Mini Review: Ultimate Spider-Man

[Morfiend]

I have been looking forward to this game for a while. I really enjoyed the hell out of Spider-man 2, and from what I was told this was going to be more of the same. First off, let me explain why I loved Spider-man 2. The game captured the feeling of Webslinging through the city perfictly. It was easy to learn, hard to master. Almost a tad to hard to master, but when you got good at it, it was very fun. I didnt so much care for the character models, infact they where horrible. The faces looked like shit, and the story was pretty crappy. Mary-jane looked more like a monster than Kirsten Dunst. But the gameplay was great and I had much fun.

Now, Ultimate Spider-man looks totally different. It is done with a new advanced form of Cell Shading, that they are calling Comic Shading (Very original I know). This has come off better than expected. The game looks and feels like you are playing a comic. The cut screans are even better. I cant really describe how good they are. Its like watching a comic and a cartoon mixed together just right. The voice acting is decent, the graphics fit perfictlly. I honestly dont think they could have done any better with the cut screans. They are that good.
The gameplay is much more intuitive that the last one, at first I was a bit disapointed, as the webslinging was much easer and the controlls felt a tad dumbed down. After playing about 5 hours yesterday I can say, "Who cares" the game works, and works very well. The swinging is easer than the last one, but it still has the same learning curve, its just hidden better. The combat is great. Killing the thugs is a bit more easy, but the boss fights take much more skill. Playing Venom is also a treat. They made him just enough the same, as it doesnt feel like learning a new game, but also different enough so that it really feels you are playing a totally different character. Venom doesnt has webslining, he has a great leaping ability (much like the Hulk in Ultimate Destruction, but its quicker, so you dont get the feeling of lumbering bruit like you do with the Hulk. I wasnt sure I would like the Venom parts after reading some of the previews on other sites, but he is great fun, and the levels compliment the play style of each character. The dialog is witty on the part of Spider-Man, and I actually found myself laughing out loud a few times and some of his comments. Mary-Jane looks suitablly hot. Peter looks like Peter, not some abortion digital image of Toby Mcguire.

This review could be a little biased due to the fact I am a big Spider-Man fan. I am also a huge fan of free-roaming cityscapes ala GTA., but all in all, this is probably the best $50 I have spent in a long time.

I am really digging the game. I would recomend it to any one who likes Spider-Man, Freeroaming games, or just want something with really cool graphics and cutscreans to show off to their friends. From reading all the hype on this game, I had pretty high expectations, and I must say that this game far exceeded them.

[Velorath]

Picked it up the other day but still haven't played it since, in addition to WoW, I've been trying to get through X-men Legends II as well, which has been enjoyable so far.  Since they're both Marvel related games, I might as well throw in a mini-review of that in here.


For the most part X-men Legends II is more of the same.  The basics are unchanged from the first game so you can get right in and start playing.  Obviously some of the characters and powers are different, but nothing major.  Instead, the major appeal of this game lies in playing the new characters, who are mostly members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.  Magneto, Toad, Scarlet Witch, Juggernaut, Bishop, and Sunfire are the new characters, with Iceman, Cyclops, Storm, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolvering, Rogue, and Jean Grey returning from the original.  Pyro and Sabertooth are exclusive to the PC version, and all versions have Deadpool, Prof. X, and Iron Man as unlockables.

The real appeal this game had for me though, is that the plot took a lot of elements from the Age of Apocalypse crossover.  For those who aren't into comics, AOA was an alternate reality where Apocalypse was in charge.  While the game doesn't go that far, it is darker than the first and a lot of characters and sub-plots are taken right from the story, such as the father-daughter type relationship between Sabertooth and Blink, Apocalypse's Horsemen, the Infinites, and even unlockable AOA costumes (including a one-handed Wolverine).  Fans of the comics will also like seeing the appearances of a LOT of major and minor characters from the books making an appearance.  Abyss, Omega Red, Destiny, Sauron, Angel, Havok, Kazar, and others show up as allies or bosses.

Of course if you didn't like the first game, you probably won't like this one.  The main problem I had was that especially with Juggernaut on the team, the first couple of acts really felt like easy mode.  You can get through a lot of the game using very little skill without even coming close to dying.  The default setting on your characters causes them to automatically use the healing packs to heal themselves when they're life gets low, and you can have the computer choose where to put your attribute and power points when you level if you're feeling lazy.  Also of note, the X-box and PC versions are playable online, not that most people would ever need help to beat this game.

Worth it if you're a fan of the first game, or just the X-men in general.  For most though, it's probably just worth a rental.

[Xilren's Twin]

I am really digging the game. I would recomend it to any one who likes Spider-Man, Freeroaming games, or just want something with really cool graphics and cutscreans to show off to their friends. From reading all the hype on this game, I had pretty high expectations, and I must say that this game far exceeded them.

Just gave this to my son for his 10th birthday yesterday.  Has been enjoyable thus far, course I've been observing more than playing but I'll get my shot. ;)  He really like fighting wolverine as Venom.

Xilren

[Morfiend]

Here is an update.

This game is WAY to short. Right after I wrote the other post, I finished the game. I thought I was about halfway through, but nope, I was right at the end.

I would still recomend buying this game if you are a big fan, as there are tons of races and stuff to do after you finish story mode, but I honestly cant recomend every one buy it. I would say that renting it is a must for most people.

I have read online that some people are really having a tough time with some of the last missions, but I pretty much breazed through all of them except one. Maybe it was because I spent so much time playhing the last Spider-Man game, and I am pretty good at webswinging. Also, the last boss fight was a bit of a letdown. Also looking back on it, a lot of the boss fights are pretty easy once you figure out the bosses pattern. Still a VERY fun game. I am just upset that its over already. I think if I went through it again, I could probably finish the entire story mission game in about 5 hours.

If they could add around 20 more hours of good story missions, this would proabbly be one of my all time favorite games. As it is, I would have to rate it about 8.5/10

[Sky]

I buy so few games that the trend to short games (for people like schild ;)) bugs the hell out of me. GTA:SA got me through the whole summer (actually not -quite- done yet, a couple more missions plus sandboxing). Civ 4 should hopefully pull me through for several more months (plus years of replays down the pike).

Thinking about Legends II for pc, finally picked Legends (xbox) back up (yay 720p!). The first is a fun game, really starts to get good once the kids start hitting 20th level or so (Magma/Storm/Cyclops/Emma Frost for the munchkin win ;)).