RETRO – In this Spider-Man game we are always playing as Spider-Man, but set in four dramatically different universes from legendary Spider-Man lore with four different Spidey as well. Each one is a distinct Spider-Man armed with unique skills and strengths, in one original storyline.

We had so many games far about the adventures of our webslinger hero, that I already lost count of them. In the latest games a recurring theme was the free roaming gameplay a la Grand Theft Auto with Spider-Man swinging across a whole town, wherever it pleased him. (Or us.) Well in this latest adventure we can kiss free roaming goodbye, because the game is totally linear. What we get in return is four different Spider-Men at our disposal…

Are you all that amazing?

So who are those four? Well, we have the Amazing Spider-Man, who is simply the original one first appeared in 1962, Spider-Man Noir, who lives in a fictional 1933, Spider-Man 2099, who lives in the future as Miguel O’Hara and the Ultimate Spider-Man, who is the modernized version of Spider-Man wearing a black outfit. In the intro movie of the game we can see the amazing Spider-Man doing something very stupid as usual: while fighting with Mysterio, he shatters the mystical Tablet of Order and Chaos, thus liberating enormous magical energy.

The mysterious Madame Web immediately contacts Spider-Man, and orders him and his other dimension counterparts to retrieve each of its pieces in their respective universes and repair the damage done. While the story seems interesting at first, it is actually just an excuse to get in action all four Spidey’s and his most infamous enemies.

All four one and one four all!

After this initial briefing we are already in the heart of the action with each Spider-Man one after another. Each of them really feels different with Amazing being an all out action hero, Noir a sneaky Spidey, taking out his enemies from the shadows with his cobweb, 2099 flying a lot using all kinds of futuristic superpowers, and the Ultimate using his symbiotic powers.

Almost all four of them are pretty fun to play only Noir can be a little frustrating. I understand the idea of him being a sneaky one, but taking out enemy goons one after another is a little slow and gets boring after a while. Also there’s a big room for error, because the camera movements, the engine and somehow the whole Spider-Man experience isn’t suited well to sneaking.

“Wooow, you are amazing!”

Graphics wise the game is pretty cool and even “amazing” in some parts of the game, like in the 2099 universe. All Spideys looks great and the bosses as well, only the minor enemies look a little boring. The four universes are vastly different, from the cartoon-like graphics of the Amazing Spider-Man to the film noir style of the “Noir” Spidey.

All of them is a joy to look at, even if those who liked the previous free roaming Spider-Man games, will miss the ability to go and fly everywhere in the big city as this game is totally linear. However linearity can be a good thing, since the boss fights are really epic here and the story is more focused as well. Overall Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is a pretty fun game, and some frustrating or boring parts apart we had a blast with the four different Spideys.

-BadSector- (2010)

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Griponite Games

Genres: Action, third person, 3D

Publication: 2010 September