Spider-Man: The Movie
Spidey is back in yet another exciting sequel. Can our 40 year old hero live up to his name? Learn more about the new game based on the upcoming movie.
Published: March 23, 2002
The transition between video games turning into movies and vise-versa has never been that much to brag about, and of course the gaming/movie industry hasn't yet learned from there mistakes, or so you think. Make way for Spider-Man: The Movie, the game. Yes, you heard right, Activision with their partner Treyarch are developing a Spider-Man game based on the yet to be released movie, staring Tobey Maguire as the legendary Peter Parker. It seems that the folks over at Treyarch have a good sense on what Spider-Man is all about. Here's the lowdown.
Our adventure begins after Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically enhanced super spider, or commonly known to Spider-Man buffs as being radioactive. After getting infected he has noticed strange things happening to him such as gaining extraordinary strength, enhanced vision, acrobatic skills and a "spider's sense" of danger when it approaches, all of which will play a vital roll in guiding Spidey throughout the course of his adventure. After his family gets attacked by street thugs, it gets personal and Parker decides to use his new powers for good, he goes to the root of the problem, which means taking out the best in the business. Spider-Man seeks to take out such heavy hitters as The Scorpion, The Vulture, Green Goblin and the new HK units, thanks to OSCORP Industries. Spider-Man: The Movie will unravel into 22 gigantic levels.
Spider-Man has the ability to run, jump, summersault, climb walls, swing, flip, hang from ceilings and perform a huge arsenal of web attacks. All in all there are over 30 different attack moves and special combos created by stamina power-ups cleverly planted throughout the city.
Spider-Man: The Movie greatly resembles the previous titles developed by NeverSoft, which is a good thing if you were a fan of them. The view is still in a third person perspective and the camera system has been greatly improved upon from it's past counterparts, making it the best enhanced feature besides the graphics. The camera is completely free and focuses directly on Spider-Man as he investigates his surroundings, but when engaged in battle the camera-lock function focuses on the enemy as if it was the center of the screen at all time, therefore never loosing site of the distractions around you, or for that matter directly in front of you.
The city maps in this game are phenomenal, each one has a disturbingly realistic aspect about it. This game displays extremely rich texture details and very extensive polygon counts resulting in a incredibly smooth frame rate and animation. As Spider-Man soars from building to building it is evident that Treyarch put a lot of time into creating the levels, from the sky delivering a wide arrange of colors, to Spider-Man's transitions from one motion to the next. Players also react to their environment, as it rains you can see streams of water running off rooftops and rain drops splashing on our hero. When the wind blows Spidey's webbing swerves farther and in the direction the wind is blowing. As Spider-Man you can also look down at the leering street below and watch cars ride by, it is an impressive feat.
Spider-Man: The Movie is only going to be a single player game, which is disappointing. It would have been nice to see what the guys at Treyarch could come up with for a multiplayer mode. Thankfully, the voice acting is very similar to the actual movie. As far as the soundtrack is concerned, no popular music is featured, rather a finely turned orchestra, but its pleasing nonetheless.
One disappointment you may have is that the PS2, PC, and GameCube versions only support 22 levels, and version for Microsoft's Xbox will have 24 levels and an added boss, Kraven: The Hunter. On the other hand you'll be happy to know that Marvel is not just selling out for a game based on the movie. Reason being, Activision is promising a great add-on from its previous Spider-Man games developed for the last generation consoles. Spider-Man: The Movie will hit store shelves on April 16 and will have a suggested retail price of $49.99. Keep with us for the full review, and make sure to check out the movie when it opens nationwide on May 3, 2002.
Our adventure begins after Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically enhanced super spider, or commonly known to Spider-Man buffs as being radioactive. After getting infected he has noticed strange things happening to him such as gaining extraordinary strength, enhanced vision, acrobatic skills and a "spider's sense" of danger when it approaches, all of which will play a vital roll in guiding Spidey throughout the course of his adventure. After his family gets attacked by street thugs, it gets personal and Parker decides to use his new powers for good, he goes to the root of the problem, which means taking out the best in the business. Spider-Man seeks to take out such heavy hitters as The Scorpion, The Vulture, Green Goblin and the new HK units, thanks to OSCORP Industries. Spider-Man: The Movie will unravel into 22 gigantic levels.
Spider-Man has the ability to run, jump, summersault, climb walls, swing, flip, hang from ceilings and perform a huge arsenal of web attacks. All in all there are over 30 different attack moves and special combos created by stamina power-ups cleverly planted throughout the city.
Spider-Man: The Movie greatly resembles the previous titles developed by NeverSoft, which is a good thing if you were a fan of them. The view is still in a third person perspective and the camera system has been greatly improved upon from it's past counterparts, making it the best enhanced feature besides the graphics. The camera is completely free and focuses directly on Spider-Man as he investigates his surroundings, but when engaged in battle the camera-lock function focuses on the enemy as if it was the center of the screen at all time, therefore never loosing site of the distractions around you, or for that matter directly in front of you.
The city maps in this game are phenomenal, each one has a disturbingly realistic aspect about it. This game displays extremely rich texture details and very extensive polygon counts resulting in a incredibly smooth frame rate and animation. As Spider-Man soars from building to building it is evident that Treyarch put a lot of time into creating the levels, from the sky delivering a wide arrange of colors, to Spider-Man's transitions from one motion to the next. Players also react to their environment, as it rains you can see streams of water running off rooftops and rain drops splashing on our hero. When the wind blows Spidey's webbing swerves farther and in the direction the wind is blowing. As Spider-Man you can also look down at the leering street below and watch cars ride by, it is an impressive feat.
Spider-Man: The Movie is only going to be a single player game, which is disappointing. It would have been nice to see what the guys at Treyarch could come up with for a multiplayer mode. Thankfully, the voice acting is very similar to the actual movie. As far as the soundtrack is concerned, no popular music is featured, rather a finely turned orchestra, but its pleasing nonetheless.
One disappointment you may have is that the PS2, PC, and GameCube versions only support 22 levels, and version for Microsoft's Xbox will have 24 levels and an added boss, Kraven: The Hunter. On the other hand you'll be happy to know that Marvel is not just selling out for a game based on the movie. Reason being, Activision is promising a great add-on from its previous Spider-Man games developed for the last generation consoles. Spider-Man: The Movie will hit store shelves on April 16 and will have a suggested retail price of $49.99. Keep with us for the full review, and make sure to check out the movie when it opens nationwide on May 3, 2002.
