Available on: PS1, Dreamcast, N64, PC
Price: Varies second hand
I played on: PS1
Notes: N/A
This is a game I have a lot of nostalgia for. I put a lot of hours into Spider-Man as a kid and I was excited to play it again as an adult.
I love PS1 games and their graphical style holds a lot of charm for me and this game is no different however when playing this next to the newer Spider-Man games this one is lacking. The PlayStation is just not powerful enough to do Spidey justice. Animations feel heavier and slower than they should for Spider-Man. I don’t think this game is awful visually as it has a lot of bold colours and classic 90’s era character design. The voice acting is astounding and I would say it’s easily as good as the Spider-Man animated series.
The plot is not that complex but the simple nature of it is really fun with plenty of Marvel heroes and villains joining Spider-Man. The final boss is amazing bringing a new character to the table that I won’t spoil here. We find Dr Octopus has turned over a new leaf and is trying to help mankind, during a presentation he’s giving a fake Spider-Man turns up and steals Ock’s new machine. Spidey is now on the run from the law and must find out who is framing him and why. Cutscenes are never long but do look clunky with most the characters just having static faces and constant fists for hands. The sound design is great due to the amazing voice acting talent and decent music.
The gameplay is simple, you can punch, kick and use web attacks. You’re able to web-swing short distances but there is no connecting webbing to objects as it’s just a simple animation with Spidey swinging from the air. Spider-Man’s webbing needs to be refilled by picking up web cartages, these are plentiful and won’t be an issue until near the end of the game. The levels are not long but feel detailed and dense for a PS1 game with interesting varied objectives and boss fights. This simplicity means it’s one of the easiest games to just pick up and play and is the best Spider-Man game for younger children. Speaking of the little ones there is a kid mode when starting a new game. This will make the controls a little simpler and skip a few of the more complex and challenging areas. I love this as it really improves the accessibility of this game, I only wish we saw more of this in gaming. This mode is worth beating at least once for those who want a certain black suit with unlimited webbing.
Spider-Man is great fun but if I’m being honest with myself it’s not as good as a lot of the newer Spider-Man games. The heavy combat, simple graphics and animations take too much away from how a Spider-Man game should feel. Fans of the PS1 and/or more liner Spidey games should pick this one up as it’s a lot of fun. For more casual fans of the wall-crawler I would say pick up Web of Shadows or Spider-man 2 instead. I loved my time with this game just for the nostalgia that came with it but without that, I can’t recommend this game to everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment