By Clinton “dreddsix6six” O’Shea
Overview
Let me be quite blunt here – Spider-Man is not really my favourite comic book hero ever. He is always a little bit too emo for me to be honest and a little too cocky at times. He needs to be cut down to size sometime. The next problem the web-slinger faces is that Batman: Arkham Asylum came along and raised the bar for “super-hero” games, and it’s not like previous Spider-Man games were exactly mind-blowing. So now the poor dude has an Arkham Asylum fan that doesn’t really like him, reviewing his latest game…will it all end in tears?
Features and Game play
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions has a rather intriguing premise – play as four different Spider-Men over four different dimensions. However, don’t think for a second that means jumping at will between them, but it does add a rather nice twist to the gameplay, as each dimension has a different style – both in terms of gameplay and look. The overall constant is that all the dimensions play out in third person, with a little first person switch in some boss battles. In fact all the levels are essentially themed around a specific boss, with you, as the Spider-Man attempting to “chase” and defeat said boss – Deadpool, Electro, Carnage and many more make their appearance along with their henchmen. You are after all these “bad” guys to get back some stone. Yep, stone. But wait, it’s not any old stone, it’s pieces of an ancient magical slab, the very thing needed to restore ‘the shattered fabric of reality’. Gulp.
So what’s all this about Spider-MEN you ask? Well you get to whip ass over the four dimensions as the ‘Amazing’ Spider-Man, ‘Ultimate’ Spider-Man, Spider-Man ’2099′ and ‘Noir’ Spider-Man. Again, don’t go thinking you can choose which one. Like the whole dimension thing, the level (read boss) you are fighting dictates which one you will play as. Yes, the game is linear. You do get the chance to choose which order you would like to complete each ‘Act’ in, but open-world it is not. Maybe not a bad thing, but, considering each Spider-Man has unique abilities, it would’ve been absolutely awesome to choose your preferred Spider-Man and kick seven shades of [damage] out of the evil-doers.
The Amazing Spider-Man isn’t quite as amazing as he thinks (and boy, does he like to say it too) – he is the stereotype Spider-Man that the world has kind of grown to know (and in some cases love or hate). Present day setting is present and correct. Web combat is, well, there. Boring blue and red outfit is…boring still. Essentially, this is also the man to blame for all the trouble that is happening – he was stupid enough to punch the large slab and cause it to break in to smaller ones that he, and his alter egos, must now recapture. Man, I hate this fool.
The other Spider-Men however, are 100% better. ‘Ultimate’ Spider-Man comes replete in the powerful black suit – and of course that just looks cooler. He also has a ‘Rage’ ability, which equals mass destruction on a relatively grander scale than ‘Amazing’ can do. The 2099 version fights in a slightly more ‘vertical’ city and has a rather sinister way about him. He also brings a freefall ability to the game – almost a mini racing game in a techno city – as well as the ability to slow time. The ultimate (pun possibly intended), absolutely best of them all is the ‘Noir’ Spider-Man. Of all the dimensions, this is truly the one that stands apart from the others. While the other three tend to be colourful beat ‘em ups in corridors, the Noir setting is striking and a complete contrast. It has a sepia finish on the graphics given it a slightly brown hue. It also drops the beat ‘em up, bash ‘em up of the others and uses stealth as its key ingredient.
Now, at this point, the parallels between Arkham Asylum and Shattered Dimensions need to be pointed out, as it is the right thing to do. Batman introduced the wonderful, but easy to overuse, ‘Detective Mode’…Spider-Man almost copied it wholesale and called it ‘Spider Sense’ (push up on the D-pad). Batman used stealth as a weapon…Spider-Man does this too in every sense, but only in the Noir dimension – the shadows are your friend there. Now, a sceptic may think I’m about to say that lacks originally. And that sceptic is right. However, this is the games major saving grace. Out of all the dimensions, I could play the stealth option only. And this again brings me to a point I made earlier – why couldn’t I choose my (Spider-) Man of choice…?
So, as can be garnered from the above paragraphs, the game is essentially a third person action beat ‘em up that follows a set pattern of chase the boss, fight the henchmen, fight the boss, boss escapes, chase the boss, fight the henchman, fight the boss, etc. To change things up a little as you battle through the levels, you can collect ‘spider emblems’, which along with the simple act of clobbering bad guys, allow you to get Combat and Character upgrades to further dish out the pain, as well as some alternative costumes. These become unlocked to ‘purchase’ as you complete in-game challenges – “web-zip ‘x’ number of enemies”, “stealth takedown ‘x’ number of enemies”, etc.
Graphics are, except for the ‘Noir’ levels a little disappointing. Yes, the comic book feel is there in all the glory of cel-shading and vibrant colours, but it all feels so…2D. There are some cutscenes, especially the opening sequence one, which really come alive, but the in-game graphics seemed functional at best. Although, to be fair, maybe I just wanted a grittier feel from the graphics – hence my preference for the ‘Noir’ levels. The sound and voice acting are all perfectly in keeping with the game’s style. Cheesy. Not a bad thing, but considering Peter Parker and his alter ego are not my favourite people in the world, I constantly wished he would STFU.
Controls are infuriating at times, but I’ve always found myself completely confused when movement leaves the floor and heads up the walls and along the ceiling, so some of that is my own fault, not the games. However, the camera angle can also accept some responsibility at times – it’s not going to get away that easily. The problem appeared to disappear as I played on. But, that may have been because I stopped walking on the ceiling.
Bits I Loved
- The ‘Noir’ dimension.
- Rage mode made me feel invincible.
- Some promising ideas.
- Each dimension has its own style.
Bits I Hated
- It isn’t Batman.
- Quite repetitive.
- Boss battles are a little uninspiring.
Conclusion
Against all odds, I found myself not completely disliking the game. This is possibly the best Spider-Man game to date, but not the best “Super-hero” game to date. If you are a Spidey fan, you won’t be disappointed at all. If you are a fan of games, don’t go expecting any dimension shattering gameplay…
Zombiegamer rating:
Buy it here.
Link to site for more info, screen shots and videos: Official site
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