It's funny to see the same game branded now in at least four ways, if not more. Producing a version for each and every platform must be a huge headache for someone, but it comes down to the capability of the console or portable. In the case of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows: Amazing Allies Edition, which I will refer to as Amazing Allies for the most part to save you some eye-strain, it seems clear that the developers shot for something that didn't tax the PSP's resources so much. A side-scrolling brawler is hardly what most of us plunked our $300 bucks down for, right? We could have that on the DS, or at least the Virtual Arcade. I'm being a bit sarcastic in taking this approach because I happen to be someone that actually enjoys playing classic games and I think that many of the old styles still make for the most fun.

There are nice touches built into this game from a design standpoint, with secret areas that pop up in each stage and some limited opportunities to explore your surroundings. Brawlers are not known for allowing much free-ranging gameplay, so this is already diverging from stereotypes. Amazing Allies obviously wants to be more than your daddy's beat-em-up game... Story dialogue is passed between characters in cut-scenes, sometimes done with text only, but the voice acting done here is not at all bad. Doing things the old-fashioned way, Amazing Allies doesn't go for flash as much as it tries to showcase Spider-Man in what he does best: climbing walls, slinging web, and beating up bad guys. The free swinging across the rooftops on a filament of web through a large 3D cityscape is gone, but we're just as glad to see something gone that never worked that well anyway...

Fun isn't hard to come by when a game stays out of its own way. The focus here is on keeping things simple and giving you a strong taste of how our favorite neighborhood web-slinger manages to avert a major disaster in his fair city. Themes drawn from each of the other games produced for consoles this season show up in Amazing Allies, but it is clear that this is a freestanding product with some slightly new story elements. Amazing Allies doesn't exactly follow the flow of the game on other platforms, which is a nice incentive for fans of the game that have already played some version of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows to pick this one up. We weren't terribly impressed with the game in its Wii iteration, largely because of twitchy controls and 3D issues. Amazing Allies opts out of the full 3D thing and ends up being much more playable and memorable as a result.

On a basic level, Amazing Allies takes you through a number of stages where Spider-Man pummels minions and ultimately will have to defeat a boss to advance. This formulaic approach is just hand-in-glove with the decision to roll this game on the PSP as a side-scrolling Brawler... If you come looking for anything as ambitious as what we saw attempted on Wii, you'll be sadly disappointed. If you like the idea of a button-mashers daydream, playing with a bunch of neat characters and baaaaaad bosses, Amazing Allies may be for you. As with the other games, you'll find the theme of the "giving-in to the dark side" symbiote costume in exchange for greater power. Playing as that "red-suit guy" starts to feel like second best by the game's conclusion, since there are some heavy attacks the dark suit deals out. You'll also unlock skills following your battles, available as paid upgrades between levels.

As Spider-Man travels from one end of the level to another, he'll happen across some characters that will give him simple tasks. In exchange for beating up a group of enemies (duh, you were going to do that anyway, right?), you'll earn more points that will increase skills and also align you more with the red suit or the black suit. The impact of this red/black thing on gameplay is slight, especially considering that the option exists to play through the game again from the beginning with all the power-ups and skills gained in your first run-through. Actions don't speak as loudly as words it would appear, since most of the red/black choices you'll have are options in the text menus during dialogue with other characters. The writing behind the game was spot-on, very in line with both the traditional friendly Spider-Man and the later period when Peter Parker was obsessed with the symbiote and his dark suit.

There is a tendency in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows: Amazing Allies Edition to have mobs of enemies gang up on our hero. This may have been intended to add realism, which it does, but the game's controls don't support the decision. What may feel like the controls are frozen is just the cumulative effect of too many enemies clustered around Spidey. This can be avoided, for the most part, by taking some time to wipe out enemies as they approach you. The problem comes in during levels that have any ambiguity in terms of the path you are supposed to take. The first time this happens, and it is thankfully rare, is during a stage set below the city subway line. You have to maneuver up and over in this level but there isn't any real indication of this, so you end up standing around battling waves of enemies and waiting for a door to open. Mostly, things slide toward the traditional in Amazing Allies, including the grand tradition of defeating bosses and minions by stabbing wildly at every button on your PSP like a rabid monkey chained to a typewriter. As in any Brawler worth its salt, this produces fabulous results...

It is strange that the controls in this game should be so much more satisfying than the more dynamic motion controls on the Wii, especially considering that 360-degree movement was possible in the Wii version of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. The key difference is that moving Spidey around in Amazing Allies actually approximates what you imagine as a comics' reader. Jumping onto a building or wall creates a satisfying cling, and reaching the top will cause Spidey to vault up and over without any intervention on your part. Normal jumps are positively super-powered, and you can use your web like a zip-line by simply pressing the (R) button and the direction you want to go. Shooting web lines on the ground will either zip you to the nearest wall or cocoon an enemy for pummeling. Amazing Allies doesn't bother with high/low kicks and punches, just one button devoted to each action. The animations and reaction during battle as you mash those two buttons is very satisfying. Pressing directional buttons and repeating your kicks and punches creates a multiplier effect, plus you'll see big differences once you start upgrading skills and adding power-ups.

The points you can spend to upgrade your character are earned during battles and interactions with those "quest" characters mentioned earlier. Upgrading becomes a very important activity, seeing how enemy levels ramp up quickly after the first few rounds. Enemies can overwhelm you, block your attacks, and generally make it hard to escape, but it's hard to get lost since you just can't travel too far off track in these linear stages. As you build up your character, you'll select stronger defensive and offensive measures that are counted as "skills." The key distinction between skills and "power-ups" is that the latter can be configured. At the end of each chapter, you'll be able to insert a fixed number of new power-ups for use during the following chapter. Power-ups are active, only coming into play when you punch the (O) button, where skills are passive and available at any time to be used repeatedly once you "turn them on" by earning a sufficient amount of points. Some skills can only be learned by racking up a number of red or black points, making the New Game Plus Mode compelling, as you can go back through to earn those red or black points you missed the first time.

Sometimes reviewers and gamers get too caught up in minutiae, and miss the forest for the trees... If a game is fun, that's what really counts. The Wii version of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was an ambitious game, exciting in terms of how much it reached for conceptually. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows: Amazing Allies Edition is far less ambitious, but attains about 90% of its potential. We could argue convincingly that a lack of multiplayer or any online play is a great loss, but the bottom line is that the Amazing Allies Edition isn't trying to be a porterhouse steak. Treat it like the appetizer or aperitif it intends to be, and you'll have a blast.