Activision and Treyarch, creators of the last two Spider-Man games, are back in the same friendly neighborhood with an updated wallcrawling action-adventure game based on Marvel's hit Ultimate Spider-Man comic. Fans of the Spider-Man® 2 game will instantly feel at home webslinging your way through this semi-sequel.
They call him Ultimate for a reason. This Spider-Man has a few new tricks up his spider-sleeves.
Ultimate Differences They call him "ultimate: for a reason—this Spider-Man has a few new tricks up his spider-sleeves, in the form of heightened spider-sense and intense 3-D.
Spider-Man senses danger.
Friendly (and Unfriendly) Neighborhoods: Spider-Man 2 opened up all of Manhattan for our hero to explore and protect, including a surrounding area and one notoriously tricky mission that took you all the way to the Statue of Liberty. This time around, there are even more locales to hit in addition to Manhattan, such as Peter Parker's home turf, Queens. And since this is Spider-Man, you can be sure there will be at least one mission that takes you over open water.
Ultimate Manhattan ambulance service is handy.
A Show of Spider-Strength: While the previous two Spider-Man games did a great job of letting you cut loose with the spider-speed combat and freewheeling swings through the city, one of Spider-Man's key powers—the proportionate strength of an arachnid—didn't quite come across except in super-powered punches. This time, Spider-Man can life heavy objects like cars or widescreen HDTVs, or even pull over something as massive as a water tower with a pair of weblines using the same mechanic. In the lower right corner, there is a meter with a red, yellow and green zone—to get the bar into the green and achieve super spider-strength, you need to alternate the right and left triggers at high speed. The heavier the object, the faster you have to go.
Flick the triggers to hoist a car …
… or pull down a water tower.
Spider-Sense … tingling! Spider-sense works a little differently this time around, at least in regards to innocent victims of super-villainy. Many important rescues are called out with a 3-D cut scene that looks like a lost panel from the comic series. Each victim then gets a circular timer over his or her head that ticks down as the situation gets increasingly perilous. Multiple victims often need saving at once and it's easy to lose track, so keep your eyes open. A victim with a green outline can be picked up, then sling your way over to the ambulance that whisks the victim away. The outline returns to green, indicating that you can safely drop them off.
Peril counts down at different speeds.
It ain't easy being Spider-Man: The Ultimate version of Spider-Man is still a teenager, and has a lot of the same problems the original Peter Parker had. You'll have to deal with Pete's life as well as Spider-Man's, because balancing the two is one of young Parker's biggest challenges. In the same way, you'll often need to make snap decisions regarding a perilous situation—who to save, and how. If you can reach a victim by jumping instead of climbing, do it … it's faster. On the other hand, watch for fires and falling objects, which can be unpredictable and imperil even more people.
Ultimate Mary Jane.
Fly like a … spider? One thing that hasn't changed from Spider-Man 2 is the intuitive web-swinging mechanic, which requires you to actually hit something that your web-line will attach to. In most cases, this is usually a tall building, but things like flying saucers and helicopters have been known to hold a webline, too. To increase your speed across town, always leap at the top of your upward swing and let yourself fly for a few seconds to build up speed for the downswing. If you're in an area without a lot of tall buildings, remember zip-lining can be much faster than swinging.
Ultimate Progress No game developer has ever captured ol' webhead quite as well as Treyarch, and Ultimate Spider-Man is another great leap forward in radioactive spider-powered gaming. Try your hand at playing Venom, an alternate character with a storyline good enough to be its own game. Don't let this one swing past you.
