ltimate Spider-Man returns to the webslinger's roots, with a comic-book look and plenty of action. Ultimate's Peter Parker is a high-school kid with a mission: both to get to school before he racks up another absentee mark and to figure out who the new bad guys are that have begun to appear in his Queens neighborhood.
Spidey swings and sways from the sides of buildings, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. Quick attacks let him drop in on enemies and lay a few punches before webbing them to the ground or to a lamppost. With a little bit of practice, players can send him flying through midtown with the greatest of ease.
Ultimate has some other fan-pleasing tricks up its sleeve: Throughout the story mode, players jump between playing as Spidey and taking a turn as villainous Venom, who terrorizes New Yorkers as he destroys city blocks. (In a particularly gruesome move, Venom can regain health by feeding on passersby, including little kids.)
In free mode (in between boss fights and other story missions), Spider-Man has a few challenges at his disposal: He can whip from building to building, defeating timed missions; he can take on neighborhood gangs in "combat tours," throwing combo punches and engaging in trick attacks; or he can search for unlockables, sometimes hidden—for example—on the underside of a pedestrian walkway.
Boss battles come in multiple parts: First, Spidey or Venom must follow the enemy through the city. Unless one of them gets in the direct path of the opponent, their health levels don't seem to matter. Instead, timing is everything—drift too far away, even by just a block or two, and the hero (or antihero) has to begin again.
Arachnidus duplicatus
The only way to review Ultimate Spider-Man is to treat it as two different games, based on whether you played the movie-based game Spider-Man 2. If you did, the lack of originality to this game is stunning. (For more, skip below.) If this is your first Spidey game, though, you're in for a treat.
Ultimate Spider-Man has the mechanics down. You're treated to an expansive New York, with very few areas marked as "unavailable," even at the beginning. The game makers took a winning action-adventure formula—swinging, fighting and smart-alecking—and peppered the game with fantastic, stylized cutscenes that any comic-book fan will enjoy. If you've never seen another Spidey game, this is one to try.
But if it's not your first time around the web-slung block, Ultimate Spider-Man will feel like a truly weird deja vu. Did a game as good as Spider-Man 2 really need a do-over? Activision, who made both games, has reused everything: from the feel of the city to the mechanics of the game and almost to the missions themselves. Sure, copycatting happens in video games all the time (witness the number of Grand Theft Auto ripoffs), but still: Does it usually happen with the exact same character? Could they not have added a little more to make a new version worthwhile?
Ultimate's main strength is its true comic-book look (especially in cutscenes) and the addition of Venom—a character so fun to play he would be worth a game all on his own. It's a strong game, fun and frustrating in just the right amounts. But with an "E" for lack of originality, it's hard to give Ultimate Spider-Man an unqualified recommendation.
I wish this review had the option to give two different ratings, based on whether you had played Spider-Man 2 before. The B is really an average: It's an A- game if it's all new to you—and a C+ if it's not.
—Jennifer
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