Games Rev1ewed

The Not-So-Amazing Spider-Man.

I went into The Amazing Spider-man Game with high hopes. I was sold on the features they kept praising, Web Rush, Open World Gameplay, Spider-man’s amazing acrobatics, but I left with the feeling of wanting more.

Story: The game actually takes place after the movie so if you haven’t seen the movie don’t make the same mistake I did and wander into it thinking it might take place before or tie into the movie. Although not much was spoiled thus far I still worry that some people might not be familiar with Spider-man’s history with Dr. Curt Connors. With that said I have to let a small bit go to explain the story. With Dr. Connors behind bars at a mental institution Oscorp has found a new brilliant scientist, Allistaire Smythe, to run their R&D division however he has to first clean up the mess left behind by Dr. Connors. That is what he says he is doing anyway. He’s actually continuing the experiments in secret to develop his own Nanotechnology that will hunt “Cross-Species” creatures. Unfortunately for Spider-man that includes him. Things explode in the first few minutes of the game with all of Dr. Connors’ experiments going into a frenzy when Peter is in close proximity on an impromptu tour of the facility he supposedly broke into previously and obtained his superhuman powers from. The serum Dr. Connors developed has mutated into a virus that is for the most part deadly to humans, but can turn them into creatures like the Lizard that the good doctor turned into. As usual Spider-man has to clean up the mess and try to save the girl who has contracted this deadly\mutating virus while saving the rest of the city from it as well.

Gameplay: They basically tried to channel Batman: Arkham Asylum\City with the combat and in my opinion failed. Things tend to be more chaotic since you aren’t quite sure which direction Spider-man is swinging his fists\feet in. They tried to utilize the same “spider-sense” mechanic that Batman has, but it appears too small over his head and the attacks that are unavoidable have a red symbol which gets lost in the chaos as your screen turns red from taking too many punches. They do however have a quick escape button that lets you web-zip to the far away location in hopes of recovering a bit of health and figuring out how best to tackle the situation. It’s basically just a button mashing event and the occasional dodge. The web swinging is equally disappointing as you don’t have very much control over the entire experience. I preferred Spider-man 2’s ability to control when you detached from your web. Also you can’t speed up your swinging in any way it’s always one speed and it’s pretty automatic. You don’t even have to be near a building to swing. There is one slight glimmer in this department: Web Rush. It’s a nifty little feature that lets you slow down time and view the world through Spider-man’s eyes to look for points throughout the world that will let him automatically maneuver to a location a distances away from you. I found myself only using the feature to scour the city for comic book pages of which there are 500 to collect. So while it is a neat feature it’s ultimately useless in combat and web slinging.

Achievements: Nothing too exciting to see here. Just like every other movie game: “Kill 100\500\1000 Enemies”, “Collect 50\100\500 Thingamajigs”, “Beat The Game”, and “Beat The Game on a Harder Difficulty”.

Visuals: I was actually quite surprised by how good the game looked up close. Truthfully it’s not amazing or anything, but it looks much better than expected with lots of detail on Spider-man’s suit and the damage that comes from combat ala Batman. The city itself is pretty unremarkable, but the interior environments are pretty good looking.

Sound: Nothing about the audio in the game jumped out at me except for the fact that none of the cast from the movie voiced any of the characters. Spider-man has a tendency not to shut up which can be quite annoying. Not much else to say. It’s typical game audio for this one. Nothing spectacular.

Conclusion: If you love or even just like Spider-man don’t spend $60 on this games. Don’t even spend $40 on it. Wait until it hits the bargain bin for less than $30. It’s fun, but it is nothing like the feeling you got from playing Spider-man 2 for the first time. Go watch the movie instead and enjoy Andrew Garfield’s version of Peter Parker instead of this mess of a game.

Final Score: 5

P.S. I lay no claim to anything discussed in this review. Any mention of Spider-man, Batman, Peter Parker, Lizard, Dr. Curt Connors, Allistaire Smythe, Web Rush or any other characters or mechanics used in this game are all property of their rightful owners. This is merely my opinion of their product.

Boy Wonder steps up.

Let me get some details out of the way and forgive me as this is my first review. I’ve completed Harley Quinn’s Revenge, an piece of DLC for Batman: Arkham City that was released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on May 29th for 800 MS Points and $9.99 respectively. I played through it on the Xbox 360 using the newer S model of the 360. I also have Batman: AC installed to my hard drive to cutdown on load times and texture pop-in. It took me a few seconds over 90 minutes to complete the DLC in it’s entirety. That is with some extra exploration in an attempt to complete some of the achievements attached to side objectives. This may contain minor spoilers as it does take place after the credits have rolled on the main campaign.

Story: The content takes place after the main story and features Robin, Batman’s iconic sidekick, and a grief wrought Harley Quinn who is in mourning of the fate of the Joker at the end of the main game. Batman has been captured by Harley Quinn in an attempt to lure Robin into whatever machinations she can conjure up, which sadly are the typical villain cliches, steal bombs, take hostages, and demand that Batman turn himself over to you or you will blow everyone up. There are a few cutscenes that deliver the same high quality voice acting and animations you’ve come to expect from Rocksteady. The last one is especially gripping in that both our heroes’ fates are unknown until the final moments.

Gameplay: Your experience will be divided in 4 sections alternating between Batman and his sidekick Robin. Batman returns with all the gadgets he obtained throughout the main story and is fully upgraded. Robin is interesting in that he has a few new gadgets that aid him in battling the bad guys. He makes use of a telescoping staff as his primary mode of attack and has a shield that can be activated out of that staff to protect him against gunfire and attacks. He can also use that shield to “Shield Bash” enemies and knock them off balance allowing for incredible combos to be performed. In addition he has the ability to “Zip Kick” an enemy which entails him firing his version of the Batclaw at an enemy and propelling himself forward kicking the enemy knocking them down. His last character specific gadget is this tiny little thing called Snap Flash that is basically a stun mine that can be placed on enemies or on environmental objects then detonated from a distance to disarm and disorient multiple enemies. Robin is also fully upgraded off the bat and only acquires one new gadget in the course of this DLC. Therein lies a small complaint. There is no character progression in terms of experience and upgrades that the main game had. You are given maxed out characters. I suppose since this takes place after the main game it’s understandable. I did miss that aspect though. It’s also of note that while the first of Batman’s sections is “free roam” this is a very linear story that has you backtrack a number of times. With that lack of free roam you also lose the much enjoyed Riddler Challenges which is sad because there were quite a few places they could have tucked a couple Riddle Trophies.  There is basically one side mission that involves popping Harley Quinn themed balloons throughout this campaign. No real added bonus for completing it beside an achievement worth 50 gamerscore. Which brings me to my next section…

Achievements: A pretty easy group here. They can all be completed in one playthrough. They involve popping all the Harley Balloons, performing a few of Robin’s new tricks a certain number of times and completing a certain event in a specific amount of time as well as plot related achievements. 10 in total for 250 gamerscore.

Visuals: I didn’t really notice anything particularly ugly in terms of textures or geometry. There was some minor pop-in, but that is a side effect of the Unreal Engine 3. Robin’s costume is pretty well designed, but simple in that it doesn’t have the extra rivets and armor plating that Batman’s outfit does. Harley Quinn’s new attire is a nice change of pace from her Nurse outfit, which is actually on display at one point, and shows off her assets much like much like her other ones did.

Sound: I’m playing the game on a 5.1 home theater system for full effect. Everything sounds great, but there isn’t a whole lot of use of the surround speakers. I’ve found this to be inherent in most games though. Besides that minor quip all the punches, kicks, and heads slammed on the ground are felt. The music is the same iconic riffs that play for most of the game which is fine with me.

Conclusion: Harley Quinn’s Revenge is a short epilogue that provides the same style of gameplay with some extra added elements in the form of Batman’s sidekick while maintaining the level of detail as the main campaign minus the free roam and Riddler Challenges. Is it a must play? No. Did I think it was worth the 800 MS Points? Yes, but you’d be perfectly alright waiting for it to go on sale as there is nothing really pressing about the story that screams “Play me!” If you want more of the same goodness that is Arkham City you’ll mostly enjoy Harley Quinn’s Revenge. If I must attach a numerical score to this based on a scale of 1 to 10 I’d rank it at a 8. Pretty good, but not amazing.

Final Score: 8

P.S. Thanks for taking the time to read my review. Pardon my spelling and grammar errors be there any. Also if you have any suggestions or requests please feel free to drop me a line. I’m hoping to provide this service for quite a while as I play lots of games and have been told I have a great opinion of them. As a final note all mentions of Microsoft, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Sony, Playstation Network(PSN), Batman, Robin, Joker, Harley Quinn, Rocksteady, Arkham City, and elements of Rocksteady’s amazing game are the property of the respectful owners and I lay no claim to any of those things. This is merely my opinion of their product.

(Source: community.batmanarkhamcity.com)

New Game

I’m finalizing the layout of my page. I will begin posting my personal opinions of games within a few days. I’ve got to say I’m pretty excited to be doing this. I’ve been told my opinion of games is very informed. I don’t waste time with marketing games to people. I just tell it how I experienced it. What works, what doesn’t work. I don’t get fixated on things that don’t matter. I’m a little biased towards Xbox 360, but I do own a Playstation 3 and Wii, as well as a 3DS and a high end computer. So if you are interested in no-frills reviews of some of the hottest, or not so hot, games currently out or coming out soon keep up with me.