Hey all, well consider this a little late but better late than never I suppose. lol. Today my review is on the video game "Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions." My fellow reviewer Destroyer14 has done a review and I thought it was a good review, so following in his footsteps will be tough so wish me luck on this review. Reminder: this is all opinion based and we are all entitled to our own. So I will do this review as a categorical review: I will start off with Story, the 4 Spider-men and their Villains, Graphics, extras, and appeal. Each of those will be then scored from 1 to 10 and then average it out for the final score. With that lets begin with story.....
Story: The game centers around the villain Mysterio who has broken into a museum in New York, wanting to sell the Tablet of Order and Chaos on the black market to become super rich. He is immediately stopped by Amazing Universe Spider-man. After dodging and teasing Mysterio, Spider-man flings himself into Mysterio who blocks the blow with the tablet, which shattered into pieces and shot across the multiverse to 3 other universes: Noir(Earth-7207), 2099(Earth-928) and Ultimate(Earth 1610). Madame Web explains to all four Spider-men that they have collect the tablet pieces and restore the balance to the multiverse before it splinters and destroys everything. As the story progresses, Mysterio gains the power of the tablet and seeks out the other pieces, he holds Madame Web hostage and forces the 4 to seek out the final set of pieces and hand it to him. The game's final battle involves all 4 heroes doing battle with a mystically infused Mysterio.
Review: When it comes to telling stories, this is a pretty basic plot, villain X wants object Y, so Hero Z seeks out object Y to stop villain X. However, we are introduced to not 1 but 4 heroes all from various universes and with each act(Three acts only) with only 2 that have connected stories from acts 1-3(Noir and 2099). When it comes to telling a story, it's best to keep it simple when it comes to new players and to fans alike. I truly consider this a fan game, everything about each universe feels true to the source and makes lots of fan service moments that are subtle but are so cool when you figure them out. I did hope that since this was a game with a mystical element, that we would see at least one other mystical hero, I do remember hearing some early rumors that Dr. Strange was to have a cameo in the game but sadly was never seen at all or even mentioned. The best part was the ending cinematic where all 4 spider-man actually meet and interact with one another and play off each others personalities greatly. So a basic story but done well with plenty of nods and hints to the characters and their universes this story gets an 8/10
The 4 Spider-men: Each spider-man has their own unique game play and do have some differing qualities. They all follow the same type of button combos but each character pulls off a different kind of attack. Amazing Spider-man works off by using quick combos and his heavy attacks are the “web-based” combat the developers have mentioned(don't be fooled), these heavy attacks are really cool considering all the things he mends his webbing into(My favorite are the sledgehammers). Noir works solely on using stealth, all you do is sneak up to an enemy and knock them out and web them up(at least 85% is stealth). 2099 is the most interesting type of them all, 2099 is the fastest of all 4 and his attacks can be slowed down using an ability called accelerated vision(bullet time) to fight off lots of enemies, charge your charge attack, or dodge missiles. Ultimate involves the use of the symbiote suit, which all attacks are using these tendrils for great reach and this is the only other universe with a secondary ability, which is your typical Rage mode that runs off a meter(which can be extended) to take out your foes much quicker and can be prolonged with each successive hit. As for the villains for each Spider-man, each one gets 3 unique and villains of that respected universe. Amazing has Kraven the Hunter, Sandman, and Juggernaut. Noir has Hammerhead, Vulture, and Norman Osborn. 2099 has Hobgoblin, Scorpion, and a female Doc Ock. Ultimate has Electro, Deadpool, and Carnage. All share the final boss of Mysterio.
Review: When it comes to each Spider-man, all of them have been voiced by people that voiced the character before: Amazing is voiced by Neil Patrick Harris(MTV Spider-man show from early 2000s), Noir is voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes(from the 90s Spider-man), Dan Gilvezan(from the 80s Spider-man) and Ultimate is voiced by Josh Keaton(from Spectacular Spider-man), this is probably the coolest moment for any fan. I seen the 90s cartoons when I was young and to hear Barnes voice as the mature Noir Spider-man was awesome. Everyone else fits their role extremely well. If I was to rank them it would be Barnes, Keaton, Harris, and Gilvezan. They all fit the personalities of their respectable universe. The villains I feel a bit mixed when it comes to them. I never read 2099 so these villains were in essence, new to me, but I did read that this female Doc Ock was created for the game. I did find it strange to have a X-men villain like Juggernaut in the game considering they had some better choices at their disposal*coughs* VENOM*cough..oh...excuse me*clears nose* any way, having him in their was probably sort of a tie-in with the comics because he was in them recently, but who knows, I felt he was the strangest choice of them all. However the best villain was Deadpool, his stage was the strangest and the most to explore(had like the most emblems). What made this level great was that if you paused, Deadpool would chat randomly to you(so great and funny). What I'm sure Destroyer14 found and I'm sure others, is that every level has you chasing the villain to a certain point, fight them once as a mid-boss, chase them further and fight them with their powered up form due to the fragment(Deadpool deviated from this but that's because its deadpool.lol). Overall, while the game play and levels are basically linear expect the levels are huge and full of areas to explore and find all sorts of goodies, is fun and worth plenty of re-playability. I give this part of the game an 8/10.
Graphics: Each universe takes full advantage of the graphics. Amazing has bright colors and cartoon appeal, Noir is dark and full of lights trying to ruin your cover, 2099 has a sleek futuristic style with sharp designs, and Ultimate is a more polished version of the Ultimate Spider-man game from the last console generation. Each character and its villains fit the look and the environments are always different as you progress through the levels. This gets a 9/10
Extras: This to me is the weakest when it comes to extras. The basic way and the only way to get extras is simply beat the level on any of the three difficulties(Easy= Bios, Normal=Concept Art, and Hard=figures). You do get extra costumes to get, but you have to unlock them through the Web of Fate, and they only serve as Fan Service costumes and don't add any cool bonuses(except Captain Universe which gives you a cosmic blast charge attack). If you know the costumes, you will love them, they even give us some that were never used by mentioned or seen in the comics(Like Secret War and Electro-proof suit). The concept art is cool but you only get art from each level you beat. The figures are pretty basic and are just as advertised. I felt that if they took some time, they could have done video footage of each member voicing their Spider-man or added in some slight bonuses to the extra suits available(also switching them in game would have been great). So not the best but still impressive, I give this a 7/10
Appeal: This game I as mentioned, is a game made by fans, for fans. If you love spider-man, whichever of these incarnations, then you will love this game. If your a newbie and like to learn some fun facts about Spider-man's history and get a quick introduction to any of these characters, then welcome to the club. If you are just a gamer, wanting to play a game with controls and feel like your typical action adventure game then you will enjoy this game. However pick your difficulty early because I played all levels on easy first and got most of the Web of Fate done before I finished each level and for the most part, most are all easy, the hardest one are the golden spiders that are hidden throughout the levels(and they are hard to find). Overall if you just want a simple, easy, and fun game to play with a well balanced control system this game is for you, an 8/10
Final grade: After reviewing the points this game gets an overall score of 40/50 which is an 8/10. This is a game worth play and having a good time with. I enjoyed this game immensely and while it has some faults with it, its still an amazing game that you should all pick up and play. Sadly it may not get any DLC, since Web of Shadows didn't have any, so its safe to say that neither will this one, but that should detract you. Whether you buy or rent this title, it should be definitely be part of your gaming experience. If we get a sequel to this game, add more dimensions(at least two more), a longer story(14 levels is kinda basic) and improved mechanics with combat and game play then it could be one of the best comic book games on the market.
So there's my review of Spider-man: Shattered Dimension, I pretty much covered all angles of this game. Minus of course is Stan Lee, but Stan the Man is above a point system. Lol. Catch you all later, ComicCritic87 OUT!!!!