Publisher: Activision/Neversoft

Fat: "With great power comes great responsibility". So now, using the great (though widely unnoticed) power of the Game Hits web site, we come to you with another review...

Geeky: Somebody oughtta remind you of that responsibility thing when you eat those garlic chicken wings, Fat...pheeew....

Fat: Alright, Mr. Corned Beef and cabbage...anyway, it's our responsibility to tell you of good games and warn you about bad ones...

Geeky: And so far it looks like we think all good games are on Dreamcast, 'cause we never review anything else...

Fat: Funny you should mention that...by the way, do you know where that Power and responsibility quote comes from, Geeky?

Geeky: Duhh....any avid comic reader knows that's a Spider-Man thing.

Fat: Exactly. Spidey's been one of my favorite comic book heroes ever since I can remember. He's been in a number of Video games before, on the Super Nintendo and Genesis, as well as numerous appearances in Capcom fighting games. Now, his latest appearance is in the recently released Playstation game by Activision and Neversoft.

Geeky: Finally! A review for another game system. I guess I prefer X-Men characters myself, but the web-slinger's a pretty good character to make a game out of. You wouldn't know that from some of those past games, though...the Super NES titles that came from LJN and Ack-lame (same company, really) bit pretty hard. The Sega Genesis game was pretty good, but not too high above average.

Fat: That was the reason I didn't have very high expectations when I heard a new Spider-Man game was being made for the PS. After all, most companies that make licensed games just depend on the license name to sell the title (nothing shows that off like Titus's god-awful Superman game, the crappy Star Wars games that have come out lately, or some of the nastier wrestling games). It was not too long after that when we heard Neversoft was making the game.

Geeky: As a lot of you know, Neversoft is responsible for the highly playable Tony Hawk Pro Skater games. The first Tony Hawk game was a surprise for a lot of people (Fat and myself included), because despite it's somewhat uninteresting subject matter to some (to us), it's great gameplay created a loyal following of fans.

Fat: So after hearing about who was making Spidey's new title, I had a glimmer of hope that my favorite comic hero would finally get a deserving game. When Geeky and I saw the work in progress at E3, we could see a lot of potential in it.

Geeky: And now that it has arrived, the result is a good, solid game experience. In turning it on, the first thing we noticed was the new remix of the hokey 60's Spidey cartoon show theme, playing with the title screen. While it may have turned some off, we were happy to hear it.

Fat: At first, this game seems to play a lot like a Tomb-Raider game (which I hate), but thankfully, the game's situations and Spidey's abilities make it a bit more interesting. At long last, this IS Spider-Man, as all of his abilities are represented well in this game. Spidey has Super Strength, speed, agility, Spider-Sense, the ability to scale most any wall, and several different variations of webbing (web lines to swing with, web balls, webs to trap opponents, web shields, etc.) to help him in battling his foes. This game's control scheme is pretty complex, and it allows Spidey to do a whole lot of different things.

Geeky: What makes this game work for me is the ongoing story, told by lots of in-between movie sequences, complete with narration by the Web-Head's co-creator Stan Lee, and voice acting in the game itself as well. Everything ties together nicely, and what you have to do usually makes sense. Some of the scenarios are ridiculous, like when the cops are blowing up entire buildings just to get to you, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

Fat: This game's got lots of classic Spidey villians to fight against, like Scorpion, Rhino, Venom, Mysterio, and others. Most of them are represented well, but some, like Venom, can do things I don't recall them doing in the comic, such as vanish into thin air.

Geeky: Another nice touch is that there are a lot of hero cameos in the game as well. The likes of the Black Cat, Daredevil, the Human Torch, and some others (no need to spoil it by telling you who) make an appearance.

Fat: Neversoft has done their homework on this game. Like most good games, it also has a lot of secrets to find, such as classic comic covers, and new Spidey costumes, like the black costume (which became Venom), the Spider-Man Unlimited costume (you know, that Fox Kids cartoon show that was on for about 3 weeks), and the Scarlet Spider costume (part of that spidey-clone thing in the comics). These costumes give you added abilities, such as unlimited webbing with the black costume, and invisibility with the unlimited costume. There's also cheats, galleries to uncover, and some practice rounds for you to hone your skills in.

Geeky: Playwise, the game is a lot of fun, but it can be a bit frustrating at times (like when you swear you hit that building with your web-line, or when you miss a jump). Like most 3D titles, this game has it's share of camera problems that will cause you to get disoriented, and sometimes to lose. You only have one life (and unlimited continues, you'll need 'em for some levels), so if you die, you'll get sent back to the beginning of the last save point in the round. This is usually okay, as it doesn't place you too far back, but sometimes it goes back a bit farther than I'd like.

Fat: Most of the problems I encountered had to do with wall-crawling. When you're crawling up the wall or ceiling, and the camera changes direction, so does the direction you have to move the pad. This can be really disorienting, because depending on where you are, the camera changes direction constantly. I also had a bit of trouble remembering all the controls, as one button and a different direction get you all kinds of different webs. You have to be careful to do what you want if you're low on webbing. Graphically, this game is very nice. It uses the power of the Playstation to it's limits with a lot of huge 3D environments. When you crawl on ceilings or through air ducts, the game will make one of the walls transparent to allow you to see better. The characters are well-rendered and nicely animated, and although it's too bad their mouths don't move when they're talking (except for Venom and other guys with big mouths), it's not much of a problem. One thing I would like to see is the webbing pattern on Spidey's costume, as it's absent here. My guess as to why would be that since the game is in fairly low resolution, as are the texture maps used to map the characters, the webs don't look good on the costume, so they decided to leave them out.

Geeky: Also, doesn't the Black Cat wear a mask in the comic? She doesn't here, and I can't figure out why. The skin-tight costume's rendered nicely though. Mary Jane's pretty hot too. The sound of the game is another plus: many of the voices are from the recent Fox Kids' Spider-Man series, and the acting is a bit better than your average Resident Evil game, and pretty well-written. Some of the quips that Spidey (and Venom) say are actually funny, for once. The in-game music is mostly hard rock guitar and drums that usually only plays when you're in danger or fighting. It's suitable, but sometimes it seems like there should be a bit more of it.

Fat: Overall, aside from some control and camera issues, Spider-Man is a good, solid game that's well thought out and executed. It makes for a great Playstation title, and we really hope for a Sequel for the PS2 or Dreamcast.

Geeky: Yep. The skin-tight spandex would look even better with high-res texture maps and more polygons...and I ain't talkin' about Spidey either.

Graphics: (Fat) 8.9 (Geeky) 8.3

Sound: (Fat) 9 (Geeky) 9

Control: (Fat) 6.5 (Geeky) 7.0

Playability: (Fat) 9.8 (Geeky) 9.7

Worth a rent?: Yes

Worth a buy?: Yes, if you like action games.

Worth buying the system for?: Sure. Playstations are cheap. If you don't already have one, and you want one, go out and get it. BTW, this game doesn't work right on the PC Bleem, so forget about playing it that way.

Fat and Geeky's Final Notes: It's nice to see a game handled right by a group of people who really are Spidey fans. The X-Men movie was good because true fans were responsible for it, and this game is good for the same reason. Let's hope to see more of this and fewer quick-buck license games in the future.

The Black Cat helps spidey out with certain situations.

Spidey defeats criminals by sticking his foot in their faces.

Gotcha!

Scorpion's strong but stupid.

Spidey and Venom- a classic rivalry.

Your Spider-Sense warns you of danger, like when your tights ride up.

Guess what happens if you fall into the printing press?

Who's targeting Spidey here?

Who are the villians behind the grand scheme?

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