So, combat this time around is more about engaging multiple targets by bouncing between them. Remember, he's only 15 years old in the Ultimate universe, so he hasn't quite perfected his fighting chops yet. Here, Spider-Man controls a little differently than you might expect. Expect a parade of copycat comic-book games in its wake.

Also, the art team deftly dodges the pitfalls of other cartoon-style games by giving the characters more detail and shadowing to prevent the 'flat' look. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded: The visuals really look like Mark Bagley's comic illustrations, but in fluid 3D motion.

I was admittedly skeptical at first, as I didn't want this to turn into a cartoony game for tots. How was it? I can't comment on USM without first tackling its graphics-the game employs the same underlying engine from Spider-Man 2, but with a new comicbook-inspired visual style. Cue the player-controlled death-tentacles choking Aunt May. You'll be consuming pedestrians, throwing cars, and generally wreaking havoc as this otherworldly antihero. Yep, you can take the fan-favorite villain for a destructive stroll around New York City. But this game sports a twist its film-derived cousins sorely lack: Venom. Like the previous titles based on the Spider-Man movies, USM unfolds in an open-ended, mission-based fashion-some tasks will advance the plot, while others simply allow you to zip around New York City spreading do-goodery. Of course, it's still a console game, so expect dodgy camera angles and even dodgier controls, but with aĭecent PC joypad this becomes well worth a spin for Spidey fans. Complete enough tasks and you unlock the next episode of the story, which is told through clever XIII-style comic-book narrative. The gameplay mainly involves swinging through busy streets (which is great fun, superbly animated and just looks cool), locating various tasks such as races and rescues, and doing everything a spider can.

Surprisingly, it's not bad - far better than the pathetic PC version of Spider-Man 2. Such a confusing circle of references leads us to this, a cel-shaded, comicbook styled, free-roaming romp around Manhattan as the lycra-laden arachnid. So here's the game of the new comic-book series, which is loosely based on the movie, which in turn is a bastardisation of the original comicbook series.

It's more likely that the marketing types just thought the word sounded cool, ignoring trivial things like etymology and definitions. The 'Amazing', 'Essential' and 'Spectacular' prefixes all filled their roles as meaningless pieces of superlative, but surely naming its next franchise 'Ultimate Spider-Man' implies that this is the final and terminal retelling of the web-slinging hero's story. Marvel pulled out a bit of a doozy when fishing around in its magic hat full of market-friendly buzzwords, to stick in front of its latest Spider-Man series.

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