1. Electronics & Gadgets
About.com
Xbox Games

Discuss in my forum

Spider-Man: Edge of Time Review (X360)

About.com Rating 3 Star Rating
Be the first to write a review

By , About.com Guide

See More About:
Spider-Man: Edge of Time Review (X360)Activision
Following up on the success of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is ... this mess. Spider-Man: Edge of Time follows the same more linear, combat-focused structure as Shattered Dimensions, but oversimplifies the good parts and stretches everything just a bit too far so it isn't fun. It looks and sounds amazing, which is a shame because it just isn't all that fun to play.
Game Details

  • Publisher: Activision
  • Developer: Beenox
  • ESRB Rating: “T" for Teen
  • Genre: Action
  • Pros: Nice presentation; awesome intro; Spider-Man 2099; neat story
  • Cons: Freefalling sections; simple combat; boring objectives

The story in Edge of Time is a bit confusing, but told in a clever enough way it is entertaining even if it doesn't always fully make sense. In 2099, a scientist named Walker Sloan at a company named Alchemax uses time travel to go back in time and found Alchemax in the 1970's - well before it was supposed to be created. This causes the timeline to change for both present-day (2000's) Amazing Spider-Man Peter Parker as well as Spider-Man 2099 Miguel O'Hara. Instead of working at The Daily Bugle, for example, Peter now works for Alchemax. And instead of a bright and beautiful New York City, NYC is dark and kinda scary. Like what happens to Hill Valley when Biff gets the Sports Almanac in "Back to the Future II".

The two versions of Spider-Man can communicate, thanks to future technology, and things that Amazing SM does in the past affect Spidey 2099 in the future. Destroying a security robot prototype in the past eliminates those enemies in 2099, for example. It is a neat system overall, and even though things do get a little confusing and don't always make sense (most time travel stories don't ...), the banter between the two Spider-Men is always entertaining.

Gameplay

Activision
Not quite as entertaining is the gameplay. You know how comedian Tom Green usually takes something funny and then does it for 5-minutes too long to the point that it is just annoying? That is pretty much Edge of Time's gameplay. The good, fun parts are stretched well beyond the point that they are fun anymore. Most of your missions in Edge of Time involve beating up specific guards to find keys or destroying generators to turn off security force fields. And you have to do these things over and over and over. Combat is exceedingly simple button-mashing (we know every Spider-Man games' combat is button mashy, but it is super simple here). Toss in the fact that enemies are teleported into your area to fight you - wave after wave after wave of enemies that makes every battle last twice as long as it really should - and the gameplay just stops being fun after a while. You end up resorting to just beating up the minimum of enemies and running to the exit instead of fighting.

The two Spider-Men play mostly similarly, though you can purchase some new moves exclusive to one or the other. The one gameplay difference is Spider-Man 2099's many (many) freefalling sections where you dive down an elevator shaft or some other cramped space and dodge through tiny holes in the environment or around debris. I hate the freefalling. It stops being cool pretty much after the first one, and they go on for way, way, way too long. Remember the freefall mission in Wet (of course you don't, I'm the only person that liked that game), freefalling is like that here. Well, maybe not as difficult.

It is worth noting that this is a linear Spider-Man game like Shattered Dimensions, which means that freely web swinging around NYC is not in the cards. That is okay, because after so many open world Spidey games it got pretty old. Instead, you web zip to specified perches around the levels and only fully swing once in a while.

Graphics

Visually, Spider-Man: Edge of Time is pretty nice. It has one of the coolest intro sequences we've seen in a while where you slowly crawl through a vent while listening to a conversation below you that fills in the story, and the developer credits flash up on different parts of the environment as you crawl by. It is awesome looking. The two Spider-Men also look very good and have great animation, and each one's world has a distinct look as well. For the most part, the environments are sort of drab and not very detailed, but occasionally some particularly good lighting will spice things up and make it look good. We also like the little picture-in-picture view you get in the bottom right corner that shows you what the other Spider-Man is doing. Very cool.

Sound

The sound is also quite good. The music is solid. The sound effects are appropriately over the top. And the voice acting is really good for the most part. The two versions of Spider-Man in particular have great voice acting.

Bottom Line

Activision
In the end, Spider-Man: Edge of Time is an okay game, but a pretty disappointing follow-up to the exceptional Shattered Dimensions. The presentation is solid and the first 30-minutes or so makes it feel like you're going to be in for a really great time, but the more you play the more repetitive the mission design and combat gets and it just stops being fun after a while. It has a surprising amount of content to offer - a 7+ hour story with lots of unlockables and challenges you can do - but with the bland gameplay it just isn't worth the effort to actually see it all. The story is cool, though, and the presentation does offer some neat things to see, which make it a decent rental. We can't recommend it for a purchase, however. It isn't broken or awful, or anything, it is just a bit unambitious and with a crowded holiday market, as well as better Spider-Man games available for cheap, Edge of Time will be quickly forgotten.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved.

A part of The New York Times Company.