Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions – Review – Xbox 360

In Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions, Beenox brings together four very different Spider-Men in a multi-dimensional comic book brawl. Does the developer succeed in creating a videogame marvel, or does the latest Spider-Man game suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder?

Gameplay: Shattered Dimensions dispenses with the now-standard sandbox gameplay, returning to an out-and-out brawler (plus QTE fist fights!) with a more traditional level system, where each level is a set piece for a Spider-Man super villain. As the story will reveal, four Spider-Man characters from four separate dimensions must work together to stop Mysterio’s latest plot. While they share a very similar move list, each incarnation of the web-head plays slightly differently:

When you start the game, your move/combo list will be short indeed. As you play you will earn “Spider Essence” from enemies, boxes, and the collectible Spider Emblems and Hidden Spiders. To really rack up spider essence, you will need to complete challenges from the “Web of Destiny”, which features 15 different challenges for each level. These challenges vary from timed events, doing certain actions throughout the level, to collection. About one-third of each level’s challenges are story related and unmissable, so even if you are not actively trying, you will be completing challenges and earning nice lumps of spider essence.

All this spider essence can be spent on Character Upgrades like Health, Rage Meter, Accelerated Vision Meter, alternate costumes, or on Combat Upgrades that unlock new moves and combos for ground and aerial combat. This Challenge and Upgrade system adds a nice bit of depth to the game, giving you side goals and rewards inside of the linear game structure. My only want here would be for the great pop-up challenge alert system that Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light had. That and the ability to reset the Web of Destiny once you get the achievement for completing it.

Spider-Man Shattered Dimension also features Bonus materials that are unlocked by beating the levels on different difficulty settings. Playing on Easy or Normal will net you Character Bios or Concept Art, while playing on Hard will net you both of these, in addition to Figurines of Bosses and other characters.

Enemies consist of four classifications, ranging from Light, Light Elite, Medium, and Heavy. While graphically very different from level to level and dimension to dimension, these enemies ultimately play out too similarly.  Occasionally, Spider-Man froze after an attack or in a running animation. This keeps you from being able to attack and dodge, making you watch helplessly as the enemies beat you to death. Thankfully this only happened a handful of times throughout the 26 hours I spent with the game so far.

Checkpoints are sometimes frustrating, having you replay good chunks over and over. I also take exception with the save system. I got stuck part way through one 2099 level, and had to try an Ultimate level instead to complete more challenges to unlock the next upgrade tier, allowing me to upgrade Spider-Man 2099′s Accelerated Vision. My complaint is that these Spider-Men are from different dimensions, but they share a single checkpoint save. It should be possible to have one level for each character going at the same time, so that you can switch around without losing your progress.

I experienced some camera control problems when crawling on walls and ceilings, and Beenox also placed limits on where and at what altitude you can use web-swinging and web jumping. This can make it difficult to collect some Spider Emblems and Hidden Spiders, or in race-chase sequences of the game. Similar to Batman, Shattered Dimensions features “Critical Recovery”. Basically a special Web Jump, Critical Recovery can save you from long falls, but is not available in some low altitude areas, and doesn’t always get you back to safety on the first try.

Multiplayer/Replayability: Sadly, there is no multiplayer component, or new game modes unlocked by beating the game. Once you have completed the Web of Destiny, getting the three achievements for Platinum Spider Ranks on all the levels will be the primary form of replay value.

Graphics/Sound:

Every Spider-Man has an enhanced “Spider Sense” mode, which works similar to Batman Arkham Asylum’s Detective Mode, highlighting objectives and enemies. You will be spending a lot of time with this spider vision, so it is a shame that it alters the color of the screen so drastically, because the graphics in each dimension deserve to be enjoyed. The menu features some epic music, and sound effects are fitting. The voice acting is actually pretty good(I feel like Noir has the best cinematics and voice acting) and as a narrator, Stan Lee is as goofy as ever…

Overall: Earlier this year, Activision’s oft-maligned CEO Bobby Kotick claimed that “Our Spider-Man games have sucked for the last five years”. While not critically or financially successful (at least by Kotick’s standards), user comments and reviews suggest that there have been some good to excellent games during this time period. Fan favorites include Spider-Man 2 (based on the movie), Ultimate Spider-Man, and both console and portable versions of Web of Shadows being held in high esteem by fans.

I experienced a lot of frustrations throughout Shattered Dimensions. These gripes were probably amplified by the fact that I played the game on Hard from the beginning, so I have tried not to let them affect my rating too drastically. The game has amazing graphical style, but you will rarely be enjoying it due to Spider Vision. I think having a time limit on Spider Vision would improve the game. Put a meter on it and add Duration and Regeneration buffs in the Character Upgrades menu. This would add depth and drop you back into the beautiful graphics more often. The story, while decent, could have been more convoluted, but across four dimensions, Spider-Man is still a master of comical quips, lending the game cohesion and continuity.

I would love to see a full fledged Noir game with added depth, an even greater variety of take-downs, and more opportunities for brawls. If nothing else, I want to see the Noir game-play mechanic used in future Spider-Man games.

Pros:
+Spider-Man Noir
+Unique style of each dimension
+Web of Destiny Challenges
+Character and Combat Upgrade system
+Boss Battles

Cons:
-Camera Issues
-Checkpoint/Save System
-Enemy variety

Score: 8.1/10

A copy of this game was provided to the reviewer for reviewing purposes from the publisher

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