In this day in age a blockbuster movie is rarely released without a videogame counterpart and Spiderman 3 is no exception. This high paced action movie, with its incredible special effects, was a perfect candidate to be converted into video game form. Hopefully the bad reviews won’t follow Spiderman 3 from the box-office to the Xbox 360.

I’ll be honest; when I think about being Spiderman the first thing that comes to mind is how amazing it would be to swing around a city on my webs. Spiderman 3, much like its predecessor, Spiderman 2, allows you to do just that. I spent the first hour simply getting the feel for swinging. The many different in-swing controls will provide hardcore gamers with hours of fun, but the inherent simplicity of it allows newcomers to feel comfortable as well. New York City is your very own playground; the huge map includes Central Park, Times Square, the Chrysler Building and many other Manhattan landmarks. Swing high above the city streets in relative peace or go as low as you dare, dodging cars while you fly through the city. Wow. Swinging is a whole lot of fun. Unfortunately, it is probably the most fun you will have when playing this videogame.

The problems start with the limited interactivity you have with the inhabitants of New York City. Games done in the free roam, “Grand theft Auto” style usually thrive in this area. While exploring the map you cannot affect anything but active bad guys and their vehicles. For example, I cannot pick up a random car and throw it through a window; I cannot web a random pedestrian and hang him from a light post, etc. Maybe this is Activision’s way of making the game suitable for a younger audience, but to be frank, the game is not fun without it. This was a major oversight and cannot be overlooked.

The box touts the game as having ten different storylines to play through, which is true, the only bad part is only two of them are fun to play, The Goblin and The Sandman. To those who saw the movie, this is the plot you will play through with some small additions along the way. Tobey Maguire and the whole cast do their own voices which is a nice touch and makes you feel like you are playing the movie. Within the two main storylines you will find two types of game play. The first is the one found in Spiderman 2 and is inherently just old fashioned arcade fighting, with a hefty dose of spidey-powers mixed in of course. It is fun for a while but gets tiresome rather quickly. The list of combos you “unlock” throughout the game is unbelievably long and unless you have a photographic memory, you will most likely end up randomly pushing the buttons like I was. The other type of game play found in Spiderman 3 is dubbed “tests of agility and strength” by the creators. The game goes into a movie sequence-like mode and requires you to push certain buttons as they appear on screen. Sounds easy right? Well it is not, at least towards the end. You are given mere fractions of a second before your fate has been determined. I was surprised to find myself enjoying these “tests of agility and strength”. During them the graphics looked awesome and the action was intense. It was not too long though before the whole thing became repetitive and well, boring. Unless you are a die-hard Spiderman fan this game could be set aside rather quickly.

The graphics and sound were generally unimpressive. There were moments, when I was perched high above the city, or when the game was in the movie-sequence mode, that the graphics really shined. When it came to fighting or swinging near ground level, however, the graphics were mediocre at best. There were some fun additions, like the distance swung meter and others but, as a whole, this game lacked the depth that video game fans have come to expect.

Graphics: 3.5/5.0
Game Play: 3.0/5.0
Sound: 3.0/5.0
Replay Value: 2.5/5.0






Related Stories: