Spider-Man 3

In theaters as of this article, Spider-Man 3 is without a doubt the most hotly anticipated movie this summer, if not this year. On the same token, the game has also been highly anticipated, as it marks the series’ first appearance on next-gen consoles. Now, both the game and the film are out, and while I can’t speak much on the film (having not seen it as of this writing), I have spent a fair amount of time with the game. The Xbox 360 version of Spider-Man 3 is what you’d expect from a next-gen Spidey game: what you know and love from its predecessors, only bigger and more detailed. While the game does run into some trouble with some pretty buggy camera issues, it’s largely a solid game that does justice to the beloved character.

The storyline in Spider-Man 3 follows the plot of the film, but also mixes in new story elements that run congruent to the film plot. You’ll face off against villains like Scorpion, Lizard, Mad Bomber, and Kraven, as well as a crop of new gangs and crooked cops running the streets. These missions run congruently with the film plot, happening at the same time as the events in the movie.

As far as licensed titles go, the mission structure is pretty non-linear, but still has continuity with the film. It goes in a set order in terms of the missions you must beat in order to unlock others, but you can complete unlocked missions in any order you wish.

The missions are pretty varied. You can go from all-out boss fights to chase missions to sometimes both at the same time. Scorpion, for example, requires you to fight him at MechaBioCon headquarters first, chase him through the city, and then fight him again on a bridge.  However, boss battles aren’t the whole of the game. Aside from regular missions, you can do races, bomb runs, or generally stop random crimes.

One new element in the game are the real-time cutscenes. The game requires you to press buttons at specific times once you enter real-time minigames. This feels a lot like the button sequences in God of War. These instances vary often, from fighting bosses to defusing bombs.

The combat system is not a huge departure from Spider-man 2. You perform special moves by holding down the right bumper and pressing one of the face buttons (your special meter must be filled for this to work). You can earn more special attacks, as well as combos, by completing missions. The biggest addition to combat is the Black Suit. You gain the suit about halfway through the game, and it increases your power quite a bit, allowing you to use a rage meter for a substantial strength increase as well as dark special moves. Even Spider-man's attitude is noticeably changed from the black suit, as his quips are a bit more negative when he has it on.

However, not all is well in Spider-man 3. The camera has been a big problem for the series since its inception, and it feels just as bad, if not worse, this time around. It can get very buggy in tight quarters, leading to frustrating beatdowns on your person. Wall-climbing can also be a huge pain with the wonky camera, leading to lots of unnecessary falling.

Graphically, the game looks great, benefiting from the Xbox 360’s next-gen processing power. The city, while not as big as the one featured in Spider-man 2, is still quite sprawling and seamless, with no load times between areas. Bosses look great, and even the ones not featured in the movie sport a realistic look and feel like they could be villains pulled from the films. The animations, especially Spidey’s webslinging look excellent and nearly rival the CGI in the films. The only problem with the game’s graphical presentation are the framerates, which do tend to bog down often in intense moments.

Soundwise, the game is a bit of a mixed bag. The soundtrack features cuts from the film’s soundtrack, which sound nice and change dynamically considering the on-screen action. This entry also features surprisingly better voice acting from Tobey Maguire (he finally seems to be getting into his voice role). Unfortunately, the rest of the acting is a little flat, especially James Franco and Thomas Hayden Church.

Spider-man 3 is a fun game, and a worthy licensed title even with the lousy camera issues. Fans of the character and films should at least give this one a rental.

Gameplay: 8.0
Spider-man 3 doesn’t differentiate much from its predecessor in terms of combat, but the new God of War-esque minigames are a nice touch. The mission structure is also nicely laid out, not too linear but conducive to the film’s plot. The game does succumb to some serious camera issues on the negative side.

Graphics: 8.5
Graphically the game is very impressive, with excellently animated characters and a detailed urban environment. The framerates do get quite boggy.

Sound: 7.5
The music sounds pretty good and changes dynamically with the on-screen action. Some of the voice acting is unfortunately flat.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.5
The game is a fine progression for the series, and interweaves new plot elements with the storyline of the film quite seamlessly.

Overall: 8.0
Spider-man 3 is a fine addition to the beloved superhero’s franchise, and is worthy of a look from any Spider-fan.