The Amazing Spider-Man Review

Game Reviewed: The Amazing Spider-Man

Release Date: June 26th, 2012

Developer: Beenox

Publisher: Activision

Platform: [Reviewed: Xbox 360], PlayStation 3, Wii

Genre: Action

Rated: T for Teen

Shifting gears from the original and friendly neighborhood story of Spider-man, the tale of a geek bitten by a radioactive spider seems to be constantly rehashed. Whenever a blockbuster box-office title is in the works, usually Activision capitalizes with an official video game. So, as expected, Peter Parker is back in action in The Amazing Spider-man.

Having previously worked on Spider-Man Edge of Time and Shattered Dimensions – both of which metacritic credits as starting the downward spiral for the series – Beenox is once again behind the development of this new title. So will The Amazing  Spider-Man continue to beat the mangled and bloody corpse of the Spiderman series? or will it rejuvenate a once powerful character in geek culture?

The answer? A little bit of both.

Beenox met and exceeded both the hype and anticipation of the theatrical release. The Amazing Spider-Man  kicks off where the movie will leave you hanging. Following the Lizard incident caused by Curt Connors, Oscorp promotes Alistaire Smythe as head of operations.

Peter’s girl, Gwen Stacey, is a chief intern for Oscorp and has reasons to believe that Alistaire didn’t shut down all operations as he proclaimed.  Upon visiting after hours, you find the rumors to be true as cross-specimen begin to detect a similar cross species, you.  The species all spiral out of control and break free, spreading a virus, killing or turning others into cross-species.

As Smythe releases his robots to defend against the cross-specimen, there’s yet again another small issue, you’re also what the robots are after. Not intentionally, you just fit the description.

Spider-Man’s combat technique feels like something it should’ve been years ago. Most gamers will compare the game mechanics to Batman, just with a pinch of spidey sense. Either way, it works to a magnitude that leaves you saying “this is amazing!”

The combat system will basically consist of striking and dodging, with the same slow motion dodges and finish attacks you’d see variations of from Rocksteady’s Batman titles. You can also shoot webs with a quick press of your B/O button.

Beenox has added a bit more to arsenal of Peter Parker called Web-Rush. Web-rush allows you to find quick web slinging destinations and the style of landing. Style is the better word as you have many variations as to how you will sling and land.

You’re able to upgrade Spider-Man’s skills by using the OS-Phone. Within the OS-Phone you can choose character and tech upgrades, check emails, map different areas and view  your overall game statistics

Swinging is the heart and soul of a spider – especially this human spider – and is used by pressing and holding your right trigger. This will come in handy as certain bosses and combat environments will involve web swinging combos, such as  swinging around to get momentum then performing a web-rush to fly in for the quick attack.

The one thing that takes away from the realism of the web swinging is the fact that Spider-Man can literally swing from air. When you are clearly nowhere near buildings, you can still spit out a web and sling across the city. It would’ve been better to see Pete physically attach himself to objects to stay afloat.

Another navigation issue is with his crawling abilities. Controls feel  at times inverted from your normal play or completely uncontrollable when climbing ceilings or walls.

Graphics are gorgeous and the audio is amazing; it’s as if they were the actors themselves preparing for the “real” thing. The music score is on point and the voice overs for the characters are without question, believable.

The game never ends in this open environment, as you can complete side missions, catch petty thieves, and crime fight for New York. The Amazing Spider-Man has a few discoveries to look out for like audio files which hidden around the open world environment. In between game sessions, you can read New York City thoughts, presented a twitter-like fashion.  While some may be associated with the events taking place, others are just normal everyday messages for laughs or life updates. This just goes to show the thought process put into this installment. Beenox has definitely pushed the envelope.

The Amazing Spider-Man is nothing short than, well, Amazing. Beenox has found its touch and refreshed the Spider-Man series  giving gamers a reason to pick up the controller for a movie based game yet again. There’s little to complain about and roughly 6-7 hours of gameplay to come out of the story. If you’re looking for a fun combative title, look no further than your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man

The Scores

Gameplay: 4.25/5

Visuals: 4.5/5

Audio: 4.75/5

Controls: 4.25/5

Value: 4.5/5

Overall Rating: 4.5/5