Nintendo Wii - Spider-Man 3

Format
Nintendo Wii
Publisher
Activision
Developer
Vicarious Visions
Country of origin
US
Genre
3rd person action

Spider-Man 3

By David Rasmussen
27th Aug 07

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a Spider-Man 3 game review can… except maybe make a copy of the PSP version of the game available for review. Originally I was planning a triple review of the PS2, PSP and Wii version of this game… obviously I only managed to get 2 out of 3 games for review.

Well, something tells me the PSP version will probably be the same game as the other two anyway so why am I bothering? I don’t know, I don’t know. Anyway the game is the same game be it the PS2 or Wii version. Sure, you can get an inferior version on the DS, or you can get a (cough) “superior” version on the XBox360 or PS3 but why would you.

Game has the same main villains (Sandman, Green Goblin 2 and Venom. And these two feature the same guest villains (Lizard, Kraven, Morbius and Shriek). Also the same voice acting and special narrator (but more on that later). And since we have Venom in this game that means we also have the black costume, and the promise to unleash the black costume full abilities… except that doesn’t synch with actual gameplay.

There is no real compulsion to wear the black suit. Far from it, in fact there is far more compulsion to NOT wear the suit (wearing it too long kills your character) than there is to wear it. That wouldn’t be bad except for the fact one of the selling points of the game was the ability to wear the black suit and use it’s abilities, which doesn’t pan out as promised (except for a few manditory levels where you must wear the suit).

But still, after getting to enjoy the wonder of Spider-Man in MARVEL Ultimate Alliance, shouldn’t you enjoy a few romps with Spider-Man in his own game? You’d think so, but not so much.
Let’s get one thing straight, if you came here because you had excellent experiences with the previous two Spider-Man movie games then you’ll find yourself sorely disappointed with this outing. Doesn’t make the situation better that both versions have glitches and failings in both which further remove the joy from the game. How so? Let me count the ways.

Good first impressions are supposed to be important, right?
Well obviously that fact is lost on these final hoorah movie to game translations.
Since there (in theory) isn’t supposed to be a Pirates of the Caribbean or Spider-Man 4 why worry about how the game version of the third movie is received when you (bleep) it out on the Wii!
Apparently that is the attitude as this average game (which got a below average verbal rating beating from X-Play) releases on the Wii.

Still, the Wii version does have a few bright points… maybe.
When you start with the Wii controllers you’ll find them clunky and hard to master, but once you do you’ll… well… you’ll somehow get along with the controls. You’ll take awhile to learn how to get about town, have to go see J.J.Jameson when Spidey mentions getting more work because you’ll unlock web zipping which is the only trustworthy way to get across town in this game (web slinging is a clunky system that’ll be more trouble than good to learn though webzipping does have it‘s flaws as well), and find out you’ll primarily be stuck wiimote waving your enemies to death as it’ll take awhile to learn any additional moves (and then you’ll only stick to certain moves because they’re easy to pull off on the wiimote).
The way you pull of interactions though is easy, as you’ll basically mamba move (shake both the wiimote and nunchuk up and down quickly) and lasso twirl your way through these easy minigames.
Another thing has you pulling off precision moves with both controllers in certain key moments, this is actually easier than trying to do the same thing on Pirates (because the controls are simple movements and easy to get down pat quickly).

One overall problem with this game (like the PS2 version) is the far from perfect freeform gameplay. Yes, you do have some sense of freeform gameplay here but it lacks the depth and joy that you had in Incredible Hulk : Ultimate Destruction (PS2) (and have yet to experience with the Wii). Sure, there’s a ton of explorable space and things to do, it’s just that those things are not as deep as Ultimate Destruction and not as interesting as Ultimate Destruction. Crime Patrol (or random crimes to stop as you roam the streets) and challenges, that’s it for the “side missions”.

And as for crime watches? Those get old fast too as you’ll find the same missions (and variants of the same missions) thrown up over and over again as you take on the four gangs (which you can’t completely eliminate until certain things have passed). Oh, and let’s not forget Spidey’s homage to his days shilling Hostess fruit pies when he goes out on missions to save or deliver those “delicious fruit pies”.
What’s next? A Spider-Man gamee where Spidey goes out to rescue the “Cap’n” (Captain Crunch)?
Spidey teaches you to count and other stuff while catching criminals in an homage to his days on the Electric Company! The possibilities are endless (sad but true)!

Sometimes the game tries to punch it up, only to fall short of expectations. Not good. Villain wise the game probably falls short of previous outings, with only Lizard (Doc Conners, who is not played by you-know-who from Spider-Man 2), Kraven the Hunter and the unhappy coupling of Morbius/Shriek (who is his wife, seemingly tied powers wise to the black symboite costume in terms of power origins) to play with/against. I seem to remember previous Spider-Man games having more in the way of villain content, though it could just be me on that score. Still, for a “next gen” console like the Wii you’d think there’d be more here than the PS2 version… which isn’t the case.

Voice acting is good, as it pulls from the movie cast for it’s voices. Heck, it’s the same voice track as the PS2 version (but has the additional flaw of occasional voice burnouts as you play the game for too long as the voices begin to slow and slow as the glitches compound with the length of time you play the game).
(Apparently this game isn’t built for long term marathon gaming.)

Few games have done this this year, with only Transformers the Movie being the other game I know of that has done it. Everyone is here… almost. Notably missing (and not just the person who played Doc Conners) is Kristen Dunst (MJ), replaced by a rather weird voice actress who makes her sound so… weird!
On the plus side Bruce Campbell pulls voice acting duty as the narrator of the game, providing for some golden comedy moments throughout the game. Beautiful job, Mr. Campbell, well done.

Still, even with all the pluses to the game it is still an average game at the end of the day.
And it doesn’t help that the game suffers from a few MORE glitches than the PS2 counterpart (worst, other than the fact you can’t play the game for long periods of time without it crashing, being the same as the PS2 the sudden ending to missions for no reason, where you suddenly either succeed or fail a mission for no reason whatsoever. Land in the middle of a gang ready to fight only to see “MISSION SUCCESS” for no reason, or land near a person about to deliver a vital item only to see “MISSION FAILED” for also no reason. Also the game rarely freezes up (which makes it vital for you to save often)).

So what does that mean for this game?
You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all and then you have… 2 marriage counseling sessions for Morbius and Shriek out of 5. There. It didn’t get a 1 out of 5... Not much better, my score, but it’s there.

-- David Rasmussen 27th Aug 07

Nintendo Wii Spider-Man 3 Images