Game review: Amazing Spider-Man

The game takes place after the latest SPIDERMAN movie, where plans to create more cross-bred species go more than a tad wrong leaving Manhattan infected with mad-looking critters.

To combat the problem Alistair Smythe, a nano technology expert, decides to build some hunter/killer robots to sort the problem, which doesn`t work out too well and makes the situation worse.

Enter SPIDERMAN to save the day, and kick some robot/lizard butt!

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is a third person, open-world type of game with plenty of web slinging to be had, especially in Manhattan where you can travel freely, sorting out many side missions, which to be honest can get a touch repetitive after a while.

Let’s face it when you’ve saved one infected victim or caught an escaped criminal you`ve saved them all, these missions are more or less all the same, right down to the dialogue.

The campaign in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is fun with plenty to do, it’s not particularly hard either with the choice of three difficulty settings, and there is plenty of variety from crawling around in air ducts, to swinging through town taking down bad guys and robots.

A big feature of this game is the “web rush” element which involves a touch of the right trigger and time slows down, giving you options as to where you would like to send spidey next. This is great for getting around quickly, with “web retreat” option as well it’s easy enough to get in and out of trouble at the touch of a button, which is all well and good, but can be a bit dull as the challenge is removed.

I like being able to target a dumpster or gas bottle, and sling into a group of bad guys. The fight moves aren’t too bad and you can upgrade with some nice combos available.

The graphics aren’t too bad either. Ok so they’re not the greatest, and there are a few glitches, but the character movement and game mechanics are pretty fluid, not up to BATMAN ARKHAM CITY’S graphics or game mechanics, but good enough.

There are over twenty missions available, most of which are fairly short, and the whole game can be completed in around eight hours, so don`t expect any mammoth gaming sessions.

The stealth takedown is one of my favourite moves, very similar to the BATMAN version, the only fault being it’s not as smooth as ARKHAM CITY, and the camera starts to get a bit disorientating when you are up on the ceiling.

Many of SPIDERMAN’S enemies are here, except, of course, THE GREEN GOBLIN and my favourite THE VULTURE, mind you the LIZARD does make an appearance eventually, THE RHINO being the most well-known of all of them, and the introduction of a new piranha-type villain called NATTIE (bit of a lame name for a bad guy). With the addition of IGUANA, FELICIA HARDY, VERMIN and SCORPION, SPIDERMAN has plenty on his hands, with the boss battles being a reasonable challenge, but nothing spectacular.

There are some great action sequence/cut scenes and plenty of upgrades to be had, especially in the open-world sections of the game.

Summary

As a SPIDERMAN fan from way back I was pleasantly surprised by this game. It’s not “Game of the Year” but it sure is fun to play, and shouldn’t disappoint spidey fans.

I give THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 8.5 out of 10 because it does have its moments, but it still feels like BATMAN ARKHAM CITY`s poorer cousin.

THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN

Developers: Beenox

Publishers: Activision

Xbox 360

Playstation 3

Nintendo 3Ds

Wii

IOS

Android

Genre: Open world, action-adventure

Release Date: 29th June 2012