Is Ultimate Spider-Man an ultimate game? No, but it's pretty close (update)

I won't lie to you. The main reason I bought this game was because of Venom. Venom has been my all-time favorite Spider-Man villain. From his original beginnings in the old Spider-Man series, I even grew to like the remade Venom for the new comic series. Spider-Man always seemed too bright and sunny for me, cool powers not withstanding. Venom possessed all of Spider-Man's powers, coupled with a dark edge, yet a sense of justice, he quickly became one of my favorite Marvel characters. His remade image did away with his sense of justice entirely and focused on being a psychotic monster, also cool. So it was with great anticipation that I threw down $50 dollars of my hard earned money to the sweet lady at the cash register, (I'm pretty sure she was inwardly rolling her eyes, but she was polite nonetheless).

Anywayz, game play wise. If you've played Spider-Man 2, then no surprises with this game, it's basically the same thing. If you haven't, well then let me set the stage for you. In the massive city that is New York City, Spider-Man has free access to anywhere his web-shooters can take him, (well, not the entire city, but most of it). Jump over buildings, swing through the skyscrapers, crawl on walls, wherever you feel like going, go ahead. No set paths, although you do have destination points, but get there in whatever way your heart desires. The button system is easy, B = punch, Y = kick(Spider-Man)/tenticle whip(Venom), A = jump, X = grab (enemy or object)/climb walls. You have two options when it comes to web slinging as Spider-Man, first is web zipping, if you've seen the first Spider-Man movie, remember when he pulled back on his webs to slingshot himself to the Goblin, same idea. You won't go as far as web-swinging, but for a quick speed boost over a short distance, it's ideal, press L+R at the same time to accomplish this, also great for quickly scaling walls. Then, of course, is web swinging, which is perfect for long distance traveling, simply pressing R while in mid-air will get you going, press it again to let go, and then one more time to get another line of web going, lather, rinse, repeat. As Venom, you cannot web swing, however, you do have web-zipping, L+R, same as Spidey. Fighting techniques are different also. Spidey utilizes a very acrobatic style. Jumping and double jumping over bullets, bouncing off walls, tying up baddies with webbing, and then finally, a good old fashioned beat-down with his fists and feet. Venom is no-frills, he's not interested in knocking you out, he wants to hurt you, and if he can, he'll kill you too. A cool thing about Venom is if you're low on health, pressing L near an enemy will suck him up into your suit and drain his health and add it to yours (for some reason, draining a civilian gives you more health than draining a soldier, you'd think you'd get more from a soldier since they're in better health and whatnot).

How to beat a level. First off, as Spidey, you have accomplish little goals before getting your main objective. Little goals include stopping a bank robbery, a car jacking, someone's about to fall off a roof, rushing a sick person to the hospital, basically anything that gives assistance to the good people of NYC. These type of events will randomly appear on a little mini-map you have in the corner of your screen as red dots. Next are medals. There are two types of medals, one for racing, one for combat touring. Racing is self-explanatory, start from one place and web-sling, web-zip, whatever into the nearest Spidey Icon, another will appear immediately afterward, keep touching the icons until you complete the race. As with any race, time is of the essence, so be quick. Combat touring are kind of like races, except no time limit. Replace Spidey Icons with groups of thugs that require a spanking, and you get the idea. After completing the necessary amount of NYC related activity, the mission icon will appear on your map (press Z). Usually it's one of three things, get to Daily Bugle to get yelled at by James Jonah Jameson, get to your house, or get to a class you're late for (again). Afterwards, we jump over to see what Venom is doing. With Venom, there's no saving NYC, there's terrorizing NYC, and getting rid of those pesky troopers that keep wanting to capture you. Like I said earlier, Venom is a psychopathic monster, as such, he won't be saving anyone from a mugging (unless the mugger is in his way). Basically with Venom is you have somewhere to go, or someone to find, and you go there while rampaging through NYC, feel free to beat up civilians and throw cars around. You're Venom, you're the bad guy, BE the bad guy!

Now for the story. Working for a cure for cancer, Peter Parker's father, along with Eddie Brock's father, (Eddie is Venom, just in case you didn't know), created the venom suit. However, a horrific explosion ended both of their lives. For a breif time, the venom suit bonded with Spider-Man, however, after attempting to take over Spider-Man, he fought back and rejected the suit and it passed along to Eddie Brock. The battle between two friends ensued and in the scuffle, Venom stepped onto a livewire causing a violent explosion (those happen a lot in Marvel, I'm sure you're used to them if you're a fan at all). Venom is believed to be dead, however, no body was recovered. As always, in the world of comic books, if there's no body, that person is definitely coming back. But, life goes on. Spider-Man continues his daily routine of saving NYC from another villain bent on destruction thus causing him to be late to school (again). Meanwhile, Venom has resurfaced and continues his path of destruction, smashing down anyone who gets in his way, and garnering the attention of some very powerful people who wish to exploit Venom's powers for their own gain. What will happen when Venom and Spider-Man cross paths again? I'm not telling you! Go buy the game and find out, that's what this site of for isn't it? Getting you, the buyer, exciting enough to go out and spend your money.

Now for my list of complaints, they are few, but I feel they're worth mentioning. First and foremost, the game is too short. I know, in the programming world, time length and story lines must be sacrificed to make a 3-D world with awesome graphics. Speaking of which, the story pans out like a comic book, complete with comic stills, and panels right in the middle of gameplay, so instead of Spider-Man 2's attempt at realism, this game has a comic book feel to it. Second, I know, Spider-Man zooms through the city on his webs and is able to traverse miles in mere minutes, but he's almost too fast, and as such it's so easy to swing right past a check point or important area w/out even realizing you've done it. Also, boss AI isn't all that great. Once you find a strategy that works, you pretty much follow it until you are victorious, also, try not to get hit, of course, there's not a lot of challenge or improvisation or anything like that, might make the game a bit harder if there was, but that's fine with me, I enjoy a good challenge and mental work-out. Finally, Venom's stages are very linear, beat people up and smash things while advancing the next check point, if I wanted to do that, I would've bought the new Hulk game (I might anyway, but that's beside the point).

Finally, I think this a great game. Complaints aside, I've had nothing but fun while playing this game. With an original storyline and guest appearances from other Marvel characters including Silver Sable, Wolverine, Nick Fury, and others, and the dual stories unfolding it feels like you're watching a Spider-Man comic unfold, savoring every moment, yet still aching to turn the page to see what happens next. A few comic cliches here and there, but some surprises keep it from being entirely predictable.

If you enjoyed Spider-Man 2 the game, you should enjoy Ultimate Spider-Man. If you're a fan of the comic over the movies and were hesitant to pick up the titles based on the movies, then feel no fear of picking up this game. Now if you'll excuse me, my spidey-sense is tingling...or rather my stomach is, I'm hungry. Hope you enjoy the game.