If you find yourself roped into a conversation about Spider-Man and video gaming, you won’t go long before someone feels obligated to mention Treyarch’s 2004 Spider-Man 2 movie tie-in. It’s as if a blood vessel will burst in their head if they’re unable to remind you how much they loved Spider-Man 2. Before Rocksteady’s Arkham series showed us another plateau of potential, SM2 was widely considered the best superhero game of all time. Why? Simple. Despite being Raimi’s organically webbed, Average Joe interpretation of Spider-Man, and despite having the cruel restrictions of a billion dollar movie license and a very limited amount of time to craft the title, the game managed the unthinkable: it got Spider-Man right.
The Amazing Spider-Man (3DS/DS/PC/PS3/Wii/X360 - June 26th)
Beenox’s new Spider-Man foray came out of E3 with positive endorsements from those that got to demo it. Some even went as far as to liken the game’s counter-based combat to Rocksteady’s Batman games. The comparisons will have to end there until we actually get to take a spin in the red n’ blues ourselves.
It’s disheartening to hear that not a single member of Mark Webb’s principal cast has anything to do with the game, but the presence of Bruce Campbell makes up for their absence entirely. His casting also serves as a bridge in gamers’ minds to the open world Spidey games that have been unfairly benched for the last couple of years, which Campbell narrated in.
Because if you hear Bruce, you’ve either died a warrior’s death at his hands or are playing a free roam Spider-Man game. Both are joyous.
The Amazing Spider-Man (PC/PS3/360 - June 26th)
I’ll admit it: Beenox’s design for bottom barrel villian, the Iguana, is seven times more badass than the mutli-million budgeted film’s Lizard. The Lizard looks he came from the pages of a rejected X-Files script but I digress.
You’ll notice in the shots that “does whatever a spider can” entails wearing a utility belt. I suppose you can’t expect the pocketless Spidey to swing along the New York skyline and not have an adequate place to put his chapstick. A utility belt is a realistic choice. And in superhero terms, “realistic choice” means “anything Batman would do.”
The Amazing Spider-Man Game Gets a New Date and a New Dub
Spider-Dub? I feel like we just had a conversation about this. I guess game marketing teams figure we must think that if there isn’t dub-step, it’s probably not a trailer. They’re conditioning us. There will be a point where the consumer won’t even look up for an ad until they hear a wub wub. Ech, staying current made me say wub.
Breaking away from our soon-to-be dub-doom, get a load of that June 26th date for Beenox’s new webspin. Beating the film’s release by a week, we’re treated to a narrative sequel that picks up Spidey’s rebooted trials and super tribulations in video game form. This trailer doesn’t quite tingle my fanboy sense given that Rhino has been a consistently bland mainstay in Spider-Man games of yore, yet I still think Beenox has a real treat hidden away with The Amazing Spider-Man that you have to play to get a feel for.
Last generation’s Spider-Man 2 had a rush of playability that no amount of trailers or screenshots could convey, and Beenox’s Shattered Dimensions often conjured that same feeling in me. My prime concern is the movie tie-in weighing down the developer’s vision, but I have faith Beenox will come out swinging with gangly, teenaged, superpowered fists.
Expect the webslinger on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
Check Out an Extended Teaser of the Initial Teaser That Teased The Amazing Spider-Man Game!
From experience, gamers have a tendency to ignore movie tie-in’s. With good reason: the greatest examples of half-assed design, stupid plotting, and erroneous gameplay can be found in movie games.
But The Amazing Spider-Man’s saving grace is developer Beenox, the folks that brought us the sublimely crafted Shattered Dimensions. Last year’s humdrum Spidey entry and successor to Dimensions, Edge of Time, is sure to cast doubt the dev’s way. But a long, healthy development cycle, a return to open-world level design, and what appears to be a new take on Spider-Slayers (shit yes!) beams a ray of hope on the project.
I almost wish Beenox’s game gets hit by a delay — I’d rather have a great game later than a lukewarm game just in time for the movie’s July 3rd release date. Look for the webslinger on your PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 (Nintendo’s systems will probably get a different — hopefully not watered down — version of the game for the DS, 3DS, and Wii).
Conceptual art and two screens for The Amazing Spider-Man (PC/PS3/Xbox 360)
Spidey video game veterans Beenox are fixing to have their adaptation of Marc Webb’s reboot in stores right alongside the film’s July 3rd release date. Important things to know about this swing through New York:
- The game wisely opts out of retreading the film’s narrative and provides a sort of elongated epilogue following Spider-Man’s continued struggle to hang every criminal in the city upside-down from a light pole.
- Doing away with the boxed in levels from Beenox’s previous Spider games, Amazing Spider-Man sees the return of open-world gameplay.
- Beenox is implementing something called the “Web Rush.” The mechanic is supposed to allow for “situational choices, letting you pull off Spidey’s signature moves like never before,” according to the game’s lead designer, Jacob Berg. No, I don’t know what that means either, but it’s a safe bet it involves hanging crooks upside-down from light poles.
I was sold at “open-world.” Beenox’s previous efforts have felt like a next-gen love letter to the old Neversoft Spider-Man titles that graced the original PlayStation, yet I’ve never felt the thrill of webslinging quite like the free-roam iterations that followed. Beenox is comfortable with the character, this they’ve shown. And their assurance that Amazing has been in development for awhile is, well, assuring. Hopefully Beenox can handle the scale this type of game requires because something about The Okay Spider-Man rubs me disastrously wrong.
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