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Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition
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Graphics & Sound:
The more advanced games become, the more the little things will stick out. New York City is recreated as the world you get to save in Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition. There's the familiar skyline you'll get to swing from as well as traffic, both automotive and pedestrian, roaming above ground, with subway trains tunneling below. The problem is that the more realistic things appear, the more we scrutinize them to determine if they're real or not. Upon close inspection, you start to notice that all of the advertisements on the billboards and pasted on the walls are taken from a small handful of possible signs and that the cars and people seem to come from only a few different models with some variety in the textures. Spider-Man 3 is attempting to simulate Spider-Man's adventures in a living, bustling city, not the lives of each citizen in New York. When taken in the proper context, Spider-Man 3 does a pretty good job of making an environment that feels alive, although I am quite sure that New York is much more highly populated.
As for Spider-Man himself, the model is faithfully sculpted and expertly animated, giving Spider-Man a lifelike fluidity when web-slinging around the city. This seems to be where the developers focused the most of their development, and it shows. There are subtle nuances to web-slinging that don't appear to be documented in the instruction booklet or in the game, but, for instance, it is possible to choose which side you want to shoot web by using the left analog stick while shooting a new web.
The music is cinematic and the soundwork is excellent, as the actors from the movie reprise their roles in Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition. The narration and tutorials are voiced by Bruce Campbell, as in the previous games in the Spider-Man movie series. Those who have watched the movies may also remember him as the usher at MJ's play in Spider-Man 2 and the Maitre'd in the restaurant in Spider-Man 3.
Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition lives up to its name with a list of special features that would make some DVDs envious. There are interviews with Avi Arad (Producer of Spider-Man), Toby Maguire (Spider-Man), Topher Grace (Venom), James Franco (Harry Osborne / The New Goblin), J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson), Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Bruce Campbell (the Maitre'd) as well as three small documentaries on how different special effects and stunts were done. There are also two Spider-Man 3 movie trailers. All of these are interesting and you can tell that the interviews were done for the videogame, as they talk about their familiarity with comics and videogames in the interviews. |
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Gameplay:
You play the part of everyone's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. You'll have various missions to complete, but you'll get to choose which order you start them in. In addition to these missions, however, you'll also be able to choose to fight crime in the city streets or put your skills to the test in races and other strenuous trials throughout the city.
One aspect to Spider-Man 3 that is interesting but, at the same time, is often aggravating, are the button-pressing sequences. In these sequences, there is some series of actions that you are supposed to pull off and you accomplish these by pressing the buttons or moving the analog sticks as indicated on-screen when it's time. This dynamic has been used in other games, such as God of War, but here it seems that any and all controls are fair game. This makes this dynamic that much more difficult, but this is, at least slightly, offset by the fact that the sequence doesn't change.
One interesting variant of this is when you go up against the New Goblin. There is a timed sequence that will prompt you, as in the other sequences, but some of the moves are defensive in nature and these can be done even when you're not prompted. You can also use Spider-Reflexes during this sequence, making it feel more like the sequence of prompts are more of a strong suggestion and less of a do-or-die thing. Typically, if you make one mistake in a sequence, you fail. In this particular one, you'll take damage... and when you're out of health, you'll die.
The upside of this is that in the PS3 version of Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition, once you beat the New Goblin, you unlock him as a playable character. As the New Goblin, you are limited to New Goblin races and generic crime-fighting, but it is fun to zoom around the city on his jet-board. The thing is motion-controlled with SIXAXIS's tilt functionality, but once you get used to it, the controls make sense. Well, that is except for the fact that there is no way to back up; that can lead to some frustrations. Although it was cool to have the New Goblin as a playable character, it seemed a bit of an afterthought; if you're fighting crime and you help out a policeman, when you're done, the policeman says, "Thanks, Spiderman!"... oooOOOOooo, I bet that makes Harry Osborne reaaallll happy.
You also get to play as black-suited Spider-Man, but you'll get 50 percent through the game before you unlock that one, so keep at it. |
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Difficulty:
Spider-Man 3 can be tough at times, so it's important to remember a few things. First, there's more to the game than missions. New York is a city riddled with crime, and it's your sworn duty to make a difference. That means not just working your way through the main missions, but also watching the streets around you for the daily grime, such as gang members, drunken drivers and purse snatchers. New York needs your help, and you need the experience. Not only does stopping street crimes raise your crime-fighting score in an area, it also gives you practice, which, in turn, helps to raise both Spider-Man's skills... and yours. Even something such as practicing web-slinging around the city will help to raise Spider-Man's proficiency, allowing him to web-sling faster.
One tip that really came in handy for me was to "pump" the (L1) button. This button is used to go into "Spider-Reflexes" mode. This mode is similar to a "bullet-time" mode, slowing things down to give you time to react to things. The problem is that while this has an "immediate" effect on pretty much everything you encounter, the duration of this effect seems to be shorter with more advanced enemies. To capitalize on this effect, you can "pump" the button, starting Spider-Reflexes, letting it go on for about a second, then quickly letting go and re-starting it. The resultant timing-jolt can take some getting used to, but this method allows you to get the upper hand on some tougher baddies who seem like they must have been bitten by a radioactive spider at some point in their lives as well, based on the speed of their reflexes.
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Game Mechanics:
The web dynamics in Spider-Man 3 are really nicely executed; you have a lot of control over how you swing, but you do have to make sure that there's something from which to swing.
For the most part, I found Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition to be a fun game. The detail is there and there's always something to do, from races to crime fighting to mission progression. The difficulty can be a bit annoying at times, when enemies seem to have their own spider-reflexes. At times, you'll have to try all of your moves to progress - and hope that you've already picked up one that will help your current task.
Another mechanic which can be annoying at times is the timed button sequences. Sometimes the sequences are cool and complex motions, but on more than one occasion it seemed that I could have probably done the actions using the normal controls, rather than through a timed, button-mashing session.
It's annoying that you don't get the black suit until halfway through the game and the game seems unbalanced at times, when you'll find yourself mid-mission with no health in sight. This makes the difficulty spike in places and, because of this, will make it hard to progress at times.
Other than these issues, Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition is a fun game, seems true to the license (but goes beyond the scope of the movie) and provides a good Spidey experience. I would recommend it to Spidey fans who liked the Spider-Man 3 movie and have the patience to work their way through the tough spots. |
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-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins |
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