It is generally accepted by most who play video games that those that are adapted from movies are usually not very good. In recent years most, if not all, major blockbusters have had some kind of affiliated game released.
There are, of course, exceptions. "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay" is one of these, and was notable for being more enjoyable than the movie itself.
I went into "Spider-Man 3: The Game," for XBOX 360 hoping for much of the same. For Spider-Man geeks like me, and for most of the critical community, the new addition to the Sam Raimi-directed film franchise was infuriatingly less than stellar. It was melodramatic, largely boring and embarrassing as hell for its lead actor, "emo-eyes" Tobey Maguire. I hoped that the game would have enough redeeming value to make up for the lackluster cinematic effort.
And in the end, it does ... and it doesn't. "Spider-Man 3," like its predecessors, is an action-oriented game that takes you, as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, around a realistic Manhattan, fighting crime, gangs and classic villains from the Spidey canon, including those from the movie. The game delivers in many ways, but unfortunately, not quite to the extent that would make it consistently entertaining throughout.
Simulating realistic combat on a console system is difficult, and I, as a gamer, have come across few games that succeed in this regard. The combat system in "Spider-Man 3" is based on punches, kicks and web-slings that you can combine into progressively more complex combos to deal more damage in increasingly inventive ways. The depth of the combo system is interesting at times, and if you take the time to learn a number of different combos, you can dispatch villains in a number of cool-looking ways. Unfortunately, the camera system is so flawed that it often becomes difficult to see which enemy you're fighting at a given time, and with the enemies coming at you with the frequency that they do, the combat devolves from strategic combo throwing to a frenzy of frustrated button-mashing.
Button-mashing sucks. Is it really any fun to sit at a television and get carpel-tunnel syndrome while Spider-Man kicks ass and takes names largely of his own accord? No. The developers were kind enough to give the player a "bullet-time"-like feature that allows you to slow down time and gain an advantage over whatever gang-bangers or creatures you may be fighting. It's something, but it doesn't make up for the loss of complexity that is inherent in the fighting system.
If this were somehow not the focus of the game, I would be more forgiving. But all the missions require this kind of combat, and after the first few, I was fed up. All I really wanted to do was fly around the city.
And believe me, the flying around the city part of this game is awesome. The act of shooting webs on to a building and swinging from unthinkable heights must be quite difficult in, ahem, real life, but the developers here make it smooth and seamless. The controls are quite nice, and the city you swing around is visually stunning. There are no load times (at least on the XBOX) so you can make it from Harlem to Battery Park in a few short minutes. Hey, it beats taking the subway.
I ended up spending more time doing this and fighting random crime than any of the actual missions. Though not quite as interactive a city as the ones in "Grand Theft Auto," you are able to stop crimes and help innocent citizens in distress, just like Spidey does in the comics.
The graphics are quite impressive overall, and the cinematic sequences are as well. Many of those sequences are laced with timed button commands which flash on the screen when you're supposed to press the button in question. If you miss them, Spidey gets tossed, but if you don't, he manages a remarkably tricky set of moves and ends up the victor over, well, whomever. (I recognized this gimmick from "God of War.")
The storyline is an improvement over the last two games. In those, many players complained of being bogged down with excessive side quests that were boring, repetitive, and worse, required. In this game, the side quests are fewer and largely optional.
The main storyline is taken in part from the movie and in part from many villains that Spidey faces in Stan Lee's ongoing storyline. While this is interesting and gratifying to hard-core fans of the comic book, many of the storylines are abrupt and bereft of any real plot or character developments. This is especially apparent in the plot based on the events of the movie.
Where in the movie, these plots are given entirely too much treatment, in the game they're not given enough (except the Venom mission, where the game is consistent with the amount of time spent on Venom in the movie -- e.g., not much). This is disappointing on both counts, as Venom is as an enjoyable villain to fight as he is to watch.
I wouldn't say not to play "Spider-Man 3." It's worth a look. But if you're looking for an intelligently crafted action game with a combat system that makes sense and missions that are consequently fun to play, you've come to the wrong place. If you're looking to feel like a badass swinging around New York City, I highly recommend you get your hands on it.
