Spider-Man 3 Review (X360)

Spider-Man 2 on the PS2/Xbox still stands as one of the best superhero games ever. It gave you all of the powers of the hero along with a huge city to use them in. With Spider-Man 3 hitting next gen consoles, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect improvements over SM2 to make this the best superhero game yet. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Glitches, lazy game design, and an unmistakable feeling that the game was rushed to meet the day-and-date deadline of the movie drag Spider-Man 3 down from one of the potential all time greats down to mere bargain bin fodder.

Gameplay

If you have played Spider-Man 2 on the PS2 or Xbox, you already know exactly what the gameplay in Spider-Man 3 is like. That is both a good thing and a bad thing, though, since it was so fun before, but to have a next-gen sequel play exactly like its predecessor and make no real improvements is a letdown. Swinging around NYC is done by pointing the left stick at a building and then pressing the R trigger to shoot a web out. There are a few other basic techniques as far as swinging goes, all pretty easy, and they all combine to make the exploration aspect of SM3 pretty enjoyable. Where the gameplay falters, though, is in combat. Fighting enemies just isn’t all that fun because you only have a handful of useful combos and moves and after a while it becomes boring and repetitive. It also can be frustratingly difficult because the game will throw 5-6 enemies at you at a time and Spidey’s bullet time-style spider sense just can’t keep up. What that means is that while you might be effectively using spider sense to dodge attacks and counter an enemy in front of you, the three enemies behind you are punching or shooting you. And when you get hit, Spider-Man takes seemingly forever to pick himself up and get back into the fight. The wonky camera system in the game doesn’t help much either, especially when you are fighting in an indoor environment. The camera will move into awkward angles and make it hard to see, so in addition to fighting enemies you have to constantly adjust the camera as well. The gameplay isn’t horrifically bad, but it should be better than this.

Graphics and Sound

The presentation also disappoints in Spider-Man 3. Spider-Man looks okay, and his animations are decent, but the rest of the characters (including Peter Parker) are just hideously bad looking. They are bug-eyed and flat out ugly. The people on the street are even worse looking and don’t have much detail at all. The city itself looks okay, but it isn’t nearly as impressive as it was in SM2 a few years ago.

The sound is a little better. The real attraction in the sound is that Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Topher Grace, and J.K. Simmons among others recorded new lines for the game and they do a fairly good job. Bruce Campbell is the narrator / training instructor and he, as always, does a nice job. The sound effects and music are pretty generic, but they get the job done.

Bottom Line

Overall, Spider-Man 3 is pretty rough around the edges and it is clear that it was rushed to meet the deadline of releasing at the same time as the movie. It certainly isn’t a bad game, but there are glitches and annoyances and a lack of polish everywhere you look that make it a disappointment overall. It does have a few positives going for it, though, such as the huge size of the city, the fun of swinging around, and the huge amount of stuff to do. If you can get past the repetitive and occasionally frustrating combat, Spider-Man 3 can be fairly enjoyable. Is it the best superhero game ever? Not by a long shot, but it also isn’t the worst. Spider-Man 3 is worth a rental if only to pick up a few easy achievements and swing around for a few hours, but I can’t recommend it for a purchase.