Media
---- Sep 26, 2005
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