Spider-Man 3

Things have been going great for Peter Parker since we last saw him and life couldn’t be better. He has Mary Jane Watson, the girl of his dreams, by his side and - so far - has been fine with the idea that Parker also happens to be New York City’s biggest hero … Spider-Man. Of course, there’s still that falling out with good friend Harry Osborne and darn if that annoying photographer Eddie Brock isn’t getting on his nerves. Oh, and then there’s that escaped convict that police tell Pete and his elderly Aunt May might be Uncle Ben’s real killer. It’s not easy being Spider-Man as we get to see in Sam Raimi’s recent Spider-Man 3 out in theaters as well as the video-game adaptation. Yet on the PS2, Spidey’s problems aren’t Sandman or Venom but rather a poorly designed game that makes the next-generation disappointment feel like a masterpiece.

The PlayStation 2 version of Spider-Man 3 doesn’t come close to matching those of the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360 version of the game. It’s clear from the very start of the game that Activision put all its resources on making the next-generation games look and play differently. Still, at least this version contains some exclusive content such as two Marvel universe enemies to battle - Shriek and Morbius - to go along with the list of bad guys the next-gen versions contain. Of course, the game doesn’t follow the third film scene by scene. Instead, the game really butchers the film’s memorable scenes while adding a free-roaming action game that also includes events not seen in the movie … remember Spidey’s battle with the Vulture in the first game or his scrap with Mysterio?

Spider-Man 3 begins with our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man entering a burning building a mysterious villain has set ablaze just to draw out the wall-crawler and from there the story takes a different branching path that takes moments from the new movie and tells it a different way. The confrontation between Peter and Harry Osborn as the New Goblin, for example, was a truly dramatic moment with Peter almost losing the wedding ring Aunt May gave him to give to Mary-Jane. Here, the high-flying battle is a button-mashing event that happens way too early in the story to be dramatic. From there the story touches on new enemies that appear in Spider-Man comic lore such as Professor Connors inevitable turn as the Lizard and then moves on to the battle against Sandman, and finally the alien suit and Venom.

Like the second game in the series, you’ll get to swing around the huge city solving random crimes such as rescuing people from a lunatic’s laughing gas or helping a lost child find his mother (which is slightly better than trying to catch a child’s balloon as you do in Spider-Man 2). Better yet, the game adds a new element to the free-roaming action and it comes in the form of a gang turf war. There is a variety of gangs attempting to take control of different areas of the city and Spidey can intervene by locating the local snitch and having him tell you where the gang plans to attack. You’ll be clearing gang violence via a small number of mini-missions that aren’t actually boring at all.

What is boring; however, are the main story missions. Chasing the lizard across Central Park while snapping photos of him is fun for a while but when it drags on you’ll be hoping for more variety. The missions don’t make any sense either. I mean, where in the comics does Spider-Man have to fight an army of lizard people? Many of the missions you’ll take on start becoming too repetitive and you’ll start wishing you’ll stop beating on the same gang members or thugs and jump right to the boss fights. You won’t find much of a challenge going up against the likes of the Sandman, Shriek or even Kraven the hunter but at least the battles are interesting. Even better is the black suit that offers extra strength, better combat moves and a slick look. There’s a downside to the suit, though. It consumes Spidey, making him fall deeper into a rage that would eventually make him pass out. The good news is that you can switch between suits but in order to take off the black alien suit you’re asked to press buttons as they flash on the screen like a timed mini-game.

Control-wise, you’ll find it a breeze swinging and web-zipping across New York City and combat isn’t bad at all. You’ll gain upgrades along the way so you’ll be performing neat combos and interesting web tricks. Alas, these things are handled a lot better in Spider-Man 2 but at least they’re not horrible. What is horrible, though, is the camera. The camera in the game is not your best friend it will not fail to frustrate especially during combat or moments where you need to navigate through the environment in time.

Very little effort was placed on the visuals as well and this is not acceptable seeing as Spider-Man 2 on the PS2 looked really good. This one sees some truly bland textures as well a pop-up buildings that look hideous up close as well as afar. Down below, the streets of New York City look dead and the few citizens that walk the near empty streets lack facial details and sometimes lack a face altogether. There are also some horrible clipping problems where Spidey’s feet disappear in the ground or as he’s running across buildings. While the plain-looking backgrounds and so-so character models will disappoint, at least the cutscenes look pretty decent.

As far as the sound is concerned, the game has a strong supporting cast from the movie’s actors that portray their film counterparts. The problem is that most of the performances sound phoned in such as the case of Tobey Maguire as Spidey and Thomas Haden Church as Sandman (he sounds like he much rather be somewhere else). Still, there is some stand-out performances like J.K. Simmons who brings J.J. Jameson to life and even Topher Grace does a good job of voicing Eddie Brock/Venom. There’s also a problem with the sound effects that cuts off in mid-battle or doesn’t show up at all. Ever seen a car explode without making a sound? You will see it in this game as well as chuckle at the fact that some pedestrian voices don’t match the characters. One man I rescued was voiced by an Asian woman’s voice and one lady I rescued from falling to her death had a gruff male’s voice. Well, at least the soundtrack is nice.

It’s clear from the awful graphics to the unexciting missions and various glitches that very little effort was put in the PlayStation 2 version of Spider-Man 3. There are some interesting concepts that do manage to shine through (like the black suit) but in the end, they’re no match for all the things that’s wrong with this current-generation version. PS2 gamers, if you love Spider-Man I highly suggest you skip this game and replay Activision’s Spider-Man 2 or Ultimate Spider-Man instead of this one. 

Gameplay: 3.9
The swinging controls feel great and the combo system isn’t bad at all but there’s not much to the fighting when the bad guys are brainless thugs. There are some decent side missions to participate, new villains to fight and taking off the black Spidey suit is a mini-game. The side missions are a nice diversion but the main story missions are an insult to the movie.

Graphics: 3.0
The cutscenes attempt to mimic those from the PS3 version but the rest will seriously hurt your eyes. I mean, buildings pop in and look like boxes and the pedestrians lack facial features and sometimes have no faces at all! The old Nintendo Spider-Man games looked better than this game.

Sound: 5.5
The soundtrack is true to the films and even though Tobey Maguire doesn’t put much effort into his performance, it’s great to hear him voice our hero. The other voice actors do a pretty good job but it’s clearly J.K. Simmons and Bruce Campbell who shine here because the pedestrians are just plain awful. As for the sound effects, they cut off for no reason at all and are absent most of the time.

Difficulty: Easy
The many thugs and villains you’ll face in this game won’t provide much of a challenge to returning Spidey gamers and even on a harder difficulty setting you’ll easily wipe the floor with gang members and villain henchmen. The real challenges come from battling the bosses, particularly Sandman.

Concept: 6.0
The random crimes and gang turf war is a great addition to the series but other than that the main missions are a bore and not even the likes of the Lizard or even Venom make things any more interesting. There are exclusives like being able to fight Morbius and Shriek but their storyline isn’t all that good. On the plus side, the black alien suit is challenging to take off.

Overall: 4.0
Fans of our favorite web-slinger will be greatly disappointed with Spider-Man 3 for the PlayStation 2. While the next-generation isn’t an amazing gaming experience, it does graphics and gameplay better than this version that is clearly a large step backwards from the addictive second game. This is one Spider-Man game even Aunt May won’t approve.