Ultimate Spider-Man

This is one of the most awesome Spider-Man games that has ever been made. There are so many good features that they have put into this piece of work that you almost lose yourself in the game. But everything, alas, comes at a price.

First, there's the good stuff, which is like, 99.9% of the game. The story is is understandable, which is a must for any game. The story basically revolves around the time where Peter Parker meets his childhood friend Eddie Brock. The game starts off with Peter against Venom for the first time. As the story develops, Spider-Man unlocks different attacks and Venom becomes harder.

The game play is very cool as well. The controls are easy to use. The swinging as Spider-Man is very good and so is the controls for Venom.

There is a variety of different villains that you face. They include Green Goblin, Rhino and Electro. There is a few more.

The only bad thing about this is some of the levels. In a few Spider-Man missions you have to prove your strength and lift or move heavy items using the triggers on your controller. Pretty difficult, but nowhere near the mission where you play as Venom against Carnage. You have to open some doors, and those doors are hard to open.

But overall, the acting, the story, the game play and the characters in this all add up to a really enjoyable game.

Last year's Spider-Man 2 was a knockout in terms of what the series had done. It had so much going for it: a wide-open environment, amazing web-swinging mechanics, a solid fight system, and impressive visuals. Though the story itself wasn't too impressive, the gameplay more than made up for it. This year, the good folks at Treyarch have given us another impressive entry with Ultimate Spider-Man, but it isn't exactly what you would call "ultimate." First things first, this is the closest a video game has gotten to a comic thus far. Treyarch enlisted the talents of USM scribe, Brian Michael Bendis, whose monthly work on the Spidey comic title rarely (if ever) disappoints; and USM artist Mark Bagley, whose visual style is captured to near-perfection. The story is great -- revolving around Peter and his superhero duties mixed with his teenage woes. Never does it delve into the likes of the soap-opera nonsense found in The O.C., but rather, it focuses on a kid trying to do the right thing with the gifts he was given. Characters from the series pop up -- Nick Fury, Johnny Storm, Silver Sable -- and are an added bonus (if you're a comic nerd like me).

The visuals are so amazing, they astound me every time I play. This is probably the best-looking comic game out there. It's not that it's super-detailed, capturing every last hair on the character as you'd expect from an Ps2 game. Instead, it keeps things simple and maintains the look from the comic. If you took the comic and matched it up against the game, it's surprising how little variation there is. Buildings are simple and blocky, but they fit. The distant New York skyline is the slew of skyscrapers and towers one would expect. Even the characters themselves have the same Mark Bagley detail.

Spidey himself looks spot-on and he moves just like you'd expect him to. When swinging, his legs dangle appropriately; when he's in mid-air between web swings, he performs flips and flourishes that the wall-crawler is known for. His movements and exaggerations on his punches and kicks are taken straight out of his books. It's so much fun just to watch our hero in action.

The voice-acting is also impressive, especially since this is a video game. It's the same quality you'd expect from a movie or TV show. Despite it being a game, there's no bad or over acting going on here. Spidey is a squeaky-voiced teenager in the midst of puberty -- but that doesn't mean his trademark smart-ass quips and banter aren't accounted for. In fact, these are some of the best treats in the game. It's fantastic to hear Spidey say "sweet sassy molasses!" when he's shocked. The banter like "my point being: you truly do very much suck," is great. My personal fluorite is when he first meets the behemoth Rhino "…I'm so scared, I can even finish my lame joke." Good times, that's what that is. Besides, what is Spider-Man without his classic banter?

One of the issues that presented itself is that the combat system isn't as deep as in Spider-Man 2. Gone are the crazy combos that clear out any enemy standing next to you, as well as any purchased upgrade. Now, it's just a very basic button-mashing system. Kicks and punches are accounted for, but they're so basic that they're not as lively as they used to be. Though that change does make sense. This is a kid just starting out in the superhero racket, so he still has a way to go to becoming the icon we all know and love. The fighting system does rely on changing targets and bouncing off walls, which does add to the enjoyment of it. While the more intricate combos have been escorted out of the game, there is still some technique required. After all, Spidey always relied a bit more on his speed and reflexes before his strength.

Another point to touch upon is the web-swinging. In last year's title, collision detection on the web strands themselves were existent. Say you were rounding a corner, the web would catch the building it was attached to and whip Spidey around appropriately. Not so much in USM. If you want an extra boost when coming around a corner, you'll have to jump and shoot another web in the desired direction.

Also done away with is a sprint button. It's not a big deal, especially if you haven't played Spider-Man 2, but it is missed. Spider-Man can't sprint up the side of a building when crawling to make things a bit less tedious. While you can add an extra boost to your swing, that same boost is unavailable while moving along a surface. Charged jumps are also done away with. When climbing up a building, if you try to charge a jump to ascend a bit more quickly, Spidey will actually jump away from the surface he's scaling. Again, it's something that does indeed make sense, but it will be missed.

The biggest drawback of this game is the inclusion of Venom as a playable character. He draaaags. He can't web swing (but he can cover vast distances with his leaps), he relies on brute strength rather than finesse, and you must also devour people in order to keep the suit from killing the man inside. That's right, you are forced to eat people to keep your health up. Um, maybe it's me, but isn't that a bit off course from what's expected from a Spider-Man game? When compared to the swift, agile Spider-man, Venom is a slow, dull galoot. His missions usually consist of chasing a target around the city, which can get to be a real pain. Some chases require you to recharge your health during the pursuit, and in most cases, you simply don't have the time which results in a big ol' "Game Over" screen.

when spider man 2 came out it was probably the greatest movie games i had ever played when i heard that ultimate spider man was gonna share the SM2 engine i was like yipee now playing it well it's still good but not as fun as spiderman 2 but first let's get down to business in the game you play as spidey (duh) and fight villains such as

RHINO GREEN GOBLIN SHOCKER CARNAGE ELECTRO BEATLE SILVER SABLE

the only problem is that i wanted more villains not just 7 villains and where the hell are such classics as

MYSTERIO KRAVEN THE HUNTER SCROPION SANDMAN THE LIZARD

but fortunately you can also play as venom and trust me it's fun playing as venom blowing stuff up throwing cars too bad it really gets repetitive playing as venom and worst of all there's no chapter selection so once you beat the game it's not as fun as playing venom anymore but still it's a great game but i hate the fact that only 2 marvel characters make cameos THE HUMAN TORCH and WOLVERINE but still good enough game i give it a 8 out of 10

First off, I am a die-hard Spidey fanatic! The greatest Super Hero in comic book history (Sorry Superman.) Spidey has always been successful when it comes to videogames. Even dating back to the Spidey title for the Super Nintendo. That was a great game! The films are flawless as are the games bouncing off the films. But, I am sad to announce that Tobey Maguire is not present in Ultimate Spider-Man providing his voice for his greatest role in his career. But, do not fear! The acting is great in the game! Peter is more of a 15 year old in this version. Graphically, it goes back to the comics. (Ultimate Graphic Novels.) The gameplay is phenomenal! It's more simple than Spider-Man 2 but, it's a lot of fun! Swinging around the city has never been so much fun! OK, OK, I love Swinging in Spider-Man 2 as well. (Sorry, Tobey.) The combat system is awesome! Very fast and fluid. The story is straight from the Ultimate comics. (Remember, this is not the original comicbook storyline material, this is two years before the first Spider-Man movie.) The boss battles are actually quite humorous! This game is worth a rent for gamers, for die hard Spidey fans, this game is WORTH a purchase!!

this is probably my favorite spider-man game. first off, there are nice controls. swinging works quite well in this title, and so does climbing and fighting. there are many collectibles to get, hidden throughout new york. But my favorite thing about ultimate spider-man is the venom game play. its very cool, you can demolish everything in your path. he is a bit slower than spider-man, though. the main missions are generally pretty good, but unfortunately the crimes going on all over new york get repetitive, and after a while, leave you bored. despite this con, its a great game. if your a spider-man fan, check this out. while it probably doesn't exactly deserve a 9, it's just to cool for a big spider-man fan like me.