Spider-Man: The Movie brings your friendly neighbourhood web-slinger to life with engrossing realism, proving that a superhero game of such complex nature can be achieved with nearly flawless and non-intrusive gameplay. Be it wandering the city's environs in search of villains, or just checking out your surroundings by web-swinging high above them, you truly can do whatever Spider-Man can. It's all here: high-flying aerial battles, the ability to web up and yank your enemies close for pummelling, and the capacity for crawling or web-zipping up, down and over any surface--and that's just for starters. All in all, this is one involved game that doesn't fail to live up to the hype.
The game parallels the motion picture's storyline, steering you through a progression of challenges that begin with the hunt for Uncle Ben's murderer, and ends with a final showdown with the Green Goblin. You begin as Peter Parker dressed in his wrestling costume and must defeat a variety of thugs throughout each level before advancing to the next set of challenges. The game gets progressively tougher as you encounter in turn Shocker, the Vulture, Scorpion and, of course, the Green Goblin.
Visually, Spider-Man is a treat: cityscapes unfold in realistic detail and are enhanced by sunlight shining between buildings; cut scenes offer seamless animation; interiors are painstakingly recreated; and Spider-Man and his enemies are well rendered, moving about the screen in clean fashion. As an added bonus, most characters are voiced by their movie counterparts, and the training mode features the sarcastic wit of Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell. --Larry White
Pros:
- detailed controls bring Spider-Man to life
- challenging gameplay enhanced by numerous fight styles
- stunning visuals at every level
Cons:
- camera angles slow to respond at times
- some interiors too dark
- repetitive one-liners