ULTIMATELY FUN

First off, I’m very thankful that series writer Brian Michael Bendis was able to do the story for this game, and artist Mark Bagley was able to do the character design, as the game really retains the look and feel of the comic because of their efforts. The cel-shaded style for the art really makes the images come alive, and the comic panel cut-scenes move the story along beautifully. That said, it’s what’s outside the story that has me perplexed.

Firstly, they started with the mold of the previous SPIDER-MAN 2 film game, and worked a little backwards. Gone is the intuitive web swinging, replaced by a method similar in the first SPIDER-MAN film game. Also gone is the charged jump, which now gives way to a double jump feature. This lends itself better to the comics’ style of Spidey’s chaotic wall-bouncing acrobatics in battle, but when you’re so used to getting around town one way, it’s a bit to get used to. Speaking of the city, the game’s version of Manhattan now includes a stopover in Parker’s home burg of Queen’s, though for some reason, the overall size of the city of New York seems smaller in comparison to the previous game.

Once you get past those initial comparisons, however, you’re in for a fun ride. The characters and situations that Bendis and the developers have in store for you are sure to delight fans of the comic. Many of Spider-man’s Rogue’s Gallery make their first ULTIMATE appearance in this game, including Boomerang, Shocker, Beetle and Silver Sable. Gameplay bounces between controlling Spidey and protecting the city and its citizens, to wreaking havoc as Venom. The free-roaming “sandbox” environment from the previous title is back, as are the various side missions. However, in order to unlock story missions, a certain amount of “city” missions must be completed first. These include races, stopping random crimes, or a new feature called “city tours”, where you wander the streets eliminating gang members as they terrorize the city. Connecting the story mode to the free-roaming missions is a bit of a cop-out in order to get you to do both, but I found after just wasting time around the city, freely choosing which city missions to do, I no longer needed to complete anymore prerequisites to unlock the next story mission.

The main story missions move along at a quick clip, and vary from out and out battles to unfortunately, more chase missions than are necessary. Any time you have to follow a character (such as Spidey’s chase with Beetle) or run away from anybody (such as venom and S.H.I.E.L.D.) you’ll often find you can’t keep up with the distance meter between the characters. Still, once you get the knack for getting around the city (web zipping is a must this time around, it’s the quickest mode of transport for Spidey) you’ll find the game is not really all that long. The city missions round out the play time, and the city remains unlocked once you beat the game (and the ability to switch at will between Spidey and Venom is also unlocked), but the main story is a bit on the short side.

The DS version of the game is a bit of a different beast, while also remaining familiar. Built on an improved version of the SPIDER-MAN 2 DS software (improved in that villains don’t take such cheap shots and the combat control is tighter overall) you carry out a similar story, complete with voice work from the console version of the game. The top screen features Spider-man’s story missions, while the bottom touch screen features venom, and more touch screen mechanics for controlling him in his environment. For the most part, the touch screen controls are an improvement over the last title (eliminating that weird disjointed mini-game feel) and the graphics are colorful and comic-like in their panel presentation.

Overall, the game is a good one for fans of the comic series, but leaves a bit to be desired. It may not be the best Spider-man game, but it is a fun one, and the ground it’s built on can only serve to make a better ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN game later on. Here’s hoping the sequel gets the creative team from the comic back for a second go ‘round.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

APOCALYPSE NOW!

The game (if you’re not familiar with the previous title) is a semi-top down view dungeon crawler, where a team of four X-men at a time (or now, the combined efforts of X-men and Brotherhood members) battle it out with enemies in a beat ‘em up style of play. As you progress characters can level up and obtain new abilities and powers. In this sequel, the interface for character stat improvements is even more user friendly, especially for those folks who can’t be bothered with the RPG elements and just want to get to the baddy beating. Players can select the option to have the game automatically disperse experience points and assign new powers to buttons, and even divvy up found equipment among the team members.

The graphics are also improved over the last effort, maintaining the cel-shaded feel, but adding a bit more animation and detail to each character. The mutant roster is fairly large, and half the fun is unlocking more friends to use on your team selections. The four player co-op now includes online play via Xbox Live or PS2 Online. The same “punch in/punch out” style of twitch co-op is back in the offline game as well, allowing for some cool mutant liberation parties.

While all the main elements of the first game are improved, the game does seem to fall into that unfortunate “repetitive” distinction so many other dungeon crawlers do. There’re only so many times you can enter a room, beat up every creature you see, level up and repeat. Still, the rewards of the unlockable content and characters more than make up for it.

If you enjoyed the first game, the sequel is sure to please, and X-men fans will still have a great time even if they haven’t experienced the previous title. Fast and frenetic action with some cool powers, fun story and stellar co-op and single-player gameplay make this one another hit. Finally, some X-men games that don’t suck!

One Gamer’s Opinion:

CRAPTACULAR GAME OF THE WEEK

One Gamer’s Opinion:

That wraps up this special comics feature. Be sure to check out this week’s other column. See you all next time. Excelsior! ‘Nuff said.

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