Game Highlight #4

Spider-Man

Making his debut on the Sony PlayStation, Spider-Man swings straight into action as you run across rooftops, swing across skyscrapers, kick and punch bad guys and shoot webbing to get enemies in a "tangle" with your webbing (bad joke I know).

Let's begin the review by discussing the general gameplay and unlockables...

Gameplay and unlockables...

As soon as you start a new game, you're straight onto the rooftops of NYC, battling against typical lowlife criminals wielding pistols on either hand.

Playing as Spider-Man, you can run, jump, kick, punch, shoot webbing, shield yourself (in webbing), crawl, swing (and more) with ease.

Throughout the game you will see scattered around "comic books" which you must collect,

collecting all of them reveals the "Spider-Man 2099" costume which allows you (when you wear it) to withstand double the amount of damage from enemies as you could in Spidey's original costume.

But aside from the "Spider-Man 2099" costume, there are plenty of other costumes to utilize...I mean plenty! For me to tell you how to unlock everyone would involve a lot of typing and it's easy if say...you entered "EEL NATS" into the cheat menu to unlock everything...but you didn't get that cheat code from me, understand!

Finally, if you're a lover of all things weird and wonderful, you'll appreciate the crazy little things they've included within the game.

From an appearance from the Fantastic 4, Stan Lee (yes THE Stan Lee) doing the voiceover, original comic book heroes / villains making an appearance, funny one liners, kid mode (for those that find gaming and controls etc. difficult) and even the crazy cheats such as "big headed" Spider-Man,

this is one game that delivers to true fans of the comics...and even those that just want variety in a game.

The characters... 

Without a shadow of a doubt, a vast amount of what makes this game so great is the fact that it includes so many of the comics popular heroes / villains throughout the game.

From memory, there's Spiderman, Dr Octopus, Mary-Jane, J. Jonah Jameson, Black Cat, Fantastic 4, Daredevil, Lizard, Venom, Carnage etc. and each have their own particular role and / or cameo appearance as you progress through the game.

Next, I must give credit to the cast who lent their voices for the characters...

Rino Romano (who was Spiderman in the TV show of "Spiderman Unlimited" and also Luis Sera in Resident Evil 4 which I only found out recently) does a grand job of providing the voicing of Spiderman in the game, and he also delivers some funny one liners throughout the game...

Daran Norris provides the voice of Venom (shown right) in the game, and boy, if he didn't have a sore throat after doing that...even more credit to him. Venom is portrayed as a creepy and gross character who Daran manages to voice in such a way that it makes Venom as a whole come across even more freakishly.







There are of course many others who provided voice-overs for the characters, some even reprised their roles from the Spiderman Unlimited TV show, and each do a splendid job at delivering a believable and understanding character.

The freedom...

Alright it may not be as "open world" as some later games are, but it was decent enough at the time (and still to this day leaves an impact) to be recognised as an action adventure game which allowed the player a wide expanse of freedom.

For example, take the first level where you're on the rooftops...there's nothing stopping you from swinging onto buildings in the distance (this is a requirement if you want to speak to the fantastic 4), and you as the player can quite literally spend half an hour or so exploring (as there are that many buildings around to keep you occupied).

Unfortunately you will get the continuous speeches of "This isn't the way to the bank" or "My spidey compass will help me reach the bank", but if you can put up with this for half an hour, then feel free to explore! who knows, you may find a comic book which could (if you don't use the EEL NATS cheat code...ahem) put this towards unlocking the "Spiderman 2099" costume.

But it's not just the first level which offers complete freedom. There is of course, as you progress through the game, the option to explore buildings...again as you may have heard from word of mouth, game covers or review sites etc. exploration rewards!

In conclusion, Spiderman is (in almost every kid born in the 90's opinion) one of the most memorable and adventurous games around.

To this day, it continues to impress with it's generous amounts of characters, unlockables, playability and graphics detail.

To be able to play a game where you can have action, adventure and the freedom to explore,

all complete alongside a comic-style storyline, (and again) Stan Lee voicing the narration! what is stopping you from buying this!

In my opinion...this and the sequel of Spiderman 2 - Enter Electro are "Must-Haves" for any retro PlayStation collector. (Unfortunately however,the sequel didn't live up to expectations but still worth a go for the low price it can still be picked up for).