Spider-Man 3 (PlayStation 3)
Reviewed by: damiencorso
Reviewed on: 7-Jun-2008
- Summary
- Spider-Man 3: Don't believe most other reviews, the writers must have had symbiote suits on. This is not a movie game, it's the best Spider-Man game to date!
- Ratings
- Overall: B+
- Gameplay: B+
- Graphics: A
- Learning Curve: B
- Replay Value: B
- Sound: A
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- Images
Description
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After playing Spider-Man 3 and then reading several reviews slamming the game, I had to do something. With writing great reviews comes great responsibility [not really].
First, don't mistake Spider-Man 3 for a movie game. While the game has plot elements from the movie, it is not a direct representation of the feature film of the same name. The entire game has maybe 20 percent of the events from the film in it. I consider that a good thing, because I watched the film, I don't need to play it here. You get fresh missions with stories with which you might be familiar, but are fun to play through.
The Marvel cameos include Scorpion, Rhino, Kingpin, Luke Carlyle, Kraven the Hunter, and Lizard. See? None of those guys were in the movie [Dr. Connors was not yet Lizard].There are story missions involving each of these. Actually, the game puts forth most of its emphasis on the Dr. Connors/Lizard story rather than the Venom/Sandman/Black Suit Spider-Man story from the film. You have 42 main missions in the game, Only 4-5 of those have to do with Venom or Sandman. I'd have personally liked a little more to do with Venom, but little to do with Sandman was fine by me.
The gameplay is solid. Gameplay makes or breaks games. Swinging through the city with the web is just plain fun. When Spider-Man jumps up buildings, he does that trademark arm-and-leg flapping thing. When you unlock it (which happens early), he can shoot web from both hands and swing suspended between two buildings, which makes for even more cool flips and tricks. You also increase speed as you get more used to the controls and from upgrades.
The Black suit, which you get way into the game, spoils you a bit. You're nearly invincible with it on. You're a lot faster than even the top speed Spider-man, and much stronger. When you beat the game, you unlock Black Suit Spider-man and can play through the entire game again as the symbiote Spider-man. There is also apparently a way that you can play as Harry (New Goblin), but I didn't do whatever task was required to unlock him.
Fighting enemies consists of button mashing if you choose, or pulling off one of the dozens of combos that you unlock during the game. Several of these use web attacks. With Web Rodeo, for instance, you grab an enemy and swing him around with your web. Web Subdue allows you to bind your target's arms while you come over and whip some ass. Web Yank lets you web your opponent and bring him to you, whether you're in the air or on the ground. It is very fun and effective to jump into the air, Web Yank someone into the air with you, punch and kick him 2-3 times, then web yank him again as he's about to hit the ground, then pile-drive him into the ground from 15-20 feet in the air.
I have two main beefs with the game. One, there are not enough health power ups in my opinion. Actually, there are almost no health power ups during missions or in crime fighting activities. You rarely get a power up until you beat a mission. Thankfully, there are check points so most of the missions are still beatable enough, but it isn't always easy, especially early on when your health is low (you get health upgrades that give you more overall health).
My other beef is with a mission that is UNGODLY difficult. I don't want to spoil anything, but let me just say that you are expected to do a defense mission (defend an object for X amount of time). I generally don't like these anyhow, but this one is the most ridiculous I have ever played, so ridiculous that it was never fun. You have easily over 300 enemies that you must defend against, all alone, no guns or barriers or anything, for a solid 2 minutes. Sounds somewhat easy, because you never know how long 2 minutes is until you're down to your last. This is a controller breaking type of mission.
Otherwise, the game plays solidly, it thoroughly entertained me, and I highly recommend it to any PlayStation 3 owner.
After playing Spider-Man 3 and then reading several reviews slamming the game, I had to do something. With writing great reviews comes great responsibility [not really].
First, don't mistake Spider-Man 3 for a movie game. While the game has plot elements from the movie, it is not a direct representation of the feature film of the same name. The entire game has maybe 20 percent of the events from the film in it. I consider that a good thing, because I watched the film, I don't need to play it here. You get fresh missions with stories with which you might be familiar, but are fun to play through.
The Marvel cameos include Scorpion, Rhino, Kingpin, Luke Carlyle, Kraven the Hunter, and Lizard. See? None of those guys were in the movie [Dr. Connors was not yet Lizard].There are story missions involving each of these. Actually, the game puts forth most of its emphasis on the Dr. Connors/Lizard story rather than the Venom/Sandman/Black Suit Spider-Man story from the film. You have 42 main missions in the game, Only 4-5 of those have to do with Venom or Sandman. I'd have personally liked a little more to do with Venom, but little to do with Sandman was fine by me.
The gameplay is solid. Gameplay makes or breaks games. Swinging through the city with the web is just plain fun. When Spider-Man jumps up buildings, he does that trademark arm-and-leg flapping thing. When you unlock it (which happens early), he can shoot web from both hands and swing suspended between two buildings, which makes for even more cool flips and tricks. You also increase speed as you get more used to the controls and from upgrades.
The Black suit, which you get way into the game, spoils you a bit. You're nearly invincible with it on. You're a lot faster than even the top speed Spider-man, and much stronger. When you beat the game, you unlock Black Suit Spider-man and can play through the entire game again as the symbiote Spider-man. There is also apparently a way that you can play as Harry (New Goblin), but I didn't do whatever task was required to unlock him.
Fighting enemies consists of button mashing if you choose, or pulling off one of the dozens of combos that you unlock during the game. Several of these use web attacks. With Web Rodeo, for instance, you grab an enemy and swing him around with your web. Web Subdue allows you to bind your target's arms while you come over and whip some ass. Web Yank lets you web your opponent and bring him to you, whether you're in the air or on the ground. It is very fun and effective to jump into the air, Web Yank someone into the air with you, punch and kick him 2-3 times, then web yank him again as he's about to hit the ground, then pile-drive him into the ground from 15-20 feet in the air.
I have two main beefs with the game. One, there are not enough health power ups in my opinion. Actually, there are almost no health power ups during missions or in crime fighting activities. You rarely get a power up until you beat a mission. Thankfully, there are check points so most of the missions are still beatable enough, but it isn't always easy, especially early on when your health is low (you get health upgrades that give you more overall health).
My other beef is with a mission that is UNGODLY difficult. I don't want to spoil anything, but let me just say that you are expected to do a defense mission (defend an object for X amount of time). I generally don't like these anyhow, but this one is the most ridiculous I have ever played, so ridiculous that it was never fun. You have easily over 300 enemies that you must defend against, all alone, no guns or barriers or anything, for a solid 2 minutes. Sounds somewhat easy, because you never know how long 2 minutes is until you're down to your last. This is a controller breaking type of mission.
Otherwise, the game plays solidly, it thoroughly entertained me, and I highly recommend it to any PlayStation 3 owner.