The Amazing Spider-Man is undoubtedly kicking major ass at the box office now, but what does this mean for gamers? Well rest assured, it means we have The Amazing Spider-Man Game! Usually a movie-tie in game is met with frowns and lost hope but Spider-Man had a bit of success in this field with Spider-Man 2: The Game. The Amazing Spider-Man Game is without a doubt one of the better Spider-Man games in recent memory.
It’s so strange that it took nearly seven years since the release of ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ to have another Spider-Man game be set in an open world environment. It’s the way all Spider-Man games should be made. The Amazing Spider-Man allows you to web-sling throughout Manhattan. Though it’s not a true to life representation of Manhattan, there are notable areas like Central Park and Times Square in the game. But more importantly, Developer Beenox realizes the movement of Spider-man. You really feel the speed and the momentum at which Spider-Man falls and swings from building to building. I can only hope they stick to making more open world Spider-Man games.
Though the game shares the same name as the movie, they do not share the same plot. The plot actually takes place after the events in the movie. The game doesn’t shy away from spoiling the overall outcome of the movie, as well as the demise of one of the characters. I highly recommend you watch the movie beforehand.
The game starts with Gwen Stacy giving Peter Parker a walkthrough of Oscorp’s Lab. We soon learn that Oscorp scientist Allistair Smythe is working on perfecting Dr. Connor’s failed experiments. These experiments have lead to the creation of mutant creatures and it doesn’t take long after that before these creatures breakout and spread their disease across the city. It’s up to Spider-Man get rid of these mutants and to create a cure for the infestation.
The plot is ok but predictable. It also felt like the writers were restricted from using recognizable characters from the series. This is noticeable by the lack of known Spider-Man villains. You get to fight Rhino but even then it’s just a mutant version of Rhino and not the Rhino we know. You also fight bosses like Vermin and Iguana. Yeah, I know. Who the F**K are they? It just makes the game a little less exciting.
When you aren’t progressing through the games story mode, you will certainly be swinging through Manhattan and taking a dab at some of the side missions that are available. There are a number of side missions to do like stopping petty crimes, stopping a car chase, taking infected citizens to a quarantine, and race challenges. There’s not much variety in the side missions, which can get repetitive rather quickly. You’ll probably just complete them to acquire more experience points.
The combat system is where The Amazing Spider-Man takes some inspiration from Arkham City. Like the Arkham series, The Amazing Spider-Man’s combat system offers a fluid and well animated fighting experience. Unfortunately Spider-Man doesn’t really have a full arsenal of gadgets like Batman so the combat system can turn itto you just spamming the X button and simply pressing Y when the spidey sense emblem appears to counter attacks. You can also perform stealth takedowns by crawling on the ceilings over your enemies.
There’s is no doubt that this is the best looking Spider-Man game. It can even be awe inspiring specifically when you’re swinging from building to building. You will find yourself making it to the roof of the Oscorp building, which to my knowledge is the tallest building in the game, and taking in the scenery just before to take a leap.
For whatever reason, the actors from the movie could find themselves to the nearest recording booth. You will not hear Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, or the lovely Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. But their replacements do a solid job of bringing these characters to life with little to no annoyances.
As much fun as I had with the game, I feel like I’m already done with it. I completed the campaign in 11 hours. That includes me doing plenty of side missions and me wasting time swinging around the city. I do still have a few side missions to go but it’s all the repetitive stuff like the races and taking infected citizens to the quarantine. The game does have a lot of items for you to collect, like the 700 comic pages for you to find but I always find that stuff tedious and dull.
The Amazing Spider-Man has its issues, but it doesn’t stop it from being a downright fun game. Developer Beenox now has the proper blueprint to make the ultimate Spider-Man game that fans have been waiting for. The open world environment feels refreshing through the eyes of Spider-Man. If you find yourself loving the movie or if you just want a solid fun Spider-Man game, this is a no brainer.
This review was based on a retail copy of the game for the Xbox 360 provided by Activision.
