Spectacularly Amazing

As an admitted fan of Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man comic, and a bigger fan of the treatment Treyarch gave our beloved wallcrawler in two sharp and original Spider-Man™ games, I couldn't wait to see how they would combine the two for the all-new eponymously-titled Ultimate Spider-Man™ game . The story and art direction in the game—provided by USM scribe Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley—build on the solid game play foundation of Spider-Man 2™ with a hero who is a little different from the one you've seen on the silver screen.

Spider-sense … tingling!

Ultimate Origins
Marvel Comics' Ultimate line is a new take on the old-school Marvel universe. Updated for the times, it features the traditional heroes with less experience, modern twists, and a dedication to strong storytelling and artwork that makes each Ultimate comic its own unique tale. Ultimate Spider-Man was the first Ultimate comic, and superstar writer Bendis and series artist Bagley have stayed with the series for years. Naturally, Treyarch turned to the series creators to develop the storyline and artistic look of the Ultimate Spider-Man game.

Ultimate Spider-Man is quite possibly the most faithful

recreation of a comic book ever to hit Xbox.

• The Story: Ultimate Peter Parker is a bit different from his original incarnation. So is his life—he works as a web designer (get it?) at The Daily Bugle, for example, and a few other tidbits of Spider-history are tweaked, such as the origins of villains like Venom, who appears as a playable character (!) in the game. Still, all of the important elements are there—Uncle Ben has a ponytail, but his senseless murder is still how Peter Parker learns that with great power comes great responsibility. Thanks to the participation of Bendis, the USM game story fits right into the USM comic continuity.
• The Art: The look of the game is seriously cool and wholly unique—crisp cel shading throughout combined with animated cutscenes in a comic-panel layout that creates the feel of watching a movie and reading a comic book at the same time. Fans of the USM comic will be thrilled with the video game incarnation of the series' signature art style (the work of Bagley and inker Art Thibert), and the cutscenes in the USM game alone should win Marvel some new readers.

USM captures Bagley's signature style, in 3-D.

Ultimate Game Play
Treyarch has been doing Spider-Man video games for years, and they've got Peter Parker down cold.

The swing mechanic from Spider-Man 2 is back and is still both exhilarating and fun—it really does feel like you're swinging through a huge, detailed Manhattan (and surrounding areas).

Combatis also much the same as before, with unlockable moves that you open with points you've collected for fighting with style. Spider-Man can now lift heavy objects (like a car trapping an innocent citizen) with a new mechanic that uses a strength meter combined with rapidly alternating pulls of the left and right triggers.

Spider-sense is now depicted by a sudden comic-panel cutscene, and/or an icon on your 3-D map screen. When you rescue a citizen, instead of, say, swinging an injured bystander all the way to the hospital, you'll pick them up, swing over to a nearby ambulance, and then get back to the mission at hand. You won't have to guess how long a dangling construction worker will last before you rescue him—USM incorporates a nifty little countdown graphic that displays over every innocent's head and tells you how long you have to save the day.

Protect the streets of Ultimate Manhattan.

Bring on the Bad Guys
Without a movie storyline to stick to, Ultimate Spider-Man is free to delve into the Ultimate universe and Spider-Man's entire rogues' gallery of villains—many of whom are even deadlier in their new incarnations than they are in the good ol' Marvel U.

Take the Rhino, for instance. In the original Marvel U, he's a bit goofy—a guy who got stuck in a rhino costume? And so he turned to crime? Hmm. Ultimate Rhino, on the other hand, is an armor-plated cyborg powerhouse who tosses cars through buildings rather than taking the time to go around them. He unfortunately does the same to heroic young spider-persons. He's actually scary, and a menacing early boss in the Ultimate Spider-Man game.

It ain't easy bein' Pete. But it's fun.

The creepy symbiote villain Venom isn't just a villain this time around—he's a fully playable character with a counter-storyline in Ultimate Spider-Man. In the ultimate universe Venom's creation is much more personal to Peter Parker than in the normal Marvel U, and it makes sense to include him here. It also doesn't hurt that Venom is a consistent fan-favorite villain. The plotline alternates between Spider-Man and Venom, making it a truly dual story. Venom isn't just Spider-Man in a black suit: Long-time Spider-Man players need to learn how to take advantage of the symbiote's powers, which include mega-jumps from rooftop to rooftop and feeding off of the life-energy of the living.

Don't underestimate Ultimate Rhino!

The Ultimate Webslinger
In addition to being an entertaining and addictive game, Ultimate Spider-Man is quite possibly the most faithful recreation of a comic book ever to hit Xbox®. Treyarch and Activision, Inc. have scored another spider-hit, and even gamers who have never spun a web will get into it. Besides—did I mention you can play as Venom? Yeah, I thought so. We'll make true believers out of you guys yet.

By Danny Chihdo