Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Review from Cav - Friday, 14 January 2011 @ 2:15pm

Now let’s be honest:
When was the last time Spider-Man actually had a decent game?
No... Marvel vs CAPCOM doesn’t count. Neither does Marvel Ultimate Alliance... 1 or 2... were they ever really in contention? Nah.... didn’t think so.
So what does that leave us?
Yep... Bugger all.

I threw my hand up for this game as soon as it was announced, longing for it to actually be a good game and personally, let’s just say it’s one of the better Spidey outings. Shattered Dimensions can’t really be classed as four different games, as I thought it was going to be, but just four different characters doing pretty much the same thing. You have the Amazing Spider-Man, which is the well known blue and red, Peter Parker Spider-Man. Ultimate Spider-Man, black symbiote suit Spidey (without the queer Tobey Maguire dancing from Spider-Man 3), Spider-Man 2099, a scientist from the future who studied the life of the original Spider-Man, and finally there is Spider-Man Noir, set around the 1930s – my personal favourite.

2099 is going to be like this... it was in a video game, it's gotta be true

‘Wow Cav! You know a lot about comics!’ – Not really, I did a little research and now want to head to Minotaur in Melbourne and spend a load of cash that I don’t really have.

The latest Boy Band: Web Life

Now you know who’s starring the game, let’s find out what they’re playing for: it’s called the Tablet of Order and Chaos. That is way too long a name. Why not call it the ‘Brick of Awesome’? That would have been a much cooler name. Anyway, the ‘Brick of Awesome’ is broken into a dozen or so pieces in a battle between Amazing Spider-Man and Mysterio. No, not the Luchador from the WWE, but a bad guy who likes to rock around with a fish bowl on his head and walk on clouds like Monkey Magic. Somehow these are spread across four different dimensions and with the assistance of Madame Web, a blind, telepathic, cripple hooked up to a life support system even Doctor Kevorkian would be afraid to disconnect, they must be collected by the four aforementioned Web-Heads and restored to its former glory.

Throughout the game you will come across a series of villains, some of who have never been portrayed in the comic world as they have for SMSD. The one to watch out for is Deadpool, voiced by ‘Mr Videogame Voice’ himself, Nolan North: absolutely hilarious. In fact a lot of the dialogue is very entertaining, but is only bearable in the cut scenes, as it has a serious repetition issue during in-game battles. This is quite a turn off..... but you’d think I’d be used to it being a WWE game fan.

Borrowing a page from Batman.... and it works

The fight system is made up of combos and the occasional quick time event against sub and big bosses. The real trick is finding the right position to be in to activate these events. I occasionally found myself fending off hordes of enemies while trying to locate that special place. The events themselves never really differed and I don’t think that I missed a single one of them. Button mashing is an acceptable way to make your way thru SMSD, but combos are there and can be kinda cool when you start juggling enemies. To improve on these combos you characters can be upgraded by collection Spider Icons and trading them in. Nothing really new or innovative here, but it works and keeps you coming back for more.

STOP! HAMMERTIME! - Yes.... I went there

Pros

Great selection of voice actors, complemented by a good script.... when the lines aren't repeated to death Deadpool is funny as hell Bug hunting will keep the perfectionists happy

Cons

The Spider-men aren't a different as they could be, which lends to a slight sense of repetitiveness. Webswinging, as always, is rather testing Often unclear what your next move should be.