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Spiderman
2/2

The stealth system of the Noir campaign is pretty bare bones.  Hide in shadows and take down the bad guys silently or risk raising an alarm and dying in a hail of bullets.  The Spider-Man of the alternate reality 1930s has downgraded abilities so when someone points a tommy gun at you the best bet is to run away quickly.  As with all stealth games there are instances of unrealism that pull you out of the fantasy, those being when enemies are alerted to your presence they search for you for ten seconds and then they resume their patrols, forgetting about you almost right away.  Common thugs are dumb, but come on.  All in all though, the Noir levels add some spice and up the fear factor a little because you have to be so careful.

There are many drastically different levels to adventure through, from a jungle to an oil rig, the city of the 1930s and the city of 2099, and a hydro-electric power station. And of course there’s good old New York. You can’t make a Spider-Man game that doesn’t feature the Big Apple.

SpidermanSD

The only thing other Spider-Man games have on this title is the crawling.  Sadly, the wall crawling in Shattered Dimensions sucks like the weakest guy in prison.  It is frustrating at times when you just want to crawl sideways in a straight line, but the overly sensitive controls have you zig-zagging all over like a drunk.  And forget about trying to transition from a wall to a ceiling.  You’ll push up to climb the wall, then when you start to grab the ceiling the controls reverse and pushing up then sends you back to climbing down the wall.  Treyarch definitely nailed the web slinger’s ability to scale walls in their titles, so I am wondering what happened here. Activision and Beenox really dropped the ball. Fortunately there aren’t a lot of situations that require heavy use of his “stick ‘em power” as he so amusingly calls it. 

Spinning webs, any size
Graphically this game is fantastic.  The colours leap off the screen and the cel shading, which often feels gimmicky in other games, really compliments the Spider-Man world of the comics.  That’s exactly what half of this game looks like, a comic in motion as the Amazing and Ultimate levels share that style. 2099 has more standard video game graphics but they present the futuristic environment beautifully. They contain lots of glowing enhancements around the mega city and they feel properly sci-fi.  The 2099 suit looks really cool and pulses with ribbons of glowing energy.  The Noir levels really give you the impression that they were culled right out of an old black and white Saturday matinee adventure serial.  The colours are subdued and when you are completely cloaked in shadow the whole screen switches to black and white. It is a very cool effect and gives the Noir levels an almost sinister vibe.  The bosses in the Noir stages are creepy looking, especially Vulture. He’s straight out of a horror film.  All of the dimensions contain some bonus costumes and character figures to unlock, all of which look wicked.

SpidermanSD

The audio is also masterfully done featuring music that is superb and never gets tiring, along with sound effects that are all appropriate with nothing seeming over the top. The voice acting for this game is some of the best in the industry, unlike the terrible voices used for 'Web of Shadows.' The designers really outdid themselves in this department.  Having a script appropriate for a video game based on a comic is one thing, but then to have it voiced so well is a rarity.  None of the lines are delivered in a way that makes the comic book script sound ludicrous. The dialogue is perfect and really helps set the tone. There are a few standout characters, one of whom is Deadpool.  He is hilarious and exactly like the comic version. Sadly, movie audiences had Deadpool ruined for them in that horrible Wolverine film, but Shattered Dimensions did the character justice. What a relief!

Lowdown
Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions is fun. Really fun. It’s a modern game that feels like it has the soul of a classic.  It’s enjoyable to the extreme.  It doesn’t skimp on character, and in fact it actually made me more of a Spider-Man fan. It has great combat and hilarious one-liners, impressive visuals and sound, and the story gives you just the excuse you need to kick ass. This is to Spider-Man what 'Arkham Asylum' was to Batman.  It gets almost everything right, except that sensitive climbing control. I highly recommend this game. Even if you aren’t a Spidey fan there is enough of an adventure here to keep you in front of the screen to see it through to its conclusion.


Reviewed by VonAwesome | 09.17.10

Boxart
+
  • great graphics
  • greater sound
  • stealth game mixes things up
  • lots of interesting environments
  • great combo system
  • awesome script and voice acting
  • really fun boss fights
  • third AND first person action
  • crawling controls are no good
  • poor AI in stealth stage

Similar Games: Spider-Man 3 (6.5) | SM: Web of Shadows (7.4) | Ultimate Spider-Man (9.0)

Boxart

Spider-Man
Shattered
Dimensions

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Beenox

Genre
Action

US Release
Sept '10

ESRB
"T"

Platform
PS3, X360

Features
Players 1
HD 720p
5.1 surround
D/L Content


Lowdown