Finding a good Spider-Man game can be a difficult task. Though you won’t find anything that’s quite on the level of Arkham Asylum, there are a few good games out there. Some people would argue that Web of Shadows was good; some would argue that the last good Spidey game was Spider-Man 2. These two games were successful for the same reason that Arkham Asylum was successful. Arkham Asylum let you be Batman and do Batman-type things. Web of Shadows and Spider-Man 2 presented the player with an open-world environment, so you were free to do what Spider-Man does — web-sling.
Activision’s Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions demonstration at E3 didn’t show off any open-world web-slinging. In fact, the environments in Shattered Dimensions seemed slightly restrictive. But Shattered Dimensions will have things that Web of Shadows and Spider-Man 2 doesn’t have: four different Spider-Men, four different universes, and four different styles of gameplay. Will these be enough to make up for the lack of an open-world New York City?
Shattered Dimensions begins when an ancient tablet breaks into four pieces, resulting in the creation of four parallel dimensions. Each dimension has four Spider-Men: Spider-Man Noir, The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, and a fourth mystery Spider-Man to be revealed in a few weeks at San Diego Comic-Con.
This game is full of fan service — that is, once you get past that magical tablet thing. People who have kept their noses in comic books recently will recognize Spider-Man Noir from the Marvel Noir books that were released last year, while older fans may recognize Spider-Man 2099 from his own series of books that ran in the 90s.
Voices may also sound familiar as developer Beenox was able to secure voice actors from the 70s and 90s animated series to do the voice overs for Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Man 2009, respectively. Moreover, the most faithful Spider-Man fans will probably feel at home as Beenox has signed on writers who have worked on the Spider-Man universe before to write the story for Shattered Dimensions.
Although fan service will help pull in some faithful web-heads, it’s not enough to bring success to a game. The four different Spider-Men and their worlds should provide four different experiences.
Spider-Man Noir’s dimension is the most unique of the three shown to us at E3. It’s color palette give give it a unique look and also helps to highlight a mechanic that has yet to be seen in a Spider-Man game — stealth.
The level we saw at E3 was a carnival level that would eventually lead up to a boss encounter with Norman Osbourne — a circus freak in the Noir universe. The easiest way to advance through the level was to stay within the shadows, and to use Spider-Man Noir’s webbing to yank enemies into the darkness when their backs are turned. Fireworks periodically went off in the distance, which provided more than looks to the stage. The fireworks would illuminate more of the area, and could give away your cover if you’re not careful.
We were told that staying hidden was the “easiest” way to advance in a level. But what if the stealth element was cranked up to somewhere between the “easiest” and “only” way to advance through the level? This would be an interesting avenue to explore as it would work towards drawing a clear line between the other dimensions as opposed to playing as “Spider-Man with a different skin.” However, focusing on more complicated stealth might frustrate a lot of players out there. Focusing on more stealth could be key — of course, that’s assuming that the stealth in the game is any fun.
The Amazing universe has a more colorful and a slightly cel-shaded look. This universe features the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man we all know and, based on a boss fight against a powered-up Kraven the Hunter, it looks like he plays like the Spider-Man we all know as well. This universe looks like it will have a lot of the 3D action that you’re used to seeing in a Spidey game, but the boss fight did bring up something alarming: The environment looked somewhat flat. Although this is the only bit we saw from this universe, hopefully there will be tall buildings to web-sling from in between battles.
The 2099 universe is a step up from the Amazing universe. It’s just as colorful, but… shiny. As Spider-Man 2099, Beenox will have you be doing more daring, high-velocity stunts. Spider-Man 2099 will be doing a lot of base jumping and free falling (like those falling/flying scenes in Bayonetta). The webbing under his arms will allow you to speed up and slow down as you dodge obstacles in the way. From the demo, it looks like the Spider-Man 2099 will be doing the most web-slinging of the three Spideys shown. Those flying cars? You’ll be traveling through Nueva York by web-slinging off of them. He’s also equipped with an accelerated vision power which allows you to slow down time.
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions has three acts, with four levels per act (one for each Spider-Man). It will be important to ensure that all Spider-Men play equally as fun so that players aren’t slogging through parts (I’m looking at you, Amazing Spider-Man) just to get to the more exciting levels. Fortunately, you’ll be able to choose the order in which you complete each level.
Shattered Dimensions seems to have removed the open-world structure that made Spider-Man 2 and Web of Shadows successful and replaced it with fan service, the variety of four different Spider-Men, environments, and styles of play. Although the Noir and 2099 universes seemed to be more exciting than the Amazing universe, Beenox told us something reassuring: the final Spider-Man is the staff favorite. Your guess is as good as ours as to who it will be.
And as to whether or not Shattered Dimensions will be successful? Spider-Man fans will enjoy it. Gamers looking for a good action game may find something worthwhile in Shattered Dimensions, but they should be slightly cautious in doing so. To be safe, better keep those spider-senses sharp when you’re thinking of playing this game.
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