I've been playing Spider-Man games since I was a kid and I dabbled with them throughout the years all the way to now with the Insomniac developed games. This was a game I'd hear pop up over the years but I never bothered to look into it until recently. I might've been turned away by the game for a while due to the lack of an open world and being able to touch the ground but I don't care about that now. I care about execution or if the game is even fun at all. Originally, I thought I was going to eventually stop playing the game or resort to using cheats on the Duckstation emulatior, however forunately, the game turned out to not be overly punishing. I'm also glad that the game is as short as it is since if it was any longer, I might've had a harder time putting up with the game's shortcomings.
For the most part, I would say the Neversoft Spidey game is a solid time as long as you can put up with some very questionable camera and controls. This isn't even me saying that because the game released before dual analog controls were adopted, the problem is that the scenarios are fine on paper, it's letdown by the very things I mentioned, more on that later.
The good things about this Spider-Man game is that when it comes to story, presentation, voice acting and music, the game is just oozing with charm. I'm not into superhero stories as much as I used to be but it's hard to deny the immense amount of effort put into the game's presentation and story. It's also interesting how it predates the Sam Raimi movies and the MCU too. In many ways, the game feels like it is both appealing to people who enjoyed the 1994 Spider-Man animated series while also having elements from the comics. Daredevil, Captain America and Punisher make an appreance and it also throws in easter eggs to Thor and Galactus too. Neversoft really enjoyed the source material and it shows.
The voice acting is also very good. It's well acted and directed for the time of it's release. Standout characters are Otto Octavious, Venom, Peter Parker and Stan Lee. The cutscenes are decently directed and have different camera angles and shot composition. It was disappointing to see the characters mouths don't even move since games like Tenchu 2 and Fear Effect came out the same year as this but I don't mind this due to the characters' movements during cutscenes are moderately expressive.
Story itself is entertaining if nothing overly thought provoking, the game esstentially like an episode of Spider-Man TAS or a series of single issue comic books that slowly connect to an overarching plot. The comic book covers that show in some loading screens are a good indicator. The character interactions and voice acting does most of the heavy lifting. All it mainly amounts to Doc Ock releases gas all over the city is teaming up with another villain behind the scenes, Spidey's other villains are free, he beats them, chases Venom for a little while, join forces with him and then stops a symbiote invasion. There isn't much in the way over overwhelming amounts of dialogue and story here.
Music I enjoy since it's rock and techno that much media from the late 90s and early 00s had. Having the 60s Spider-Man theme was a nice touch.
The gameplay is where it gets interesting. It's by no means what I consider bad, when it's good, it's fine but when it doesn't it can be a strong exercise in frustration. The combat with basic minions is okay, it isn't an amazing beat em up combat system but the enemy count isn't high enough to the point where it feels like the controls and mechanics throws more than what the player can do. There is no dedicated dodge command and no dedicated lock on button. Most enemies outside of the Symbiotes go down rather quickly. You fight generic thugs and lizard people outside of that. Symbiotes can be skipped past too. You also are always given health refills when needed too. Most enemies can be beaten using basic combos.
This would spell doom if the game was just that, but luckily there are more open exploration levels, boss fights and set pieces to break things up.
The exploration levels are the best for me. It has that older level design feeling of being in a linear level based game but the game never outright telling you what to do. You get a compass but it's not there for most of the game and I wonder why it was even there at all due to how infrequently it pops up. You have a look button like Tomb Raider and the Tenchu games. It also has an emphasis on switch pulling that various games from this era has but instead of touching them you hit it with webbing. It's by no means as big as a classic Tomb Raider level or even a level from Tenchu since all of the indoor levels can be beaten in less than 10 minutes. The parts I enjoyed where you had to web switches to open doors, then move fast enough in time before the water can drown Spidey. The level in the Bugle was decent fun where you had to take down machines producing symbiote and an a level underwater was a funny way to end off the game.
Bosses are a mixed bag. Some are not bad like Rhino others are annoying like the first Venom fight and Mysterio but Doc Ock and Carnage are decent. Doc Ock being the best since it's just pressing switches and dodging his lasers and Carnage was luring him to a sound emitter, Mysterio and Venom is where you have to deal with the tank movement, camera and inconsistent lock on.
This leads me to the biggest issue with the game and what I alluded to earlier. There are scripted set pieces and while a lot of these aren't bad on paper like an aircraft chase, dodging missiles at buildings, moving subway fight or the web swinging, the controls and camera lets them down since they never feel precise and as quick as the game demands out the player. One, Spidey can't move while web swinging and his elevation lowers while he is doing it. On top of that, he has tank movement, and trying to press the d pad to move while the camera is constantly changing angles that requires precise movements as well as timed fast paced nature of these sequences can confirm the biases of many who dislike tank controls. These parts aren't overly long but they can feel that way due to the amount of times your average player especially those who dislike tank controls and not being to turn the camera will die. Save states on Duckstation helped me a lot here.
The best way of describing the scripted set pieces is what if 1996 Tomb Raider had sequences where Lara had to move very quickly, make split second decisions and if the player hesitates or fumbles once he dies? That's what this is.
Overall, game was a pleasant surprise, I was expecting little going in and it turned out to be a decent precursor to popular Spidey media that would come later.
No comments:
Post a Comment