This will be a short one, as I’ve only just started the game, but it’s not bad. It certainly makes an impression with it’s classy opener, and that’s just introducing the logos from the various companies involved. Then you, as Spidey, are thrown straight into the thick of it, and play catch up throughout the game, eventually making sense of the story. Basically, a bunch of alien symbiotes (the kind that birthed Venom) are running amok in New York. Seeing MJ Watson with a shotgun at the start seems out of character, (but maybe she would go hardcore if her friends are in trouble) as does Spidey later asking the cops, “Where’s MJ?” Not good for the secret identity there, wall-crawler. Unless of course, the game takes place in the brief time after Civil War and before One More Day, where Spider-Man’s secret ID was publicly known. There are a few cameos, such as Moon Knight, and Luke Cage as your trainer who teaches you some great combos, and baddies like Black Cat and Vulture. Wolverine shows up too and the battle drags on as you have to answer questions to convince him that you aren’t corrupted by the symbiote. You think it would only take 1 or 2 correct answers, but apparently Wolvie likes to fight his mates. There are a few nice fanboy in-jokes, such as the signs scattered around the sprawling city, which is not entirely destructable. You can pick up cars with the black suit, but not lamp posts, or other items.
The fighting system defies the laws of physics, with Spidey flying more than swinging, but it looks great. Even the films don’t have this level of awe as he swings about like an acrobat/contortionist. Being able to flick between the classic red and blue suit and the Venom one is nice, as the latter is stronger and has unique combos, but is slower. Games based on comics are really stepping up to the plate lately, and hopefully they’ll continue to bring fans into the material that inspired them. Brian Reed helped write this, as he did with the also-cool Ultimate Spider-Man game from a few years back, which landed him a career at Marvel.
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