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By Andrew T. Finger on October 5th, 2005
Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man! After the great success that was Spider-Man 2: The Game, Treyarch went to work with the license of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series. Add in a large dose of everyone’s favorite test-tube baby, Venom and the greatly anticipated sequel in the series, Ultimate Spider-Man (USM) has finally hit the shelves. The result for me is the greatest Spider-Man game I’ve ever played.
In Ultimate Spider-Man you don the tights of everyone’s favorite wall crawler, and to a lesser extent the um...’black goo’ of his arch nemesis. It’s up to young Peter Parker/Spider-Man to deal with his dear friend, Eddie Brock, who is rampaging through New York City unable to control the force that drives him. The storyline is ripped straight from the minds of the USM comic writers Mark Bagley and Michael Bendis. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Ultimate line of comics, it’s basically a retooling of all the old Marvel franchises. This means people who didn’t want to start in the middle of these stories get to pick up retold versions from the beginning. I’ve honestly gotten so caught up in the storylines that I’ve found myself going online and purchasing a few USM graphic novels.
The game not only slings into the Spider-Man universe, but brings with it a slew of other Marvel characters from other stories. Included is Johnny Storm a.k.a. the Human Torch of the Fantastic 4, Wolverine of the X-Men, and Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not to mention the numerous inclusions from Spidey’s own world such as Green Goblin, Rhino, Shocker, Silver Sable, Mary Jane Watson, and more. However for those of you unfamiliar with the Ultimate comics, you should understand that things are a little different. Rhino for example is a tiny guy in a large mech rather than a large stupid guy in a Rhino costume. So if you think, "wtf?" when you realize Green Goblin isn’t human, that’s why. Sadly you get to miss out on seeing Aunt May as a hippie; I think she’s probably out "gardening" somewhere.
USM is like Spidey 2 before it offers up New York City on a platter. Thankfully it has been scaled down a bit. As ambitious as Spidey 2 was, there just wasn’t enough of a reason to keep the whole city when little was to be done with it. Instead of taking twenty or so minutes to cross ’The Big Apple,’ it’s been scaled down to about five. The NYC provided to us in the game is just the right size and has great detail; it goes so far as to include Peter’s home town of Queens and even Peter and Mary Jane’s secret meeting spot.
Graphically the game is bold and shows what a proper choice cel-shading can make given the right developer. The art direction of the game is again that of the Ultimate comics so Spidey is formed a little different and Venom does not have his characteristic white Spider symbol on his chest (at least at first). The colors in this game are bright and beautiful; they look like they’ve leapt right off of the pages of the comics themselves. This brings me to my next point.
The cut scenes are rendered using the game’s engine and make it look like the player is reading a comic book themselves. The characters will even jump from square to square during the transitional period. Also I have to say I enjoyed when sound effects would come up on the screen like in the comic books with the little jagged box around it.
The sound in this game is as loud as one would expect for being a superhero in the big city. When Spider-Man swings through the air you can hear the noise of the web shooting out, the ’swoosh’ as our hero flies through the air, and a little landing noise as well. Venom is a very noisy brute in the comics and here it is no different. Venom will growl and snarl throughout. He bounds through the air and lands with the grace of a comet. You can even hear the crumbling of the buildings beneath him as he does his own wall crawling. Now, if only he learned how to breathe quieter.
The voice acting here is honestly better than the performances put forward by the Hollywood actors in the last rendition. I really enjoyed the actors that voiced Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Mary Jane. The corny one-liners are thrown in frequently and like a good nerd, I laughed and laughed hard. The voice acting for the secondary characters was also very enjoyable and true to form, Ultimate Nick Fury’s voice sounded much like Samuel L. Jackson. It’s just a matter of time before the Nick Fury movie gets inked. I mean, if he did the XXX movies, he has to do this one, right?
Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can-- except swim that is. Although technically I’ve never seen a spider swim, so I will stand by my original statement. That’s basically all you can’t do in USM. There is really a noticeable improvement between each of the Spider-Man games. Why, it seems like only yesterday when you would web-sling from the clouds above you. Now you can swing neatly from building to building, leaving web trails behind; which impresses me to no end (it really is the little things). Of course, you can also spin a web any size and catch those thieves, just like flies. Everything here feels tight and intuitive. The web-slinging being the most memorable part of Spidey 2, it is easier and quicker in USM. Combined with the new double jump and the easier web zip, Spidey’s arsenal is very nice indeed.
The inclusion of Venom is one that makes many fan-boys squeal with joy. Everyone loves the gargantuan monster. Controlling Venom is as much fun as imagined and is a very rewarding experience, indeed. Venom can bound across the city with huge jumps, ala the Incredible Hulk, use his tentacles to attach to things/attack people; he can also eat people to heal himself. I couldn’t help but laugh when Venom absorbs a little boy holding a Spider-Man balloon in reference to the numerous ’rescue the balloon’ missions in Spider-Man 2.
Is it strong? Listen bud, it’s got radioactive blood. Not to mention alternate costumes, many of the more memorable Ultimate Spider-Man comic book covers, 3D viewable models of each of the characters, and concept art. Then the fun really begins after beating the game you acquire the use of Venom (by choosing ’Switch Hero’ on the start menu) gaining access to an all new mini game.
I seriously hope that games like this are a sign of what is to come in future superhero games. Ultimate Spider-Man however is not perfect. It is relatively short and leaves fans wanting more: More story missions, more than five or six city events, and more time as Venom; maybe even an entire game devoted to the big black monster. What it does, it does well, and throughout my entire time playing, I really enjoyed the game. I’ll look forward to Spider-Man 3 (slated to release around the time of the upcoming movie featuring Sandman and Venom as villains). What is there left to say except "Up, Up, And Away Web!"
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