Ultimate Spider-Man
Finally, a video game version of Spidey for comic nerds.
Published: October 10, 2005
I know this review has been a long time in coming (blame some mix-ups with our illustrious move and name change), but by now you've likely read all the reviews bitching about Ultimate Spider-Man's length. I'll agree, the game is damned short; I plowed through it in about six hours, give or take, and I goofed around with some of the extra stuff.
For once, though, I finally feel like developer Treyarch got it right. The experience, even with the forced bits where you literally re-do all the same "extra" city events from Spider-Man 2 feels less stretched and actually offers - gasp - a storyline with dialogue and characters that are halfway decent.
Part of this probably comes from the fact that the game's presentation got a huge injection of source material from the comics where the game gets its namesake. In fact, the donation of writing from the comics' scribe Brian Michael Bendis and artwork from penciler Mark Bagley does more for the series than any of the work the developers have done while working with the movie license.
The addition of the comic talent certainly helps with the overall look of the game (we are talking about something borne from the comics after all), it's actually the refinement of what Treyarch has been working on for a while now. The swinging mechanic, the free-roaming city and the presentation gel in a way that has never really been done properly, and it's not just the look; this really is the most faithful video game adaptation of a comic I've ever seen.
For those that haven't cracked the cover of any Ultimate Spider-Man comics, we'll try to fill you in. The series is basically a re-imagining of the classic story, keeping Peter Parker as a young lad not yet old enough to vote, and one-time Daily Bugle rival Eddie Brock as a childhood friend. The pair's fathers worked together on a cure for cancer that would eventually become the Venom costume.
Like the classic storyline, Parker does try on the suit, but quickly ditches it. Eddie, on the other hand, embraces the suit, but it isn't without complications. Now, caught between clandestine agencies and plotting moguls with agendas of their own, the pair have to fight their own demons, reconcile the past, and trade more than a few blows in the process. It's a fantastic storyline, and a great way of revisiting the origins of Spider-Man's greatest villain.
It was also a chance for Treyarch to tweak what worked so well in Spider-Man 2. A first, I hated the dumbed-down swinging controls, though the supposed reduction in the size of the city really didn't make much of a difference. As I spent more time with the subtle changes to things like web zipping and repeatedly was floored by how much the animation team had really nailed what it felt like to move like Spidey, I slowly warmed to the whole experience. As of tonight, I've given away my copy of Spider-Man 2. USM is just more fun to swing around in, dumbed-down controls or not.
The dev team stripped things down to their basics, and while I miss the Spidey Store and actually unlocking moves, handing them out slowly gives the player a chance to slowly adjust to the swing speed and move sets. Combos start out small, but quickly build to the point where five-hit strings are simple and effective. Jumping and hitting punch or kick will suck Spidey towards enemies, and webbing up foes and then pulling them toward him is a simple matter too. The streamlined fighting helps balance out what was already a slightly tedious fighting mechanic, and while it's nowhere near as deep as in previous games, it actually feels more focused.
For the first time, however, a Spider-Man game isn't just about Spider-Man. In a true tribute to the USM comics, Treyarch included Venom as a playable character. It's not just a high-tech palette swap, though, this is a completely different character in nearly every way, and the storyline is split between the two perspectives in an oft-alternating sequence of progression. The game shows Eddie for what he really is, a tortured kid fighting to keep the monster within in check.
Rather than web swinging, Venom just summons a massive leap into the air often allowing him to clear a couple of buildings with just a press of a button. Instead of slowly ambling up walls, he digs his claws into them and propels himself up at least as fast as he walks. Since the suit is constantly feeding off Eddie, he has to supply it with an alternative energy source (read: people) to stay alive. This is first demonstrated to awesome effect as you finally get to end the life of that annoying freaking kid that kept losing his "balloony" from Spider-Man 2. All that's left after a few seconds are a pair of size 2 sneakers.
If Spider-Man's combat has been simplified, Venom's is almost laughable. He can use the tendrils from the suit to whip at multiple foes, and simple claw attacks do quite a bit of damage, but there's a good chance you'll almost never resort to close-range attacks, when the far-off ones work so well. Likewise, Venom has some truly evil ways to off his enemies, including simply picking them up and snapping them in half, but aside from hurling cars at choppers and enemies, it's rare that you'll ever bother to pick up anything smaller when you can just absorb enemies for suit fuel.
For once, though, I finally feel like developer Treyarch got it right. The experience, even with the forced bits where you literally re-do all the same "extra" city events from Spider-Man 2 feels less stretched and actually offers - gasp - a storyline with dialogue and characters that are halfway decent.
Part of this probably comes from the fact that the game's presentation got a huge injection of source material from the comics where the game gets its namesake. In fact, the donation of writing from the comics' scribe Brian Michael Bendis and artwork from penciler Mark Bagley does more for the series than any of the work the developers have done while working with the movie license.
The addition of the comic talent certainly helps with the overall look of the game (we are talking about something borne from the comics after all), it's actually the refinement of what Treyarch has been working on for a while now. The swinging mechanic, the free-roaming city and the presentation gel in a way that has never really been done properly, and it's not just the look; this really is the most faithful video game adaptation of a comic I've ever seen.
For those that haven't cracked the cover of any Ultimate Spider-Man comics, we'll try to fill you in. The series is basically a re-imagining of the classic story, keeping Peter Parker as a young lad not yet old enough to vote, and one-time Daily Bugle rival Eddie Brock as a childhood friend. The pair's fathers worked together on a cure for cancer that would eventually become the Venom costume.
Like the classic storyline, Parker does try on the suit, but quickly ditches it. Eddie, on the other hand, embraces the suit, but it isn't without complications. Now, caught between clandestine agencies and plotting moguls with agendas of their own, the pair have to fight their own demons, reconcile the past, and trade more than a few blows in the process. It's a fantastic storyline, and a great way of revisiting the origins of Spider-Man's greatest villain.
It was also a chance for Treyarch to tweak what worked so well in Spider-Man 2. A first, I hated the dumbed-down swinging controls, though the supposed reduction in the size of the city really didn't make much of a difference. As I spent more time with the subtle changes to things like web zipping and repeatedly was floored by how much the animation team had really nailed what it felt like to move like Spidey, I slowly warmed to the whole experience. As of tonight, I've given away my copy of Spider-Man 2. USM is just more fun to swing around in, dumbed-down controls or not.
The dev team stripped things down to their basics, and while I miss the Spidey Store and actually unlocking moves, handing them out slowly gives the player a chance to slowly adjust to the swing speed and move sets. Combos start out small, but quickly build to the point where five-hit strings are simple and effective. Jumping and hitting punch or kick will suck Spidey towards enemies, and webbing up foes and then pulling them toward him is a simple matter too. The streamlined fighting helps balance out what was already a slightly tedious fighting mechanic, and while it's nowhere near as deep as in previous games, it actually feels more focused.
For the first time, however, a Spider-Man game isn't just about Spider-Man. In a true tribute to the USM comics, Treyarch included Venom as a playable character. It's not just a high-tech palette swap, though, this is a completely different character in nearly every way, and the storyline is split between the two perspectives in an oft-alternating sequence of progression. The game shows Eddie for what he really is, a tortured kid fighting to keep the monster within in check.
Rather than web swinging, Venom just summons a massive leap into the air often allowing him to clear a couple of buildings with just a press of a button. Instead of slowly ambling up walls, he digs his claws into them and propels himself up at least as fast as he walks. Since the suit is constantly feeding off Eddie, he has to supply it with an alternative energy source (read: people) to stay alive. This is first demonstrated to awesome effect as you finally get to end the life of that annoying freaking kid that kept losing his "balloony" from Spider-Man 2. All that's left after a few seconds are a pair of size 2 sneakers.
If Spider-Man's combat has been simplified, Venom's is almost laughable. He can use the tendrils from the suit to whip at multiple foes, and simple claw attacks do quite a bit of damage, but there's a good chance you'll almost never resort to close-range attacks, when the far-off ones work so well. Likewise, Venom has some truly evil ways to off his enemies, including simply picking them up and snapping them in half, but aside from hurling cars at choppers and enemies, it's rare that you'll ever bother to pick up anything smaller when you can just absorb enemies for suit fuel.
