Spidey’s back and ready to make a grand impression. After its predecessor arguably set the standard for movie tie-ins, the Spider-Man 3 game looks like it will deliver more of the same, but substantially better. One of the greatest things about Spider-Man 2 was the scale of New York and the feel the amazing webslinging system gave you. If you too enjoyed those factors, you’ll be happy to know that not only is the city much bigger in this game, the webslinging speed has also been amped up. Not only do the buildings seem taller, Spidey now also has access to some bleaker parts of the city such as sewers and subways.
Story wise, Spider-Man 3 will stick to the movie’s story, but with a few deviations such as bonus villains to keep things varied. The game’s cutscenes will mostly be completely interactive and will have you press a timed sequence of buttons, following God of War’s example. Both the movie and the game will feature Spider-Man’s black symbiote suit. Rather than being just an extra wardrobe choice, the black suit will open up new gameplay possibilities in the form of more powerful and more aggressive moves, reflecting the corrupting effect of the suit.
The combat system also seems to have received quite an overhaul. There is a lot more emphasis on web attacks, and the player can be a lot more inventive in stringing together massive combos. That said, the bullet time-like slowdown that appears to accompany most of the fighting may make things a bit too clunky.
The game’s graphics don’t look that impressive for a next-gen game, and if the trailers are any indication a lot of the car models in the city are reused ad nauseam. However, the framerate seems smooth and the core gameplay looks equally solid. Overall, it seems like the developers have put a lot of care in making the game echo the movie as good as possible. The game seems to reflect the movie’s darker atmosphere, and all characters are voiced by their movie counterparts.
The biggest complaint people had with Spider-Man 2 will also be addressed. Apart from the story events, random little side-tasks such as races, beating up random groups of thugs, and even balloon chases popped up as you sped through the city. These were a fun distraction, but weren’t nearly diverse enough to keep you interested for long. A quick peak at the achievement list reveals that there will now be police missions, Mary Jane thrill rides and bank robberies for you to thwart among other scenarios.
Spider-Man 3 will be released on nearly every current platform, and there are quite a few differences between the versions. This preview mostly covers the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, both of which are developed by Treyarch. Those versions are nearly identical, apart from one aspect: the PS3 has a limited edition that will let you play as Harry in his Pseudo-Goblin get-up. The Wii, DS, PS2 and PSP versions will be more radically different as they are developed by Vicarious Visions. The PSP and PS2 version will be largely the same as the Wii version, which will of course sport Wiimote controls. The DS version doesn’t have anything in common with the other versions in that it won’t be a sandbox game like the others, but a 3D sidescroller. The black suit is accessed through a rage mode mechanic in the DS game.
Spider-Man 3 will hit stores on May 4th, the same day as the movie release. As it stands, the game looks at least slightly better than the last one. Considering how much fun was to be had with that game, things are certainly looking good. Manhattan’s bigger than ever, Spidey’s repertoire of gymnastics has been expanded, and the villain roster seems big and diverse. Other than that, we can only hope that the side-missions prove to be diverse enough to keep the casual webslingers occupied.
