Game Reviews

The Amazing Spider-Man

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The Amazing Spider-Man

Rather than attempt to follow the plot laid out by the movie, The Amazing Spider-Man on 3DS serves as an epilogue and further embellishes upon Peter Parker's origins story. It's a refreshing change to the usual tie-ins that simply go over old ground.

This is one of the game's few sparks of innovation, though. In most respects it's a by-the-numbers franchise-based title that, while completely competent, never aspires to be more than a facsimile of Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Weaving the web

Eschewing any open-world elements, the game sees you take on linear levels in an attempt to rid Manhattan of the genetic experiments terrorising the populace.

Damsels in distress, sinister corporations, dumb jokes – it's your typical comic book story, and completely forgettable for the most part.

Your time is spent traversing large indoor environments rather than New York skylines, which is a pity as the web-swinging is excellent. As you leap from ledge to ledge to distant platform you yearn to stay outdoors and take on bigger challenges.

Ultimately, though, you're pretty much always in boxy, nondescript locations. Sewers, laboratories, and warehouses – it's all just a little too brown and grey for such a colourful character.

Much like in Batman: Arkham Asylum, there's a good deal of emphasis on handling enemies quickly and silently. Spidey can single out a goon, drop down on a wire of webbing from the ceiling, and snatch him away.

AI isn't very smart, and it's too easy to clear rooms in this fashion, but once in a while you'll get spotted and need to go toe-to-toe with your adversaries.

Again, there's too much repetition in The Amazing Spider-Man's enemies. They're generic-looking, and whether you're tackling a robot, henchman, soldier, or mutant, you'll fight them all in a similar way. Happily, though, disposing of them never fails to entertain, with a combat system ripped (once again) from the Batman games.

Combat involves continually beating up your target until you're called on to dodge an incoming attack with a single tap of the screen. It's fun, but you've probably seen it all before. Boss encounters are of the 'find the weak spot, hit it three times' variety, and even the writing of this single sentence is discussing them too much – they're that dull.

Clone

As you progress through the main campaign you unlock new abilities (increased damage to enemies and special moves with your webs mostly) but once you've finished the main story there's little reason to return, aside from some audio tapes and a few other trinkets.

It's all very Batman: Arkham Asylum. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but The Amazing Spider-Man just isn't executed nearly as well as that title. However, it gets enough right for serious fans of Spider-Man to give it a chance.

The Amazing Spider-Man

It's not the most original title you'll play all year, but it's well-made enough to constitute a decent but forgettable superhero movie tie-in
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Peter Willington
Peter Willington
Die hard Suda 51 fan and professed Cherry Coke addict, freelancer Peter Willington was initially set for a career in showbiz, training for half a decade to walk the boards. Realising that there's no money in acting, he decided instead to make his fortune in writing about video games. Peter never learns from his mistakes.