XBox 360
The graphics and frame rate were excellent. The controls were a little too tight at times and I found it hard to navigate my character through certain portions of the game. But that didn’t detract from the overall feel of the game. I was glad to see that a lot of the elements from part 2 were brought over and that the web slinging was still easy to use. It seemed more difficult to just run down the street than to swing from building to building. The ‘Spidey-Sense’ feature was done really well and it made the game easier to navigate. It also helped tremendously in the fight sequences. However, the fight controls made me feel a little out of the action at times. I felt like I hit a button or two and Spidey would just do his own thing. The camera was a little funky at times but easily handled with the left analog stick. I didn’t get to see too many cut scenes, but the ones I saw were good, and the game didn’t seem to be hampered by load times that much. All in all, this would be my first choice among the systems.
Nintendo Wii
Man, I love that nunchuk! While the graphics weren’t as impressive, the controls were by far the best. At first I felt a little clumsy, but once I got into the swing of things, I was good to go. The motion sensitive controls made fighting a joy as you always feel in control of the action. However, overall movement seemed to bug me a bit, especially jumping and wall crawling. The camera operation didn’t seem useful unless all I had to do was move the camera, if I was in the middle of action then moving the camera seemed a chore. These are minor complaints as the issue doesn’t seem to come up all that often. Because of the Wii controller, the learning curve felt a little steep and I felt like I couldn’t just pick up and play the game. In all fairness though, once you get the control down the game gets really fun. There are also a ton of scenarios where the Wii controllers come into play that makes the game really fun and interactive (like shaking the sticks repeatedly in order to break chains). This should be one Nintendo’s stand out games for the Wii.
Nintendo DS
A more traditional side scrolling affair, the game has some really nice graphics and controls. At first I felt a little lost using the stylus, once I landed my first multi-hit combo I wanted to ask the DS where it had been all my life! Talk about fun, everything was easy to do, not to say the game wasn’t difficult, but executing the various moves was quite seamless. From web swinging to wall crawling, I felt like I could do it all. The stylus allows you to web up opponents and sling them into the distance as well as drag them to you for a brutal kick. The 3-D elements of the stages made the game feel like it played in the third dimension, this effect was helped by the fact that you have to go back and forth through out each level in order to complete your goals. The black costume effects were cool as well as you could kick even more butt when in the suit. With a multiplayer feature as well, this game was simply awesome.
Playstation 3
Wake me up to the PS3 when someone can explain to me why I’m paying an arm and a leg for pretty much the same game on the 360. The graphics aren’t better, the controls aren’t better, heck nothing seemed better on the PS3. For all the ‘power’ of the system, the cut scenes seemed almost crappy. I saw a cut scene where Spider-Man is speaking with a female character and not once did they seem to even look at each other. She didn’t even blink! I swear it looked like they were both blind! Don’t get me wrong, the action was smooth and the graphics were ‘clean’, but not that smooth, and definitely not worth spending the down payment of a car on the ‘system of the future’. Save your money and get it for X-Box and Wii, you can probably buy a DS with the change.
As cool as Home is, Dante Maddox would rather spend the money on rent for a real one.
