spider-man: shattered dimensions
Matthew Cash
We all know kinda that Spider-Man has had a pretty shitty gaming career. The only DECENT one is the game released back in the days of the PlayStation and N64. Other than that, he's been through hell. Poor bastard's even gotten the worst treatment of all: LJN (Otherwise known as Laughing Joking Numbnuts). For a character loved by so many (myself included), it perplexes me, along with many others, as to why nobody gives two shits about making a good Spider-Man game (I'm in a pissy mood, so this review's probably gonna have a lot of foul language). However, Beenox gave many Spider-Man fans hope when they announced Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. The game sounded like a Spidey fan's dream. Mix in the Amazing, Noir, Ultimate, and 2099 universes into one? That sound friggin' awesome! Is this the game true fans of the wall crawler have been waiting for? Or maybe the game proves to be just as bad as Return of the Sinister Shit on NES.
The game starts out with Amazing attempting to defeat Mysterios to prevent him from stealing the Tablet of Order and Chaos. When Spidey accidentally fucks the tablet up, all Hell breaks loose. Madame Web appears and explains that Spider-Man's dumbass self has scattered the pieces across the different dimensions and endangered Spider-Men everywhere. Basically, the villains each got a piece of the tablet and feel like kicking some more ass. That's the complete story, with some sub-stories thrown in for good measure. For me, the story was just acceptable. What kept me going wasn't the story, just Spider-Man's corny puns.
The gameplay is a whole different thing. The game is actually fun! Yeah, you read it correctly. The game doesn't suck! a whole different gameplay style accompanies each version of Spidey. Noir is based entirely of stealth. Screw up and get sighted and you can either hope you get away or just go ahead and declare game over. Amazing is all about web attacks and different combos. Ultimate is for the tendrils of the black suit and 2099 is based on verticality. Different gameplay styles often kill a game, but Beenox made these styles totally unique and polished them to... whatever is really shiny. Often, I'd get spoiled by the other dimensions before going into Noir and get my ass handed to me because I wanted to go far too quickly. However, Noir is easily my favorite dimension because I love stealth games. But that isn't the point, is it?
Each dimension has a distinct visual style. Noir is dark and creepy, Amazing has a versatile color scheme that resembles a comic book, Ultimate looks like a cartoon or something, and 2099 looks like a normal game these days, but with cool space-ish environments. The voice acting is also top notch and sound effects sound fantastic. The presentation is just very well done. For presentation, this game gets a 9.25. Yeah, that's pretty good.
My problem with the game is really just the length. You have 12 missions, not including the tutorial. That's 3 levels per character. However, replay value is high, but only for Spider fans. You have character upgrades, attack upgrades, concept art, character bios, and even alterate suits; I went all out going for those suits. All of this is managed from the Web of Destiny. Basically, the thing's a challenge tree. Yeah... Well, that's the end of that discussion. Anyway, replay value is extremely high. The RV is so high, I think only BethSoft games can beat it. Damn! That's real good.
So, I think you've noticed that I fell in love with this game. The polished gameplay, the excellent graphics and voice acting, the rewards, etc. To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting much from this game. Why should I when I couldn't even think of one Spider-Man game that has been considered good? Well, Beenox proved that good Spider-Man game can happen. I guess good things come to those who wait, right? Right.
Score: 9.0
We all know kinda that Spider-Man has had a pretty shitty gaming career. The only DECENT one is the game released back in the days of the PlayStation and N64. Other than that, he's been through hell. Poor bastard's even gotten the worst treatment of all: LJN (Otherwise known as Laughing Joking Numbnuts). For a character loved by so many (myself included), it perplexes me, along with many others, as to why nobody gives two shits about making a good Spider-Man game (I'm in a pissy mood, so this review's probably gonna have a lot of foul language). However, Beenox gave many Spider-Man fans hope when they announced Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. The game sounded like a Spidey fan's dream. Mix in the Amazing, Noir, Ultimate, and 2099 universes into one? That sound friggin' awesome! Is this the game true fans of the wall crawler have been waiting for? Or maybe the game proves to be just as bad as Return of the Sinister Shit on NES.
The game starts out with Amazing attempting to defeat Mysterios to prevent him from stealing the Tablet of Order and Chaos. When Spidey accidentally fucks the tablet up, all Hell breaks loose. Madame Web appears and explains that Spider-Man's dumbass self has scattered the pieces across the different dimensions and endangered Spider-Men everywhere. Basically, the villains each got a piece of the tablet and feel like kicking some more ass. That's the complete story, with some sub-stories thrown in for good measure. For me, the story was just acceptable. What kept me going wasn't the story, just Spider-Man's corny puns.
The gameplay is a whole different thing. The game is actually fun! Yeah, you read it correctly. The game doesn't suck! a whole different gameplay style accompanies each version of Spidey. Noir is based entirely of stealth. Screw up and get sighted and you can either hope you get away or just go ahead and declare game over. Amazing is all about web attacks and different combos. Ultimate is for the tendrils of the black suit and 2099 is based on verticality. Different gameplay styles often kill a game, but Beenox made these styles totally unique and polished them to... whatever is really shiny. Often, I'd get spoiled by the other dimensions before going into Noir and get my ass handed to me because I wanted to go far too quickly. However, Noir is easily my favorite dimension because I love stealth games. But that isn't the point, is it?
Each dimension has a distinct visual style. Noir is dark and creepy, Amazing has a versatile color scheme that resembles a comic book, Ultimate looks like a cartoon or something, and 2099 looks like a normal game these days, but with cool space-ish environments. The voice acting is also top notch and sound effects sound fantastic. The presentation is just very well done. For presentation, this game gets a 9.25. Yeah, that's pretty good.
My problem with the game is really just the length. You have 12 missions, not including the tutorial. That's 3 levels per character. However, replay value is high, but only for Spider fans. You have character upgrades, attack upgrades, concept art, character bios, and even alterate suits; I went all out going for those suits. All of this is managed from the Web of Destiny. Basically, the thing's a challenge tree. Yeah... Well, that's the end of that discussion. Anyway, replay value is extremely high. The RV is so high, I think only BethSoft games can beat it. Damn! That's real good.
So, I think you've noticed that I fell in love with this game. The polished gameplay, the excellent graphics and voice acting, the rewards, etc. To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting much from this game. Why should I when I couldn't even think of one Spider-Man game that has been considered good? Well, Beenox proved that good Spider-Man game can happen. I guess good things come to those who wait, right? Right.
Score: 9.0