The Amazing Spider-Man 2, following a loose story from the latest film release, is a game developed by Beenox, who have also worked on the previous game as well as Edge of Time and Shattered Dimensions. There have been a few great Spider-man games in the past but we all know Movie Release games are far from being considered good games. Can this release place itself in the diamond pile or will it sit on the shelf and collect spider webs?
Story
The story of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is very wishy washy at times, with ever-changing villains and plot devices that seemed to be placed just to increase the length of the game. The only overarching villain is that of the Task force itself who increase in their annoyance as they try to track you down and bring you to “justice”.
Peter Parker must stop all kinds of villains in this release, from shocker and electro to Kingpin and the Green Goblin and more. Though the majority of the villains are only given one mission to introduce them and are defeated in said mission, making them feel like cheap henchmen rather than big super villains with enormous power.
Throughout the game you will meet characters like Aunt May, the reporter Whitney Chang and even Kraven the Hunter who will help Peter in one form or another. But just like the Super-Villains in this game, the NPC’s and characters of note are given very little screen time and little interactivity with Spidey, making them feel useless and rushed into the game for nostalgia sake.
There aren’t many saving points in the story, as like I said before, it feels rushed and has no devolvement at all and tries to create cheap and fast thrills to keep you going rather then get you invested in the characters or plot.
The main story will last you around 6-8 hours, racking up even more time to collect the numerous collectables and hidden secrets bring it up to around 12-14 hours. There isn’t much replayability to be had in this release rather than trying it on another difficulty level, you don’t even retrain the suits, levels or collectables on a new game either which makes all your progress for naught, especially since there are no save slots.
Gameplay
It wouldn’t be a review if I didn’t talk about the web swinging… oh boy the web swinging. This release has brought itself into reality by forcing Spidey to cling to walls and overhangs for web swinging, meaning he needs a tether to swing on and not grab at the moon for his speedy chase scenes. Even with the realistic system, that has been done in previous releases a lot better *Cough* Spider-Man 2 *cough*, it feels too clunky and unreliable at some times. The Web Rush mechanic is a much better way to navigate the city at higher speeds as I found myself using that religiously to get around.
Besides the web swinging, *Shudder*, Spidey also gets himself into plenty fights with thugs, crooked policemen and villains. Keeping with the “flowing” combat system that a lot of games are using today where you melee nearby enemies and have a warning to their incoming attacks to riposte and counterattack them to increase your combo. This system has been used in previous Spider-Man games, and a lot better might I add, but it is quick and fluid so it doesn’t detach too much from the gameplay but it can get tedious at points.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 keeps the RPG aspect other games in the series have had by making all the different suits Spidey wears have a Level which increases as he fights and complete objectives, improving their effectiveness in and out of battle. Besides the suit Levels Spidey can also unlock and upgrade skills by using tech he finds in missions or from collectables in the city of New York, including better web or spider senses.
The random crimes and civilians in trouble make an appearance in this game, but it, like many other mechanics, feel rushed and could have done with more work put into it. Missions like fighting thugs, stopping car chases or saving civilians from burning buildings are laid across the city and are set on a timer, forcing you to complete them before they end lest it add to your menace ranking.
A Morality system is also in place in this game, which has been done in previous releases as well, and what a surprise it was done better before. You have a Menace/Hero rating that is persistent through the game until certain events that revert your status to Menace to teach you a new mechanic. Having a high Hero ranking increase the effectiveness of your suits and stops the police from attacking you on sight and the Menace ranking does the opposite, making the game harder for you. This system is more punishing by the fact that several crimes will go unsolved meaning your menace rank increases because you were busy finding collectables in your spare time.
Overall Thoughts and Feelings
The music in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 takes a big step back and merely becomes background noise as you peruse the city of New York to complete missions and find items, only ramping up on obtaining an item which reminds me of the Legend Of Zelda. The music is better heard within missions or boss battles when it almost eclipses the talking that is normally interrupted by you punching someone.
The graphics are nothing to write home about… but are enough to write into a review. The building are lacklustre and don’t have much detail and sometimes don’t even have time to load on the PS3 as you swing by them, forcing the game to stop for a few seconds to catch up. The characters also look like they have been made out of play dough, with the side characters looking even worse not to mention to horrible lip syncing in certain conversations.
Overall I give The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a 2/5, it feels too rushed to fit in with the movie release and it definitely shows in the mechanics, look and feel of the game. The characters are shown off for 30minutes before getting killed off or disappearing into the background never to be seen again. The fighting gets boring pretty quickly and requires almost no skill to execute besides the bigger enemies. One of the only redeeming factors is the web swinging which has a tendency to throw you in the opposite direction or into a back alley which becomes infuriating when you are chasing or racing through the city.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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