The reviews are in for the “Spider-Man 3″ video game which hit stores last Friday (all the better to tie into the movie natch), and, well, they’re not very kind. Metacritic only gives the game a 66 average for the Xbox 360 version, for example, and most of the big-name Web sites are the ones giving the lowest scores. Hit the link to see a quick review round-up.
1up:

Spider-Man 3 doesn’t look hideous, exactly. In fact, it looks an awful damn lot like Spider-Man 2. I just expected a lot more, especially when playing on the console that borrowed the movie’s font. Maybe it’s not entirely fair to compare current-gen titles to last-gen standouts like God of War or Chronicles of Riddick, but it’s undeniably bad when a game looks like ass next to aged titles running on even more aged hardware.

GameSpy:

If it weren’t for the erratic camera motions, you could almost say that the web-slinging in Spider-Man 3 eclipses its forerunner. It’s too bad that the chase-camera looks like it drank too much coffee and popped half a bottle of No-Doz; if it would stop shaking for no apparent reason this game could be astounding. But that’s what this game does, it teeters on the brink of being really good without actually taking the plunge.

IGN:

However, the biggest problem in Spider-Man 3 is the simple fact that the missions aren’t fun. Even if you’re just in this for swinging and random crime — which focus far too heavily on stopping speeding cars — you’ll have to suffer through the storylines to improve Spidey’s skills, and you’ll find yourself ready to web your own eyes closed in frustration. Guarding gas dispensers from a horde of attacking lizards and defusing bombs in the subway become exercises in anger, and they only serve to propel you towards terrible bosses.

GameSpot:

In the end, Spider-Man 3 has its moments. Swinging through New York is as fun as it’s ever been, and some of the new contextual action sequences are pretty cool. But for everything Spider-Man 3 does well, it does something else poorly. The camera and presentation issues, as well as the clumsy combat, all conspire to drag the experience down significantly.

So, shock and suprise, yet another video game spin-off of a big movie franchise that’s sub-par. The good news (at least potentially good news) is that Activision is apparently already working on another Spider-Man game, as they’ve put up a teaser Web site for something called “Spider-Man: Friend or Foe.” There’s few details, but Kotaku has what info’s available here. Cross your fingers.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 8:30 am and is filed under Marvel, News & Views, Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.