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With the start of the summer blockbuster season comes the opportunity for Hollywood studios to capitalise on their respective big-budget theatrical releases with some kind of tie-in game.
Traditionally speaking, Spider-man games have tended to be a cut above the average torpid movie cash-in.
But then, traditionally speaking, the Spider-man films themselves have tended to be a cut above the average action movie, and those who have already paid good money to see Spidey’s third outing at the cinemas will know that this isn’t necessarily the case this time around.
The worst elements of movie – such as its distinct lack of focus and bad-guy overkill – have sadly found their way into the game too.
Indeed, on top of the three whole baddies featured in the film (Sandman, Venom and Green Goblin Jnr), several more of Spidey’s arch-nemeses, including the Lizard and the Scorpion, have been wheeled out, presumably to make the game more of a challenge. The result is a game that sort of attempts to follow the plot of the film but doesn’t, spreading an already weak story even thinner.
Several clear missed opportunities might well lead you to suspect that the game’s development was rushed to meet the strict deadline of the movie’s release. While the ‘realistic’ map of New York city appears to be slightly larger and more detailed than in previous Spider-man games, for instance, there seems to be distinctly less fun to be had in it compared to earlier outings.
The Grand Theft Auto-style mini-games and side missions that were present in Spider-man 2 have all but disappeared. And, while you can kind of choose the order in which you tackle some missions, this doesn’t present players with a particularly overpowering sense of freedom.
As well as suffering from serious movie tie-in syndrome, Spider-man 3 is also severely hampered by being a multi-platform title. Basically, this means that PC gamers get a crude port of a game that was clearly designed to be played on the very latest home console hardware.
Compared to the Xbox 360 version (which we also tested), the PC release is hampered by a crushingly poor control system and some serious technical issues. Pump up all the video options to the max and you can actually get the game to look a little smarter than its console cousin, but we would seriously recommend against trying this.
Even at the most basic settings, Spider-man 3 crawled along on our test system at what can only be described as a snail’s pace. We tested the game on two separate systems, both of which far exceeded the manufacturer’s recommended requirements, and the same problems were evident: frame rate slow-downs, distorted sound effects and randomly disappearing textures.
Until a patch is released, this makes the game quite hard to play, particularly in semi-scripted sequences that require precisely timed button presses.
On top of that, if you don’t have a dual analogue game controller of some kind then you may as well forget it, as keyboard and mouse control makes the game virtually unplayable. If you have set up an Xbox 360 gamepad with your PC, on the other hand, on-screen button prompts are colour-coded to match those on the console controller, which is a nice touch.
There are some other good points. The sheer joy of being able to sling your way through NYC and swing webbed-up bad guys round your head is hard to beat. The majority of the film’s cast (with the exception of Kirstin Dunst) reprise their roles in voice form for the game, too.
But oddly unfinished-looking graphics and overwhelming technical troubles make the Spider-man 3 game even more of a letdown than the film.
See also:
Oblivion gets officially expanded – and loses its marbles in the process 01 May 2007
Kane and co are back for more commanding and even more conquering in this strategic sequel 26 Apr 2007
Sony’s new gaming hardware has arrived, but are the games themselves any good? 28 Apr 2007All Arcade GamesTags: Arcade Game
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