Spider-Man 3

This game, like the movie it was based on, did not receive the fanfare or adoration of its predecessor. While I enjoyed the third film, it is the weakest for me. This game is weak too, especially compared to the previous two games. I do not know, I could not get into it at all. It just seems they just do not want to make an awesome Spider-man game that would blow any gamer and Spidey fan away, but instead they make games with limited super villains, ignoring some aspect of Spider-man's powers or they make the area you can explore so large that it becomes irritating. This one does all three, why they simply cannot make a Spider-man game based on the comics that incorporates the free roaming environment of two (minus the horrible sewers in this one) and have adventure after adventure within it is beyond me. Have multiple stories involving the enemies, have random super villain crimes within the city, simply do everything you can. No, instead this game is limited and it is a bore at times. The swinging seems off in this one too, which that is the highlight of the last game. The stories within are nothing special either, I did not get to far in this one before I just did not want to play it anymore. At least the second game I played it till I got to the final encounter with Doctor Octopus before I quit. They try to incorporate Spider-man's spidey sense, and do so badly, they open up the sewers for exploration and end up making an overly complicated mess and the made the web swinging seem off which is why I ended up quitting as I could not do a mission where I had to pursue something. So yes, this Spidey game disappoints, much like the film it was based on for many people.

I recently rented this game for the PlayStation 2, because it was around $70 and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to buy it. At first, it seemed a little dull and boring, but as the game progressed I got more interested in the game and so I kept playing. It took me about 5 hours to complete the story, and the overall the game is quite good, but after Spider-Man 2 (and, in particular, Ultimate Spider-Man) I was hoping for better.

New York City is my first major complaint; the city is supposed to be bigger, but it felt small and unwelcoming. It was not very busy, and there were near to no noises in the background. Also, if you climb a tall skyscraper, the materials on the buildings further away disappeared, unlike Spider-Man 2. And it's not as accurate as the New York in Spider-Man 2, which wasn't entirely accurate, although this one is still a major disappointment compared to the SM2 one.

Swinging around New York is as fun as ever, and the Web Zip is more powerful in this game than in the last game. This means that if you are in a hurry for a mission, it will be helpful to zip around instead of swinging, because the swinging is slow and even the booster (which arrives at the end of your swing as you launch through the air) doesn't help much. This aside, the swinging looks very cool, and is in the same sort of style as Ultimate Spider-Man, where he moves with the web.

The story is roughly the same as the film's; Peter Parker/Spider-Man gets a black costume that makes him more powerful and aggressive. He tries to use his new powers the way he used to, but they take him over and so he must fight to control himself. Meanwhile, a new super villain, Sandman, is on the loose and it is up to Spider-Man to stop him. However, when the Black Suit gets to be too much power for Peter, he takes it off and it bonds with Eddie Brock, creating Venom.

This story is changed before the fights with Sandman, and so the main movie fights are not until the very end and don't take very long to complete. This is disappointing, as Sandman and Venom were two of the super villains I was most looking forward to fighting, and yet the only fights with them are exactly the same as in the movie - and less! The other super villains are the Lizard (which is fun as long as you don't keep dying, because then it gets rather boring) and Morbius/Shriek. Morbius and Shriek take up most of the story and make you wonder if you're ever going to get to Sandman and Venom, and I got a little confused when I read on the box "CHOOSE between 5 different story lines". In the end, this was a false statement; you can only follow the game, not choose any story lines, and I was a bit worried at first that I had accidentally chosen the wrong one! Basically, the Morbius/Shriek part of the game is not very fun, and takes up a lot of time. The only reason you'll want to play it is to get to Venom and Sandman, although those fights aren't everything you'd hope them to be either. Venom looks incredibly fat and isn't appealing to the eye at all (despite the fact that he's not SUPPOSED to - see the movie to see what the game creators were trying to make). The fights with him are long and difficult, and his taunts get very annoying after the hundredth time (and he repeats them about 50 times in one fight, so you end up playing the level, dying, and then repeating the level, which equals more annoying taunts).

The best parts of the game are the three Sandman fights, although even these are not all they're cracked up to be. Mostly you just repeat the same thing over and over again, and it doesn't seem very action-y.

I did enjoy this game mildly, though; the graphics were okay, and the boss fights weren't all too bad. I haven't yet played Spider-Man 3 for PC (which is a port of the Xbox 360 and PS3 version) but I am sure it is better than the PS2 version. I can, in a way, recommend this game, but only for the Sandman battles.

4/10.

You will have a good time with Spider-Man 3. I bought a Nintendo Wii recently. I wanted a taste of, well, basically everything for my Wii for a good price. I knew I wanted a Spider-Man game because if I wanted a taste of everything, I needed superhero games and I'm a big fan of Spider-Man games. There are several Spidey games on the Wii. I could have bought. Web of Shadows or Shattered Dimensions but those were over my budget. Then I found this game for 9 dollars and I knew it would give me a taste of superhero games so I bought it. And it did give me that taste. The graphics are UGLY but I don't care about graphics so that doesn't matter. A thing that does matter is being Spider-Man. I love web swinging with the Wii remote. Keep in mind that my Wii version is the same as the PS2 version. But the combat is boring. When you hit a person in the normal suit you can hit like 3 times a row at an enemy. THEN he/she comes back at you and hits you like there is no way not to get a single punch in combat. The best part is the black suit. It's so fun to use the black suit. Then, you can beat up your enemies without getting your eye purple. That's nice. I gave this game the same score I gave the movie too. An 8.5/10 in it's genre and a 8/10 overall. Recommend it.

Being a huge Spider-Man fan (well, Marvel & DC fan overall) I have to say this was not MARVEL'S & Activision's best effort. The graphics weren't what I expect from MARVEL and the voice-overs were not as energetic as I was used to from the gaming. Compared to Ultimate Spider-Man, this was lackluster & somewhat basic. The controls were easy to learn and well-done, which was pleasing, but the animation/action were lacking in fluidity, detailing, and realism. The detailing in Spidey's costume was okay, but could've been better. The gaming storyline and progress DID keep me amused and entertained, so it was easier to stay glued to.

Although not MARVEL'S best effort, it is still enjoyable.

In my opinion, Bruce Campbell's sarcasm added to the fun of the game! That was removed from the ps3/Xbox 360 version.